Article: “The main components of the readiness of a child of senior preschool age for school.”
The baby is 6 years old, and we are asking the question: “Should we send him to school or wait another year? Are you ready for school already or let him grow up a little more.” Perhaps sometimes you are overcome by doubts: “After all, he is still so small! Why take away his childhood?” These and similar questions sometimes haunt us.
Or maybe you have already made your decision and just want to understand what a child should know and be able to do before entering school?
To help you, let's understand the concept of school readiness. It is complex and consists of several components that are equally important.
Readiness is a certain level of human mental development. Not a set of some skills and abilities, but a holistic and rather complex education. Moreover, it is wrong to narrow it down solely to “readiness for school.” Each new stage of life requires a certain readiness from the child - readiness to engage in role-playing games, readiness to go to camp without parents, readiness to study at a university. If a child, due to his developmental problems, is not ready to enter into detailed relationships with other children, he will not be able to participate in role-playing play. If he is not ready to go to camp without his parents, a recreational holiday will turn into torture for him. If you are not ready to play by the rules of the university, you will not be able to study successfully. But it is naive to believe that it is possible to prevent any difficulties in his life by getting ahead of events.
Success young man at a university are in no way related to whether university teachers read or do not read lectures in the senior classes of their school. University teachers, as a rule, when working with high school students, use teaching methods that are familiar to them—university methods. And schoolchildren need to be taught using school methods. And a brilliant university professor can do no more, but less, for a child’s development than a good school teacher. In the same way, implantation school methods Education in kindergarten is not a prevention of school difficulties. Quite the contrary – it gives birth to them.
For a child to turn from a preschooler into a schoolchild, he must change qualitatively. He must develop new mental functions. They cannot be developed in advance because they are absent in preschool age. “Training” is generally an incorrect word in relation to to a small child. Motor skills, thinking, memory - it's all great. This is not the only thing that applies to school readiness.
1. Physical fitness
Physical development + health status + biological age = morphological readiness.
It is determined by doctors by filling out a medical card before school. Often this happens formally, the necessary information is entered into a card: weight, height, other indicators, specialized specialists put their marks and that’s it. Then it's up to the parents to decide. If you want to get complete information, go through the examination as required, be sure to ask the doctor what school-related recommendations he can give for your child.
Pay attention to the level of development of the nervous system, ask the doctor how this manifests itself in the child’s behavior in order to better understand the child.
So, full information I have information about physical development; I have received recommendations from a surgeon, neurologist, ophthalmologist and other specialized specialists. The pediatrician made his own conclusion.
Along the way, it is important to note that going to the doctors is such a torment, there are queues, the child cannot stand it, gets tired, and is capricious. You shouldn’t go through all the doctors in 1-2 days.
Consult your physical education instructor. physical education director
2. Psychological readiness is the next important component.
And it also consists of many components.
*** Intellectual readiness.
This componentreadiness presupposes that the child has an outlook and a stock of specific knowledge. The child must ownsystematic and dissected perception, elements of theoretical attitude to the material being studied, generalized
forms of thinking and basic logical operations, semantic memorization.However, basically, the child’s thinking remains figurative, based on real actions with objects and their substitutes. To summarize, we can say that the development of intellectual readiness for learning at school involves:
Differentiated perception;
Analytical thinking (the ability to comprehend the main features and connections between phenomena, the ability to reproduce a pattern); Particularly high demands are placed on schooling, the systematic acquisition of knowledge, and on the child’s thinking. The child must be able to identify the essential in the phenomena of the surrounding reality, be able to compare them, see similar and different; he must learn to reason, find the causes of phenomena, and draw conclusions.
Rational approach to reality (weakening the role of fantasy);
Logical memorization;
Interest in knowledge and the process of obtaining it through additional efforts;
Mastery by ear colloquial speech and the ability to understand and apply symbols;
Development of fine hand movements and hand-eye coordination.
The following exercises will provide invaluable assistance in the development of logical thinking:
“The fourth odd one”: the task involves eliminating one item that does not have some characteristic common to the other three.
Exercises with matches or sticks (lay out a figure from a certain number matches, move one of them to get another image: connect several dots with one line without lifting your hand) also help the development of spatial thinking. Cognitive interests develop gradually, over a long period of time, and cannot arise immediately upon entering school if sufficient attention was not paid to their upbringing during preschool age.
Good orientation of the child in space and time is important. Literally from the first days of being at school, the child receives instructions that cannot be followed without taking into account the spatial characteristics of things and knowledge of the directions of space. So, for example, the teacher may suggest drawing a line “obliquely from the upper left to the lower right corner” or “straight down the right side of the cell”, etc. The idea of time and the sense of time, the ability to determine how much time has passed - important condition organized student work in class, completing assignments within the specified time frame. Preschool researchers have found that preschool children are characterized by a general curiosity. This is the age of “whys”.
But it often happens that curiosity fades, and at school, even elementary, children develop intellectual passivity. This passivity leads them to be among the laggards. How to avoid this? Psychologists advise always answering questions that a child asks, since communication with parents is a great joy and value for a child. If you support his interest in learning with your attention, it will be easier for the baby to develop. Unfortunately, parents often brush aside annoying questions - this is the basis of intellectual passivity. “Stuffing” a child with ready-made knowledge also leads to this.
By the age of six or seven, a preschooler should know well his address, the name of the city where he lives, the name of the country, the capital. Know the names and patronymics of their parents, where they work and understand that their grandfather is someone’s dad (father or mother). To navigate the seasons, their sequence and main features. Know the names of months, days of the week, current year. Know the main types of trees and flowers, distinguish between domestic and wild animals.
The main thing is gaming activity. Various games are useful. Even “frivolous” games: “hospital”, “mothers and daughters”, “school”. It is especially valuable when several children participate in such games at once. This develops collectivism, the child learns to build relationships and resolve conflicts. Children master adult life, a system of behavior, and responsibilities. They learn to follow the instructions of an “adult.”
And most importantly, everything happens without coercion, easily and willingly. Imagination develops - the ability to imagine “what would happen if...”.
Games with plasticine, pencils, etc. are also useful. That is, modeling, appliqué, drawing, and design occupy an honorable place in preparation for school. These activities develop an understanding of the world, objects, animals, and people. The ability to mentally imagine objects and “consider” them in the mind also develops. Later, this will turn out to be important when studying physics, geometry, etc. By drawing and building, the child experiences the joy of creativity and expresses himself. Building with bricks requires solving engineering problems. He learns in his mind to answer many questions about how to make a house so that it does not fall apart, etc. Parents can join the game process and unobtrusively suggest an interesting plot or design.
The main thing is not to infringe on the child’s independence. We must encourage him to independently search for ideas and means of implementing them.
Parents must understand that the best preparation for school is the child’s natural desire to play, and not serious studies on a given topic. Don't lose interest!
*** Speech readiness.
An important component in preparing for school is speech readiness: this is not only the pure pronunciation of sounds, it is the development of vocabulary in children, the development grammatical structure speech and, of course, the development of coherent speech - the ability to tell something on accessible topics, including basic information about oneself, the ability to conduct a dialogue.
Therefore, it would be useful to discuss with your child the film or even a cartoon you watched, ask a few questions about what you read to make sure that the child understands a certain natural phenomenon, the actions of animals and people.
The conversation with the child should be simple and not too long, as he may feel bored and tired. Interest is the main thing in communication. Leading questions spark interest, for example, about the similarities and differences between two objects (a ball, balloon), two phenomena (rain, snow), concepts (country, city). Differences are most often easily established, but similarities are more difficult. Let the child generalize objects into a group (bed, table, chair, armchair - furniture). Gradually complicate the task, ask to name objects in which you can put something, objects that glow, etc. This game is useful and interesting for the child.
Ask your child to retell a movie or book, especially when he has read it on his own. If you do not understand what is being said, it means that the child did not understand well the meaning of what he read or watched.
Useful games: b) inventing the missing parts of the story when one of them is missing (the beginning of the event, the middle or the end).
*** Volitional readiness.
And, of course, do not forget about strong-willed maturity. You will probably encounter a lack of willpower. It might look like this. It’s time to sit down for homework, but he delays for hours, either to drink or eat, or is tired, exhausting you and himself. There is a lack of will, and this is often found in first-graders, and in older schoolchildren too. What to do then, because you have to do your homework. This is where your help is needed.
Share “a piece of your will” with the child, find an approach to the child. Choose a lesson preparation time that suits your child. Maybe he needs a rest after school, many children still sleep during the day, and some want to sleep again, despite the fact that they had already given up daytime sleep. It is important to show faith in your child that he is doing better and better every day, that after lessons other interesting things await you, encouragement and support can also help. Little by little, the child will develop the ability to exert volition, but not immediately. Help him.
By the age of 6, the basic structures of volitional action are formed. The child is able to set a goal, create an action plan, implement it, overcome obstacles, and evaluate the result of his action. Of course, all this is not done entirely consciously and is determined by the duration of the action performed. But playing can help strengthen your strong-willed knowledge about yourself.
Understanding parents, during housework, turn the apartment into the deck of a ship, a cosmodrome, or a hospital, where certain tasks are performed with pleasure, without threats or violence. At the age of 6 years, a child is already able to analyze his own movements and actions.
Therefore, he can deliberately memorize poems, refuse to play in order to complete some “adult” task, and is able to overcome his fear of dark room, do not cry when you are hurt. This is important for the development of a harmonious personality. Another important aspect is the formation of cognitive activity in a child. It consists in developing in children a fear of difficulties, the desire not to give in to them, and to resolve them independently or with a little support from adults. This will help the child manage his behavior at school. And this behavior develops when there is a friendly, partnership relationship between an adult and a child.
Why is it difficult for a child to study? And what should a child be taught from the very beginning of his student life?
Solution. In this matter, parents play a big role. They often allow the child to stop somewhere halfway: he knows - okay, he’ll learn to do it beautifully later - and then they make a mistake. It is necessary to immediately orient the child to complete any task from beginning to end - when cleaning the room, helping parents, completing a task, etc.
It is necessary to teach the child to think about the result, not to finish quickly, finish writing, finish reading, run and forget everything.
Parents often reassure the child that he does not want to think about the quality of his work when they try to protect him from unnecessary worries about the grades he receives, no matter what he is given; the main thing is that he is interested and that he tries, does the best he can; that's enough.
A child should strive for a good result, not just as best he can, but as good as he is capable of. We must focus on the fact that tomorrow he will do better than today. Studying is a constant improvement of skills; a child must be taught this from the first days of school.
Properly organized homework constantly accustoms the child to independent, patient, painstaking educational work.
It is better to point out the child’s mistakes indirectly. If there are mistakes, ask the child to find them himself; this is the first form of self-control.
An effective means of developing strong-willed qualities is labor education.
Labor, hard, toil – have the same root. After all, any work involves some kind of difficulty; you have to overcome something to achieve a result.
After all, it is through work that a child can be taught the ability to complete a job he has begun, and to instill in a child responsibility, independence, and perseverance.
*** Motivational readiness.
An important point is motivation.
Forming learning motives and a positive attitude towards school is one of the most important tasks the teaching staff of the kindergarten and the family in preparing children for school.
The work of a kindergarten teacher in developing children’s motives for learning and a positive attitude towards school is aimed at solving three main tasks:
1. formation in children of correct ideas about school and learning;
2. formation of a positive emotional attitude towards school;
3. formation of experience in educational activities.
To solve these problems I use various forms and methods of work: excursions to school, conversations about school, reading stories and learning poems on school topics, looking at pictures that reflect school life, and conversations about them, drawing a school and playing school.
Stories and poems about school are selected to show children various aspects of school life: the joy of children going to school; the importance and significance of school knowledge; content of school education; school friendship and the need to help school friends; rules of behavior in the classroom and at school. At the same time, it is important to show children the image of a “good student” and a “bad student”, to base the conversation with children on comparing examples of correct and incorrect (from the point of view of organizing school education) behavior. Children of senior preschool age perceive with interest and better remember texts with humorous content.
When organizing a game for school, you can use plots of various content: a game for school after an excursion to a lesson in 1st grade (consolidating acquired knowledge and ideas), modeling a school of the future (forming an emotional attitude towards school, developing creative imagination and freedom of thinking. The plot of the game can play the role of Dunno - a student who does not want to study, interferes with everyone, and violates the established rules.
In the formation of learning motives and educational motives in a preschooler decisive role family plays. Interest in new knowledge, basic skills in searching for information of interest (in books, magazines, reference books), awareness of the social significance of school teaching, the ability to subordinate one’s “want” to the word “need,” the desire to work and bring the job started to completion, the ability to compare the results of one’s work with an example and to see one’s mistakes, the desire for success and adequate self-esteem - all this is the motivational basis of school teaching and is formed mainly in the conditions of family education. If family education built incorrectly (or absent altogether), positive results cannot be achieved by the preschool institution alone.
Motivational readiness, desire to go to school, interest in school, desire to learn new things are clarified by questions like:
1. Do you want to go to school?
2. What is interesting at school?
3. What would you do if you didn't go to school?
The answers to these questions will help you understand what the child knows about school, what interests him in it, and whether he has a desire to learn new things.
3. Social or personal readiness is the next important component.
The third important component is social readiness.
The personal or social readiness of a child for school lies in the formation of his readiness to accept a new social position of a schoolchild - the position of a schoolchild. The position of a schoolchild obliges him to take a different position in society, compared to a preschooler, with new rules for him. This personal readiness is expressed in a certain attitude of the child towards school, towards the teacher and educational activities, towards peers, family and friends, towards himself.
Simply observing a child will allow you to determine whether the child knows how to communicate with children, whether he takes the initiative in communication or waits for other children to call him. Does he feel the norms of communication accepted in society, is he ready to take into account the interests of other children or collective interests, and is he able to defend his own. Does he feel a difference in his interactions with children, teachers, other adults, and parents? Children usually manage to master these skills in kindergarten. “Home” children have a more limited social circle, they have no experience of communicating in a group of peers, but this does not always mean that their social skills are less developed. There are also “kindergarten” children with their own communication problems. The child must be able to communicate with both the teacher and peers.
Attitude to peers. Such personality qualities must be developed that would help to communicate and interact with peers, to yield in some circumstances and not to yield in others. Each child should be able to be a member of the children's community and act together with other children.
Relationship with family and friends.Having personal space in the family, the child should experience the respectful attitude of his relatives towards him. new role student. Relatives should treat the future schoolchild and his studies as an important meaningful activity, much more significant than the play of a preschooler. For a child, learning becomes his main activity.
Attitude towards yourself, to their abilities, to their activities, their results. Have adequate self-esteem. High self-esteem can cause the wrong reaction to the teacher's comments. As a result, it may turn out that “the school is bad,” “the teacher is evil,” etc.
The child must be able to correctly evaluate himself and his behavior.
The normally developed personality traits of a child listed above will ensure his rapid adaptation to the new social conditions of the school.
Solution. Even if a child has the necessary stock of knowledge, skills, abilities, level of intellectual and volitional development, it will be difficult for him to study if he does not have the necessary readiness for the social position of the student.
Solution. Everything that is said in the family about the school, about its role in preparing students for future work in the profession, should evoke a positive emotional attitude, great interest in the new social position of the student. It is important that the information conveyed evokes a lively response, a feeling of joy, and empathy.
All activities organized in the family should include the child in activities that activate both consciousness and feelings.
Shared reading is appropriate here fiction, watching films about school, TV shows about school life, followed by discussion; display of photographs, certificates related to parents’ school years, school games; organizing family celebrations to celebrate the school successes of older children. Conversations about school should emphasize the importance of books and teaching. Don't intimidate your child at school!
The emergence of a negative attitude towards school can be influenced not only by adults, but also by older children. Changing a child’s attitude towards school and instilling confidence in their own strengths will require a lot of attention, time and patience.
Remember that for the child himself, his first steps at school will not be easy. It is much wiser to immediately form the right ideas about school, a positive attitude towards it, the teacher, the book, and towards yourself.
The child should know:
Know the rules of communication;
Be able to communicate with peers and adults;
Be able to manage your behavior without aggression;
Be able to quickly get used to a new environment.
How to check your child's readiness for school?
Solution. To answer these questions, you need to carefully observe the child’s behavior during any game according to the rules with the participation of several peers or adults (lotto, educational games, etc.). During the game you can see:
1) does the child follow the rules of the game;
2) how the child establishes contacts;
3) whether others are considered as partners;
4) whether he knows how to manage his behavior;
5) whether it requires concessions from partners;
6) does the game quit if it fails?
A child entering school must be physiologically and socially mature; he must reach a certain level of mental, emotional and volitional development. Educational activities require a certain amount of knowledge about the world around us and the formation of elementary concepts. The child must master mental operations, be able to generalize and differentiate objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, be able to plan his activities and exercise self-control. A positive attitude towards learning, the ability to self-regulate behavior and the manifestation of volitional efforts to complete assigned tasks are important. No less important are verbal communication skills, developed fine motor skills hands and hand-eye coordination. Therefore, the concept of “child’s readiness for school” is complex, multifaceted and covers all areas of a child’s life.
Central components psychological readiness child to school are:
- - a new internal position of the student, manifested in the desire for socially significant and socially valued activities;
- - in the cognitive sphere, the sign-symbolic function of consciousness and the ability to substitute, arbitrariness of mental processes, differentiated perception, the ability to generalize, analyze, compare cognitive interests;
- - in the personal sphere, arbitrariness of behavior, subordination of motives and volitional qualities;
- - in the sphere of activity and communication: the ability to accept a conditional situation, learn from an adult, regulate one’s activities.
Let's look at each of them.
The formation of a student’s internal position takes place in two stages. At the first stage, a positive attitude towards school appears, but there is no orientation towards the meaningful aspects of school and educational activities. The child emphasizes only the external, formal side; he wants to go to school, but at the same time maintain a preschool lifestyle. And at the next stage, an orientation towards social, although not the actual educational, aspects of activity arises. The fully formed position of a schoolchild includes a combination of orientation towards both social and educational aspects of school life itself, although only a few children reach this level by the age of 7.
Thus, the internal position of a schoolchild is a subjective reflection of the objective system of relations between the child and the world of adults. These relations characterize the social situation of development from its external side. The internal position represents the central psychological new formation of the 7-year crisis
The next important component of readiness is related to the development of the child’s cognitive sphere. Knowledge in itself does not serve as an indicator of readiness for school. Much more important is the level of development of cognitive processes and cognitive attitude towards the environment, the child’s ability to substitute, in particular for visual-spatial modeling (L.A. Wenger). The ability to use figurative substitutes rebuilds the mental processes of a preschooler, allowing him to mentally build ideas about objects and phenomena and apply them in solving various mental problems. By the end of preschool age, the child should have formed elements of voluntary memory and the ability to observe, the ability to voluntarily imagine and control his own speech activity.
In the personal sphere, the most significant for school education are arbitrariness of behavior, subordination of motives, and the formation of elements of volitional action and volitional qualities. Voluntary behavior is manifested in various areas, in particular in the ability to follow the instructions of an adult and act according to the rules of school life (for example, monitor your behavior in class and recess, do not make noise, do not be distracted, do not disturb others, etc.). Behind the implementation of the rules and their awareness lies a system of relationships between a child and an adult. The arbitrariness of behavior is precisely connected with the transformation of the rules of behavior into an internal psychological authority (A.N. Leontyev), when they are carried out without the control of an adult. In addition, the child must be able to set and achieve a goal, overcoming some obstacles, showing discipline, organization, initiative, determination, perseverance, and independence.
In the sphere of activity and communication, the main components of readiness for schooling include the formation of prerequisites for educational activity, when the child accepts an educational task, understands its convention and the convention of the rules by which it is solved; regulates own activities based on self-control and self-esteem; understands how to complete a task and demonstrates the ability to learn from an adult.
So, children’s readiness for school can be determined by such parameters as planning, control, motivation, and level of intellectual development.
1. Planning - the ability to organize your activities in accordance with its purpose:
low level - the child’s actions do not correspond to the goal;
average level - the child’s actions partially correspond to the content of the goal;
high level - the child’s actions are fully consistent with the content of the goal.
2. Control - the ability to compare the results of your actions with the goal:
low level - a complete discrepancy between the results of the child’s efforts and the set goal (the child himself does not see this discrepancy);
average level - partial correspondence of the results of the child’s efforts to the set goal (the child cannot independently see this incomplete discrepancy);
high level - compliance of the results of the child’s efforts with the set goal; the child can independently compare all the results he receives with the set goal.
3. Motivation for learning is the desire to find hidden properties of objects, patterns in the properties of the surrounding world and use them:
low level - the child focuses only on those properties of objects that are directly accessible to the senses;
middle level - the child strives to focus on some generalized properties of the surrounding world - to find and use these generalizations;
high level - a clearly expressed desire to find properties of the surrounding world hidden from direct perception, their patterns; there is a desire to use this knowledge in one’s actions.
4. Level of intelligence development:
low - inability to listen to another person, perform logical operations of analysis, comparison, generalization, abstraction and concretization in the form of verbal concepts;
below average - inability to listen to another person, errors in performing all logical operations in the form of verbal concepts;
average - inability to listen to another person, simple logical operations (comparison, generalization in the form of verbal concepts) are performed without errors, in performing more complex logical operations - abstraction, concretization, analysis, synthesis - mistakes are made;
high - some errors are possible in understanding another person and in performing all logical operations, but the child can correct these errors himself without the help of an adult;
very high - the ability to listen to another person, perform any logical operations in the form of verbal concepts.
So, we can assume that a child is not ready for school if he does not know how to plan and control his actions, has low learning motivation (focuses only on sensory data), does not know how to listen to another person and perform logical operations in the form of concepts.
A child is ready for school if he knows how to plan and control his actions (or strives for this), focuses on the hidden properties of objects, the patterns of the surrounding world, strives to use them in his actions, knows how to listen to another person and knows how (or strives) to perform logical operations in the form of verbal concepts.
Let us note once again that psychological readiness for school is a complex education that presupposes a fairly high level of development of the motivational, intellectual spheres and the sphere of volition. Usually, two aspects of psychological readiness are distinguished - personal (motivational) and intellectual readiness for school. Both aspects are important both for the child’s educational activity to be successful and for his speedy adaptation to new conditions, painless entry into new system relations.
3. Components of psychological readiness
1.1. Motivational, personal readiness for school (formation of the “internal position of the student”)
According to many leading domestic psychologists (A.N. Leontiev, D.B. Elkonin, V.V. Davydov, A.K. Markova), the preschool period is associated with the development and complexity of the motivational sphere of the individual, with the emergence of socially valuable motives and "subordination" of them. “Motive”, according to S.L. Rubinstein, is the “building” material from which character is formed. Motives perform a dual function: firstly, they motivate and direct human activity; secondly, they give the activity a subjective character. And the meaning of an activity is ultimately determined by its motives.
I.The emergence of teaching motives
Motivation to learn is a complex area of behavior that depends on many factors. It is characterized not by a simple increase in a positive attitude towards learning, but, first of all, by a complication of the structure of the entire motivational sphere of the individual. In cognitive motives, two levels are distinguished: broad educational motives, aimed at the process of learning, its content and result (they are manifested in the desire to go to school, in the desire to overcome difficulties, in general curiosity), and theoretical-cognitive, aimed at ways of acquiring knowledge. .
In Russian psychology there are different approaches to studying the problem. So, D.N. Uznadze believed that the main motive for educational activities is the need for functioning of the child’s intellectual powers. Therefore, he determined the criteria for readiness for schooling by the level of development of cognitive needs.
Other psychologists (L.I. Bozhovich, D.B. Elkonin) emphasize the importance social motives of teaching, which allow us to reveal some consistency in the formation of a student’s position and determine his personal readiness for school education.
However, all psychologists believe that a necessary condition for the formation educational motivation is the development of the student’s educational activity in the unity of all its components. For recent years Data have been obtained indicating the effective formation of learning motivation during the gradual assimilation of knowledge, built on the principle of ascent from the abstract to the concrete (V.V. Davydov).
II. Development of cognitive interests
Long before entering school, a child has a need for impressions, which causes a certain cognitive attitude towards reality and contributes to the emergence of interest.
Interest relates to complex psychological phenomena, the nature of which is not clear enough. Many scientists studied it (B.G. Ananyev, M.F. Belyaev, L.I. Bozhovich). They considered cognitive interest as one of the forms of reflection of reality.
Most researchers define interest as a special emotional and cognitive attitude towards an object or activity, which, under favorable conditions, develops into a personality orientation. Cognitive interest is manifested in the desire to learn something new, to find out what is incomprehensible in objects and phenomena of reality, in the desire to know their essence, to find the connections and relationships that exist between them. It helps broaden one’s horizons, affects the quality of knowledge itself, and changes the process of acquiring knowledge itself, since interest activates perception, attention, memory, and increases the productivity of mental activity.
Two qualitatively unique levels of development of cognitive interests have been identified, differing both in their content and breadth, and in stability.
In the study by N.G. Morozova, depending on the degree of stability, distinguishes two types of interests: I/ situational, episodic and 2/ personal, persistent. Situational interest shows how the child experiences his or her relationship to an object. Persistent interest is long-lasting and is a property of a person, determining his behavior, actions, and character. The basis for the emergence of cognitive interest is children's curiosity, which reaches its greatest development by 6–7 years. Interest in learning appears, which, according to a number of researchers, is associated not with entertainment, but with intellectual activity. However, intellectual activity and the interest associated with it arise and persist only in a situation of direct interaction with an object, otherwise they quickly fade away.
Currently exists large number psychological literature, including popular science, dedicated to the problem of children’s psychological readiness for school. And although the authors’ opinions quite often differ on what is decisive for the success of education, almost all of them are based on an analysis of what requirements a modern school places on a child. This is understandable. After all, without knowing what awaits a child at school, it is difficult to understand what to prepare him for.
So what new does school bring into a child’s life?
The first innovation, which, as a rule, we adults do not think about, is that school is social institution, which exists and lives according to certain rules. They are very conventional, and the child must be ready to “play” according to the rules of school life, understand and accept the conventionality of the situation in which he finds himself.
The most important component of these rules is the specific attitude towards the adult performing the function of a teacher. The organization of communication between a child and an adult also plays an important role. By the end of preschool age, such a form of communication between the child and adults as non-situational-personal communication should have developed.
Analysis literary sources on the issue of the nature and characteristics of a child’s communication with an adult in preschool age allows us to draw a conclusion about what happens towards the end of the preschool period in the development of children’s communication, namely the fact that communication acquires a specific, extremely important feature - ARBITRARY. The content and structure of communication by the end of preschool age begins to be determined not only by the immediate objective situation and direct relationships with others, but also by consciously accepted tasks, rules, requirements, that is, a certain context. Basic distinctive characteristic communication of children with a high level of arbitrariness is what can be called the contextuality of communication.
Contextuality of communication(non-situational) is non-attachment to any existing situation, the ability to act not under the influence of momentary situational impulses, but taking into account a predetermined target setting, rules, conditions and other moments that set the context of the situation.
The classroom-lesson education system presupposes not only a special relationship between the child and the teacher, but also specific relationships with other children. New form communication with peers develops at the very beginning of schooling. The desire to communicate is based on the need to know another person, people and compare oneself with them.
The school makes its demands not only in relation to the teacher. There are also requirements for the children themselves. In some schools these requirements are very strict, in others they are softer, but they exist everywhere. And in order to feel good at school, the child must be ready for these requirements, must be willing and able play your role as a student. But, if you think about it, most of these requirements are simply unnatural for children 6–7 years old. For example, sit for 40–45 minutes without getting up, without turning around, without looking out the window, without talking to friends who are right there, next to you, at neighboring desks. But you can’t do this just because these are the school rules. To overcome all sorts of temptations (chat with friends, play with Barbie, read a fairy tale, draw, or just sleep), you need to really want to “be a schoolchild,” an exemplary student, and be ready to take on this difficult role.
If a child is not ready to play the role of a schoolchild, it is simply impossible to explain to him why, when a teacher asks a question, he should not answer it, but raise his hand and wait to be asked. Finally, if a child does not accept the conventions of school life, he will not complete the tasks that the teacher offers, listen to his explanations, read the primer, write sticks and hooks, or learn a poem.
In order to determine the child’s readiness to accept the social norms of school life - the formation of the attitude towards an adult as a teacher and the attitude towards himself as a schoolchild, special psychodiagnostic programs have been developed. And with their help, a qualified psychologist will assess how ready the child is for school socially. For parents, it is more important to know something else: where can a 6-7 year old child get such skills in his preschool childhood?
The desire to learn in children is influenced by the attitude of close adults to learning as an important meaningful activity, much more significant than the play of a preschooler. The attitude of other children, the very opportunity to rise to a new age level in the eyes of the younger ones and become equal in position with the older ones, also influences.
However, the desire to GO to school and the desire to STUDY are significantly different from each other. A child may want to go to school because all his peers will go there, because he heard at home that getting into this gymnasium is very important and honorable, and finally, because at school he will receive a new beautiful backpack, pencil case and other gifts. In addition, everything new attracts children, and in school almost everything - the classes, the teacher, and systematic classes - are new. This does not mean that children have realized the importance of studying and are ready to work hard. They just realized that the status of a schoolchild is much more important and honorable than a preschooler who goes to kindergarten or sits at home with his mother. Children see that adults can interrupt their most interesting game, but do not disturb older brothers or sisters when they are sitting too long at home. Therefore, the child strives to go to school, because he wants to be an adult, to have certain rights, for example, to a backpack or notebooks, as well as responsibilities assigned to him, for example, getting up early, preparing homework (which provide him with a new status place and privileges in family). He may not yet fully realize that in order to prepare a lesson, he will have to sacrifice, for example, a game or a walk, but in principle he knows and accepts the fact that homework NEEDS to be done. It is this desire to BECOME A SCHOOL STUDENT, to follow the rules of behavior of a school student and to have his rights and responsibilities that constitute the “internal position of a school student.” In the child’s mind, the idea of school has acquired the features of the desired way of life, which means that the child has psychologically moved into a new age period of his development - junior school age.
The internal position of the student in in a broad sense words are defined as a system of needs and aspirations of a child associated with school, that is, such an attitude towards school when involvement in it is experienced by the child as his own need (“I want to go to school!”). The presence of an internal position of a schoolchild is revealed in the fact that the child resolutely rejects the preschool playful, individually direct way of existence and shows a clearly positive attitude towards school and educational activities in general and especially towards those aspects of it that are directly related to learning.
An equally important characteristic of personal readiness for school is the child’s ability to think critically about his abilities, knowledge, and actions. This indicator is very important for effective inclusion in school life. It demonstrates how much a child is able to independently, without the help of an adult, evaluate his actions and their results as correct, corresponding to the conditions of the task or the requirements of the teacher, or as erroneous, and how much he is able to correct his actions if they turn out to be ineffective.
For psychological readiness for school, it turns out that it is much more important not whether the child can read, but how much adequately he evaluates the maturity of this skill. After all, if a child does not know the letters firmly, but says that he can read, then he will not have the need to learn to read. If a child says: “I count well only within ten,” this means that he not only knows how to count, but also adequately evaluates his knowledge, sees its limitations, which means that he may have a desire and need to study mathematics.
Productive educational activity presupposes an adequate attitude of the child to his abilities, work results, behavior, that is, a certain level of development of self-awareness.
It is easiest to form a critical attitude towards one’s actions in a child in activities that require the reproduction of a model. For example, a girl assembles a mosaic according to a pattern. You can simply praise her for her beautiful ornament. Or you can take a sample, offer to compare your work with a given picture, together look for what matches and what does not match the sample, ask to correct it so that it looks exactly like the picture. And then the child will master and independently exercise control over his actions, evaluate them, and learn to correct his mistakes.
But this is not all that is required of a child at school. The requirement for the general level of intellectual and speech development of the child is absolutely obvious.
1.2. Intellectual readiness for school learning
Mental development in psychological research is characterized from different sides and different criteria are identified. Research conducted by domestic psychologists (A.V. Zaporozhets, L.A. Venger, V.V. Davydov, D.B. Elkonin, N.N. Poddyakov) made it possible to establish that mental development children of preschool age lies in their assimilation of various types of cognitive orienting actions, and main role allocated to perceptual and mental operations.
Intellectual readiness for school learning is associated with the development of thought processes - the ability to generalize, compare objects, classify them, highlight essential features, and draw conclusions. The child must have a certain breadth of ideas, including figurative and spatial ones, appropriate speech development, cognitive activity.
According to D.B. Elkonin educational activity is characterized by its focus on solving specific educational problems, performing educational actions, and mastering specific control and evaluation operations. Based on this, psychologists, considering the structure of educational activities, identify four components in it: educational tasks, educational actions, control and evaluation. Each of the components has certain features.
Learning tasks are characterized by mastery common methods performing an action. Actions can be very diverse - objective, verbal. Their specificity largely depends on the characteristics of the activity that the child carries out in the classroom. Control presupposes the ability to correlate one’s learning activities and their results with what was assigned. An important component is assessment, which is used at different moments: during the implementation of educational activities and at the end of the activity.
Many believe that intellectual readiness is the main component of psychological readiness for school, and its basis is teaching children the skills of writing, reading and counting. This belief is the reason for many mistakes when preparing children for school.
In fact, intellectual readiness does not imply that the child has any specific knowledge or skills (for example, reading), although, of course, the child must have certain skills. However, the main thing is that the child has more high level psychological development, which ensures the voluntary regulation of attention, memory, and thinking, and enables the child to read, count, and solve problems “to himself,” that is, internally.
Intellectual development indicators
An important aspect of intellectual development is development of spatial concepts and imaginative thinking. This indicator underlies children’s mastery of letterforms, addition and subtraction rules, as well as many other aspects of the educational content of classes in the first grade.
Another indicator of a child’s intellectual development is ability to navigate a system of signs. This indicator will reveal how many signs a child can simultaneously take into account when performing a particular task. The ability to focus on a number of related features at the same time only develops at the beginning of schooling, but it is fundamentally important for mastering educational content.
In order to correctly write even a single letter, a child must not only master the writing of each element of this letter, but also correctly position them relative to each other, correlate them in size, and also correctly orient the entire set of elements of the letter relative to notebook sheet. The so-called mirror letter, when a child incorrectly places the elements of a letter on the plane of a sheet, is one of the manifestations of this type of difficulty.
Another characteristic of intellectual abilities is development of sign-symbolic function.
This ability, like the previous one, only begins to form in elementary school. The development of the sign-symbolic function is necessary for the assimilation of the concepts of number, sound-letter connections, and in general any abstract content.
Psychologists often use the term “sign function of consciousness” to designate this higher intellectual level of children’s development.
And this name is connected with the fact that for normal development children need to understand that there are certain signs (drawings, drawings, letters or numbers) that seem to replace real objects. You can explain to your child that in order to count how many cars are in the garage, you don’t have to go through the cars themselves, but you can designate them with sticks and count these sticks - substitutes for the cars. To solve a more complex problem, you can ask children to build a drawing that could represent the condition of the problem and solve it based on this graphic image.
Gradually, such drawings - drawings - become more and more conventional, since children, memorizing this principle, can already, as it were, draw these designations (sticks, diagrams) in their minds, in their consciousness, that is, they have a “sign function of consciousness.”
The presence of these internal supports, signs of real objects, allows children to solve quite complex problems in their minds, improve memory and attention, which is necessary for successful educational activities. Unfortunately, children do not always have good mechanical memory, but this should not be an obstacle to memorization. You can play games with your child in which you need to come up with some symbols for each word, short story or poem.
Such games help in developing not only memory, but also attention, organization of children’s activities, since you can encrypt not only the story, but also the daily routine or the procedure for solving a problem.
These exercises also develop children’s thinking, as they learn to highlight the main thing not only in some work, but also in objects in the surrounding world, that is, they form the operation of generalization, one of the main operations of logical thinking, and form concepts.
As a rule, only a very small number of children cope with diagnostic tasks that require the development of the sign-symbolic function. But those children who demonstrate its maturity are certainly more prepared to master educational content.
In general, the group of indicators of intellectual development characterizes not only the mental operations themselves that the child masters, but also whether he can effectively use them independently to solve various educational problems.
The development of a child’s speech is closely related to intellectual development. A six- to seven-year-old child should not only be able to formulate complex statements, but also have a good understanding of the meaning of various grammatical structures in which explanations are formulated in the lesson, instructions for work are given, and have a rich vocabulary.
3.3.Emotional-volitional readiness
Let's assume that the child is both socially and personally ready for school. Can this be a sufficient guarantee of his further success? Alas, no.
Volitional readiness is necessary for the normal adaptation of children to school conditions. The question here is not so much about the children’s ability to obey, although following certain rules of the school routine is also important, but about the ability to listen, to delve into the content of what the adult is saying. The fact is that the student needs to be able to understand and accept the teacher’s task, subordinating his immediate desires and impulses to him. To do this, it is necessary that the child can concentrate on the instructions he receives from the adult.
Already at preschool age, the child faces the need to overcome emerging difficulties and subordinate his actions to the set goal. This leads to the fact that he begins to consciously control himself, manage his internal and external actions, his cognitive processes and behavior in general. The foregoing gives reason to believe that already at preschool age will arises. Of course, the volitional actions of a preschooler have their own specifics: they coexist with unintentional, impulsive actions that arise under the influence of situational feelings of desire.
The most important ability needed for success in school is arbitrariness of behavior.
Arbitrariness of behavior is the child’s ability to control his behavior and organize his work. This ability comes in various forms.
Forms of arbitrariness
A – the ability to independently perform a sequence of actions.
The importance of this ability for effective work in school in the classroom is obvious, since almost any work at the initial stages of learning, both literacy and mathematics, and in any other lesson, requires the child to be able to independently, without outside help, prompting and control of an adult, perform this or that a different sequence of actions and operations.
So, in order to “simply” rewrite an exercise from a textbook, you need to at least find it, read it in its entirety, break it into pieces that are easy to remember, write down each piece from memory, check it with the text, find and correct omissions or errors, and write evenly line by line, try to write beautifully and neatly, do not go beyond the margins, etc. Moreover, all these steps need to be divided for yourself and completed independently, without the help of an adult.
B – reproduction of visual samples.
The importance of this ability for the success of learning in junior classes is also beyond doubt. A significant amount of material is offered to first-graders in the form of visual samples, which they must reproduce as accurately and accurately as possible (let’s remember the copybooks).
For adults, reproducing a visual example sometimes seems easy. Actually this is not true. After all, the sample itself does not carry any information about the method of its reproduction. The very method of completing the task must be completely reconstructed and implemented by the child himself.
It is also important to distinguish this skill from the ability to independently perform a sequence of actions, since different mechanisms lie behind these abilities. In the second case, they are associated precisely with compliance correct sequence To complete this task, it is important not only to write down all the letters included in it, but also to arrange them in the correct order. The first situation corresponds, for example, to the task of completing a certain drawing. Here it is only important that all the details of the drawing are present, but in what order they appear is not of fundamental importance.
C – the child’s ability to act according to oral instructions from an adult.
In the practice of school teaching, most of the tasks that children perform are given in the form of verbal instructions from the teacher. And even if a child is intellectually developed, but does not know how to organize his behavior according to the oral instructions of an adult, this can lead to poor work results.
Anyone who has ever been to school can easily imagine the sequence of actions when the teacher says: “Children, open your textbook to page 25, read the text at the bottom of the page and prepare answers to the questions after the text.” However, for a first grader this is not at all easy. The situation becomes significantly more complicated when, in the form of oral instructions, the teacher lists not just a sequence of specific objective actions (open a book, read a text), but explains how to solve a problem. And if a child misses at least one intermediate action, he will not only get the wrong result, but will not be able to understand how to solve other problems of this type, how to analyze a condition, how to create an equation, how to use a grammatical rule, and the like.
D – the ability to subordinate one’s actions to a rule.
Generally, all the teacher's instructions in the classroom are some rules that the students must obey. The tasks that precede the exercises in the textbook are also rules that the student must follow when doing homework. Rules limit the actions of students, sometimes having a substantive relation to the work itself, and sometimes only a formal one. Formal restrictions: rewrite the text without going beyond the margins, answer the question, but demonstrate your knowledge of the answer only by raising your hand. Content restrictions: write down a word, not forgetting to check the spelling, calculate the result, not forgetting the rule of addition with passing through ten, and the like.
Working according to a rule requires the child to distribute attention between the content of the work he is performing and the restrictions that are imposed by the rule. A typical manifestation of the immaturity of this component of voluntary behavior is that the child correctly reproduces the rule for spelling a word, even gives examples, but writes the word with an error. Or he correctly inserts the missing letter (spelling), but at the same time misses other letters, and so on.
Already from the examples listed above, it is clear how important a component of readiness for school is the formation of voluntary behavior.
In modern scientific research the concept of volitional action is interpreted in different aspects. Some psychologists believe that the initial link is the choice of motive, leading to decision-making and goal setting, while others limit volitional action to its executive part. One of the central questions of the problem of will is the question of the motivational conditionality of those specific volitional actions and deeds that a person is capable of in different periods of your life. The question is also raised about the intellectual and moral foundations of the volitional regulation of the personality of a preschooler.
During preschool childhood, the nature of the volitional sphere of the individual becomes more complex and its share in the general structure of behavior changes, which is manifested mainly by an increasing desire to overcome difficulties. The development of will at this age is closely related to changes in motives of behavior and their subordination. The child's will is most fully manifested in situations of conflict of motives. The child gradually masters the ability to subordinate his actions to motives that are significantly removed from the goal of the action.
In the development of volitional actions, most researchers identify three interrelated aspects: the purposefulness of the action, the establishment of a goal relative to the motive, and the increasing regulatory role of speech. Success and failure in their implementation, the desire to overcome difficulties at any cost have a great influence on the formation of the purposefulness of actions (Baturin N.A.). The volitional formation of personality proceeds in two main directions - the formation of individual volitional qualities and the development of volitional regulation of the personality as a whole. It is important to prepare preschool children for school:
1) formation of independence;
2) development of self-esteem.
Becoming independent
Independence in Russian psychology is considered as a personality trait that develops throughout preschool age and depends on the characteristics of the child’s activities and the entire lifestyle of the child. It reaches in its development different levels depending on the system requirements. Domestic psychologists have studied different aspects of the problem of independence, which made it possible to reveal its nature, structure, levels of development, and relationships with other volitional personality traits (S.L. Rubinshtein, V.I. Selivanov, A.A. Lyublinskaya).
The dynamics of independence depend on the demands placed on the child by adults, on the situation in which he acts, and on the personality as a whole. Therefore, the structure of this quality must be considered comprehensively, and the child’s behavior in various situations must be analyzed in connection with the conditions of his life and upbringing in the family and preschool institution. (Ananyev B.G.).
Development of self-esteem
The most important volitional quality of a person, ensuring connection with others and regulation of behavior, is self-esteem.
Psychological studies of the formation of self-esteem in preschool age have revealed its great instability and inconsistency. R.B. Sterkina, having identified certain specifics in this process, considers:
– general self-esteem, manifested in assessing one’s own merits when comparing oneself with others;
- specific self-assessment of one’s capabilities in a certain form activities;
– dynamic self-assessment in the process of activity itself in the form of choosing tasks of a certain difficulty.
The development of self-esteem goes in the direction from dynamic through specific to general. The formation of this most important personality quality occurs under the influence of the assessment expressed by others, especially adults.
In modern psychological and pedagogical literature, A. V. Zaporozhets, L. A. Venger, G. M. Lyakina, G. G. Petrochenko, T. V. Uruntaeva and others, the concept of readiness is defined as the multifaceted development of a child’s personality and is considered in two interrelated aspects: as “general, psychological readiness” and as “special readiness” for learning at school. General readiness for school acts as the most important result of the long-term, purposeful educational work of the kindergarten for the comprehensive education of preschoolers.
General readiness for school is expressed in the child’s achievement by the time he enters school of such a level of mental, moral, volitional, aesthetic and physical development that creates the necessary basis for the child’s active entry into the new conditions of school education and conscious assimilation of educational material. General readiness is characterized by a certain level of mental development that a child achieves by the time he transitions to school. The concept of psychological readiness summarizes the most important qualitative indicators of the mental development of a child entering first grade from the standpoint of successful schooling.
All components of a child’s psychological readiness for school provide the psychological prerequisites for the child’s inclusion in the class team, conscious, active assimilation of educational material at school, wide range school duties.
Psychological readiness for school also refers to the necessary and sufficient level of mental development of a child to master the school curriculum in a learning environment with peers. The necessary and sufficient level of actual development must be such that the training program falls within the child’s “zone of proximal development.” The "zone of proximal development" is defined by what a child can achieve in collaboration with an adult. In this case, cooperation is understood very broadly: from a leading question to a direct demonstration of the solution to a problem.
If the current level of mental development of a child is such that his “zone of proximal development” is lower than that required to master the curriculum at school, then the child is considered psychologically unprepared for school education, since as a result of the discrepancy between his “zone of proximal development” and the required one, he is not can master the program material and immediately falls into the category of lagging students.
In Russian psychology, the theoretical study of the problem of psychological readiness for school is based on the works of L. S. Vygotsky. Thus, L.I. Bozhovich identified several parameters of a child’s mental development that most significantly influence the success of learning at school: a certain level of motivational development of the child, including cognitive and social motives for learning, sufficient development of voluntary behavior and the intellectual sphere. The most important was the motivational plan.
A child who is ready for school also wants to learn because he already has a need to take a certain position in human society, namely a position that opens access to the world of adulthood ( social motive teaching), and because he has a cognitive need that he cannot satisfy at home. The fusion of these two needs contributes to the emergence of a new attitude of the child towards environment, called the internal position of the student (8.67). L. I. Bozhovich attached very great importance to this new formation, believing that the internal position of a student can act as a criterion of readiness for schooling. It should be noted that school is the link between childhood and adulthood. And if the visit preschool institutions is optional, then attendance at school is strictly compulsory, and children, upon reaching school age, understand that school gives them access to adult life. This is where the desire to go to school arises to take a new place in the system public relations. This, as a rule, explains the fact that children do not want to study at home, but want to study at school: it is not enough for them to satisfy only the cognitive need, they also need to satisfy the need for new things. social status, which they receive by being included in the educational process as a serious activity leading to a result that is important both for the child and for the adults around him.
The “internal position of the student,” which arises at the turn of preschool and primary school age, allows the child to become involved in the educational process as a subject of activity, which is expressed in the conscious formation and execution of intentions and goals, or, in other words, the voluntary behavior of the student.
D. B. Elkonin believed that voluntary behavior is born in collective role-playing play, which allows the child to rise to a higher level of development than playing alone. The team corrects violations in imitation of the expected model, while it is still very difficult for a child to independently exercise such control.
There are other approaches to determining the psychological readiness of children for school, when, for example, the main emphasis is on the role of communication in the development of the child.
Three areas are distinguished: attitude towards an adult, towards a peer and towards oneself, the level of development of which determines the degree of readiness for school and in a certain way correlates with the main structural components of educational activity (6.90).
It must be emphasized that in domestic psychology, when studying the intellectual component of psychological readiness for school, the emphasis is not on the amount of knowledge acquired by the child, although this is also an important factor, but on the level of development intellectual processes, “... a child must be able to identify the essential in the phenomena of the surrounding reality, be able to compare them, see similarities and differences; he must learn to reason, find the causes of phenomena, and draw conclusions” (6.93). For successful learning, a child must be able to identify the subject of his knowledge.
In addition to the indicated components of psychological readiness for school, is there one more component? speech development. Speech is closely related to intelligence and reflects both the general development of the child and the level of his logical thinking. It is necessary for the child to be able to find in words individual sounds, i.e. he must have developed phonemic hearing.
Special readiness for school is a necessary addition to the child’s general, psychological readiness for school. It is determined by the child’s special knowledge, skills and abilities that are necessary to study such educational subjects, like mathematics and Russian language. Intensive work carried out in kindergarten on the formation of elementary mathematical concepts in children, on the development of speech and preparation for mastering literacy, provides the necessary level of special readiness of children for learning at school.
Moral and volitional readiness for learning at school is expressed in the child reaching this level of development by the end of preschool childhood moral behavior, will, moral feelings and consciousness, which allows him to actively accept a new social position and build his relationships with the teacher and classmates on a moral basis. The content of moral and volitional readiness for school is determined by those requirements for the child’s personality and behavior that are determined by the student’s position. These requirements, literally from the first days of school, confront the student with the need to independently and responsibly carry out educational duties, to be organized and disciplined, to arbitrarily manage his behavior and activities, to strictly observe the rules of a culture of behavior in relationships with the teacher and students, to handle school materials carefully and carefully. accessories. Preparation for meeting these high requirements is carried out in a long-term, focused process. educational work with preschoolers in kindergarten and family.
Moral and volitional readiness is manifested in a certain level of development of the personal behavior of an older preschooler. Indicative in this regard is the child’s ability to voluntarily control his behavior, which develops throughout preschool age: the ability to consciously follow the rules or requirements of the teacher, inhibit affective impulses, show persistence in achieving a goal, the ability to complete the right job, contrary to an attractive, but distracting goal, etc. The basis for the development of arbitrary behavior of a future schoolchild is the hierarchy of motives that forms by the end of preschool age, their subordination. The subordination of motives is associated with by force of will, with the older preschooler consciously overcoming his momentary desires for the sake of a morally significant goal. Naturally, in preschool age, a child’s behavior is not constantly different. high degree arbitrariness, but it is important that during this period a mechanism of voluntary behavior develops, which ensures the transition to a new type of behavior at school. Significant for the development of moral and volitional readiness for school are also such traits of personal behavior of an older preschooler as independence, organization and discipline.
Closely related to independence, organization and discipline of behavior are expressed in the purposefulness of the child’s behavior, in the ability to consciously organize his activities in accordance with the rules adopted in kindergarten, in the ability to achieve results from activities and control them, to coordinate his behavior with the actions of other children, and to feel personal responsibility for your actions. The presence of these traits in the behavior of older preschoolers serves as confirmation of the formation of moral and volitional readiness for school.
Moral-volitional readiness for school is also characterized by a certain level of development of the child’s moral feelings and consciousness. The most indicative in this regard are children’s understanding of the social significance of moral behavior, the development of the ability to self-assess their actions, the formation of a sense of responsibility, justice, the foundations of humanistic and elements of civic feelings. Developing moral feelings and elements of moral self-awareness ensure the child’s emotional “acceptance” of the schoolchild’s new socio-psychological position and understanding of the importance of fulfilling educational responsibilities. They form the fundamental basis for the subsequent formation in students of a sense of personal responsibility for their educational work to loved ones and the whole country.
Moral-volitional readiness also includes a set of qualities that express the preschooler’s attitude to work. This is the desire to work, a feeling of satisfaction from work well and accurately done, respect for the work of others, and mastery of the necessary work skills. For the future student special meaning acquire self-service skills? the ability to dress neatly on your own, monitor the condition of your belongings, school supplies, the ability to troubleshoot individual problems in clothing and shoes without outside reminders (sew on a button, wash a handkerchief, clean shoes, etc.).
Thus, the child’s moral-volitional readiness for school acts as a certain result of his moral-volitional development in the first seven years of life. It covers the most important personality and behavior traits of a child from the standpoint of school education, which together constitute the necessary prerequisites for the child’s adaptation to school conditions, responsible performance of new responsibilities, and formation moral attitude to the teacher and students. Moral and volitional readiness is inextricably linked with the child’s intellectual and physical readiness for schooling.
The first days of school are challenging for all children. An unusual routine, trying to complete the teacher’s assignments as best and as quickly as possible can even cause the child to lose weight. Children adjust to school in very different ways. Some adapt already during the first quarter and study successfully without compromising their health. For other children, the process of getting used to school is delayed for more long time, often for the entire academic year.
The ability to reduce high motor activity for a certain time and the ability to maintain a working posture are very important. And to master writing and drawing, the development of small muscles of the hand and coordination of movements of the fingers are necessary.
Personal readiness also presupposes a certain attitude towards oneself. To master educational activities, it is important that the child is able to adequately relate to the result of his work and evaluate his behavior. If a child’s self-esteem is inflated and undifferentiated, which is typical for a preschooler (he is sure that he is “the best”, that his drawings, crafts, etc. are “the best”), it is wrong to talk about personal readiness for school.
Upon entering school, the child begins the systematic study of science. This requires a certain level of cognitive development. A child must be able to take a point of view different from his own in order to assimilate objective knowledge about the world that does not coincide with his immediate everyday ideas. He must be able to distinguish its individual aspects in a subject, which is an indispensable condition for the transition to subject teaching.
Intellectual readiness also presupposes the child’s mental activity, fairly broad cognitive interests, and a desire to learn something new.
Psychological readiness for school? this is a complex education, representing an integral system of interconnected qualities: characteristics of motivation, the formation of mechanisms of voluntary regulation of actions, a sufficient level of cognitive, intellectual and speech development, a certain type of relationship with adults and peers, etc. The development of all these qualities in their unity to a certain level, capable of ensuring development school curriculum, and constitutes the content of psychological readiness for school.
For the successful learning and personal development of a child, it is important that he goes to school prepared, taking into account his general physical development, motor skills, and the state of the nervous system. And this is far from the only condition. One of the most necessary components is psychological readiness.
Psychological readiness is a necessary and sufficient level of mental development of a child to master the school curriculum in a learning environment with peers.
In most children, it is formed by the age of seven. The content of psychological readiness includes a certain system of requirements that will be presented to the child during training, and it is important that he is able to cope with them.
The structure of psychological readiness for learning at school: multicomponent education. The components of psychological readiness for schooling include psychomotor (functional), intellectual, emotional-volitional, personal (including motivational), socio-psychological (communicative) readiness.
Physiological component – These are self-care skills, the state of general motor skills, the level of physical fitness, health status, correct physique, posture.
Psychomotor (functional) readiness
It should include those transformations occurring in the child’s body that contribute to increasing its performance and endurance, and greater functional maturity. Among them, first of all, it is necessary to name:
The balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition, which increases throughout preschool childhood, allows the child to focus his attention on the object of his activity for a longer time, contributes to the formation arbitrary shapes behavior and cognitive processes;
Development of small hand muscles and hand-eye coordination - creates the basis for mastering the actions of writing;
Improving the mechanism functional asymmetry brain - activates the formation of speech as a means of cognition and verbally logical thinking.
Intelligent Readiness
The most important indicators of a child’s intellectual readiness for school are the characteristics of the development of his thinking and speech.
During preschool age, children begin to lay the foundations of verbal-logical thinking, based on visual-figurative thinking and being its natural continuation. A six-year-old child is capable of the simplest analysis of the world around him: distinguishing between the essential and the unimportant, simple reasoning, and correct conclusions. By the end of preschool age, the central indicator of children’s mental development is their formation of figurative and the foundations of verbal and logical thinking.
Summarizing the above and taking into account the age-related characteristics of the development of the child’s cognitive sphere, we can say that the development of intellectual readiness for learning at school presupposes:
* differentiated perception;
* analytical thinking (the ability to comprehend the main features and connections between phenomena, the ability to reproduce a pattern);
* rational approach to reality (weakening the role of fantasy);
* logical memorization;
* interest in knowledge and the process of obtaining it through additional efforts;
* mastery of spoken language by ear and the ability to understand and use symbols;
* development of fine hand movements and hand-eye coordination.
Speech component involves mastering the grammar and vocabulary of a language, a certain degree of awareness of speech, the formation of forms (external - internal, dialogical - monological) and functions (communication, generalization, planning, evaluation, etc.) of speech.
Volitional component the child’s ability to act in accordance with a model and exercise control by comparing it with it as a standard (the model can be given in the form of the actions of another person or in the form of a rule).
Personal readiness
Personal readiness is a system-forming component; it can be described through the motivational-need sphere and the sphere of individual self-awareness.
Forming readiness to accept a new “social position” - the position of a schoolchild who has a range of important responsibilities and rights.Personal readiness also presupposes a certain level of development of the child’s emotional sphere. The child masters social norms for expressing feelings, the role of emotions in the child’s activities changes, emotional anticipation is formed, feelings become more conscious, generalized, reasonable, arbitrary, non-situational, formed higher feelings- moral, intellectual, aesthetic. Thus, by the beginning of school, the child should have achieved relatively good emotional stability, against the background of which the development and course of educational activities are possible.
Emotional-volitional readiness
A sufficient level of development in a child of the emotional-volitional sphere is an important aspect of psychological readiness for school. This level turns out to be different for different children, but a typical feature that distinguishes older preschoolers is the subordination of motives, which gives the child the opportunity to control his behavior and which is necessary in order to immediately, upon entering first grade, be involved in general activities and accept a system of requirements presented by the school and the teacher.
The motivation of a preschooler plays a decisive role in the personal component of psychological readiness for school.
Motivational component presupposes an attitude towards educational activity as a socially significant matter and the desire to acquire knowledge. The prerequisite for the emergence of these motives is the general desire of children to go to school and the development of curiosity.
Subordination of motives, the presence of social and moral motives in behavior (sense of duty). The beginning of the formation of self-awareness and self-esteem.
Two groups of teaching motives were identified:
1. Broad social motives for learning, or motives associated “with the child’s needs for communication with other people, for their evaluation and approval, with the student’s desires to occupy a certain place in the system of social relations available to him.”
2. Motives directly related to educational activities, or “the cognitive interests of children, the need for intellectual activity and the acquisition of new skills, abilities and knowledge.”
Socio-psychological (communicative) readiness
As the older preschooler grows up, he begins to be more and more attracted to the world of people, rather than the world of things. He tries to penetrate the meaning of human relations, the norms that regulate them. Following socially acceptable norms of behavior becomes significant for the child, especially if it is reinforced by positive feedback from adults. This becomes the content of the child’s communication with them. Therefore, communicative readiness is very important in view of the prospect of constant contact with adults (and peers) during school. This component of psychological readiness presupposes the formation of two forms of communication characteristic of the age period under consideration:free-contextual communication with adults and cooperative-competitive communication with peers.
Zarechneva O.N., educational psychologist