Psychological readiness of a child for school: preparation criteria

A child's psychological readiness for school is the level of personal, emotional—volitional, social, intellectual, and psychophysical development that is required for successful adaptation to school life and effective learning.The task of parents is to provide a comfortable educational environment, to build a trusting relationship with the child.

Help to cope with difficulties, praise for the slightest successes and efforts. To love and accept.

Signs of children's readiness for school

There are basic ideas about the age at which a child should go to first grade. As a rule, this is 7 years old, although sometimes 6 and 8. Here it is important to pay attention to the individual criteria of the child's psychological readiness to study at school. What are these criteria, let's figure it out.

Personal readiness

The child treats school positively and seriously. He wants to go to school, the desire is based on academic motivation. Preschoolers are attracted by the essence of the educational process (obtaining new knowledge), and not external attributes (briefcase, bright stationery). He realistically represents school life, interaction with teachers and peers, has no illusions about endless games and fun. This is an important criterion, as it speaks of psychological readiness for school.

Emotional and volitional readiness

A preschooler is able to show internal (strong-willed) efforts to perform not only interesting, but also boring, routine tasks. He sets a goal, develops a plan, copes with difficulties, evaluates the result.

A six-year-old who has formed a strong-willed readiness for school, correctly uses educational supplies, demonstrates a high level of writing, maintains order on the desk. He knows how to focus on the task, perceives the teacher's speech, controls his impulsive actions. The child does not shout the answer from the spot, but raises his hand and calmly waits for him to be asked. Does not jump up from his desk, does not walk around the classroom during the lesson, even if he is tired or bored.

See also: Psychology of children: how to understand your child

Social readiness

The child is socially mature and ready for the role of a schoolboy if he strives to communicate with peers, participate in common games, follow the rules and customs adopted in children's groups. He knows how to fulfill the teacher's requirements, knows about school subordination, about the respectful attitude of teachers and students to each other.

A preschooler controls his emotional impulses, can listen to others without interrupting. He is able to constructively resolve conflicts, behave socially acceptable in controversial situations.

Intellectual readiness

Intellectual maturity is influenced not only by the acquired knowledge, but also by the compliance of mental development, brain functions with age criteria.

Development of logical thinking. The child is able to find a generalizing concept to a chain of words, list the similarities and differences of objects, establish logical connections between phenomena, group objects according to similar characteristics.

Basic knowledge of mathematics and the outside world, reading skills.

A preschooler counts up to 10 and back, solves examples for addition and subtraction within a dozen. Knows the graphic representation of numbers, knows how to write them.

Knows the most common animals, birds, insects. It is guided by the seasons, days of the week, time of day. He names the country in which he lives, its capital. Remembers his address.

A preschooler is familiar with letters: how they are pronounced and written. Some children master syllabic reading for school, although this is not considered a mandatory requirement for a future first grader.

For a child ready for school, concentration of attention for 15 minutes is characteristic. He can understand the task and clearly follow the instructions when performing it.

Psychophysiological readiness

Height, weight, muscle tone, state of the nervous system, vision, hearing, and general health are taken into account. Coherent oral and written speech, fine motor skills.

A preschooler can cut with scissors, confidently and correctly holds a pen and pencil. He is oriented in space, knows the concepts of top-bottom, right-left. He can clearly and consistently express his thoughts, retell the plot of a book or movie.

How to prepare a child for school: 10 tips for parents

1. Take into account the level of development, character, physiological and psychological characteristics, cognitive abilities of the child when you demand from him accuracy, responsibility, perseverance. These qualities are formed gradually.

2. Start small. Let the preschooler get used to independently prepare the clothes in which he will go to the garden tomorrow. Gradually increase the time of training sessions, expand the scope of responsibility. Be patient, support and praise the child. Pressure, unjustifiably excessive demands and punishments will lead to the fact that the child will hate the school and the whole learning process in advance.

3. Let the child make mistakes. Teach constructive attitude to failures as part of learning. Do not scold for mistakes, but help the preschooler find them and fix them.

4. It is important that the load is feasible, the tasks follow from simple to complex and the child can cope with them. Too difficult exercises will reduce educational motivation, create a feeling of failure in a preschooler. Do not rush to do the task for the child, otherwise he will get the impression that he himself is not capable of anything and it is pointless to try.

5. Be sensitive to the difficulties of the child, if necessary, contact psychologists, speech therapists, teachers. Try to solve problems with communication, speech, thinking, coordination, and fill in gaps in knowledge before entering the first grade. Do not expect that at school the child will "learn" and "catch up" by himself. In the first grade, there will be no time to "clean up the tails" because of the adaptive and educational load.

6. When preparing for school, leave a place in the child's life for games, entertainment, surprises. Let him not have the feeling that "childhood is over" and now he is waiting for solid duties and lessons. Good mood and positive attitude are no less important than knowledge and skills.

7. Teach your child to the schoolboy's daily routine: go to bed and get up at the same time, take enough time to sleep and walk in the fresh air. Gradually increase the time of classes where you need to sit, listen carefully, follow instructions. If the child is spinning, trying to get up — give him a little rest, spend a physical culture minute.

8. Organize a comfortable developing environment at home. Ensure that the child has free access to plasticine, pencils and paints, books. Gently insist that the maintenance of stationery in order is the responsibility of the child.

9. Pay attention to how the child copes with his emotions: expresses anger, shares joy. Teach him the eco-friendly expression of emotions. If at the age of 6-7 a preschooler cannot control himself, throws a tantrum because he has not been bought a toy, rushes with his fists at children and adults at the slightest dissatisfaction — this is a reason to be wary and turn to a psychologist.

10. Form a positive attitude of the child to school. Tell us about your childhood, favorite subjects and teachers, friendship with classmates. Remember funny cases. Dispel the fears of a preschooler: you will not scold him for twos, always protect and help.

Admission to the first grade is an exciting and difficult stage in the life of both the child and the parents. Therefore, it is very important to take into account the level of physical and psychological readiness of children for school.

Competent preparation for school, attention to every aspect of it will help to mitigate adaptation, make the educational process easy and interesting.  August 29, 2019 2022-11-27 2020-03-25 Rate the article on a 5-point scale Did you like the article?