A Study Of Cognitive School Readiness Of Preschool Children In Impoverished Rural Area

Of recent years, the research on school readiness has been an international hot issue in the field of early childhood education. A lot of research findings suggest that school readiness is of significant importance for children to benefit from the incoming formal school education and life-long development. The cognitive readiness of disadvantaged children has been the main focus of research on school readiness. The academic failure, poverty and the vicious cycle of poverty among generations brought about by insufficient school readiness may hinder social development and stability. Therefore, this research aims at the school readiness of lower income children in poverty rural areas in China. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods has been applied in an attempt to reveal the effect of early childhood care and education on preschool children's cognitive readiness in poverty rural areas of China.The research consisted of three sections as the following:The first part is the research of the current situation of the early childhood care and education in the poverty rural areas. According to questionnaires done by 203 children's fosters, we find the rate of preschool attendance is not of notable differences in sex and Liushou, but significant differences exist in ethnic groups which the Han nationality takes up greater percentage. The average time children stay in preschool is 1.99 year and the number of children who stay in preschool for 2 years and 3 years is more than that of the others. The time children stay in preschool is not of notable differences in sex, Liushou and ethnic groups. The types of early childhood care in rural areas include family care, kindergarten, preschool class, and primary-preschool class, among which most children attend preschool class. The research finds that family income and insufficient educational placement institutions are the main factors influencing family's choice of different types of early childhood education.The second part of the research deals with the development of cognitive readiness of children under different types of early childhood education and the relationship between the cognitive readiness and achievement scores. We find children's cognitive readiness in rural areas is not good .The learning area of children is rather narrow, with focus only on the counting and objects' size, while other areas are being neglected. The basic school readiness and Bracken scores are not of notable differences in sex, but significant differences exist in ethnic groups, time of preschool attendence and types of preschool education. It is notable that the scores of children who stay in preschool for one year is significantly different from that of children who have no preschool experience. The scores of children who have the preschool experience in kindergarten are the best, and the scores of children who stay in primary-preschool class are not different from that of children who have no preschool experience. In addition, we find the Bracken scores can predict the achievement scores in Grade One.The third part of research is the analysis of educational environment for children in poverty rural areas, especially in regard to the fact of different types of early education and early care there to reveal crucial factors leading to different cognitive readiness. This research indicates the mult-learning chances in kindergarten play important role in the cognitive readiness, and the highly-motivated teacher with professional background is the necessity to implement the curriculum successfully. In contrast, mixed age, large class-size, monotonous learning materials, non-professional teachers play negative roles in the development of children's school readiness. Besides, lower expectation of parents on children is the one of important reasons for the lower cognitive scores of primary-preschool class children and the better culture capture improve the cognitive scores of kindergarten children.Based on these findings, we discuss the problem of the cognitive readiness of children in poverty rural areas in the background of social culture. Some suggestions and strategies have been put forward to improve the cognitive readiness of children there. Firstly, it is suggested that the promotion of children's cognitive readiness should become one of the core issues in poor rural areas. Secondly, we suggest doing one-year compulsory preschool education in rural areas, increasing the investment on preschool education; adjusting and developing the rational distribution of preschool educational resources. In addition, the government should attach great importance to the construction of the curriculum and textbooks of preschool education in rural areas on the basis of fair education.In all, this research broke through the limitations of current researches on 'ready for primary school". From a new perspective, the researcher studied children's school cognitive readiness in poor rural areas and carried out a systematic survey and in-depth analysis about the issue and finally put forward some constructive suggestions for developing and promoting children's school cognitive readiness in rural areas. The results of the research will not only provide theoretical basis but also provide practical guidance for the implementation of early childhood education in impoverished rural areas, which is of important theoretical value and realistic significance.