Abstract:

In Estonia children start school at the age of seven. From the school year 2020/2011 all pre-school child care institutions have to provide a school readiness card for every child leaving the institution before entering the school system. This card documents the child’s individual development and it is submitted to school to support smooth transition to primary school. School readiness card should be an important help for the class teacher to take into account the child’s individuality and previous experience as well as understanding the child’s development. The content of the card is based on the curriculum for pre-school child care institutions but there is no universal form for every child care institution to use so there are many different opportunities for the teachers to fill them in.

The current study gives an overview of preschool institutions’ teachers’ opinions about the content of the school readiness card. There were semi-structured interviews conducted with primary school teachers, who at the moment of the research were teaching first grades.

There were two research questions:
- What class teachers think about the need for a school readiness card?
- What information teachers consider most important on the school readiness card?

Research results highlights that the school readiness card is a necessary document but the implementation and compilation needs significant improvement to reach the expected goals. Social skills, learning skills as well as information about child’s special needs were considered as the most important information on the school readiness card.

Keywords:

School readiness, school readiness card, early childhood education, primary school, teachers' opinions.