What Is School Readiness

As the end of the year draws closer and children are getting ready to transition to primary school, it is timely to address what school readiness looks like in early childhood services, and examine if all services teach the same thing. School readiness refers to preparing a child to make an easy and successful transition into school and all early childhood services do it.

Let’s be clear, school readiness is not sitting at a desk with stencils learning to write and add numbers. For a child to be ready for school there are four main areas they need to be competent in, or at least working towards, to have a successful entry to school:

·        Social skills – can the child talk and play cooperatively with their peers?

·        Emotional Regulation – does the child cry or become angry at the drop of a hat and unable to settle themselves relatively quickly, or do they spiral out of control?

·        Independence and Self-help – can the child go the toilet by themselves? Wipe their own nose? And look after their own belongings?

·        Ability to follow directions – will the child follow the direction of the teacher and be compliant about it?

There are no gold stars for a child who can diligently write their name and count to 50 if they can’t manage basic independence and can’t mingle appropriately with their peers. That is setting the child up to fail.

All early childhood services have a higher teacher to child ratio than primary schools, which allow teachers to assist children to develop the following school readiness skills that rest on a set of social, emotional and cognitive building blocks:

1. Receptive and expressive language so children can express themselves and understand other people.
2. Executive functioning and bigger picture thinking.
3. Social skills and how they interact with their peers and others.
4. Planning and sequencing to follow multi-step instructions.
5. Sensory integration or processing to different sensory stimuli around them.
6. Self-regulation and emotional regulation.
7. Articulation and pronunciation of words.

These building blocks children start to develop from the time they’re born and are further developed at the early childhood service. Sometimes people perceive services who are labelled “long day care” as more babysitting and less school readiness. Understandably it can be confusing as other services are labelled “pre-schools”. Let’s look at the differences. Long day care services are funded by the federal government and pre-schools are funded by the state government. Long day care services are open longer hours and more weeks of the year and provide food, while pre-schools are open school terms, shorter hours and do not provide food. But that is where the differences stop. Both types of service are regulated by the same governing bodies against the National Quality Framework to provide the same education and care, and both are guided by the Early Year Learning Framework which says children learn best through play.

Children’s learning sticks when they learn through play. This is because they learn while having fun, and through their own troubleshooting, instead of always being instructed what to do. When they play with their peers, they develop social competence, the ability to regulate their emotions, and the ability to follow social norms. They also continue to develop their receptive and expressive language skills.

Moreover, when children play with concrete materials such as blocks, counters, manipulating clay, perusing picture books, and participating in role play, children develop social skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity and familiarity with printed words. Likewise, when children talk to each other and when educators read stories to them children develop language skills, the ability to listen to stories, and the ability to ask questions. Sitting at a desk with a pencil and a stencil does not do this.

So how do you know when your child is not ready for school? Generally, a child that isn’t ready for school will struggle to follow instructions and become frustrated easily. They may also have a shorter attention span and lack the social and emotional maturity of their peers. Other signs include:

1. Poor language and communication skills
2. Resistance to trying or learning new things
3. Relying on parents or carers for tasks such as getting dressed
4. Not yet toilet training during the day
5. Poor social interactions with children of the same age
6. Challenges with understanding and accepting consequences

Your child’s teacher is the best person to ask to see how they are travelling when it comes to school readiness. For further reading check out NSW Government Getting Ready for Primary School https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/parents-and-carers/going-to-school/getting-ready-for-school/starting-primary-school