Project management: Prof. Dr. Sabine Lingenauber
Funded by: BMBF / Thuringian Ministry of Education
Duration: 2008-2009
Cooperation partners: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF),
Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien Berlin-Brandenburg (LISUM),
Thüringer Institut für Lehrerfortbildung, Lehrplanentwicklung und Medien (ThILLM),
Thüringer Kindertageseinrichtungen und Grundschulen.

Project description:
In the joint project, more than 300 educators and subject specialists from the primary and elementary sector developed and tested materials, instruments and strategies for the systematic interlinking of day care centres and primary schools in Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia.

The aim of the joint project TransKiGs was to strengthen the quality of education and upbringing in day care centres and primary schools and to improve the transition between the two educational institutions. To this end, new forms of education in day care centres and primary schools were tested and the cooperation of all participants was further developed. The focus was on the

• Development and testing of educational concepts and plans in day care centres and primary schools,
• networking of different institutions against the background of different state structures with the aim of developing a common educational philosophy that is reflected in the educational concepts of day-care centres and schools,
• Development of strategies and materials for shaping transition processes and for further training of multipliers for staff in both areas.

The following steps were decisive in the joint project:

• The participating day care centres and primary schools developed implementation approaches for educational concepts and educational plans.
• The educational process and transitions were conceptualised across institutions.
• The institutions developed and implemented concepts for the relationship between family and educational institution.
• With regard to an efficient and sustainable implementation of the educational mandate, the system control in the elementary and primary sector was further developed across institutions.

Within the framework of the TransKiGs sub-project Thuringia, six tandems were created, each consisting of teachers from a primary school and educators from up to 5 day care centres. In the context of the joint project, the following three focal points were set:

The facilities

• defined a common developmental focus for one educational area of the Thuringian educational plan for children up to 10 years of age and worked out possibilities for the individual support of each child,
• developed and implemented forms of cooperation with all those involved in the educational process,
• worked on a common understanding of education and a common pedagogical language on the basis of the Thuringian Education Plan for Children up to 10 Years.

The scientific monitoring of the Thuringian sub-project in the BLK joint project was carried out under the direction of Prof. Dr. Sabine Lingenauber and the collaboration of Janina L. von Niebelschütz.

The tasks of the scientific process support included in particular:

• the evaluation of the project with regard to the achievement of the goals for TransKiGs in Thuringia,
• the identification of weak points in the project and the development of appropriate solutions for the project in Thuringia,
• identifying the need for support and counselling, and
• on-site counselling.

The basis of a planned handout for practice is a reflection model, the "level model of professional action" (cf. Lingenauber 2008, p. 200). It describes a total of seven levels of actors to which individual strategies for successful transition processes can be directed:

1. Educator & primary school teacher,
2. nursery school teacher & primary school teacher & nursery school parents,
3. nursery school teacher & primary school teacher & nursery school children,
4. nursery school parent & primary school parent,
5. kindergarten child & primary school child,
6. nursery child & nursery teacher & primary school teacher & nursery parents,
7. kindergarten parents & kindergarten child (cf. Lingenauber 2008, p. 199).

A special focus is currently on the preparation of a final publication for the systematic presentation of the central project results. Integrated into the level model, particularly innovative strategies for successful transition processes of individual tandems will be presented. A transfer and implementation phase of the project is planned for 2010.

Publications:
Lingenauber, Sabine: Bildungsqualität durch Partizipation. Children and parents as actors in the transition process. In: Zeitschrift für Inklusion (2010)3 URL: http://www.inklusion-online.net/index.php/inklusion/article/viewArticle/63/75, download from 2.9.2010

Lingenauber, Sabine/Niebelschütz, Janina L. von/Thüringer Institut für Lehrerfortbildung, Lehrplanentwicklung und Medien (ed.): Übergangskonzeptionen. Final report of the research project TransKiGs-Thüringen. Bad Berka, 2010

Lingenauber, Sabine: Das Übergangsbuch. A Transfer Strategy between Kindergarten and Primary School. In: Deutsch differenziert 4(2009)4, pp. 14-18

Lingenauber, Sabine: Übergang Kindertageseinrichtung/Grundschule. In: Lingenauber, Sabine (ed.): Handlexikon der Integrationspädagogik (Volume 1: Kindertageseinrichtungen). Bochum and Freiburg, 2008, pp. 198-203

Lingenauber, Sabine/Niebelschütz, Janina L. von: The Transition Book. Children, parents and educators document the transition from day care to school. Berlin: to be published in 2010

Lingenauber, Sabine/Niebelschütz, Janina L. von: TransKiGs Thüringen. In: Lenkungsgruppe TransKiGs (Hrsg.): Übergang Kita Schule zwischen Kontinuität und Herausforderung. Materials, instruments and results of the TransKiGs joint project. Ludwigsfelde: (forthcoming)

Niebelschütz, Janina L. von: Seven taster days. Kindergarten children in primary school. In: Deutsch differenziert 4(2009)4, pp. 20-24

Thüringer Institut für Lehrerfortbildung, Lehrplanentwicklung und Medien (ThILLM) (ed.): Das Übergabegespräch. A strategy for successful transition processes from day care to primary school (DVD). Bad Berka: 2009

Thüringer Institut für Lehrerfortbildung, Lehrplanentwicklung und Medien (ThILLM) (ed.): Übergangskonzeptionen und -management. Final report of the research project TransKiGs-Thüringen. Bad Berka: published 2009

Link:www.transkigs.de