Every normal parent will worry about the psychological readiness of the child to study at school - there is nothing wrong with that. Nobody knows how the life of a future first-grader in the new environment will turn out, whether it will be difficult for him to establish contact with his peers, and whether he will succeed in completing the tasks that the teacher gives him. In the article we will talk about methods for diagnosing psychological readiness for school, as well as ways to develop it.
Determination of psychological readiness
In order to better understand whether your child is ready to go to school, it is worthwhile to understand the multifaceted concept of psychological readiness, and then proceed from each of the points in more detail.
So, psychological readiness for school is a set of system characteristics of the psychological development of your child, which includes the formation of various properties and abilities that provide the opportunity to take the studentās position and carry out educational activities. Also, psychological readiness may mean the level of psychological development that is necessary for the normal mastering of the school curriculum and work in a team.
Simply put, psychological readiness for school is how much your child is willing to go to school to learn new things. Will he be comfortable being in a peer society, will he be able to learn the training program provided for by the Ministry of Education, will he be able to withstand the emotional stresses that arise in stressful situations, or is he still subconsciously not ready to engage in any type of activity without his parent .
What does psychological readiness consist of?
The development of psychological readiness for school should be carried out according to a certain scheme, each item of which includes certain qualities and a set of skills. If you know what you need to work most with your child, then you can better prepare him for school life. The structure of psychological readiness consists of four points:
- intellectual readiness;
- social;
- personal;
- strong-willed.
Each of these points includes certain qualities and skills, which we will discuss in the next sections. Their development allows you to individually improve each type of psychological readiness, as well as understanding that your child is ready to go to school for knowledge.
The structure of personal readiness
To understand the diagnosis of a childās psychological readiness for school, you must first understand the structure of this definition. That is, it is necessary to understand what psychological readiness includes and what groups it is divided into. All components with explanations are listed below.
- Motivational readiness is how much a child is shaped to accept social motives. The motivation in this case can be very different - recognition from peers, praise from parents or teachers, the acquisition of their first social status (the headman responsible for duty). If you teach your child not only to learn these motives, but also to follow them, then he will be 25% ready to go to school.
- The formation of the self-concept and self-esteem is the child's awareness of his mental and physical capabilities, as well as the ability to correctly assess his personal qualities. If the student is initially not ready to perceive his own "I", will not constantly compare his skills with the skills of his peers, then it will be very difficult for him to determine the aspirations of school life. However, if you teach him to correctly evaluate his personal qualities, praise for achievements, then he will be better prepared for school life.
- Communicative ability - the ability to establish productive and voluntary communication with peers and teachers in the context of educational activities and in the personal sphere. Simply put, a child should not be shy to ask a teacher about an incomprehensible moment in a new topic or ask a classmate to share a spare pen. Also, the child should be able to tell interesting things from his personal life. This will help him make friends with peers or rise in the eyes of his teacher. In fact, the understanding of the subject depends precisely on the relationship between the student and teacher.
- Emotional maturity - the development of a child of various moral standards, as well as the ability to express their feelings in public. This point also includes the ability to hide impulsive reactions and the formation of higher feelings - morality, aesthetics (a sense of beauty), intelligence (the joy of learning something new). From the first grade, a schoolchild must understand what is āgoodā and what is ābadā on an intuitive level. He should also be able to show sincere emotions when seeing art objects, images, āpicturesā in life, because this will help him develop creative qualities.
Simply put, personal psychological readiness for school is the ability to adapt to difficult situations, communicate with peers, find your own motivation, appreciate everything beautiful in this world. All these qualities are necessary for learning at school and developing a childās personality.
Mental readiness structure
The psychological readiness of a first grader to school also implies the totality of his mental skills. That is, he must be able to correctly perceive the tasks that the teacher gives him, analyze the methods for solving it, choose the most optimal of them and solve the problem on time. Consider the components of psychological readiness in more detail.
- Cognitive readiness - the ability to use basic mental operations (analysis, comparison, classification, generalization, synthesis, abstraction). The child must be able to correctly and competently perceive the tasks and be able to solve them as soon as possible. The presence of a certain set of knowledge from preschool education allows you to develop this quality in a child much faster.
- Speech readiness - the ability to correctly formulate your speech, as well as to see the difference between the main forms of speech (written, oral, direct and so on). The child must understand the difference between monologue and dialogue on an intuitive level. He should always talk about himself in the first person, and only call āYouā to older people. The student must correctly compose sentences in his head and pronounce them out loud.
- The development of imagination, attention, memory and perception is the ability to use the basic senses, seek information in the depths of oneās own subconscious, pay attention to the smallest details and turn to the imagination. That is, the child must learn to receive information from the outside world, correctly analyze and apply it in practice. At the same time, imagination is suitable for the development of creativity.
Most of the problems of psychological readiness for school, as a rule, are precisely this point. A child must come to an educational institution, being able to perform the simplest tasks - to count objects, read words by syllables, and draw simple figures. Otherwise, it can lag behind peers in development.
The structure of volitional readiness
The psychological readiness of the child to study at school also includes various volitional qualities that allow him to learn self-control from school age. Read more about the components below.
- Willingness to the sphere of will - the ability to set clear and indestructible goals, as well as to find optimal ways to achieve them. This may include the exercise of volitional effort over oneās own desires, the subordination of various motives that allow one to achieve success.
- The development of arbitrariness is the ability to build oneās subordination, according to the moral and ethical standards formed by modern society. The ability to act on the proposed patterns of behavior, as well as adjust them in the right direction if necessary.
As you can see, the structuring of the components of psychological readiness for a childās school allows us to understand in more detail what a first grader should be able to do. Based on the list of skills, you can easily plan to prepare your child for the school course.
Socio-psychological readiness for school
It is customary to single out this kind of psychological readiness against the general background, since it can include norms and skills from other structures. However, it also plays a huge role in the proper preparation of the child for school. The basic principle is a serious attitude to educational activities, respectful attitude to a teacher, director, and head teacher. It is socio-psychological preparedness that has the greatest impact on the indicator of discipline.
If today you look at high school students at school, you will see among them only a small number of children who really seek to gain knowledge in an educational institution. Most of them care about the external aspect of school life (a beautiful portfolio, fashionable shoes, a new form, and so on). And some just build relationships with friends or seek a soul mate.
Often, a positive attitude towards the school is formed on the basis of information that adults provide about this educational institution. Therefore, each parent must be aware that the perception of the child depends on the right words. If you start involving him in the scientific community from a preschool age, he will constantly strive for development and relate to the teaching process and school only with a positive attitude.
In the future, the socio-psychological adaptation of the child will depend on his environment. An important role is played by communication with peers or friendship with classmates. You must explain to the child that it is imperative to make friends with the new team. In no case should a child feel like an outcast in a class, otherwise peers will make fun of him or even insult him.
Child Intelligence Development
The development of psychological readiness for school should begin with "pumping" the intelligence of your child. This has a direct impact on the student's academic performance, as well as the ability to correctly and clearly explain their position in the team. It is important to instill in the preschooler a passion for knowledge, and not force him to spend hours learning letters that he does not understand. To show curiosity, try to get the right literature or buy a child some educational game that can arouse your kid's interest in knowledge.
Intellectual and psychological readiness for school is also the ability to use differential perception, that is, to be able to distinguish the background from the figure, as well as concentrate on one object. Analytical thinking can be attributed to the same category - the ability to recognize the connections between different phenomena. For the development of fine motor skills, it will be enough to purchase any designer who is focused on a child of your age.
When giving a child to school, he must also have a certain level of speaking skills. A first grader must be able to clearly pronounce all sounds and letters, have good command of the strength, pitch and timbre of his voice. It is very good if a child of preschool age shows interest in foreign languages, because in this case he will have a fairly balanced vocabulary, which will be useful to him in various fields of life. To teach the child to retell the text read well, you need to regularly practice with him in this matter. Try to learn small poems, songs with him, or try complex sentences from words.
Have you decided to develop your childās psychological readiness for school? Methods from psychology, which can be learned at various trainings or free online courses, help almost any parent to cope with this task. However, it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of your baby, since all children are unique and cannot develop on the same principles.
Development of volitional readiness
To diagnose psychological readiness for school, you need to pay attention to the habits of your baby, which he uses in everyday life. For example, most strong-willed personalities always keep their place in order, put their belongings in a portfolio so that there is enough space for everything. Also volitional willingness, of course, implies the ability to restrain one's impulsive emotions, which can harm others. Psychologically prepared for school, the child will definitely listen to the elders, and during the execution of the task will focus only on it.
The emotional maturity of the child is also accompanied by the formation of the position of the student. Try to ask your child who they are and what responsibilities they should fulfill. The parent must clearly explain to his child that in the lesson you need to listen to the teacher, raise your hand if you want to ask something, do not shout the correct answers from the floor, and so on. If the student does not have a strong-willed readiness, then this will lead to a decrease in productivity during the performance of tasks received from the teacher.
In psychology, there is a rather interesting method that helps to develop the level of volitional training of the child. You can play a small role-playing game with him, where you will alternate roles. First, you should show the child how a diligent student should behave. After this, it is necessary to take on the role of a teacher in order to point out the student to his shortcomings and adjust his behavior.
Personal readiness development
The formation of psychological readiness for school in children should occur from a very early age. You must be not only a parent for the child, but also a teacher, mentor, in which he sees a role model. Particular attention should be paid to the childās personal motivation to achieve any goals. If this item is not completed, the child will not feel that completing the task will benefit him. Try to motivate the student so that he himself strives to constantly gain knowledge and develop skills.
Also, your child should recognize his own importance at an early age, since it is precisely high self-esteem that allows you to achieve great heights. However, only praising a child for success would be a mistake. It is recommended that his mistakes be pointed out, but this must be done with extreme caution, since in childhood criticism is perceived extremely negatively. Have you noticed a mistake? Tell the child that he is doing everything right, except for one moment. In this case, he will be proud of his successes and will try to do everything much better and will correctly respond to the remark.
The components of psychological readiness described in the previous sections allow you to draw up a competent plan for the development of personal qualities of your child. To do this, try to analyze the actions of the student in this or that area, and then highlight some qualities that he needs to definitely develop. Development takes place in a variety of ways. For example, if you want to improve the communicative qualities of a student, then you will have to motivate him to communicate more not only with peers, but also with the older generation. However, the dialogue must be correct, so be sure to point out to the child the mistakes that he makes in the process.
Psychological readiness of parents for school
Yes, this item is also extremely important, as some parents refuse to send their baby to an educational institution. However, such individuals should understand that sooner or later the child still has to take an independent path. If he will always be at home under your care, then his personal qualities will not develop in any way.Even if you organize the training process with the best tutors at home, your child will not be able to develop communication skills, as he will not communicate in a team. School is not just a place where children learn. Here, students make friends, make first love, so you should not destroy a childās full childhood in vain.
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Diagnosing the childās psychological readiness for school will make sure that your treasure is ready to embark on a new life path. If in some ways he is inferior to his peers, you can always help him by drawing up a competent plan for the development of a particular quality. Do not be alarmed at hinting at the baby at its shortcomings and praise it only if it really did the hard work by stepping over itself. Otherwise, the child may become proud and lose interest in achievements or discovering a new one. Such an attitude to life will not bring anything good, especially at an early age.
The psychological readiness of the child to study at school is of great importance in the modern world. Unfortunately, parents have to independently give their children the basic knowledge on the basis of which the educational program of our country is built. However, if you start preparing your child for school from six or even five years old, then it will be much easier for him to join the team. Be sure that teachers will definitely praise your child, and among classmates he will enjoy well-deserved authority. Over time, a qualified specialist will grow out of him, who will achieve great success in this life with the help of his own knowledge.