ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the history of how services and education for young children have developed in such a fragmented way, leading to so many potential transitions for babies and children up to the age of five and beyond. It considers how research and theories about children's experience of transition can help us, as practitioners, to respond better to their needs while continuing to challenge the expectation that excessive transitions are normal – and acceptable – in a young child's life. Working class parents had plenty of reasons for wanting their youngest children safely inside a school building with their older siblings, whether or not they were interested in their education. A major development has been the introduction of free early education places during term time for three- and four-year-olds, although parents are not obliged to use it. Local communities have continued to create voluntary-run pre-school playgroups managed by committees and sometimes subsidized by churches etc.
