The term transition is used to describe the changes that children experience during their childhood (Tassoni 2016). There are many different forms of transitions between the ages of 0 -19. Some are common, happening to most, if not all children. Others are less common, happening to a minority of children. All transitions and changes can have an effect on children and young people in some way. There are several types of transition children and young people face, including, emotional, physical, physiological, and intellectual, these all impact on children’s and young people’s development.
Some transitions are unplanned, like bereavement, parental separation, illness, and change in carer and moving home. These transitions can be a very traumatic time for a child or young person. They can affect concentration, memory and learning. These types of transitions are generally unplanned, or occur with little or no warning. These transitions can affect children and young people’s social and emotional development. These transitions may make children and young people find it difficult to form relationships, suffer from anxiety, phobias, depression, they may have low self-esteem. Some transitions are planned and timed during children’s and young people’s lives for example moving rooms in a nursery, starting primary school or high school these are an expected, intellectual transition, which can be emotionally upsetting for some children. They may experience anxiety and stress when they first attend the new room or school or meet a new teacher. Younger children may not be aware of the physiological transitions, like long term illness, either themselves or family members, for older children this type of transition could be experiencing puberty; they may become self-conscious of their body changing and they might find it awkward in the process of transition and feel ashamed of it. While it is impossible to remove all stress from a transition a few factors can reduce it (Tassoni).
The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge (for practitioners working with children from 0-19) draws attention to the significance of transitions, ‘It is important to understand a child or young person in the context of their everyday lives, and to recognise the impact of transitions they may be going through or where they are struggling to cope.'(DfES 2007). Points of transition are a critical time for children and young people and need to be managed sensitively. Successful transition relies on a high degree of continuity and consistency in approach. The transition needs to be a positive inclusive experience in order for children to have resilience to deal with significant life changes. It needs to be based on a structured step by step process according to individual children’s needs (Brooker 2008). Although Sanchez and Thorpe (1998) suggest that discontinuity is not something to be avoided providing appropriate scaffolding is given. This draws on Vygotsky’s notion of children advancing to “higher stages of development by being stimulated and guided at the outside limits of their skill by others” (Smith, 1998, p3). This subject is looked at by researcher Graue (1998) who explores the idea of scaffolding children for whom the transition is difficult. Rather than concluding that a child is unready for the move, she places responsibility on adults to ease the child into the new environment.
Children react to changes in different ways, depending on their own personality and the nature of the change they are experiencing. Their behaviour can go to the extremes: they can either become quiet and withdrawn or start to produce anger and aggression against their environment. When experiencing changes is their lives, children need the support of the adults surrounding them to be able to deal with the situation. Therefore it is essential to maintain positive relationships with children affected by transitions, even if they are being introverted, hostile or aggressive as a reaction to the changes. A child who receives consistent caring support from the adults surrounding transition will have enough mental strength to cope with these changes. As early year’s practitioners we need to be aware that all children have complex emotional needs that have to be met in a number of different ways. When children’s relationship needs are met they feel secure, happy and confident. Equally, when their emotional needs fail to be met children can feel insecure, unhappy and lacking in confidence. Skilled practitioners will learn to listen to children’s body language and other changes in behaviour that indicate children who are struggling to cope with transition. They will reflect on the behaviour they see. It is important to be prepared around the child’s situation so that we can talk to them about it: listen to them if they want to tell us about their feelings and answer their questions. Whatever the transition is in the life of a child or young person, they cannot be left alone with their fears and emotions caused by the change. Effective communication between adult and child or young person is essential because they need to be given opportunities to express their thoughts and the feelings. Support from the adults around them in this critical period will help the children to work their way through the transition and do not let it to be a negative influence on their development. (Nemes, K 2014)