School Readiness and School Entry-Age: Views and Experiences of Turkish Teachers and Families on a New Educational Policy

Abstract

This study examined the views of Turkish teachers and families on children’s school readiness and their experiences with a new educational policy on school-entry age. This study took place in Ankara, Turkey, with 268 teachers and 400 family members as participants. A qualitative, interpretative research design was used in this study, with open-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews as the major data-gathering techniques. The grounded theory was applied in data analysis. The results highlighted the perspectives of teachers and families, who experienced first-hand the implications of the school entry age, along with their worries and concerns about their children’s experiences. Child and family characteristics, parenting style, peer interaction, children’s prior educational experiences, and media/technology were considered as influential factors in school readiness. Problems associated with children’s skills, schools, curriculum, and teachers were reported. The actions taken by the schools and policy makers highlight the importance of successful development and implementation of educational policy decisions. The results of this study might promote collaborative dialogues among educational policymakers, educational organizations and institutions, schools, teachers, families, and communities at large in order to foster shared responsibility, translate the policy more effectively into practice, and generate feedback for future policy development.