Educational Approximations Between Preschool and Primary School: The Perspective of Kindergarten and Primary School Teachers

Abstract

This article aims to understand how a group of preschool and primary school teachers view the process of educational transition between these two educational contexts, considering the consequences that these moments have on the children's school career and on their own personal and social experience, and that teachers play a key role as links between both. Methodologically, this research is based on the collection of information through a questionnaire survey, with open and closed questions, filled in by 20 preschool educators and 20 primary school teachers from the Autonomous Region of the Azores, Portugal. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results obtained allow us to conclude that there are specific differences in the way preschool teachers and primary school teachers look at educational transition, although both consider it as an important aspect of the children's educational path, highlighting the need for a closer relationship between both in the construction of a process that is intended to be continuous and smooth. Received: 8 April 2021 / Accepted: 5 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021