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School readiness in Singapore: perceptions of psychologists, teachers and parents
Author
Sutha Raman
Supervisor
Yeo, Lay See
Abstract
The purpose of this research study was to investigate the perception of school readiness in Singapore amongst psychologists, teachers and parents. This study hoped to find out what skills teachers, psychologists and parents in Singapore perceive as essential for children to develop before they begin primary school and to examine the similarities and differences in the views of the participants regarding school readiness. The study also attempted to compare the perception of school readiness in Singapore to prevailing views in countries such as the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and Korea. A School Readiness Checklist was developed for the purpose of this study and a total of 30 participants (10 from each of the 3 groups of participants) were surveyed. The results of this study suggested that parents in Singapore consider cognitive ability and conceptual knowledge and literacy and reading skills as very important components for school readiness whereas teachers consider early math skills as very important for school readiness. Though parents and teachers appear to consider academic skills as very important, the results of the survey suggest that they rated non-academic skills such as attention span and work habits and communication skills highly as well. The psychologists were found to place greater emphasis on the importance of the non-academic skills as well. The results also indicated that the professionals and parents in Singapore hold views similar to those held in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and Korea regarding school readiness. The results of this research study highlighted that participants had two major concerns: (1) the quality of preschool education in Singapore and (2) the lack of coordination between the preschool and primary school systems in preparing children for the transition from one system to the other. Limitations of the present study and directions for future research were discussed.
Date Issued
2008
Call Number
LB1132 Sut
Date Submitted
2008