İnstitute of Graduate Studies - lisansustu@gelisim.edu.tr

Child Development (Master) (Non Thesis)








 "Path to Success: Preparing for School"


The conversation titled "Path to Success: Preparing for School" which was organized by Hacettepe University Child Development and Education Department was held live on @hacettepecgemezunlar association's instagram account on May 5, 2021. From Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) Faculty of Health Sciences (SBF) Child Development (TR) Department Lecturer Prof. Dr. Nefise Semra ERKAN and from Ankara University Health Sciences Faculty Child Development Department Lecturer Prof. Dr. Neriman Aral were speakers.


Prof. Dr. Nefise Semra Erkan started her speech by emphasizing the importance of a positive start to school in a child's life. She went on to mention that having a positive start to school brings positive academic and social success, and that children who experience academic and social difficulties in early school years will be prone to similar problems throughout their school and adult life. She said that since every child comes to school with a different spectrum of experiences and understandings, ultimately every child's transition to school will be different. She emphasized that a certain preparation process is required for the child to start school, to be ready to learn and to fulfill the behavioral characteristics (especially the first grade of primary school) that the child must have certain skills, attitudes and behaviors. She emphasized that preparation for school does not appear suddenly, but is the sum of relationships, experiences, interactions and bonds that have developed since birth or even before birth. By stating that "school readiness" is sometimes expressed as "school maturity", but "maturation" is a change that is independent of learning experiences and is biologically controlled by heredity, "readiness" is broader than maturity and readiness is evident as a result of maturation and learning He stated that he was ready to do the actions.
Stating that readiness is not only about children, schools, families and society contribute to readiness, she stated that the responsibility to prepare the child for school should be shared among all stakeholders. While our teacher Semra was a student at Hacettepe University in this part of her speech, her teacher, the late Prof. Dr. Selahattin stated that Ertürk defined readiness as "Readiness is all the features brought to the education market".
Human development; Since the transition to school consists of a series of transitions such as infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age and these transitions can be explained by the events such as walking, speaking, starting school, starting work; She expressed that it is a process that includes change in identity, roles, relationships and environments. She emphasized that the role, identity and expectations of a child who started school change, and the relationship, communication and expectations of those around the child also change. She stated that the transition to school is a process that concerns the society and culture the child lives in, and all stakeholders are affected by it.
Our teacher Semra emphasized that the connections between children, home, school, experiences and neighborhood form a network of relationships that affect the transition to school directly and directly, and that these relations have a critical importance in transition to school and school success. Underlining that transition to school can turn into a negative experience in situations where these relationships involve conflict, tension and indecision, therefore, the earlier the school preparation is started, the better it will be, stating that families having conversations with the child about school and visiting schools are activities that will make the child familiar with the school environment. She ended his speech.