Transitions and emergent writers

Transition has been described as the passage from one place, stage, style or subject to another over time’. Throughout a lifetime a person will move through numerous transitions, many simultaneously. For a young child, two important and overlapping transitions are starting school and learning to write. Each brings new and different processes and expectations for the child. It has been widely acknowledged that successful school transition plays an important role in later school success. However, the idea that starting school and learning to write are two overlapping transitions has not seen the same level of scrutiny. Starting school and learning to write may also overlap, interact or intersect with further transitions involving, for example, parental separation or a change in location. This chapter examines how the starting school transition could affect the learning to write transition.