BRIDGING THE GAP: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON THE TRANSITION FROM PRESCHOOL TO PRIMARY SCHOOL

The transition from preschool to primary school represents a critical event shaped by several interconnected factors.Previous research highlights the importance of teachers in this process, but also emphasizes the lack of comparative studies on the practices and collaboration between them.Our study aims to explore the perspectives of preschool and primary school teachers, focusing on their representations, emotions, concerns and practices about the preschool-to-primary school transition.A group of 284 teachers participated (130 KT, preschool teachers, and 154 PT, primary school teachers), with a mean age of 45 years, including three males.Participants responded to a questionnaire constructed ad hoc, based on previous research.The analysis revealed that curiosity characterizes the emotional experience for both KT and PT, but the emotion of nostalgia [F(1,277)=61,21; p.<.001] and sadness [F(1,277)=25,19; p.<.001] more strongly connotes the experience of KT, while anxiety characterizes more that of PT [F(1,277)=28,33; p.<.001].Main concerns involve teaching style and parental disengagement; specifically, primary school teachers worry most about parental disengagement [F(1,273)=92,3; p.<.001], while preschool teachers focus on teaching style [F(1,273)=7,50; p.<.007].Most teachers reported beginning to introduce transition support activities in the second half of the final year of preschool, and multivariate analyses show that anxiety [F(1,262)=3,157; p.<.044] is significantly lower in educational settings where transition practices start earlier.These results suggest coordinated interventions to support smoother transitions.Findings emphasize the need for tools and strategies to enhance the transition experience, benefiting both children and teachers by fostering an adaptive, high-quality educational environment.