Kindergarten CoP : communities of practice in the transition to school

Abstract

All people are members of various communities of practice (for example, families, sports clubs, educational institutions, companies, divisions within organisations, religious groups, and community groups). A 'communities of practice' framework is a social theory of learning, one that sees learning as an instinctive and social process that occurs through engaging with others in context. To date, such a framework has not been applied to children's experiences of starting school and has focused mainly on adults' experiences of membership. This thesis reports young children's perspectives of becoming members of classroom and school communities of practice as they start school and how these perspectives evolved over the period of 1 year. It introduces a framework based on routines, rules, relationships, rituals and remarkable moments that describe children's involvement in their school-based communities of practice. Further, the thesis demonstrates and celebrates young children's competencies in negotiating and participating in a community of practice and in articulating their perspectives and experiences in a range of ways.

Date of Award	2009
Original language	English