School preparation is very important. However, many children arrive in kindergarten with a fundamental motor gap.
The younger generations seem to be resourceful less and less, from an early age. More and more education professionals are criticizing the learning of autonomy at home who, for some, would be deficient during the first months of the life of a child. Others highlight the problems that these shortcomings can cause, especially when entering school. But is this feeling based on solid scientific statistics or research?
A recent study brings elements of response. First, she indicates that nine out of ten parents consider that their children are ready to enter school while for teachers, this only represents only in three. First of all, and it is the best known flaw, many children arrive at school without being clean. One in four keeps the layer at the start of kindergarten according to the same investigation which points to other shortcomings. Teachers thus reported low motor capacities. Too many students have a delay in their ability to set up a staircase alone, which can be annoying depending on the size of the school. And that’s not all.
Another simple gesture is less and less acquired: 28% of children also cannot use a book properly while 44% of parents estimate that their children should have this skill when they arrive at school. It is obviously not a question of knowing how to read, but simply to hold a book or interact. Depending on the report, the correct use of a book is recognized when there is “No slip or tapping as when using an electronic device”. The teachers justify this gap in time spent on screens and the lack of reading stories by parents.
It is the same for holding the pen: “Our early childhood department now spends much more time teaching children to hold a pencil with enough strength and stability to be able to write, and this delay then has an effect Domino on our ability to progress in the school program, “deplores a school teacher with the PA news agency.
The survey in question was carried out with 1,034 members of British primary school staff and 1009 parents of children of schooling, interviewed at the end of 2024 by the Institute Savant For the Kindred Foundation. According to its director, Felicity Gillespie, the report shows that “too many parents do not sufficiently support the development of their children, even if they have – we know – at heart their best”.
She explains that parents are lacking in support and face a series of economic and social pressures. She considers that parents must be accompanied to allow them to have time for this “essential service”. Tiffnie Harris, of the association of School and College Leaders, estimated that “this study reveals an alarming gap between certain parents and schools as to the real meaning of preparation for school”.