Browsing by Subject "rajapinta"

The goal of this study was to examine the conceptions of teachers working as a part of the co-operation between preschool and school in Järvenpää during the school year 2016–2017. In addition, the study aimed to find out teachers' thoughts about the development of the co-operation along with the matters that affect their motivation to co-operate. The collaboration between preschool and school has been investigated also earlier in Järvenpää from the teachers' points of view at the beginning of the 21st century. The new local curriculums were put to use in Järvenpää on the 1st of August 2016. Examining the conceptions of the preschool teachers and classroom teachers is currently significant because the co-operation has been under inspection and developmental process in Järvenpää. The meaning of this study is to make visible the experiences and the conceptions of the teachers so that it is possible to keep on working for even more beneficial collaboration between preschool and school. In this study the co-operation between preschool and school is seen as working on a boundary which requires relational agency from the teachers. The school culture differs from the preschool culture so the change from a learning environment to another creates a transition in a child's life. The collaboration is important for the sake of a smooth transition and an educational path without any thresholds. The study was conducted as a web enquiry in the end of the spring semester 2017. 20 teachers (9 preschool teachers, 11 classroom teachers) took part in the study. Most of the questions were open-ended and they were analysed using data based content analysis. The matters that affect teachers' motivation to co-operate were investigated with close-ended questions. The teachers thought that the collaboration between preschool and school aims to a smooth transition and a continuum of learning but also taking care of a child's needs and sense of security, familiarization to school, sharing information, expertise and the know-how, and abridging the cultural differences between preschool and school. As a result of co-operation the child gets in contact with school as a physical, mental, social and cultural environment. The study discovered matters that may strengthen teachers' motivation and some that may weaken the motivation to co-operate. The developmental process of the collaboration between preschool and school has been succeeded in Järvenpää but there are still some challenges and improvement needed.