What is 'school readiness', and how are smooth transitions to school supported?

Abstract

Early childhood learning and development have important implications for individuals' subsequent learning. Early childhood education helps to prepare children for smooth transitions into school and, given the cumulative nature of education, it helps to determine an individual's trajectory within and beyond formal school education into adult life (Tayler, Cloney and Niklas 2015). Some models of high-quality early childhood education are associated with long-term positive influences on high school completion rates, tertiary qualification completions, reduced teen pregnancies, improved health and improved employment status (e.g. Campbell and Ramey 1995, Reynolds, Temple, Ou, Arteaga and White 2011). Early childhood experience is of fundamental importance for children's longer-term development and therefore for those considering 'school readiness' and how to achieve it.