Preschool Education Flashcards
What is school readiness?
Many different definitions - so many different measures, defining it is very difficult
e.g. basic mathematical and literacy skills and knowledge - good predictors of people doing well in school
What is the pre school learning behaviours scale?
Draws attention to 3 sub scales:
competence motivation
attention/persistence
attitude towards learning
important things for success later on
What is the early development inventory?
Not just skills, in terms of academic or motivation, but much wider things:
physical health and well-being
social competence
emotional maturity
language and cognitive development
communication skills and general knowledge
Not just what a child is capable of, making sure they are in a state where they are healthy and well
What does Blair think is important in terms of school readiness?
School readiness in terms of regulatory skills:
Self-regulation - ability to regulate yourself
regulating emotion, in appropriate social responding or regulating attention, selecting the right strategies to use in cognitive tasks:
emotionality and executive function
What do self-regulatory skills underlie?
Behaviours and attributes that are associated with successful school adjustment
What did the NCES kindergarten survey on teacher beliefs about school readiness show?
Asked ‘what the most important thing is about school readiness?’
Most important:
physically healthy, rested and well nourished
can communicate needs, wants and thoughts verbally in child’s primary language
is enthusiastic and curious in approaching new activities
ability to actually do well in school, isn’t that important
What are the predictive factors in how people do at school?
There are individual differences in how children get on
Entrance age - not predictive of differences in rate of progress but the gap can persist for a long time
Who is there a gap between in GCSE?
Summer born and winter born
August born children do consistently worse - less likely to take a levels or go to uni
Small gap - but still exists
Why is there a gap between summer born children and winter born children?
More attention to winter born because achieve higher already, neglect people behind
Labelling - they are put into low ability group, teacher expectations that they are in low ability
Social comparisons and self-evaluations impacted by it as well - evaluate yourself to be low
Difficult to close the gap - summer born need to work really hard to catch up
What did the home based (parent-reported) peer play show?
Playing outside school vs inside
PIP scale - focuses on disruption, disconnection and interaction
How they play at home is correlated to school
More interactive at home, more motivation, less problematic behaviour
Social foundations important - outside of the school environment, how well they get on with other kids
What is the HOME environment predictive of?
IQ - language ability
What is the HOME environment?
Warmth and affection Physical punishment Language stimulation Academic stimulation Provision of toys, games, books etc Modelling and encouragement Variety in daily stimulation Physical environment
Hill et al - parenting effects and SES
Moderation effect
Doesn’t matter in mother is accepting or not, children achieving a similar level of sound later correspondence
but, in low SES families, effect of acceptance (more accepting) better sound letter correspondence
Parenting effect isn’t big when SES is high, but when SES is low, parenting really counts
What did the study show about parenting effects and executive function?
Quality of home environment in relation to outcomes
More positive family environment predicted higher language, achievement, but happened via measures of executive function (sustained attention, impulsivity)
What did the EPPE project show?
Quantity and quality of preschool provision are important for school readiness, over and above family influences
Impact of cognitive outcomes persist into year 1 and 2 - though effects on social outcomes are weak
