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Parental perspectives on children’s school readiness: an ethnographic study

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 19:20 authored by Kim JoseKim Jose, Susan Banks, Emily HansenEmily Hansen, Jones, RP, Zubrick, SR, Staford, J, Taylor, CL
School readiness is a construct used by educators and policy makers to describe a range of abilities that are beneficial for children transitioning to school. The association of socioeconomic disadvantage with developmental vulnerability when children start school is well established. Parents play a crucial role in supporting children’s transition to school and are acknowledged as their child’s first and foremost teacher. The aim of this study was to explore how parents experience and support their children’s transition to school. This study presents findings from an ethnographic study with 39 parents living in two Australian communities characterised by high area-level socioeconomic disadvantage. The study reports on how parents experience and support their child for transition to school, specifically through their understanding of the concept of ‘readiness’. The role of early childhood services in supporting parents is also explored. Parents conceptualised school readiness as the child’s capacity to function effectively and independently in the hitherto unfamiliar physical and social world of school. Parents considered early childhood services supportive of their children's transition to school, particularly the development of social skills.

History

Publication title

Early Childhood Education Journal

ISSN

1082-3301

Department/School

Menzies Institute for Medical Research

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Place of publication

Netherlands

Rights statement

Copyright 2020 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Equity and access to education

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