The transition to school is a critical period for children and families. Successful transition predicts later school achievement and socio-emotional outcomes with sustained long-term benefits. Educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant that support for the transition of children from nursery to school was limited. The study…

This article explores how gastrostomy feeding tubes can impact the early childhood education and care (ECEC) experiences of children. It presents findings from a small-scale study, which utilised the perspectives of early years educators and parents. The findings indicate that feeding tubes have both an opportunistic and restrictive impact within…

This paper explores how the neoliberal policy directives relating to the teaching of phonics in schools in England, influences the pedagogy of early years educators (EYEs) working with under-threes. The research highlights that these EYEs are confounded by early reading (ER), given that there is no clear definition or provision separating ER from…

This article offers new insights into our understanding of the formation, textual mediation, and reproduction of perceptions of children's 'school readiness' in kindergarten and its consequences for teachers' assessment of minority-language children's 'readiness'. Building on Danish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers' accounts of…

Transition to school is recurrently pointed out as key to children's immediate well-being at school start, as well as to their long-term educational endeavors. Aspirations towards continuity during transition is a common denominator across research, policy, and practice, in Denmark as well as internationally. This theoretical-conceptual paper…

The "first-grade problem" of the lack of concentration, listening, and following of instruction has been widely identified among Japanese kindergarten students. To promote their executive functioning and self-regulation to prevent this issue, we developed the Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program. The…

Federal accountability policy mandates that states administer standardized tests beginning in third grade. In turn, third-grade test scores are often viewed as a key indicator in policy and practice. Yet literacy struggles begin well before third grade, as do racial and socioeconomic disparities in children's literacy skills. Kindergarten…

This study investigated associations between kindergarten teachers' (N = 208) depressive symptoms and students' (Ghanaian nationals, N = 1490, M[subscript age] = 5.8) school-readiness skills (early literacy, early numeracy, social-emotional skills, and executive function) across 208 schools in Ghana over one school year. Teachers' depressive…

Japan's Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program Academic Readiness (AR) lesson aims to improve self-regulation, executive function, and behavior problems in kindergarten children, but the effects of the START program AR lessons in unfavorable circumstances are unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the…

How children experience the major transition from pre-school to compulsory schooling influences their immediate and future success and wellbeing. This complex process of change and adaptation is impacted by school readiness policy drivers, which prioritise children's performance and achievement. Pedagogic and curriculum progression shifts from…

Problem: There are many viewpoints in the field of early childhood education for the term "kindergarten readiness." How the term is defined and considered by stakeholders, including parents, teachers, school leaders influences and impacts policy and program practices governing children's entry to school. Current literature provides the…

This paper analyzes the risks to child development and school readiness among children under age 6 in Pakistan. Drawing on a nationally representative telephone survey conducted in the midst of a global pandemic, between December 2021 and February 2022, we present the first nationally representative estimates of child development for children…

Achievement gaps in learning can be identified as early as entry into kindergarten. This longitudinal study explored reading outcomes of 60 students over the course of five years to determine the impact of an additional year of school prior to kindergarten. The program was created to provide alternative options for students who attended preschool…

This study examined the effects of maternal and children's resources on school readiness, literacy achievements, and reading motivation in children. The participants included children (N = 180) (124 girls; 56 boys) from 19 kindergartens, their mothers, and their kindergarten teachers. Mothers reported on their working hours, interaction quality,…

Researchers have long traced achievement gaps in the elementary years back to readiness gaps at the start of kindergarten. Educators seeking to address these gaps, which are associated with race and ethnicity, home language, disability status, and indicators of economic disadvantage, need systematic ways to identify which children need what kinds…