This study examined the interrelationships among playfulness, prosocial skills, and school readiness of Hong Kong kindergarten children across time. Participants were 106 local children (55.6% boys, mean age = 60.0 months) and their parents and teachers. At time 1, parents reported their child's age, gender, and playfulness. Six months later at…

Despite a focus on successful transitions to school, transition to School Aged Care (SAC) has largely been overlooked. This paper shares insights into transition programs provided for children commencing in SAC, at or close to their transition to school. Educators working in SAC programs in Victoria, Australia, participated in an online survey…

The learning and development of educators in schools can take many forms. This paper is a critical reflection about the coaching and mentoring practices of the authors, set within the context of a state-wide transition to school initiative in Queensland, Australia. The paper describes the context of the initiative, the role of the authors,…

Transition to school experiences influence children's wellbeing, development, and learning at the time of transition and future transitions. Effective transitions require schools to engage with children and families in ways that connect and empower them in the transition process. In this study children aged 3-6 years and their teachers used a…

School readiness of children from refugee backgrounds is not well documented throughout the sub-Saharan region. While evidence has documented the role of home learning environments on learning, little is known about the role of family socioeconomic status. The study recruited 400 pre-primary children, 100 parents, 16 teachers and 8 school…

In Victoria, Australia, the transition from preschool to compulsory school education is impacted by systemic disconnections in organisation, pedagogical thinking and curricula. These disconnections can create discontinuities in children's experiences, and continuity of learning. At a policy level, attempts have been made to build cooperative…

Using data from more than 7000 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child (MoBa) study, this study explored the role of school readiness and teacher-child closeness in the early child education and care (ECEC) setting for the prospective academic and social development of children with early externalizing problems. Mother, ECEC teachers,…

Factors that affect children's school readiness potential are evident from birth. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses that certain factors related to family risk conditions, the quality of prenatal care, maternal health during pregnancy, and the health status of the child at birth mediate children's readiness for school.…

This paper illustrates an evaluation model emerging from Australian research. With reference to a range of contexts, its usefulness is demonstrated through application to two professional development initiatives designed to improve continuity of learning in the context of the transition to school. The model reconceptualises approaches to…

Language development in early childhood education and care (ECEC) has received increased policy attention in the past 20 years. Yet, few empirical studies have explored language assessment from the standpoint of ECEC teachers. Transnational organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), have increased…

Policymakers, researchers and educators around the world have acknowledged the importance of children's transition to school, both as a significant life event and as a factor in future engagement with education. As a result, much attention has been directed towards researching transition experiences, developing policies to support positive…

Over the last decades, increasing attention has been paid in research and policies to the importance of children's early learning in preschool as a foundation for later life. This is considered especially beneficial for children living in disadvantaged societal conditions and those at risk of school failure. However, the perspectives of those most…

For the first time in the Netherlands, the Adjustment Scales for Early Transition in Schooling (ASETS) have been applied to kindergarten and first-grade elementary school. A study was conducted to examine the relation between the different behavioral (phenotypes) and situational dimensions (situtypes) of the ASETS and learning performance on…

Living in poverty disadvantages young children reducing school readiness. "Pedagogy of listening" can potentially support resilience remediating against poverty's negative effects. Little, though, is known about how early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners work with children in poverty and the attainment gap between such…

School readiness evaluations are becoming increasingly popular, and their implementation has become compulsory in an increasing number of kindergartens and schools in Hungary. In recent years, Diagnostic System for Evaluating Development (DIFER), developed by Nagy et al. has been used extensively for the diagnostic study of four- to eight-year-old…