Taking a strength-based approach and incorporating Indigenous ways of Knowing, Being and Doing provides the opportunity to think differently about Early Years transition and creates a rock-solid foundation for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Jarjums in the Early Years.
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The Early Years pathway for any Jarjum involves a series of transitions—from home to playgroup, to Prep, to Kindy, and into Years 1 and 2. If these transitions are treated as isolated experiences in different settings, Jarjums are left to continually navigate new rules, expectations, and environments. Transition should be a holistic process, underpinned by High-Expectations Relationships that ensure everyone is involved and working together, not just within a single learning space but across the sectors. This may require thinking outside the box, adopting localised approaches, and shifting the focus to collaborative conversations across sectors and communities.
The Institute’s position paper A Mesh of High-Expectations Relationships Across Transitions in the Early Years, describes how High-Expectations Relationships can build supportive and caring connections. In the Early Years, these relationships are especially vital for First Nations Jarjums who are navigating a Third Cultural Space.
Transition becomes a strength-based journey, guided by Indigenous ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing, and supported by a mesh of High-Expectations Relationships. This approach invites the whole village—families, educators, and communities—to collaborate, creating interwoven spaces for incremental learning
A version of the Early Years Transtion Framework has been published in the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.
Bobongie, F. & Jackson, C. (2021). Understanding cultural artefacts to ensure seamless transitions in the Early Years. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 47(1), 62-73
The Institute’s Chapter in the World Yearbook of Education 2020 describes the Institute’s approach to disrupting the status quo and seeking the strength-based, localised approaches needed for successful outcomes for Australia’s Indigenous Jarjums.
The Chapter describes how the Stronger Smarter Jarjums Program supports Early Years educators to understand how a strength-based approach that recognises the tensions at the ‘cultural interface’ can create a rock-solid foundation for the Early Years.
High-Expectations Relationships provides a model of school governance where the whole school community co-creates high-quality learning spaces where all Jarjums can become great learners. Extending this co-creation to families and communities and across organisations and sectors, Early Years educators can create seamless transitions through sectors of the Early Years, helping Jarjums negotiate the complexities of the cultural interface.
Bobongie, F. & Jackson, C. (2019). Stronger Smarter – transformational change for Australian schools with rock -solid foundations in the Early Years. In J. Allan, V. Harwood, & C. Rubner Jorgensen (Eds). World Yearbook of education 2020: Schooling, Governance and Inequalities. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Our papers describe how understanding the cultural artefacts that shape the identities, behaviours and learning styles can help to support Jarjums through the Early Years Transitions. These cultural artefacts are the visible and invisible elements of a Jarjum’s cultural world—language, family roles, community practices, storytelling traditions, and ways of expressing emotion and knowledge. Recognising these cultural artefacts enables educators to interpret behaviours more accurately and respond with empathy and cultural awareness.
By embedding this understanding of cultural artefacts into teaching practices and transition programs, educators create a third cultural space where Jarjums can be themselves, feel safe, and grow into confident learners. In a system built on Western values—where most educators are non-Indigenous—creating this environment requires deliberate action.
This has profound implications for Early Years transition programs. Starting from a strength-based approach and incorporating Indigenous ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing opens the door to new possibilities—and a rock-sold foundation for the Early Years.
Read our Blogs and Alumni stories on Early Years Transitions and the Third Cultural Space
Read our SSI Reading Reviews on Early Years Transitions
This Reading Review looks at work by Jacynta Krakouer and others regarding supporting transitions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the Early Years.
This Reading Review considers the Footprints in Time report, which looks at the role of ‘resilience’ in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early learning context, drawing on both a review of the literature and on data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC).