Child's Readiness for Compulsory Education in the Context of Research and Development Aimed at Czech Kindergartens

Abstract

The present review study informs the readers about the development and the concept of school maturity and about research studies performed during the last 10 years at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University in Olomouc. The first part of the study presents an overview of experimental as well as theoretical approaches in the area of starting compulsory education in the context of chronological changes related to psychology, education, and education policy. The second part of the study comprises an overview of research studies and relevant outcomes in the context of preschool curriculum. The present study is based on research conducted at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University under various projects and theses. The third part of the study includes a critical analysis, the purpose of which is to identify positive and negative impacts of current approaches on preschool education. The final part includes recommendations for educational practice in kindergartens. The objective of the paper is to describe the development of the concept of school maturity, which has a significant effect on starting compulsory education and children's attitudes to school and learning. The results presented herein not only highlight the system of assessment of school maturity in the Czech Republic but also the problem areas that need to be addressed in order to achieve the objectives of the preschool curriculum and develop children's key competences. In many European countries, preschool education is being reformed to reflect on the introduction and verification of the preschool curriculum. The results have the potential to open a broad international debate on the issue of preparing children for starting school in the context of the development of their key competences. The present research study is of a mixed design. The basic method is a document content analysis. The analysis was performed from a historical development perspective and included relevant documents, legal acts, and data from previous research studies carried out in the Czech Republic. Based on the resulting data, an overall assessment was performed and practical conclusions for kindergartens formulated. The research was conducted between 2016 and 2017.