Readiness for school: a relational construct.(early childhood education)(Report)

Introduction

Readiness for school is a contested and controversial term. Yet it is also a term invoked regularly in discussions on the transition to school. Parents and educators anguish over whether or not a child is ready for school as they try to make decisions they believe will best support children as they move into formal schooling. Even when those involved recognise that an individual child's readiness is but one element of a successful start to school, the focus on children's characteristics remains.

Readiness means different things to different people (Meisels, 1999). Sometimes, readiness is described in terms of age or stage of development. At other times checklists of readiness skills and knowledge are used to identify what children should be able to do or know before they start school (Dockett & Perry, 2006). Still other definitions of readiness emphasise social and emotional aspects (Peth-Pierce, 2001). The common factor underpinning these approaches is the focus on the individual child and whether or not the child has reached a particular point that constitutes readiness.

While it is particularly important to consider children as individuals as they start school, it is also important to acknowledge that children do not exist in isolation--they are members of families, communities, cultural and friendship groups, and so on. Neither are schools culturally neutral spaces--schools and those within them have a range of expectations that impact on how readiness is defined and enacted (Graue, 2006). Definitions of readiness will be influenced by family, community and school expectations, as well as by children's attributes. Relationships involving children, families, schools and communities will also have an impact on perceptions and expectations of readiness (Dockett & Perry, 2007).

The US National Education Goals Panel (1997) identified three components of school readiness:

1. Children's readiness for school (enabling them to participate in classroom and learning experiences).

2. Schools' readiness for children (schools responding to the children enrolled).