Arrondissement de Bordeaux, Francia
The study of the process of becoming a student is currently a key issue in educational science and psychology research. However, there is no consensus on its definition. Based on a redefinition of the concept from a psychodevelopmental and contextual perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 2005; Malrieu, 1973), the aim of this study is to document the inter- and intra-individual variabilities of becoming a student in children during nursery school. Some information on the becoming a student process for 202 French children (M = 5.51 years) from 37 teachers in the last year of nursery school were collected. Based on a longitudinal design, teachers answered the same questionnaire three times within one year, for each child whose parents had given their consent. Data on parents’ socioeconomic background and children’s home screen time were also collected. Latent profile analyses, bivariate analyses, multivariate regressions, and the descriptive analysis of children’s trajectories within profiles over the year highlighted several findings: (a) different becoming a student profiles were identified at each time: children showed different levels of academic competencies, social-emotional development, and school experience; (b) belonging to these profiles was not consistently predicted over the year by the parents’ socioeconomic background or children’s home screen time; and (c) children’s trajectories within these profiles during the last year of nursery school were multiple. These findings contribute to a better understanding of becoming a student and its evolution, with wide-ranging pedagogical implications for teachers.