Children from expatriate families moving countries and entering school mid semester: new entrants transitioning into established practices

Few studies report on how families transition their young children into school mid-way through the year as a result of moving countries. Missing from the literature on transitions are discussions about how young children from these transient families begin their early education in international schools. This chapter examines how in an international school in Malaysia, newcomers enter into classroom life, where routines and friendship groups are already established. Three focus children’s transitions are presented as each child experiences the established practices within their new school. In drawing upon Hedegaard’s (2012) concept of transitions, a discussion of the societal values, institutional practices, and personal motives of children as they enter into an activity setting of free play is presented. Transitioning into established practices within and across activity settings, were shown to be experienced by the newcomers in different ways. It is argued that free play time is supportive of children’s development because this activity setting appears to make visible what matters to the children in transition, as well as the established rules and roles of the new practice traditions that are to be learned by the children in transition.