Transition from childcare to school: surgency, center-based care and caregiver-child relationship predict self-regulation, social competence and well-being

There is an increasing interest in the precursors of children's learning and well-being in the transition from early childhood education and care to the early start of elementary school. In our study, we followed Dutch toddlers (N = 110) from childcare to the transition to elementary school and evaluated children's academic self-regulation, social competence and well-being in school. Children with high levels of surgency during their child care years have a less problematic transition to school and higher levels of well-being. Transition problems mediated the effect of temperament on self-regulation, social competence and well-being. Children from childcare centers had higher levels of social competence compared to children from home-based care. Conflicts in the caregiver-child relationship in childcare predicted maladjustment after entry in school. Aligning with an ecological perspective, characteristics at both child (temperament) and environmental level (type and quality of childcare) stimulated children to develop the foundation for their early learning at the onset of their school career.