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Experienced and Recalled Transition: Starting School as Part of Life History

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Transitions to School - International Research, Policy and Practice

Abstract

This chapter considers memories about starting school as part of a person’s autobiographical narrative. The stories reported here are extracts from narrative interviews in Finland and Australia and are used to highlight the implications of life course theory and ecological models. The results indicate that memories about starting school play an important role in a person’s autobiographical narrative. Starting school happens in different contexts which are intertwined in memories. They also contain different kinds of autobiographical knowledge and self-defining memories which can be referred as turning points in one’s life course. This study approach draws attention to a wide landscape of starting school within multiple contexts and an elastic sense of time. It can help educators and parents to become more aware of the impact of their own memories when they work with children in transition to school. It also highlights the importance of starting school in one’s life course with long-lasting recollections.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Sturt University, Albury Wodonga, Australia

    Tuija Turunen

  2. University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Tuija Turunen

Authors
  1. Tuija Turunen
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Correspondence to Tuija Turunen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Albury-Wodonga, New South Wales, Australia

    Bob Perry

  2. School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Albury-Wodonga, New South Wales, Australia

    Sue Dockett

  3. School of Early Childhood, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, Australia

    Anne Petriwskyj

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Turunen, T. (2014). Experienced and Recalled Transition: Starting School as Part of Life History. In: Perry, B., Dockett, S., Petriwskyj, A. (eds) Transitions to School - International Research, Policy and Practice. International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7350-9_11

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