ABSTRACT Grounded in the sociocultural perspective, this paper analyses current Croatian theory and practice on the transition to school and addresses the importance of fostering a play-based pedagogy and symbolic play in particular. Despite the contemporary theoretical background on early childhood and children’s transition to school, the mainstream readiness discourse is still dominant in practice, building a gap between theory and practice. In Croatia, the preschool year of kindergarten is strongly influenced by school-like activities as opposed to play-based pedagogy in the earlier years of kindergarten. The symbolic play, referred to as the queen of activities (Slunjski and Ljubetić, 2014. “Play and its Pedagogical Potential in a Preschool Institution.” Croatian Journal of Education 16 (1): 127–141. https://hrcak.srce.hr/117857), is repressed by the academic activities. The activities characterised and overly influenced by an adult’s direct pedagogical approach pose an endangerment to the basic principles of play. This paper highlights the significance of fostering children’s symbolic play in the year preceding primary school as an alternative to the prevailing practice of developing exclusively academic skills.

中文翻译：

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过渡到学校期间的儿童象征性游戏

摘要基于社会文化的视角，本文分析了克罗地亚目前向学校过渡的理论和实践，并特别强调了培养以戏剧为基础的教学法和象征性戏剧的重要性。尽管当代有关于幼儿和儿童过渡入学的理论背景，但主流的准备就绪话语仍在实践中占主导地位，从而在理论与实践之间形成了鸿沟。在克罗地亚，幼儿园的学前班受到与学校类似的活动的强烈影响，而不是幼儿园早期的基于游戏的教学法。具有象征意义的戏剧被称为活动的女王（Slunjski和Ljubetić，2014年。“学龄前机构中的戏剧及其教学潜力”。）克罗地亚教育杂志16（1）：127–141。https：//hrcak.srce .hr / 117857），被学术活动所压制。成人的直接教学方法所表征和过度影响的活动对游戏的基本原理构成了威胁。本文强调了在小学一年级之前培养儿童象征性游戏的重要性，这是发展专门的学术技能的普遍做法的替代方法。