Grounded Theory Analysis of the Parent’s Conception of Child Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School: An Interaction Mechanism of the Influencing Factors

Currently, there are issues with child education in the transition from kindergarten to primary school in China, including advanced implementation of the primary curriculum, senior kindergarten students being transferred to other educational institutions for pre-primary preparation, and parents’ biased understanding of the transition. Employing a grounded theory approach, this study aims to explore the factors influencing the conception of child education in the transitional period among parents of preschool children and develop a grounded theory model of the interaction mechanism of these factors. First-hand data on parental views on the transition were collected through interviews and underwent three-level coding via NVivo software analysis. Coding and analysis results reveal that the parent’s conception of the transitional process could be improved and grow increasingly scientific. Nevertheless, there remained contradictions in the parent’s conception of this subject, including contradictions between comprehensive habit cultivation and primary school knowledge training, between prioritizing healthy growth and forcing advanced learning, and between multi-stakeholder collaboration and reliance on the kindergarten as the sole provider of the education in question. The study concludes that the parent’s conception of the child’s kindergarten-to-primary school transition is modifiable, that their evaluations of kindergarten education inform their conception of the transition, that the interaction among the influencing factors drives the transformation of their conception, and that their biased attitudes towards child education in the transition largely stem from their psychology of comparison and vague perceptions of primary school. Recommendations are also proposed based on respective roles of various stakeholders.