Exploring the status of children's school readiness and its relationship to structural and process qualities in Private and Government preschools of Kirkos sub-city
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Date
2023-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This research aimed to explore the status of children’s school readiness and its relationship to structural and process qualities in private and government preschools of Kirkos sub-city, Addis Ababa. A mixed research approach was employed to investigate the research questions. Out of the selected four schools a total of 94 preschool children from KG 3 or preparatory class participated in this research in the readiness measurement test. School readiness assessment results and direct school observations were the main sources of the quantitative data. Qualitative data was collected using Key Informant Interview (KII) was conducted with four school principals taking one participant in each preschool. The study applied IDELA’s standardized International Development of Early Learning Assessment analysis to investigate the level of the children readiness for primary school in a holistic manner and direct observation tools were used to measure the relationship of the children readiness level to the process and structural qualities of both private and government preschools. The study's main finding was the readiness level of the private preschools students is significantly different compared to their government counterpart, however, there was no significant relationship between school readiness level and process and structural qualities of the preschools. In the end, the study recommends that schools and educational administration bodies make a proactive effort to increase the qualities of preschools and make the school environment more conducive in order to achieve a better readiness level of the students.
Key words: School readiness; Process quality; structural qualities; IDELA.