A Comparison of Preschool and First Grade Teachers' Views about School Readiness
2013; EDAM-Education Consultancy Limited; Volume: 13; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2148-7561
Autoresİkbal Tuba Şahin, Ramazan Sak, Nuran Tuncer,
Tópico(s)Educational and Psychological Assessments
ResumoAbstractSchooL readiness is an important concern for parents and teachers because it is a muLtifaceted process which encompasses aLL the developmental areas and various skills of children rather than only focusing on cognitive and literacy skills. In particular, preschool and first grade teachers experience the positive and negative sides of the process of school readiness. In this study, basic qualitative research was used to compare teachers' views about school readiness. The participants were 35 preschool and 35 first grade teachers and a semi-structured interview protocol developed by the researchers was used to collect data. Qualitative analysis was performed at the end of the study and according to the findings, the following five main themes were determined: definition of school readiness, the effective people and institutions in the school readiness process, preschool education for school readiness, the difficulties encountered in the school readiness process and suggestions for effective school readiness. Also, the findings showed that preschool and first grade teachers tended to have si mi lar views related school readiness.Key WordsSchool Readiness, Preschool Education, Preschool Teachers, First Grade Teachers, Teachers' View.The transition between educational grades is a critical period for children, parents, teachers and schools (Amundson, 1999; Steen, 2011; Winter & Kelley, 2008). In particular, the parents and teachers are concerned about the transition to first grade in which young children will be engaged in more academic activities (Winter & Kelley, 2008), which requires the child to be well prepared (Bilgili & Yurtal, 2009). School readiness not only consists of the development of cognitive and literacy skills (Winter & Kelley, 2008) but covers all developmental domains of children such as physical, social, emotional and language (Halle, Hair, Wandner, & Chien, 2012; McTurk, Lea, Robinson, Nutton, & Carapetis, 2011; Morrison, 2011). The main aim of the readiness process is to provide children with a smooth transition to first grade (Winter & Kelley, 2008).Preschool education is thought to be important for the smooth transition to first grade (Okon & Wilgocka-Okon, 1973; Wolf & Kessler, 1987). This is supported by Erkan and Kirca (2010) searched the effect of preschool education on 170 young children's school readiness and found that children who had preschool experience were more ready than other peers. Similarly another study conducted by Magnusan, Meyers, Ruhm, and Waldfogel (2004), it was emphasized that preschool education was especially important for children from low income families and had a positive impact on the children's reading and math skills. Also, Aboud and Hossain (2011) emphasized that preschool education increased children's academic success in further education. However, there are some anxieties about that although young children may attend preschool they may still have some problems when starting first grade. Kotaman (2009) reported that although children gained some skills for first grade in preschool classrooms, it would not be easy to adapt to less child-centered and more structured first grade classrooms after the preschool classroom in which the activities and relationships between child and teacher are more flexible.In the available research, certain important points were made concerning children's readiness for first grade and facilitating the transition between grades. Consistency and persistence between programs of two grades makes the readiness process more meaningful and supports easy transition (McTurk et al., 2011). Also, preschool and first grade teachers sharing information and experiences, and the consistency of their educational philosophies make positive contributions to the process (LoCasale- Crouch, Mashburn, Downer, & Pianta, 2008). However, Love, Logue, Trudeau, and Thayer (1992) emphasized that only 10% of first grade teachers contacted with preschool teachers of their students. …
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