Abstract
Little is known about the possible benefits of parent-led activities to enable school readiness for New Zealand young children. A two-year longitudinal study of parents and their children (102 4-year-olds and 104 5-year-olds at Time 1) was conducted. Parents completed the Encouragement of Academic Skills in Young Children (EASYC) self-report measure of in-home academic activities, and children’s literacy and mathematics achievement were tested initially and one year later. Several parent-led activities were found to predict improved child academic ability across the sampled age range: 1) teaching basic addition and subtraction; and 2) writing and drawing practice.
Highlights
Little is known about the possible benefits of parent-led activities to enable school readiness for New Zealand young children
A few items showed specificity in predicting numeracy vs. literacy, e.g., ‘give our child maths challenges while traveling in the car’ correlated .26, p < .05, with TEMA scores in Cohort 1 at T2, but only correlated .02, ns, with to be a significant predictor of literacy (TERA) scores at the same time, the general pattern noticeable in the correlation matrix was that most items correlated with the literacy and numeracy outcomes
The negative associations suggest that particular practices failed to benefit, and might have detracted from, the appropriate development of literacy and numeracy skills at older ages
Summary
Little is known about the possible benefits of parent-led activities to enable school readiness for New Zealand young children. The importance of readying young children for formal schooling is underscored by longitudinal research from around the world which has highlighted the importance of children’s early numeracy and literacy skills for later academic success (e.g., Claessens, Duncan, & Engel, 2009; Duncan et al, 2007; Hooper, Roberts, Sideris, Burchinal, & Zeisel, 2010; Lehrl, Ebert, Blaurock, Rossbach, & Weinert, 2020; Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000; Pagani, Fitzpatrick, Archambault, & Janosz, 2010; Romano, Babchishin, Pagani, & Kohen, 2010). Skills in early numeracy and literacy are foundational for further development of school-based knowledge and are integral to a child’s preschool skillset. With this fact in mind, it is important to understand the role of preschool children’s home learning experiences in developing literacy and numeracy skills
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