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Starting School: A Community Endeavor

a a
Sue Dockett & Sue Dockett
a
Murray School of Education , Charles Sturt University , Wagga Wagga , New South
Wales , Australia
Published online: 25 Jul 2012.

To cite this article: Sue Dockett & Sue Dockett (2008) Starting School: A Community Endeavor, Childhood Education,
84:5, 274-280, DOI: 10.1080/00094056.2008.10523024

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 Sue Dockett and
Bob Perry
Sue Dockett Is Professor and Bob
Perry Is Associate Professor, Mur-
rav School of Education, Charles
StGrt Unlverslty, Wagga Wagga,
1 Starting School -
New South Wales, Australia.

A Community Endeavor

M
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uch of the current debate about children’s transition to

school focuses on children’s readiness for school. Indeed, Boethel(2004, p.
17) describes transition as the “focal point of readiness.” Typically, this
focus extends to considering children’s competencies-particularly their
skills and abilities-at the time of starting school. This article reports two
programs that consider broader definitions of readiness and transition,
highlighting the importance of community support and engagement as
children start school. Each of these programs builds community support Children do not grow
for educators, families, and children, with the aim of making the start to
school as positive as possible. and develop in
An assumption exists that home or other prior-to-school settings, such as
preschool or child care settings, will provide the range of experiences and isolation-they are
interactions required to promote children’s readiness, as well as contexts
in which the conditions of readiness can be demonstrated. For example, in members of families
her list of conditions affecting children’s readiness, Kagan (2003) noted the
following: and communities.
Health and physical development These contexts have t o
Social and emotional development
Approaches to learning be considered in
Language development and communication
Cognitive and general knowledge. any assessment of
However, children do not grow and develop in isolation-they are members readiness for school.
of families and communities. These contexts have to be considered in any
assessment of readiness for school.
Efforts to assess the skills and attributes of individual children present
a number of challenges relating to the perceived role and purpose of early
childhood programs and services (Snow, 2006). These include increased ac-
countability for learning outcomes, as well as changes in the nature of early
childhood curriculum to encompass more formal approaches to teaching
and learning (Wesley & Buysse, 2003).
However, definitions of readiness vary across contexts and communities.
In addition to children’s competencies (Kagan, 2003), readiness could refer
to community expectations and constructions of children and families
(Graue, 1992,1999);schools being ready for children (Duran & Wilson, 2004);
or how well communities provide the necessary support and resources for

274 \ Childhood Education

 children and families (Janus& Offord, 2000). In some a successful start to school has occurred. This will
isolated communities,readiness includes an elementof be different in communities that focus on children's
children's ability to manage the travel required to get social and emotional competence as they make the
to and from school. For example, one parent explained transition to school.
that her 5-year-old daughter spent over an hour on the How do communities facilitate the transition to
school bus getting to school each day, and she was the school? Communitiesprovide infrastructure and social
only child on the bus for much of that time (Dockett links that, together, make up social capital (Putnam,
& Perry, 2007). 2004). Communities with high levels of social capital
In the United States, the National Education Goals provide a range of benefits for children through rela-
Panel (1997) identified not only children's attributes as tionships and availability of resources.
a significant component of readiness, but also schools' When schools and early childhood services engage
readiness for children and family and community with communities to focus on promoting a positive
support. The importance of this tripartite definition start to school, they can enhance the available social
(child-school-community)lies in the assumption that capital within the community. This occurs through
it is not only the child who is required to change and the building of stronger relationships and connec-
adjust to school; schools and communities also have tions-for example, those between preschools and
a responsibility for ensuring that children make suc- schools and between families and schools. Engaging
cessful transitions to school. with communities also can enhance the provision of
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resources within communities-for example, by pool-

Transition to School as a ing resources or by combining to lobby for the greater
Process of Relationship Building provision of resources.
Inmany communities,familieshave accessto high-qual- Engaging with communities can present many
ity prior-to-school programs. Staff in these programs challenges for educators. These include identifying
often work closely with their school-based colleagues the community and recognizing that many separate
to plan and promote a series of experiences that enable communities can exist in one geographical location.
children and families to become familiar and comfort- "Community capacity building" is a term used to de-
ablewith school. Transitionprograms that are generated scribe the process of strengthening the capability of a
by close collaboration between staff in prior-to-school community so that it can work collectively to promote
settings (such as preschools, child care settings, and positive change (Howe & Cleary, 2001). The following
family child care) and school staff, and that involve five elements underpin community capacity building
families and children, have great potential for build- (McGinty, 2002):
ing positive relationships that support children as they
start school (Dockett & Perry, 2006,2007). Knowledge building
Relationships are the core of successful transitions. Leadership
Relationshipsprovide critical support for children and Network building
families as they start school, as well as for educatorswho Valuing community
work with the children and families (Rimm-Kaufman, Supporting information and analysis.
Pianta, & Cox, 2000). Pianta (2004)describes relation-
ships as providing both a bridge across contexts (such Working with communities as children make the
as home and school) and critical resources for children transition to school reflects the belief that communities
during times of transition. Supportive relationships have an important role to play in facilitating positive
occur among children, families, and schools, and transitions. When children and familiesfeel connected
may well include.additiona1 community members or with school and education, communitiesbenefit. When
organizations. families and children feel disconnected and alienated
from schools and positive educational outcomes, they,
Community Support for and their communities, suffer.
Positive Transitions to School In several Australian communities, educators from
Community perceptions, be they at the local, state, schools and prior-to-school services have worked to
or national level, affect how we view children, what engage with their local communities to promote a posi-
we expect them to learn, and what we consider to be tive transition to school for children. This has involved
a successful start to school (Dockett & Perry, 2007). a great deal of reaching out to communities to build
For example, in communities that value high levels of relationships based on trust and respect. Where such
individual academic success, the emphasis is likely to programs develop, all involved-children, families,
be on children's academic preparation for school and educators, and community members-report a strong
on academic outcomes as measures of whether or not commitment to a common goal, which is clear in the

Annual Theme 2008 / 275

 wide network of support and resources that become
available. When this common goal relates to ensuring
that all children have a positive start to school, children,
families, educators, and communities benefit as they
provide access to support and resources.
Two examples of programs aimed at promoting
community engagement with the common goal of
facilitating a positive start to school are described
below. Each program was located within the state of
New South Wales, Australia, and each grew out of the
recognition that engaging with communities was es-
sential to promoting effectivetransitions to school. The
programs are described according to the five elements
of community capacity building (McGinty, 2002).
Program 1:
Transition to School Network
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and identifying concerns.
Regular events held within the community. The goal
of these events is to take information'and resources
to the community, rather than expecting community
members to seek out relevant information. Events
include some public celebrations around starting
school, such as:
o Picnic in the Park-for school starters. This open,
free picnic provides an opportunity for the com-
munity to celebrate children starting school, to
share information, and to recognize the changes in
children's (and families') lives. All children start-
ing school receive a bag of resources-including a
Starting School hat-and information for families
is provided, both in brochures and through ac-

cess to people who can provide advice or answer

This program is located in a major urban area. The questions. To date, several hundred people have
population of this area is culturally, socially, and eco- attended the picnic each year. The fifth annual
nomically diverse. A group of educators and commu- picnic was held in 2007.
nity workers who sought to bring together the existing o School Expo-an expo for families, in which all
support for transition to schooland stimulatecontinued schools in the area are invited to provide infor-
community engagement in this process developed the mation about their school in one common venue.
Transition to School Network. The network includes Informationsessionsare provided and familiesare
educators,parents, community members, local govern- encouraged to ask questions of the school staff in
ment representatives, and researchers (Kirk-Downey attendance.
& Kicks, 2005; Kirk-Downey & Perry, 2006).
During the formation of the network, invitations The creation of Billy Backpack. Billy Backpack is the
were issued to all local schools (public, Catholic, and mascot for the Transition to School Network, and he
independent), all prior-to-school services (preschool, appears at transition events, including the picnics
child care, family child care, occasional child care),and and expos. He can be "borrowed" by any prior-to-
all relevant community organizations and agencies school or school setting to emphasize the importance
(such as health, housing and welfare organizations, of transition to school in their communities.
Aboriginal support agencies, services for children
with special educational needs, and services for The networkcontributes to community capacity build-
families from culturally and linguistically diverse ing through:
backgrounds). Families also were invited to par- KnowZedgeBuiZding. Thewide rangeof members of
ticipate. Approximately 30 people attended the early the network, including community members, family
meetings. members of children starting school, educators, and
The network now has been operating for five years, community workers, has enabled the group to identify
with a core group of approximately 15 personnel and community strengths and to build on these, as well
a range of other people who have participated for as work to overcome challenges. Key functions of the
specific periods of time. A dedicated Transition to group have been to provide professional development
School Project Officer facilitates the functioning of the for educators and to provide relevant, accessible, and
network. The Transition to School Network website appropriate information for services, families, and
(www.transitiontoschool.com.au)details the activities children.
of the network, including: Professional development programs run by the
Transitionto School Network are open to all educators,
Regular meetings, open to any member of the families, and community members within the local
group or community member with an interest in area. They address topics identified by the members
transition to school. These meetings are held in of the network and are provided on a cost-recovery
different locationsto facilitate access across the com- basis, with some costs offset by corporate sponsorship.
munity. Discussions at these meetings help to set Programs are optional and may includeasingle session,
the agenda of the group, as well as provide a forum or a series of sessions related to a specific topic. For
for investigating issues, celebrating achievements, example, one session focused on the use of Learning

276 \ Childhood Education

 Stories (Carr, 2001) as a means of documenting young
children’s learning inboth prior-to-school and the early
years of school. Another series of sessions emphasized
the importance of including children’s perspectives of
transition. In addition to building professional knowl-
edge, these sessions provide important opportunities
for educators from prior-to-school and school settings
to get to know one another and to build connections
between their educational settings.
The school expos have provided a forum through
which families can access information from a range
of schools and ask about specific programs or provi-
sions for their children. This has been particularly
important for families who have a choice of schools
for their children.
Leadership. Thenetworkhas a designated facilitator
in the Transition to School Project Officer. In addition,
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about 10 other leaders who have been involved with
the network since its inception, and bring a wealth of
experience to their roles. Some leaders have worked
in prior-to-school settings and in management roles
for almost 20 years. Others have worked in the school
sector for similar periods of time, and often have held
administrative as well as teachingpositions. Stillothers
bring specificexperiencein working with marginalized
groups, such as Aboriginal families or culturally and
linguistically diverse groups. Importantly, consistent
and spirited leadership has come from the local gov-
ernment Children’s Services Officer, who has been
a consistent high-profile advocate for the network.
As a direct result of their established credibility in
the community as well as in education, the network
leadership team has established strong relationships
that are based on trust and respect, both within the
team itself and in the wider community.
NetworkBuilding. The involvementof a wide range
ofpeople has contributed to the building of the network.
Furthermore, some of those involved in the network
have formed partnerships and strategic alliances, as
people from a range of backgrounds and experiences
interact. For example, schoolsin a specificlocalityhave
formed partnerships with their local early childhood
services to develop transition programs, and families
with children going to the same school have formed
links. Local businesses have seen the importance
and impact of the network and have helped provide
sponsorship for some community events.
Valuing Community. Valuing community is the
essence of success for the transition network. As the
community is diverse, different participants in the
network have sought different things. For example,
with limited funding, the network has had to balance
requests for support and resources. This has been
achieved through open and transparent processes and
a continual recognition of the importance of commu-
nity. The network has engaged in strategic planning
exercises and developed a series of goals for future
years. In doing so, the network has recognized that
transition to school is problematic for some groups
of people and in some areas. Targeting these groups
indicates a commitment to redressing power imbal-
ances and gaps in service provision and support.
Supporting Information and Analysis. Document-
ing the work of the network helps raise the profile of
activities. It also helps to ensure that the directions
and decisions to date have been recorded, which is
important as membership of thenetworkchanges.
Involving researchers also helps to set some
strategic directions for research and information
sharing. Currently, an evaluation of the network‘s
impact is being undertaken. As well as providing
feedback to agencies that have supported the net-
work, analysis of the results will help determine
some future directions for the network.
The Transition to School Network provides an
active community forum that is open to all com-
munity members. Outcomes from the network
have raised community awareness concerning
the importance of starting school. Across this
diverse community, transition to school is now
regarded as a time when children and families
need support and when educators work together
to promote positive experiences.
While the Transition to School Network is
Figure 1
SfarfingSch!OOl Zap
Annual Theme 2008 / 277
 effective within the community that generated it, it
is not necessarily a model that will work in all other
communities. One of the major features of programs
that have been effective in promoting community
capacity building is that they have been developed
by community members to meet a particular need or
issue in their own community (Dockett& Perry, 2006).
The following program reflects a different focus and
addresses differentissuesreflectiveof several different
communities.
Program 2:
Engaging With Culturally and
Linguistically Diverse Communities
as Children Start School
The following program was undertaken in several
culturally and linguistically diverse suburban areas of
Sydney, New South Wales. Six schools were involved,
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each with a significant proportion (89-98 percent) of
their students drawn from non-English-speaking
backgrounds. For example, over 20 language groups
were represented in one school (98percent of students
came from non-English-speakingbackgrounds). Three
language groups predominated-Arabic, Samoan, and
278 \ Childhood Education
Chinese-making up approximately 60 percent of the
non-English-speaking students.
While the children themselves often could speak or
were learning English at school, many parents found
it difficult to know what was expected of them as
their children started school, as they felt unable or
uncomfortable when trying to converse in English
(Dockett & Perry, 2005). Regardless of their ability
to communicate in English, all of the parents were
adamant that school was important for their children
and all were committed to making the transition to
school as positive as possible. The aim of this project
was to encourage their involvement in their children’s
transition to school and for them to share their experi-
ences within their broader communities through the
development of a set of brochures written in relevant
languages.
Six language groups were identified as predominant
across the schools-Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Samoan,
Turkish, and Vietnamese. Program staff set about iden-
tifying interpreters within each school wherever pos-
sible, and inviting parents to meet with the interpreter
to talk about children starting school. Researchers
explained that the aim of these discussions was to find
out what was important for families, what
information would be helpful for families
as children start school, and what families
expected of school, as well as to explain the
schools’ expectations for families.
After initial discussions, information from
families was translated into English so that
it could be shared among researchers and
school staff. The information was then for-
matted into a brochure that was designed for
each community language group involved.
A further translation of the information oc-
curred, back into the original community
language. At this time, further discussions
were held with the community groups to
check that the translated text captured the
information they wanted to convey. After
checking, photographs of local community
members were added and brochures printed.
An English language version containing
some of the common elements from each
of the language-specificbrochures was also
developed. All brochures are titled Starting
School With a Smile, and contain information
about what families can do to help children
feel comfortable about starting school (text
Figure 2
Billy Backpack at the Starting Sclzool Picnic
 versionsof the brochures are availableat www.det.nsw.
edu.au/languagesupport/documents/start_sch-smile.
htm).
Knowledge Building. Over a series of discussions,
mediated by an interpreter, parents talked about what
was important for them as their childrenstarted school.
They were asked to identify how they would access
this information (e.g., should the information be pro-
vided in written form, through discussion, or in some
other way) and who should provide the information
(the school, other parents, or community members).
Participants also discussed ways in which to share the
information.Sharing this informationhelpedaffirm the
importance of parents‘ knowledge and demonstrated
a willingness from educators to learn from families,
as well as for families to learn from educators.
Leadership. Each of the schools involved took a
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leadership role in initiating contact with families.
This was important, as several families indicated
that they were not confident approaching the school
themselves, or were unclear as to how they should
go about initiating that process. The involvement of
interpreters-often, community languages teachers at
the schools-helped to establish a collaborative focus,
whereby parents were more comfortable as they could
converse in the language that was most familiar to
them.
Initially, some parents were unsure about the task-
some, for example, commented that in their countries
of origin, teachers did not ask for help from parents
and parents were not expected to be involved in what
happened at school. Families whose home languages
were Vietnamese, Turkish, and Chinese explainedtheir
cultures’ emphasis on respect for the teacher, from both
children and parents. At times, their comments were
accompanied by reactions of surprise that all families
did not have high levels of respect for teachers. In spite
of the difficulties it caused one Vietnamese-speaking
father, he explained through an interpreter what he
saw as the importance of providing a good model to
his son in interactions with the teacher:
He explained a scenario where he took his son into school
and said to the son to say hello to his teacher and the son
said nothing twice. Then hegoes homeand says “whydidn‘t
you say hello to the teacher?” . . . The problem is that the
parent is shy and scared of the teacher and then [the child
is tool. But if they see you saying ”Hello, how are you?”
modelling the action, then the boy would do it. It is like the
father is asking the boy to do it but he doesn‘t do it himself:
[Interpreter for Tranh, Vietnamese-speaking father,
urban area]. (Dockett & Perry, 2007, pp. 103-104)
N e t w o r k Building. Many parents met each other
for the first time at these discussions. The chance to
meet, and to share their experiences and stories, was a
critical step in helping parents form their own support
networks, and they further .connected to the school
through the interpreter. Many families continued
their interactions long after the project finished, thus
providing a context for their children, as well as for
themselves, in which to form ongoing connections
and friendships.
Valuing Community. The underlying notion of this
program was to demonstrate value for diverse com-
munities and to seek input from community members
(in this case, families) about how to turn the valuing
into action.
SupportingInformation andAnalysis. Oneoutcome
of the program was the documentation of information
shared by each community group. The result was a
series of brochures specific to community and lan-
guage groups. These were printed in the appropriate
languages (Arabic,Bengali, Chinese, Samoan, Turkish,
Vietnamese, and English) and illustrated with photos
of community members. Thesebrochures were distrib-
uted through schools and other community agencies
to help families.
A less tangible result, as reported by the partici-
pants in this program, was achieving a greater sense
of belonging to the school community. With families
feeling more connected to school, the children at-
tending school are well-placed to benefit from greater
family engagement with school, and from the trust
and respect that developed between the school staff
and families.
The Two Programs
In quite different ways, these two programs provide
examples of how communities can work to support a
successfulstart to schoolfor all children. The Transition
to School Network has developed a set of structures
to coordinate meetings, professional development
sessions, information sharing with families, and cel-
ebrations of the transition to school. This success has
been achieved largely through the pooling of resources
and by responding to identified needs within their
diverse community. Language-specific brochures
were developed to support families in their efforts to
help children make a positive start to school. While
the programs are quite different, they also have some
common elements:
The programs both rely on broad definitions of
readiness, rather than focusing on what children
need to know or should be able to do in order to
start school
The programs provide support for children and
families before the child starts school
Relationship building is central to the success of the
Annual Theme 2008 / 279
 programs
Both programs build community resources and re-
sponsiveness,with the result that educators, families,
and communities can access a range of support.
Conclusion
Starting school is a time of transition for children,
families, educators, and communities. The relation-
ships that exist among these stakeholders will largely
determine the effectiveness of children’s engagement
with compulsory education. Transition to school
programs and practices that facilitate engagement
with communities have the potential to contribute to
children’s school success, as well as to the strengthen-
ing of the local community. Strong communities, in
turn, can provide the support and resources necessary
for effective education outcomes. The significance of
programs based on community capacity-buildinglies
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in their potential to:
Tap into a wide range of skills and abilities among
community members
Empower communities to gain a sense of ownership
and control over processes that influence their day-
to-day lives
Act as a catalyst to engender stronger social ties, trust,
and responsibility throughout the community
Demonstrate the effectiveness of community col-
laboration and commitment.
A community focus on children starting school
retreats from the notion of dealing with children’s
readiness for school as an individual characteristic. It
emphasizes that a child’s preparedness for school is a
function of many relationships within the community
in which the child lives and learns. Recognition of
the importance of these relationships-and how their
development not only assists children’s preparedness
for school, but also builds the capacity for communi-
ties to develop even stronger relationships-is critical
to the reconceptualization of school readiness.
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