The transition from preschool to primary school is a pivotal developmental period in children's and their families' lives. However, not all families have equal access to resources and some parents face additional barriers to the types of transition and school readiness activities they participate in compared families with higher social capital.…

In the Republic of Ireland there has been substantial investment in Early Years provision. The number of different types of settings for pre-school children and the associated research has grown significantly. This paper contributes to existing knowledge by reporting the findings of a qualitative participatory study carried out in the Republic of…

Being school-ready when transitioning to the primary school system has been associated with favourable outcomes during schooling and adult life. While children living in socio-economically disadvantaged areas may be at a higher risk of being less school-ready, research in the area has highlighted that not all children experience such a delay. This…

International studies have documented large effects of SES on oral language competence and researchers have suggested that differences in oral language competence at school entry may be one factor contributing to educational disadvantage. The current study made use of data provided by the Growing Up in Ireland survey in order to quantify the…

There is a dearth of studies investigating writing readiness in children with Down Syndrome (DS) and limited information on appropriate interventions. This article reports on a study conducted in the Republic of Ireland. An uncontrolled pretest-posttest design was implemented using writing readiness measures specifically adapted/developed from the…

High quality early years' education is associated with providing a child-centred curriculum based on a knowledge of how young children learn. The global 'schoolification epidemic' has led to an increasing focus on prescribed curricula and presents as a serious threat to the quality of children's early years' experiences. Findings from research in…

Socioeconomic inequalities in children's skills and capabilities begin early in life and can have detrimental effects on future success in school. The present study examined the relationships between school readiness and socioeconomic (SES) inequalities using teacher reports of the Short Early Development Instrument (Janus et al. 2005) in a…

In contrast to a burgeoning literature examining the experience and management of children's start to school, much less is known about school readiness in rural Ireland. On this premise, a questionnaire survey was designed to explore the views of parents (n = 145) on their child's preschool experiences and readiness for school. Due to a paucity of…

Although differential ratings by multiple informants are an important issue in survey design, few studies test the degree of difference between informants. This study examined differences in caregiver and teacher ratings of school readiness of children from a disadvantaged urban community in Ireland. School readiness was assessed using the Short…

This paper aggregates the academic literature reviewing and reporting interventions for out-of-school children (OOSC) around the world to serve as a guide for potential interventions in South Asia and elsewhere. It complements the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children (OOSCI) South Asia Regional Study (2014). Thus the interventions reviewed…

This article discusses the research findings from the start-up phase of an innovative information and communication technology (ICT) project focused on ICT integration as a complex process involving many factors such as leadership, school readiness and organisational culture. Known locally as Hermes, the project's core objective was to provide an…

This study examined the multiple factors that contribute to the school readiness and early school progress of children living in an urban disadvantaged area. Structured interviews were undertaken with parents of children who had recently started school to elicit information about those aspects of children's health, and their home and neighbourhood…