A smooth transition

The transition from preschool facilities to regular primary education is stressful for pupils with special educational needs, their families and for their teachers. With the project "A smooth transition" we aim to improve the cooperation between home, school and healthcare professionals and to reduce the stress of educational professionals and families of students with special educational needs so that they can have a good start to their school career.

The increase in the number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in regular primary education causes a lot of stress and uncertainty for education professionals, SEN pupils and their families. This stress and uncertainty have an impact on the development of SEN students. In particular, the transition from preschool facilities to regular primary education is stressful. It is unclear who takes the lead, which healthcare professionals are involved and the cooperation between families, SEN pupils and educational professionals is difficult.
Education professionals should have the skills to comprehend the changing care network of SEN pupils and also to provide families with the support they need during the transition to regular primary education. By preventively focusing on coaching families and SEN pupils who go to regular primary school for the first time, a lot of stress and uncertainty can be prevented, giving SEN pupils the opportunity to develop optimally from the start at the regular primary school.
The aim of the project "A smooth transition" is (1) to train educational professionals as coaches so that they can properly guide and empower SEN pupils and their families during the transition to regular primary education, and (2) to gain insight into the associated changing care network.

Aim

The aim of the project "A smooth transition" is (1) to train educational professionals as coaches so that they can properly guide and empower SEN pupils and their families during the transition to regular primary education, and (2) to gain insight into the associated changing care network.

Research question

Care Mapping (CM) and The Family Conversation (HFG) are tools that can contribute to the skills of educational professionals for mapping and deploying the care network of SEN pupils and to coach families and SEN pupils and to be able to offer the support they need.

Sub-questions

1. To what extent does the use of CM & HFG lead to stress reduction among education professionals in regular primary education and does it improve their skills to support SEN pupils and their families in the transition to regular primary education?
2. To what extent does the use of CM & HFG contribute to stress reduction, self-management and self-efficacy of families and SEN pupils during the transition of SEN pupils to regular primary education?

 * A smooth transition means that more SEN pupils successfully switch to regular primary education by:

• - improving the skills of education professionals - reduction of uncertainty and stress of educational professionals and families and SEN children
• - increasing experienced self-management and self-efficacy of families of SEN children

Expected results 

Clarity about changes in care networks around pupils with special educational needs in the field of behaviour and social development during the transition to regular primary school; insight into effective elements that are important for a smooth transition of pupils with SEN to regular primary education. Tools to map the care network around the transition to regular primary education of pupils with SEN (CM) and to use this care network in the right way (HFG); Family-oriented skills to engage with families and empower them in the guidance of their children with SEN (HFG); Insight into active elements CM & HFG.

Impact

Through the project "A smooth transition" the cooperation between home, school and healthcare professionals will improve, the stress of educational professionals and families of SEN students will be reduced, and SEN students will have a good start  to their further school career.

Valorisation

The path from research to practice is guaranteed in the project "A smooth transition" because educational professionals from the primary schools involved are trained in the family dialogue and in the use of the care map and will apply it during the duration of the project. Based on the results, a training for the family dialogue and the care map will be tailor-made for educational professionals and a generic approach for a smooth transition of students with special educational needs to regular education will be developed. When the research ends, a textbook will be written about the application of the care map and the family dialogue by students of the pedagogical academy and will be offered to an educational publisher.