Crossing the cultural boundary from home to kindergarten in Hong Kong: A case study of a child's strategic actions

Crossing the cultural boundary from home to kindergarten in Hong Kong: A case study of a child's strategic actions

• Lam, Mei Seung Michelle Hong Kong Institute of Education

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 17(1), 125-145, 2009

Routledge

2009

• A Human Growth & Development
  • AF Family & Development, Family Relationship, Reproduction & Child Rearing, Family Education, Parental Involvement
• R Educational Policy & Administration
  • RE School Management, School-Parents Relationship
• N Students & Student Services
  • NC Charactieristics & Conditions of Students; Opinion & Attitudes of Students, Problems of Adjustment

Case Studies Early Childhood Education Nursery Schools Kindergarten Home & School Parent-Teacher Relationships Hong Kong China Adaptation Play and Learning Sociocultural Theory Strategic Actions Transition to Kindergarten

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Pre-Primary Education

Transition from home to kindergarten is the first and major ecological transition in children's educational lives in Hong Kong. In this transition, children cross a cultural boundary from home to kindergarten and start to learn about 'school' as a place to learn and about themselves as 'pupils' in kindergarten. The conceptual framework of this paper is developed from sociocultural theory and select literature on rites of passage and pupil career. Descriptive data were mainly collected from participant observations, semi-structured interviews, photovoice and review of documents. Utilising the conceptual framework, this paper describes and analyses the story of a three-year-old girl's playing and learning experiences, strategic actions and adaptation outcomes during the transition from home to kindergarten in Hong Kong. Her pattern of strategic actions fell into the dimensions of non-conformity, redefinition and adaptation, but most often fell into the dimension of non-conformity, that is, being independent with respect to formal school expectations. Her preferred strategic actions included watching, being slow to respond, ignoring, withdrawal, gentle refusal, operating in alternative ways, negotiating and following the practice and expectation of the class.
[Copyright of European Early Childhood Education Research Journal is the property of Routledge . Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13502930802689095]

• English

Journal Articles

• 1350293X

• 10.1080/13502930802689095

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/cf613c29

2010-11-24