Associations between School Readiness and Student Wellbeing: A Six-Year Follow Up Study

T Gregory,K.A Schonert-Reichl,A Gadermann,S Brinkman,M Brushe,D Engelhardt,E Dal Grande,M Guhn,S Luddy

doi:10.1007/s12187-020-09760-6

Abstract

It is well established that children’s school readiness is associated with their later academic achievement, but less is known about whether school readiness is also associated with other measures of school success, such as students’ social and emotional wellbeing. While some previous research has shown a link between early social and emotional development and student wellbeing, results are mixed and the strength of these relationships vary depending on whether data is based on child, teachers or parents ratings and which specific student wellbeing outcomes are measured. The present study explored the association between teacher-rated school readiness (Mage = 5.6 years) across five developmental domains (physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive, and communication and general knowledge) and four aspects of student wellbeing (life satisfaction, optimism, sadness and worries) in Grade 6 (Mage = 11.9 years) in a sample of 3906 Australian children. After adjustment for background child and family-level factors, children’s early physical, social and emotional development were associated with all four wellbeing outcomes in Grade 6, but early language and cognitive skills and communication and general knowledge skills were only associated with internalising behaviours (sadness and worries). Mechanisms through which these different aspects of development might influence later wellbeing are discussed, as well as ways that schools and governments can support students’ social and emotional wellbeing.

Highlights

Previous research has established that school readiness across multiple developmental domains is associated with later measures of students success at school
In line with the dual-factor model of mental health (Greenspoon and Saklafske 2001), which posits that positive indicators of wellbeing and negative indicators of distress or illness should be combined to provide a comprehensive measure of mental health, we focus on two positive indicators of social and emotional wellbeing and two negative indicators of social and emotional wellbeing
Children who were vulnerable in physical health and wellbeing at school entry had lower levels of life satisfaction and optimism and higher levels of sadness and worries in Grade 6 than children who were on track

Summary

Introduction

Previous research has established that school readiness across multiple developmental domains (physical, emotional, social, language, and cognitive) is associated with later measures of students success at school. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians states that all young Australians should have a sense of self-worth, confidence, self-awareness, optimism, resilience, empathy, respect for others, and the skills to form and maintain healthy relationships (Ministerial Council for Education Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs 2008) Given this increased focus on student wellbeing as an important school outcome, it would be helpful to further understand the association between different aspects of school readiness and later student wellbeing, to help guide interventions programs that support school readiness, mental health and wellbeing in early childhood settings and schools. The aim of this paper is to explore the association between school readiness on entry into elementary/ primary school across five developmental domains (physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication and general knowledge) and student wellbeing (life satisfaction, optimism, sadness and worries) measured 6 years later

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