Readiness for School, According to the Perspectives of Grade 1 Teachers and Parents

In Turkey, every child who turned 72 months old are initiated elementary school without considering individual differences and whether or not they had any pre-school education, but is every child who started school mentally, socially-emotionally and physically ready to meet requirements of elementary school? Purpose of this research is to determine skills and abilities required for the "school readiness" according to the Grade 1 teachers and parents and reveal results of this situation related to pre-school education. This study was performed with 14 Grade 1 teachers who work in the private and public elementary schools of Konya city and with 13 parents. In research, semi- structured interview was used in order to get perspectives of participants about the phenomenon of readiness level of school that was consisted of open-ended questions. Raw data that were obtained through interviews have been analyzed by using descriptive analysis technique. According to the findings of research, Grade 1 teachers of elementary school described school readiness as "being matured to the ability required by the Grade 1 of elementary school" and stated that this maturity depends on parallel development of social, emotional, mental and physical aspects of child. Teachers also think that pre-school education must be compulsory for children to readily start school.