The Relationship Between Family Socioeconomic Status, Family Learning Environment And School Readiness Of Older Childre

In the early years of preschool,there is a constant emphasis on scientific school readiness,not only because it is predictive of children’s academic performance when they enter primary school,but also because of its far-reaching importance for children’s lifelong learning,growth and future development.Preparation for school should not only focus on the children’s own preparation,but also on the preparation of the family environment.This study investigates the socio-economic status of children’s families,their home learning environment and their basic readiness for school,explores the mechanisms through which family socio-economic status and home learning environment influence children’s readiness for school,and finally proposes educational recommendations for creating a quality home learning environment to help prepare children for school.A total of 440 older children and their parents from four kindergartens in Guangzhou were selected as respondents for the study,and data were collected using the questionnaire method.Based on quantitative analysis,the following findings were drawn:(1)There is a significant positive correlation between subjective and objective household socio-economic status,and objective household socio-economic status positively predicts subjective household socio-economic status.(2)The mean of the total score of family learning environment was lower than the median;on the dimension of cultural resources,families with non-only children scored higher than families with only children,and families with two children scored higher than families with one child;The home learning environment did not differ significantly in terms of family structure.(3)Overall school readiness was moderately high;girls had higher levels of physical health and motor skills than boys;6-year-olds had higher levels of cognitive development and general knowledge than 5-year-olds;children whose primary caregivers were fathers and mothers had better development in physical health and motor skills than children whose primary caregivers were grandparents;and children whose primary caregivers were fathers had higher levels of development in the learning styles domain than children whose primary caregivers were grandparents.(4)All three variables,family socioeconomic status,home learning environment,and school readiness of older children,were positively correlated,and the developmental status of children’s school readiness differed by the quality of the home learning environment across family socioeconomic status;family socioeconomic status positively predicted the quality of home learning environment and the level of school readiness of older children;at the same time,older children with different quality of home learning environment had different school readiness development in various domains.The family learning environment significantly predicted children’s school readiness,with the greatest predictive power of family learning activities.(5)Family learning environment partially mediated the effect of family socioeconomic status on older children’s school readiness.Based on the results of the above study,it is recommended that parents should,on the one hand,accept themselves,change the attributions of wealth and poverty,reduce comparison,and correct the concept of child-rearing.On the other hand,they can improve the quality of home learning activities by clarifying the educational intentions of the activity system;creating a rich context of life to take into account children’s comprehensive school readiness;adapting to the needs of children’s ability development to maximize the benefits of cultural resources;making use of the integration of positive parenting practices to highlight the potential value of subject interaction;and maintaining a harmonious and orderly family environment and providing a quiet and comfortable place for learning.We will create a quality family learning environment through such means as maintaining a harmonious and orderly family environment and providing a quiet and comfortable place for learning.At the same time,kindergartens should provide educational guidance for families to create a quality learning environment,and society should provide conditions and facilities for families to create a quality learning environment.The "home-school-society" synergy is to raise healthy,happy and well-rounded children.