Formal School System Research Articles

Using data as poetry and text in case study research – poetic representations of adult learner experiences in neighbourhood houses

PurposeWe argue this method of inquiry better represents the participants' learning, lives and experiences in the formal neoliberal education system prioritising performativity, categorising and ranking students.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explores using poetry as a research method to reveal the learning experiences of adult learners, who have often had disruptive experiences of the formal schooling system and return to study in community-based education spaces. Inspired by Laurel Richardson’s transgressive technique of presenting sociological data through poetry as method, we use poetic representations of these learners' lives alongside case study research methodology. The research was conducted in conjunction with Neighbourhood Houses in Victoria, Australia. Qualitative data were generated through conducting multiple case studies of learners across various adult community education (ACE) sites. In this research, some case studies were presented in the traditional method of writing biography, others were written in the form of found poetry, which we refer to as data as poetry and text. The paper uses found poetry through participant-voiced poems written from interview transcripts. We argue this method of inquiry better represents the participants' learning, lives and experiences in the formal neoliberal education system prioritising performativity, categorising and ranking students. Our findings highlight the benefits of using poetry to communicate data in case study research as it effectively represents the experiences of adult learners' lives in a creative and concise form, transgressing normative practices of writing education research. These poetic representations of data reveal learner experiences in an embodied and agentic way while providing readers with a deep and rich understanding of these crucial adult learning spaces.FindingsOur findings highlight the benefits of using poetry to communicate data in case study research as it effectively represents the experiences of adult learners' lives in a creative and concise form, transgressing normative practices of writing education research.Originality/valueThis research paper is empirical research and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication.

Exploring the Language and Literacy Challenges of Entry-Level Education Students and Experienced Teachers at a South African University: A Stance-Taking Analysis

Abstract The huge number of learners dropping out of the formal schooling system has a significant impact on the ever-increasing unemployment rate in South Africa, which can be perceived as a major reason for numerous parents and caregivers living in dire poverty. Learners from socio-economically deprived areas rarely have access to educational resources and literacy materials and neither do most of them attend schools that do. This post-apartheid South African reality has given rise to an education system which is marred by inequality, exposing the masses of learners from rural areas, townships and other under-resourced locations to difficult and complex challenges at institutions of learning. One such challenge, as emphasised by scholars like Howie (2017) and Spaull (2013), relates to learners’ poor performance in literacy-related tasks, especially when participating in continental and international evaluation programmes. Within the context of these literacy challenges, this study explored the literacy and language practices of students, lecturers and other role-players at a higher education institute in the Western Cape, particularly to establish how these role-players negotiate the challenges relating to their educational interactions. In order to contribute to the study of literacy and language practices at this selected higher education institution, this study deemed it necessary to not only focus on students who are currently studying, but to also include teachers who completed their teacher training four decades ago at the same institution. In this way, the article provides insight into past and present role-players’ engagement with literacy and language as learners, students, teachers and lecturers at the educational institutions they attended. Using a qualitative approach to data collection, the study involved conducting focus groups and semi-structured interviews to gather data relating to participants’ schooling histories, their challenges with language and literacy, and their perception of their educational futures. The data emanating from these methodological approaches are analysed and interpreted, followed by a presentation of the findings with suggestions for future research.

Reparative remembering for just futures: History education, multiple perspectives and responsibility

The growing literature around reparative futures in education agrees on the importance of multiple and inclusive narratives for learning about the past. Indeed, it is recognised that multiplicity has to be part of a reparative account of history given the harms caused by single, exclusionary and hegemonic historical narratives. However, there is limited literature, pedagogical guidance or accounts of how multiple perspectives approaches apprehend competing narratives of the past specifically on questions of responsibility. Drawing on experiences in Cambodia and the UK – where violent and colonial pasts (and presents) are poorly apprehended in the formal school system – this paper reflects on the place and absence of histories of responsibility within history education. We do so in order to explore the potential role such histories can play in securing more just and inclusive presents and futures. We explore the relevance of multiple perspectives pedagogies for futures research and ask questions around how multiple perspectives can interact, including whether they are treated equally, decontextualised, relativised, or can be weighted ethically towards narratives that are seen to be more ‘true’ or more in service of reparative goals. We identify limitations in multiple perspectives approaches around questions of ‘balance’ and representation before reflecting on lessons from theorists engaged in postcolonial and decolonial thinking to parse the ethical and political opportunities afforded through concepts that redefine responsibility around implication, shared future responsibility, and mutual interdependence.

Conceptual Understanding in Static Fluid through the Recitation Program for Students at SMA Ar-Rohmah International Islamic Boarding School

Conceptual understanding of physics is one of the important factors to improve the quality of learning physics. However, several studies have shown that student’s conceptual understanding is low, especially in static fluid material. Several studies have attempted to use recitation programs and have succeeded in increasing understanding of the concept. Student's conceptual understanding can be improved through independent learning. Independent learning can use recitation programs, but not many available static fluid recitation programs are equipped with concept explanations and do not yet cover students who study in a formal and boarding school system, such as boarding school students. Existing recitation programs are widely used by students to support independent learning. Recitation of students is still rare because of the lack of independent learning. Therefore, this study aims to improve boarding school student’s conceptual understanding in static fluid material through recitation program. This research is quantitative research with a quasi-experimental and one group pretest-posttest design. The recitation program is given in the form of an interesting computer-assisted animation outside of learning. The subjects of this study were 40 students of class XI Natural Science 1 at the SMA International Islamic Boarding School Ar-Rohmah Dau, Malang. The research instruments included valid recitation programs and pretest-posttest questions. Data obtained from the results of the conceptual understanding test supported by interviews. The results showed that there was an increase in students' understanding of the concept which was calculated through an N-gain of 0.45 in the medium category and an effect-size of 1.68 in the strong category. The findings of this study imply that the recitation program can improve student's understanding of concepts like previous research, and practically that teachers can utilize the recitation program as student learning material.

Challenges Faced by Women Attending Continuing Education in North-West Nigeria

The paper discuss the meaning and origin of continuing Education and highlighting the challenges Faced by Women Attending Continuing Education in North-West Nigeria, Continuing education is meant for those who had left early the formal school system. It is aimed at helping these sets of people to continue their education in a less rigid formation than what formal school system provides, and probably help them to go further In Nigeria presently, the practice of continuing education has been broadened to include the provision of educational activities that will meet the needs of illiterates, the drop-out. The underprivileged. Educationally disadvantaged, oppressed, the unnerved different categories of professionals, the down-trodden and the backwards. Thus, continuing education offers a wide range of training or education meeting needs of all shades of people. It therefore serves as the best means or instrument of democratizing education or equalizing access to education irrespective of age sex or social affiliation. Women education faced the following challenges even as they continuing the Education: Cost of schooling Marital instability, Children/husband, Gender discrimination, Conflict and crisis, Class struggle, Cultural and religious Imitations, Povertty, Illiteracy. The paper suggested among other that other obstacles, like social cost to education, personal interest and commitment to education distance-related barriers to education, re-entry policies for young mothers, and hygiene management in schools.

Cara Efektif Membelajarkan Anak-anak Pinggiran di Pantai Bajo

The motivation to learn among the children of the Bajo Coast (APPB) in Bone Regency is very low. APPB who had attended primary school on average could only last up to grade 5. As a result, there was a massive dropout. They should have continued to study at school, given that compulsory primary education in Indonesia is 6-15 years old. However, they became dropouts whose education was neglected. In fact, there is enough time for them to learn. This phenomenon occurs continuously every year, resulting in the swelling of out-of-school children (ATS). This study aims to find effective ways to ensure that these ATS receive proper education outside the formal school system. The importance of this study is to assist the local government in eradicating ignorance, underdevelopment, and to contribute to reducing the high number of out-of-school children (ATS) in Bone District. A qualitative approach was applied with a case study design. The research subjects were seven APPBs who were selected by purposive sampling, accidental sampling, and snowball sampling. Data were collected through participatory observation and unstructured interviews. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively and descriptively. This study found that (1) an effective way to teach children with disabilities is activity-based learning (PBAN), (2) Bajo Beach children have a kinesthetic learning style who are more eager to learn outside the school system than inside the classroom, and (3) learning would be more meaningful if it was tailored to the characteristics of the children being taught. The conclusion is that children who have very low motivation to learn, if faced with sincerity and make their activities a means of learning, then children can learn well. The results of this study can serve as a reference for the local government in mapping and conducting further studies so that APPB and others in other areas can receive proper education services.

The power of stories: oral storytelling, schooling and onto-epistemologies in rural Malawi

ABSTRACT In this paper, Indigenous and local understandings of the role of storytelling for children (nthanu) are contrasted with the didactic understandings of children’s stories that permeate the formal education frameworks of Malawi; frameworks which are deeply entangled in a colonial and (post)colonial history. For Chitonga speakers, the majority of whom live in rural communities along the northern lakeshore of Malawi, nthanu form a crucial part of what might be considered ‘education’ – as core components in the construction of the social-self, these oral stories play a critical role in the onto-epistemological formation of the young person. This storytelling is seen as marginalised by formal school systems. Through thick ethnographic material, the paper shows how people who are part of the ethno-linguistic group of the Tonga understand the role of story-telling for children as creating ontological notions of what it means to be human, to live in this world, and the sociality of being human that is seen as necessary for living a good life. In an examination of villagers’ fears about the disappearance of their stories, the paper locates the tensions between the literacy-oriented use of stories in formal schooling and the socio-ontological importance ascribed to stories in local learning modalities.

School integration of immigrant children in Belgium

AbstractThis study examines the social, learning and emotional needs of immigrant children enrolled in an educational preparatory programme before transitioning to the formal school system in Belgium. Data for this study were collected through 12 semi‐structured interviews with teachers and programme coordinators in four secondary schools and four reception centres in the greater Brussels region in 2020. Findings reveal that schools and teachers are increasingly aware of the complex needs of immigrant children and can address these needs through various channels, such as organizing school and extra‐curricular activities, adapting teaching approaches to match children's individual learning requirements, and incorporating the language and culture of students into the learning process. These efforts foster a relationship of trust between teachers and students, creating an environment in which children learn and feel secure. However, several risk factors, including the lack of teacher training for working with immigrant children, insufficient guidance of children through the programme, the need to motivate children to continue learning, the absence of methodological tools for teaching children with low literacy rates, the mixture of children of different ages, and unaddressed emotional trauma, could potentially impede the learning and school integration process of immigrant children.

Educational Challenges of Syrian Children in Lebanon

This paper analyzes the role of alternative schooling systems in Lebanon, in breaking the structures that prevent Syrian refugee children from participating in the education process. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation carried out in 2018 in the Academic Centre of Minyara and the communities of displaced Syrians in the nearby area, I investigate the community-based approach to education in Academic Centre of Akkar. I argue that non-formal education, as it has been integrated into the formal schooling system of Lebanon, has the potential to challenge cultural and social reproduction and facilitate access to education for Syrian children.

Shadow education, Bourdieu, & meritocracy: towards an understanding of Juku and inequality in Japan

ABSTRACT Private educational activities designed to enhance student outcomes outside the formal schooling system are increasingly referred to as shadow education. In Japan, shadow education traditionally consists of for-profit cram schools or juku. Juku take many forms in Japan, yet their primary function is to offer students extra educational opportunities. As such, there is a strong belief that investment in shadow education leads to a higher educational level, thereby strengthening educational inequality by unfairly advantaging families of higher socio-economic status (SES). By applying Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of social reproduction and symbolic violence, this study seeks to elucidate the extent to which neoliberal policies and a lack of guidance from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) have allowed shadow education in Japan to sustain anti-meritocratic access to higher education. The study critically analyses how laissez-faire policy-making decisions, a reliance on juku attendance, and an emphasis on English language as a test subject operate in conjunction with neoliberal policies to disadvantage lower SES families through uneven access to educational opportunities.

Ecology of E-Learning

Purpose. The paper deals with the role of new digital technologies in learning. 
 The tasks for the research are the following: to bring readers with an up-to-date range of new learning and teaching technologies, explore the notion of "ecology of e-learning" by analyzing the dynamics of student and teacher interactions in e-learning environments, investigate critically the ways in which technologies can create openings for new pedagogical practices, and also at times fossilize old pedagogical practices that perhaps should have been already abandoned, explore the "affordances" framework as a checklist used to analyze educational technologies and their associated pedagogical practices. 
 Methodology. The methods of the educational research context, data collection, data analysis and reporting of the students’ responses have been applied. Some interviews have been conducted in this study to receive the answers of different students and lecturers at Kharkiv University of Humanities ‘People’s Ukrainian Academy’. The basis for our research has been scientific and pedagogical studies relevant to future foreign languages teachers’ professional training in distance education conditions.
 Results. Didactic and reflexive pedagogy have been analyzed and compared. The following aspects have been analyzed: ubiquitous learning, active knowledge making, multimodal meaning, recursive feedback, collaborative intelligence, metacognition, differentiated learning. It is emphasized that digital ecologies and the new learning spaces afforded by technologies provide us with the availability to have a group of learners in a space where not all of them have to be tracking the same page, the same task at the same time. It is possible to create learning experiences for individuals and for groups with specific needs and to be able then to pace either the whole group or to pace the individual, to track an individual or to track the whole class depends on the learning process, either for the whole class or the individual, in order to adjust the instruction, the data, the information that the learner or the class has, so that they are able to meet their goals. It is highlighted that every child in the classroom even if they are the same age, or if they are the same background are unique in some way. The orientation to learning or their behavior, or their understanding of their purpose is molded by each one’s life experience. Educators have a responsibility to show that every learner is transformed, progresses, is able to understand and engage with and represent knowledge in a way that meets their needs of being an educated person that can move through the formal school system.
 Conclusions. Working within digital spaces allows us to harness the attention of every learner, to tailor educational process for their needs, to track whether they are performing or not and to adjust what we are doing. It provides us with the ability to make sure that all learners can be engaged. It means a different kind of plan. It certainly means collaborating. Collaborative intelligence for teachers in preparing, work and instruction in this space is also a key to the kinds of solutions that possible. 
 It means designing lessons with the learners in mind, not only with just pacing ones way through the standards or with any kind of curriculum, it is aligning the standards to individual's needs and deconstructing them and reconstructing them in order to pace individuals and groups so that they can progress towards higher or to goals. It means for the teacher expanding their instructional repertoires to be able to address all the learners in the classroom and as well as expanding the capacity to work with others to bring in experts through the digital ecologies that might be able to support individual learners.

The Survival and Continuity of Islamic Boarding School in the Era of Changes

The fast change requires the ability of Islamic boarding school to respond fast, rightly and adaptively. Using qualitative phenomenology, this study tries to see the phenomenon of changes faced by Islamic Boarding School of Nurul Islam Jember. The result of this study is that the adaptation of changes is done by the model of safeguarding and conserving the positive local values (localities) and useful for the Islamic boarding school. As agent of change, the Islamic boarding school of Nurul Islam participates in the societies’ change actively. Besides that, the cancelling of personality is to prepare santri to have the religion and non-religion knowledge to be Islamic human who can apply their knowledge. The personality built by Islamic boarding school of Nurul Islam is able to face and respond the changes without ignoring the morals (Akhlaq). In fact, the Islamic boarding school of Nurul Islam tries to integrate the formal school system and Islamic boarding school system to build the capable generations. The Islamic boarding school with soft skill and the formal school with life skill will be the solution of adaptive education in the era of changes.
 

Decentralized School Management in Government Schools in Nepal: Policy for Quality Improvement

This research article gives a holistic view of the status of school management committee in our country. Education is one of the basic needs of human beings which has brought changes all over the world. Today, we are around the formal schooling system for which school level is the first step. We are also in the hold of globalization of education and social structure for which we have to compete globally for employment. In such situation, the system and management of education should be of global standard. School management has been a kind of burning issue at the present situation in education system. The state has to follow the trends of decentralization of education. But in Nepal, there is fully centralized education system. Due to this reason, it is thought that the state is the only responsible body for overall education sector. The SMC members are not fully authentic bodies in Nepalese schools. They have no more interest about the problems related to school. They are mostly politically related and also there is absence of true guardianship of SMC members. Most of the SMC members' children do not study in public schools but they are selected with political sources. As a whole school management committee has not supported for the improvement of teaching learning activities. They have no any plan to raise funds and support the school. Most of the children in public schools are also from lower class people. The guardians also cannot support their children by providing necessary things. As a consequence, the SLC result of public schools is very poor except some rare cases. SMC members are not found capable of taking management responsibility of schools. The state also has not fixed any criteria to become SMC members. This research study has found clear obstacle in education system of the politicalized group in management sector. Political interference should not be given emphasis and priority in education sector. Moreover, politics in education sector should be strongly discouraged to make public sector responsible towards school management in public schools in Nepal. This research study tries to reply the research question “What type of management at schools should be developed to improve the quality of education?” The general objective of this study is to analyse the overall status of the school management committee (SMC) in public schools in Nepal.

From out-of-school-youth to TVET student: Exploring the funds in families and communities that facilitate second-chance learning

Many young South African adults are returning to education as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students. These students’ educational reintegration can be challenging, given their history of failure in the formal school system. We argue that many vulnerable adult learners succeed despite their situational and dispositional challenges because of the agentic acts present in their families and communities. However, in the parent support literature there is a misrecognition of the contributions that adults from socio-economically deprived communities make in the success of such second-chance learners. This multiple case study had as context a Western Cape TVET college where five purposively selected students’ experiences with family and community support were explored. The article responds to the research question: ‘What are the embedded funds in families and communities that facilitate the TVET students’ successful entry into secondchance learning?’ The findings refute the perception that poor communities disinvest in the education of their young adult learners. It found that in their worlds there were various role-players and networks that facilitated the five TVET students’ educational success. What the communities lacked in financial and material wealth, they made up for with aspirational, emotional and navigational wealth from which the adult students benefitted.

Knowledge is Power: Politics and Formal Education in the Sixteenth-Century Kongo Kingdom

Abstract This paper takes us to the beginning of the sixteenth century in the West Central African kingdom of Kongo, some years after Portuguese navigators first established contact with the Kongo royal elite. A formal school system was introduced with the support of the Kongo king Afonso I – who ruled from 1509 to 1542 – as he used the Christian school system to integrate the districts of the kingdom more fully into political unity. Apart from this centralising tendency, there was at the same time a process to establish contacts abroad. Quite a few young Kongo men of noble birth were sent to schools at convents in Portugal to be trained as church staff, interpreters or ambassadors of the Kongo kingdom. These two tendencies – internally oriented centralisation and externally oriented internationalisation – will be discussed in the light of the developments of the school system in the Kongo kingdom in the sixteenth century and beyond. This will lead to an interpretation of the Kongo school system in terms of global integration and local appropriation.

INFLUENCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS ON MALARIA DISEASE RESURGENCE AMONG THE ADULT RESIDENTS OF ISIOLO SUB-COUNTY IN KENYA

This study evaluated the determinants of malaria disease resurgence among the adult residents of Isiolo Sub-County in Kenya. The following specific objectives guided this research; to establish the influence of the level of awareness on malaria disease resurgence among the adult residents of Isiolo Sub-county in Kenya.to evaluate demographic characteristics influencing malaria disease resurgence among the adult residents of Isiolo Sub-county in Kenya, to investigate socio-economic characteristics influencing malaria disease resurgence among adult residents of Isiolo Sub-county in Kenya.to determine the influence of environmental characteristics on malaria disease resurgence among adult residents of Isiolo Sub-county in Kenya, to assess the influence of malaria disease resurgence interventions on malaria disease resurgence among the adult residents of Isiolo Sub-county in Kenya, This was a descriptive study, employing a cross-sectional study design. The researcher used mixed research methodology in this study which employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. Stratified sampling techniques were used for sampling the study respondents. The residents of Isiolo Sub-county, key informant interviewers and NGOs/CBO based focus group discussion constituted the target population. The study respondents were selected from five different wards of Isiolo Sub-county with a Sample size of 392 comprised of 385 respondents randomly selected for quantitative data and 7 key informants and focus group discussion for qualitative data. The study used interview guides to collect data from key informants. Quantitative data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. SPSS version 25.0 was used in quantitative data analysis while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study received 100% response rate almost balance by gender as approximately 55% of respondents were male and 45% were female. Education levels of respondents varied because there were respondents without formal education while others had attained a tertiary level of education. Respondents experienced malaria resurgence in the study as evidenced by knowledge of malaria disease symptoms, causative agents of malaria disease, mode of transmission, treatment and intervention strategies among others. This study established that all the characteristics considered in this research had some level of influence on the resurgence of malaria disease in the study site as deduced by regression analysis model whose, R2 = 0.453, F- 1.385 = 316.804, P = 0.000 for socioeconomic, Beta- coefficient = 0.410, p=0.000 for an environmental factor, in all p < 0.05 at CI=95%. The study recommends that policymakers in Isiolo Sub-county should consider formulating policies that support education for the residents since a big percentage 58% had not attended any form of schooling. This study concluded that different malaria intervention strategies were implemented in the research site aimed at taming the resurgence of malaria disease but had mixed results. The researcher recommended that Policy makers and NGOs/CBOs sought to allocate additional resources in support of educating residents about malaria disease and how to control it since prevention is usually cheaper than treatment in their intervention programs to curb malaria resurgence in the study area. The researcher also recommended further research on the reasons behind a big percentage of residents of the Isiolo Sub-county not attending or enrolling in a formal school system.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0946/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Examining the influence of guardian level of education and enrolment of children in primary school in Samburu County, Kenya

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of guardian level of education and enrolment of children in primary school in Samburu County, Kenya. To facilitate the data collection, Samburu District was stratified into three clusters – Highland-Rural, Lowland-Rural and Urban. Multi-stage and random sampling were used to select from each cluster, one division, one location, one sub-location and then 200 household heads from all the villages in the sub-location. That is moving from the division down to the villages using random sampling. Data were collected and analysed using Excel and SPSS computer packages and further presented using descriptive and inferential statistics. The specific tools used were frequencies and cross-tabulations. The study found out that guardian education plays a very important role in enhancing access to basic formal education. Indeed, the relationship between guardian education and access to basic formal education was very significant at the study's 95 per cent confidence level. In this regard, the children who did not get a chance to enrol in the formal school system can be reached through the Out of School Programme. Similarly, Adult literacy classes can boost the literacy levels of the household heads.

Impact of Bridge Classes on Access to Formal Education for Out-Of-School Children in the Cocoa Producing Communities in Cote D'ivoire

Bridging classes are clearly today, one of the major educational offerings in Côte d'Ivoire. The bridge school provides a second chance for out-of-school children between the ages of 9 and 13 to enter or re-enter the formal school system. In this perspective, the initiatives taken by the NGO International Save the Children, have enabled many out-of-school children to have access to Education. This work aims to assess the impact of bridging classes on access to formal education for out-of-school children in cocoa-producing communities in Soubré. The methodology includes a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide for stakeholders in the Nawa region. The results indicate that the construction of bridging classes has enabled 453 children from the target communities who are out of school or out of school to have a chance of being educated or reintegrated into formal educational pathways. However, cultural and economic burdens pose major challenges in terms of their sustainability. It is therefore important to remove all these obstacles in order to facilitate the transition of beneficiary children to formal school.

Delving into the shadow: Mathematics teachers’ perspectives on the impact of private supplementary tutoring in Ireland

Private supplementary tutoring (PT; often referred to in Ireland as “grinds”) can be defined as education outside the formal schooling system where a tutor teaches a particular subject(s) in exchange for financial gain. While PT has long been popular in East Asian countries, its provision has become a widespread phenomenon both internationally and at all levels of the Irish education system in recent years, no more so than for the subject of mathematics. However, few empirical studies have been conducted thus far on its impact. In this paper, the authors sought to investigate mathematics teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the grinds culture on the subject at the secondary level in Ireland. The data was gathered using an online survey designed by the authors and circulated to secondary mathematics teachers in November 2020. The findings from responding teachers ( n = 305) revealed mixed views, with both positive and negative impacts identified. Many teachers acknowledged the benefits of one-to-one support that grinds can provide and the resulting increase in students’ confidence in the subject. However, teachers also determined that grinds can cause some students to disengage in class and to be less responsible for their own individual work ethics.

Exploring South Australian trends in Pre-schoolers’ Development and School Readiness from Preschool Directors’ Perspectives

Background: South Australian preschool educators report anecdotally they perceive changes in children’s development over the past decade, and consequently, changes in children’s school readiness, also evidenced by Australian Education Development Census (AEDC, 2018) data. This honours study describes the profile of South Australian children’s development and school readiness, based on the perceptions of preschool directors. The study explores the understandings of school readiness and its relationship with developmental delay.
 Methods: An online questionnaire was developed, guided by literature in the child development field, and was reviewed, piloted and validated by experts. In total, 405 directors from the South Australian Department for Education-funded preschools, were invited to take part. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and content analysis. 
 Results: Out of 103 returned questionnaires (25.4% response rate), the majority were preschool directors with over 15 years’ experience as director and/or working with children in any field. The majority (80%) of participants agreed there has been an increase in the number of children diagnosed with, or observed to have developmental delay, over the past decade. Directors commonly defined school readiness as a developmental status of the child, with others extending this concept to add the primary school’s readiness to receive the child. The majority (82%) acknowledged children with signs of developmental delay are at risk of not being “school ready”. Factors affecting children’s development have been identified.
 Conclusions: From this study, it is evident that over the past decade, experienced preschool directors have indicated South Australian children’s development to decline. These delays are impacting on their readiness to transition into the formal school system. Practical implications include the need for urgent support for these children to ensure they are ready to transition to school and to engage optimally in their learning.