School enrolment and executive functioning: A longitudinal perspective on developmental changes, the influence of learning context, and the prediction of pre-academic skills

Abstract

The present two-year longitudinal study addressed developmental changes in different aspects of executive functioning (i.e., inhibition, updating, and cognitive flexibility) in a sample of 264 children aged between 5 and 7 years. Of special interest were issues of developmental progression over time, the influence of learning context and the predictive power of executive functions and school context for emerging academic skills. The results revealed pronounced improvements in all executive measures, both over time and as a function of age. For the learning context, small and age-dependent effects on executive skills were found. Inhibition uniquely contributed to the prediction of aspects of emerging academic skills, over and above chronological age and language skills.

Keywords:

• Development
• Executive functions
• Learning context
• Pre-academic skills
• School enrolment

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the Jacobs Foundation Zürich (Grant “Transition to School” to the first author) and was approved by the phil.-hum. Faculty's Ethic Committee, University of Bern, Switzerland.

We wish to thank the participating children, parents, teachers and the administrative authorities of the participating schools (especially those from the “Schulversuch Basisstufe der EDK-Ost 4bis8”) for their co-operation. We also gratefully acknowledge the help of our research assistants and master students with the data collection.