ONE CHILD, MANY ENVIRONMENTS - CONTINUITY OR DISCONTINUITY IN KINDERGARTEN AND SCHOOL-BASED DAY-CARE PROGRAMS

A growing number of children are attending both kindergarten (K) and school-based day care (C) after a prior experience in preschool day care. Consequently problems of harmony and coordination are encountered at an age that calls for special attention to continuity, stability, and quality of experiences. The first of the two studies reported in this article assessed 19 K and 15 C on an environment rating scale. Analyses show higher and more homogeneous results for K when globally compared with C environments. The same superiority appears when comparing K-C dyads of the same school in 12 cases, whereas five dyads are similar and 2 C are rated higher than their K counterpart. The second study was aimed at identifying factors of discontinuity in communication between K teachers (KT) and C educators (CE). Answers to a specifically designed questionnaire show differences between KT and CE on age, education, and experience. They indicate a general agreement on perceived level of relationship, satisfaction with this relationship, content of communication and knowledge of child's experience in other program, and of counterpart's educational practices. Results also indicate low levels of information and communication between KT and CE and pinpoints obstacles to improvement. Results from both studies are discussed in terms of risks for children's adaptation and development.