School readiness of five-year-old children from socio-economically disadvantaged areas: evidence from the Preparing for Life evaluation

Abstract

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 study examined a range of factors that may account for differences in outcomes across five school readiness domains (physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communications skills and general knowledge) within a sample of children living in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Drawing on data from a sample of five-year-old children involved in the Preparing for Life (PFL) evaluation in Ireland, this study explored the role of child and early environmental factors in facilitating or hindering children’s development across these school readiness domains. Statistical analysis identified child’s sex, parental involvement and learning materials at home, parent–child interactions, mother’s attempt to breastfeed, and mother–child attachment as significant predictors of school readiness after accounting for other factors. Findings contribute to the Irish and international literature on the role of early demographical and environmental factors in shaping school readiness, especially for children from socio-economically disadvantaged areas.

Keywords:

• school readiness
• early childhood development
• socio-economic disadvantage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The authors were granted access to an anonymised version of the PFL database that did not include the individual items for the measures used in the PFL and CPSE evaluations due to copyright restrictions. Therefore, reliability analysis for the measures employed was not possible. Readers are directed to the Preparing for Life publications (https://www.preparingforlife.ie/publications/) for more information about the measures.

2 Even though, initially, the authors intended to include child’s birth weight into the analysis, in the sample of children involved in the programme for whom there was a birth weight record and a completed SEDI by their teachers, there were only seven cases that had particularly low birth weight, as defined by the World Health Organisation (<2.5 kg/ <5.5 pounds). Due to this small number of children in this group, this variable was not used for further analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies through the Children’s Research Network Prevention and Early Intervention Research Initiative.

Notes on contributors

Vasiliki Pitsia

Dr Vasiliki Pitsia holds a BEd in Primary Education, an MSc in Quantitative Methods and Statistical Analysis in Education, and a PhD in Assessment. She is a Psychometrician at Accenture Ireland, a part-time researcher and lecturer in research methods, measurement,assessment, and statistical techniques in Ireland, Greece, and Cyprus, while she is also involved in educational projects managed by the World Bank Group. Her research interests include research methods, assessment, statistical analysis, and large-scale studies.

Grainne Kent

Dr Gráinne Kent is a Researcher in the Early Learning Initiative at the National College of Ireland. She graduated from the National University of Ireland Maynooth with a Doctorate in Psychological Science, holds a BSc Psychology from Queens University Belfast and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning. Gráinne is a Board-Certified Behaviour Analyst and works as an independent behavioural consultant. Gráinne also lectures in the field of developmental psychology. Her main research interests include early intervention and prevention, early childhood education, child development, language development, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and behavioural psychology.