ABSTRACT
When children make a transition to a new arena – a new school form or a new school building – there is not only the need to adapt and adjust to the new context, but also a process of separating from the old. In this way, a transition process becomes a two-way window: a simultaneous process of adjustment and separation. This process carries a range of implications for practice, based on the recognition that all teachers have a responsibility to help children not only adjust to the new, but also to disengage from the old context. The chapter has a practical focus and builds upon children’s voices and narratives about the transition from preschool to school in Sweden. Special focus is directed towards the children’s separation processes, since this is an area that seldom receives attention when discussing children’s transition to school. The chapter concludes with a discussion about transitions as two-way windows, where children can be active in both the old and the new context and where relationships assume a critical focus of transitions.
