Transition Structures across Early Childhood Education and Care, School and After-School Care in the Faroe Islands:
Documented Pathways and Potential Conditions for 5-7-Year-Olds’ Continuity of Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20933/788w6a39Keywords:
Faroe Islands, educational transition structures, continuity of learning, local governance, play, after-school careAbstract
This article maps and interprets transitions for 5–7-year-old children as organised and represented in municipal and policy documents across early childhood education and care, school and after-school care in the Faroe Islands. A qualitative document analysis of municipalities identified five distinct transition structures, ranging from simple daycare-to-school pathways to more complex routes involving pre- or preparatory classes and after-school care. Drawing on a bioecological perspective, the analysis shows how these documented structures vary in stability, coordination and exposure to different learning environments. Including after-school care in the mapping highlights how transition pathways extend across the whole school day and year, with horizontal and vertical shifts occurring not only at school entry but also within the year children turn six. When interpreted through the continuity framework, findings illustrate how municipal arrangements may support coherence through relational stability, shared pedagogical aims or play-based approaches or introduce risks of fragmentation if the purposes and practices of different settings are weakly aligned. References to play, often framed as a social or preparatory focus, reveal varying pedagogical orientations that shape children’s opportunities for meaning-making and agency across settings.
The study contributes to research on early years transitions by providing a system-wide overview of how organisational diversity in a small, decentralised context shapes potential conditions for continuity of learning across early childhood education and care, school, and after-school care. It suggests that coherence depends not only on structural design but also on the quality of communication, collaboration and play-supportive practices that connect children’s everyday environments.
Published
License
Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms. If a submission is rejected or withdrawn prior to publication, all rights return to the author(s):- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Submitting to the journal implicitly confirms that all named authors and rights holders have agreed to the above terms of publication. It is the submitting author's responsibility to ensure all authors and relevant institutional bodies have given their agreement at the point of submission.
Note: some institutions require authors to seek written approval in relation to the terms of publication. Should this be required, authors can request a separate licence agreement document from the editorial team (e.g. authors who are Crown employees).
