Full article from the Term 2 No 1 2007 Newsletter

Ready to Go? Parents' Perspectives on School Readiness

As children near the official end of their kindergarten days, a never-ending tricky question for parents concerns their child's readiness for primary school. Today's generation of parents hopes that the transition will be easy, but there is growing debate that intellectual readiness is not all that equips a child for school, and that emotional preparedness is more likely to get them successfully through the school day.

Parents are divided on this question. We interviewed two Melbourne mothers about their decision to delay their eldest child's enrolment at primary school, and the consequences.

Liz from South Melbourne says "Our reasons for delaying Edward's entry to school were made with advice and guidance from our kinder teacher. Edward's birthday is in January so we felt he would benefit from another year at kinder as he had started at age 3 when places weren't so sought after".

Prior to enrolling at kinder, Edward had no exposure to creche or playgroups. Liz recalls, "I had met weekly with my mother's group and enrolled him in swimming, kinder gym and music programs from an early age and felt that Edward was suitably socialised. However, he was a shy child, and not overly confident. At the end of his 3 year old program, we were faced with making a decision about what age we would send him to school.

"We felt that by committing him to the 4 year old program, we were then committing him to start school the following year," continues Liz. "Fortunately, I had a girlfriend whose child had started school later to guide me. We also drew on experiences from our friends in Europe, where children start school later than they often do here.

"My partner and I felt that if Edward was the older child in the class as opposed to being the youngest or one of the youngest, he would be better off. So Edward had 3 years at kinder and started school at the age of 6. The transition to school went very smoothly, and we were reassured we had made the correct decision for our child. He learnt to read, and made new friends with ease".

Things changed when Liz discovered that Edward was being bullied by a classmate. She comments, "It was a very difficult time for us all. I was then, more than any other time, relieved that he was (aged) 6 dealing with this situation than aged 5". At no stage did Liz believe that Edward's problems at school were because he was too young or not suitably socialised. "It gave me the confidence to deal with the situation and the school's response to it, knowing my child was not sent to school ill prepared".

Liz concludes, "Without doubt, I feel we made the right decision sending (Edward) to school when he was older. (By then) he was a little wiser and more confident in himself. When I see him in the classroom, he is attentive and has good communication skills".

Rachel 's eldest son, Sam was born in 1997. He was slightly-built and timid when he started kinder, having just turned three. Rachel remembers that because of his quietness, no-one noticed Sam's advanced verbal skills.

Rachel's kinder teacher recommended that she keep her son back another year. "Initially I was devastated, as I had never heard of such a concept," says Rachel. "I joked with friends that Sam had 'failed' 3 yr old kinder, but I started reading and talking to lots of other mums and found out that it was an emerging phenomenon".

A couple of years later, Rachel attended a talk on school readiness, as part of an information evening put together by schools in the Hobson's Bay area.

She remembers, "The way it was explained to me was that children who are young when they start school may cope seemingly well with all the adjustments during the early years. But they become followers later on in their school life, and crucially, during the teenage years".

Rachel and the other parents were told that the children who start a year later become leaders, do better in maths and science in senior years and rarely face school adjustment issues. "When it was put that way, I knew which way I would rather my child went! Also, we mums questioned why we would be in a hurry to get our kids off to school? I guess that's a luxury that doesn't belong to everyone".

At the end of 3 year old kinder, Rachel's family moved suburbs. She enrolled Sam into another 3 yr old group, of her own volition. "Straight away, Sam became one of the older kids, and by the time he got to prep class (in primary school), I felt he was positively ancient! It became apparent to me that a lot of the kids in his prep class were just turning 5, while Sam was turning 6. He learnt to read really quickly and the following year, he was put into a prep/grade one class. I was quite cross about that, as my son turned 7 in March in grade one and most of his class mates were turning 5 (there were only 5 grade one kids as opposed to 14 or so preppies)".

Rachel comments, "I felt that Sam was really completing prep twice. And there is a huge difference socially and emotionally between 5 and 7 yr olds. It was in that respect that I started to regret delaying his school start. I felt really annoyed with the parents who sent their kids too early - why hadn't they read the literature? I felt that Sam only had the choice of making friends with really young kids, and that was keeping him from displaying age appropriate behaviours (socially and emotionally), but in reality, Sam has always been a late developer in lots of ways (too numerous to mention). He is however, quite mature - very bright, very verbal and very quirky. Lots of empathy, lots of humour".

Because of dwindling numbers, Rachel's school was forced to combine prep and grade one. Rachel then made the decision to source another primary school for Sam.

She found that at the new primary school, "there were more children whose parents had delayed their start and hence Sam was mainly with his peers. He is still always the oldest in his year level - but someone has to be! Most kids the year above him are at his age, but because of (Victoria's) multi-ageing classroom practice, he can, depending on the year, be with kids younger or older. History has shown that Sam tends to make friends with the kids in his year level only. All of his friends are anywhere between 6 to 9 months younger than him. He is however, somewhat of a 'quiet leader' in that he knows what he likes and dislikes and does not seem easily influenced. I used to worry that he will be 18 at the start of his VCE, and I worry about all that that age entails, but who knows? The way things are going, most of his friends won't turn 18 until the end of the year or after VCE".

Rachel is hopeful that her son is quite likely to not be interested in what the majority of his peers are doing. " I think Sam will have more success in his relationships, because he will be older and a bit more mature than the others. In reality, I know these are flippant concerns, but they did figure somewhere in my ultimate decision!".

Liz agrees. "I foresee that the delayed start to school will help Edward in his teenage years. I am hoping with a little more maturity, he will make smarter decisions than perhaps he may have made if he was a year younger. As a friend once told me, 'you will never regret sending him to school later, but you may have self doubt forever if you send him too early'".

Both mothers feel that their sons' additional years at kinder will hold them in good stead for years to come.

Liz says, " Everyone deserves to be the big kid and leader at least once in their life".

Rachel nevertheless is concerned about the likely disadvantages posed by the school readiness concept for children who are otherwise academically proficient. "I don't regret delaying Sam's start, and maybe even I'm glad that I did, as I feel I have given him a head start above other kids, but I sometimes wonder that if I hadn't, would his school work have been more challenging for him? Sam has not had any trouble academically, and his reading ability is phenomenal". She also wonders whether, had she been living in a lower socio-economic demographic area, there would be the same access to information about the pro's and con's of delaying the school year. "Would the kinder teacher have approached me about my son?"

Article written by Juliette Brodsky (Mother)