Research that Benefits Children and Families

In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the school year commences in late January and finishes in early December. The age by which children are legally required to start school is 6 years. However, children are eligible to start school at the beginning of the school year if they turn 5 by July 31 in that same year. A child whose birthday falls after this cut-off date starts school the following year. Because there is only one annual intake of students, children starting school can vary in age from 4-1/2 to 6 years. The first year of school, kindergarten, involves a full-day program operating throughout school terms. In some schools, kindergarten students finish school 30 minutes prior to other students, at least for the first term.

The Starting School Research Project, based at the University of Western Sydney, involves a group of researchers and a wide ranging Advisory Committee representing major early childhood organizations, early childhood employer groups, parent associations, school organizations, community, and union perspectives (Dockett, Howard, & Perry, 1999). Over the past three years, the project has investigated the perceptions and expectations of all those involved in young children's transition to school.

The initial phase of the project consisted of interviews with groups of children, parents, and early childhood educators—in both school and prior-to-school settings—to determine what is important to each of these groups as children start school. From these interviews and a detailed review of the relevant literature, an extensive questionnaire was developed. Over the period 1998-2000, this questionnaire was distributed to parents and early childhood educators across NSW (Perry, Dockett, & Howard, 2000; Perry, Dockett, & Tracey, 1998).

Together, the interviews and questionnaire responses have enabled the project team to describe the most important issues for children, parents, and educators as children start school. A series of categories of responses was devised using grounded theory that reflected the issues raised by respondents. These categories related to (1) the knowledge children needed to have in order to start school, (2) elements of social adjustment required in the transition to school, (3) specific skills children needed to have mastered, (4) dispositions conducive to a successful start to school, (5) the rules of school, (6) physical aspects of starting school, (7) family issues, and (8) the nature of the educational environment within school (Dockett & Perry, 1999b). A confirmatory factor analysis and review of national and international literature supported these categories. As an overview of the responses for different groups, the ranking of each category, from most to least mentioned, is listed in Table 1.

References:

Dockett, S & Perry, B (1999). Starting School: Effective Transitions. Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v3n2/dockett.html