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The topic of my diploma thesis is the preparatory class during the legislative changes. The aim was to find out, how the directors and pedagogues perceive the development of the preparatory classes, if there were any changes during the time and what is the significance of the preparatory class for its pupils. The main objective of the work was to find out, how school leaderf and pedagogues do they perceive the future of the preparatory classes after the legislative's modification, or how could the perfect preparatory class look like in the future. I used a case study as a basic method. I got the research information from the interviews with primary school directors and preparatory class teachers. The result is that the preparatory classes have their place in educational system and that they are good for children, who visit them. Another result is that each school has a different children composition in the preparatory classes and that each school looks at the legislative a little bit different. The directors and pedagogues are afraid of the future of the preparatory classes because after the legislative modification there will be only few children with the postponement of the compulsory schooling. And they are afraid of the cancelling of the preparatory classes.

This thesis is focused on the issue of children coming from socially and culturally disadvantaged environment before their entry to the compulsory education from a socially- pedagogical point of view. It describes the influence of the environment the child lives in, its family, the community, and the living conditions affecting its readiness for admission to an elementary school. The nature of work is theoretical work and research. The theoretical part of the thesis in quires into such terms as socialization, family, social and cultural disadvantage, the Roma, preschool education, and their interdependence. It describes the current methods used for recognizing the school maturity and preparedness for an entry to the compulsory education of children in the Czech Republic. It compares the most common institutional forms of preparation for the compulsory education, i.e. nursery school and preliminary classes at elementary schools that are designated especially to the children of socially and culturally disadvantaged background. The practical part of the thesis uses qualitative research methods and through document analysis, observation, and interviews it gathers information for creating three case studies, in which it thoroughly describes the family environment and the lifestyle of socially and culturally...

Teacher-led sensory play pedagogy, which specifically focuses on the sensopathic senses, has the potential to facilitate sensory processing in Grade R (Reception Year) children in preparing them for the transition from informal to formal schooling. In this study the complexity of the nature of this inquiry became evident when the body of scholarship was found not to reveal one single framework that represents play pedagogy, sensory integration and best early childhood practices. A variety of theories are available, but not a unifying conceptual framework that integrates cross-disciplinary knowledge systems to inform a scientific research process. Constructing an encompassing teacher-led sensory play pedagogy framework requires the integration of key principles of renowned and trusted grand theories of play, sensory play and play-based pedagogies with international best practice to preserve and advocate the importance of sensory play and learning in the early years. The newly conceptualised framework that represents the phenomenon had to be implemented using scientific research principles. Interpretivism as methodological paradigm guided the entire research process from selecting participants and sites to data generation, analysis and interpretation. The nature of the phenomenon justified a qualitative mode of inquiry with a multiple case study approach. The selection of the research sites as well as the participants warranted a purposive sampling technique. The five sites and ten participants represent teaching communities and learning environments that value sensory play as pedagogy when implementing South Africa’s national curriculum. The conceptual framework informed the construction of sensopathic pathways for indoor and outdoor learning environments. They served as a real-time exposition with actively engaged children. The teacher-participants observed this engagement and expressed their observations and interpretation through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. To ensure quality data, the participants were given access to a cloud-based data generation application (app) with which they captured their experiences, impressions and thinking textually and visually. Member checking and a reliable audit trail were ensured by empowering the participants to capture their experiences as first-hand raw data themselves. The analysis of the data sets is aimed at determining how the conceptual framework informs teacher-led sensory play pedagogy. Therefore, I conceptualised an a priori coding framework using a deductive derivation of themes (statements), categories and codes to make sense of the data sets. A pivotal part of the study was to scrutinise how the conceptual framework inspired the integration of sensory processing and sensory play activities, as well as how teacher-led activities introduced sensopathic play opportunities to children in an informal learning environment. The importance of aligning sensopathic play experiences with the intended curriculum is key in preparing children for the transitions from Grade R to Grade 1. The interpretation of the analysed data sets indicated that the nature of this phenomenon is more complex than anticipated, as children demonstrated a dire need for a sensory play programme whether they had been diagnosed with sensory processing deficiencies or not. In other words, sensory play pedagogy that stimulates sensory processing, self-regulation and problem-solving skills readies children for formal schooling. The newly conceptualised framework affirms that teacher-led sensory play pedagogy can be incorporated into teachers’ daily school programmes and the national curriculum in South African preschools. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / pt2021 / Early Childhood Education / PhD / Unrestricted

This study sought to determine if there are any "cultural" or economic level patterns of behavior in responding to tasks involving categorizing pictures and recalling general knowledge. The Daberon School Headiness Device (1972), which contains subtests for general knowledge and categorization, was used to assess four groups of children: 1) lower-SES white, 2) lower-SES black, 3) middle-SES white, and 4) middle-SES black. This study involved thirty black and thirty white children between the ages of five years and five years, eleven months. All subjects were screened to determine race, age, auditory acuity, speech intelligibility, subject cooperation, and socioeconomic status (SES). Testing for intelligence was performed at the beginning of the testing situation.

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This study examined how the longitudinal associations among children’s negative emotionality, mothers’ depressive symptoms, parental warmth, and children’s school readiness and whether the associations vary as a function of fathers’ positive involvement in low-income South Korean families. Participants were 399 families including mothers (Mage = 32.54 years at Time 1), fathers (Mage = 35.23 years at Time 1), and children (Mage = 38.92 months at Time 1; 50.5% boys) in the Panel Study on Korean Children. Results revealed that children’s negative emotionality was indirectly associated with their school readiness three years later, through its association with mothers’ depressive symptoms and warmth. Mothers’ warmth mediated the association between mothers’ depressive symptoms and children’s school readiness, and fathers’ warmth mediated the association between fathers’ positive involvement and children’s school readiness. Our findings revealed the family processes underlying children’s school readiness development in low-income Korean family contexts. Our findings also provide information useful for efforts to detect family risks and to establish family policies to promote low-income children’s school readiness.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Cambodian children who attended a native language preschool would acquire a broader linguistic and experiential base in their native language and in English than a comparable group who have not attended any preschool. Specifically the study looked at the children's native language fluency, English fluency, and academic skills in elementary school. The sample of this study consisted of Cambodian children who had attended a native language preschool and who had remained in the same school district and a control group of Cambodian children from the same school district who had not attended preschool but who were similar economically and socially. An existing database was used to measure native language fluency, English fluency, whether or not the children met grade level standards and whether they were socially/emotionally prepared for school. It was found that although there was a difference in native language fluency there was no significant difference in English fluency or in meeting grade level standards. The findings suggest that further study is needed to determine long-term success academically between the two groups.

No description available.

The major purpose of this study was to determine which subtests of the Gesell School Readiness Screening Test are the best predictors of reading achievement. The procedure used was a stepwise multiple regression to determine which subtests were the best predictors of achievement for each reading section of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. Seventy-two students from four schools were evaluated for this study. Three testing instruments were administered to these students. They were the Gesell test, the Otis-Lennon test, and the reading subtests of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. The Gesell test consisted of eight subtests: Cubes, Name, Copy Forms, Numbers, Incomplete Man, Interview, Animals, and Interests. The best single predictor subtest was Interview. Four separate regression analyses were computed, one for each of the subtests of the reading section of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. In each case, the Gesell subtest Interview entered the stepwise regression at step one. After the information for Interview was entered into the regression equation, the remaining seven subtest scores added very little to the prediction. In summary, although there was some predictive ability in the Gesell test, the level of predictability was not strong. Post factum interpretation of the low predictability was presented as were recommendations for Volusia County in the use of the Gesell test for placement of students in the kindergarten-first grade transitional class.