School Readiness and Early Years Assessment

School readiness is governed by a wide range of levels such as cognitive readiness, social readiness, emotional readiness and perceptual readiness.

Social readiness is the state of a child’s social skills whereby they are less ego driven, understand some social cues and are adequately socially integrated. They need to be willing to share, are set to engage in play with peers and can display signs of integration with a social group. This is where a positive self-concept is key.

Cognitive readiness is when a child can understand one-to-one relationships, can trace shapes, understand the consequences of their actions and have the focus to pay heed and to finish tasks assigned by teachers, peers and adults. 

Emotional readiness is when a child possesses self-confidence and is not afraid to ask questions. Their learning tends to be more independent and less dependent on their caregiver or their parents. 

Perceptual readiness is essentially the normal development of a child’s perceptual functions, in other words their visual and auditory (hearing) acuity.