The complex analysis of early childhood institutional change

Abstract

The aim of my work is the complex analysis of the transition from kindergarten to school, the first big change in the Hungarian institutional education, which is now (2015)∗ compulsory from the age of three. There is a research evidence which contends that this transition to the first year of primary is very important and may have a long-term impact on the child’s future development and learning. To achieve my research aims, I wanted to find answers to some determinative questions. I placed the problem of the transition in an interpretative frame, it was the fair educational environment. I shortly examined the literature and history of transition in early childhood in Hungary. During the historical review of the problem, first I tried to find an answer that which factors of the domestic early education system may ‘obstruct’ children in the transition; secondly my aim was to ‘seek’ the national initiatives addressed to solve these transition problems. In the comparative analysis I highlighted the practice of those European countries where the early childhood institution change is considered special. As a result of the theoretical and practical work specified above, I conducted a longitudinal study to attempt to examine the relationship between the level of satisfaction of children’s kindergarten activities and their attitudes related to school learning. Finally, I wanted to an answer to the question that whether the adequate central law and content regulation concerning the early childhood institutional change ensures the continuity of the transition in Hungary. The complex analysis of the kindergarten transition into school is aimed to approach the issue with many criteria and there required different methods and methodological solutions in different part of the research.