Experiences of the disadvantaged children receiving family and school support in transition to preschool: 'Mom! Leave my backpack and turn back home!'

A successful school start is possible with a long and collaborative transition process. In this action research, the one-week transition program in preschool education in Turkey was extended to 8 months and supported with teacher-parent communication to examine children's transition experiences during the process. The data were collected from 23 Turkish and 2 Syrian children and their families through observation, interview and document analysis and administered to content analysis. The Turkish children were observed to start preschool education more willingly establishing positive relationships with their teachers and peers, while the Syrian children experienced more adaptation problems due to language barriers.