Entry to compulsory education or an (un)equal start

Age is not the only prerequisite for a child to start their schooling in year 1 at primary school. The commencement of compulsory schooling in Slovakia is conditional upon the readiness for school of a child. Enrolment data to year 1 suggest that almost one in seven children do not comply with this prerequisite, and in regions with the lowest participation in pre-primary education, this proportion is even higher. These children receive an additional year to improve in domains pertaining to  their readiness for school. However, the system provides two tracks for improving the child's readiness for school. The majority of children aged 6 not yet ready for schooling receive a recommendation for a 1-year postponement of compulsory schooling, and would start their schooling at the age of 7. Children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are almost automatically tracked into preparatory “zero” classes. Upon entry to a preparatory “zero” class, they start their compulsory schooling. Preparatory “zero” classes can significantly improve the readiness for school of children, but their further impact on their education path and later success in life is unclear. Available data suggest that many children starting in the preparatory “zero” classes later fail in their education, and finish their compulsory education without attaining the full basic education level. Their chances of acquiring a professional qualification are therefore slim.

Enrolment in kindergartens can substantially reduce the number of children with postponed compulsory schooling or children tracked into preparatory “zero” classes. However, the potential of kindergartens remains rather unexploited here. One of the reasons is the weak co-operation with advisory and prevention centres in certain towns and municipalities, mostly due to insufficient personnel capacity and time availability at centres. Another problem is the weak co-operation between parents, teachers and the advisory and prevention centres, often resulting in biased findings about the child's readiness for school. The readiness for school of a child is also affected by the ability of a kindergarten to address the child's developmental needs. Such ability is reduced by the lack of professionals (school psychologists, SEN teachers, etc.) who could substantially contribute to higher quality diagnostics and design of support measures. However, children in Slovak kindergartens do not receive such professional support. Developing readiness for school is therefore mainly the task of kindergarten teachers, and they have to divide their attention among twenty children on average. Opportunities for a customised approach are hence rather limited, and so is the chance that the number of children with postponed schooling will decrease in the future.

Readiness for school is also checked during enrolment to year 1. The Learning Makes Sense findings suggest that schools adopt various approaches to this, and the quality of test tasks and sets varies. But their results really matter. These conclusions can determine whether the child’s schooling is postponed or not, and at some schools, it can even determine whether the child is enrolled at all. Competitive selection is mostly present at schools where the demand for places exceeds capacity. Right at the start of compulsory education, some children are formally rejected.

Although readiness for school is checked at entry to year 1, the Schools Act permits  for a child to be admitted, but can later on permit their schooling being postponed, meaning they have to leave the school. Qualitative data from the Learning Makes Sense suggest that children often take this very hard. Moreover, such cases can result from an erroneous readiness for school assessment, or from a failure of communication between the kindergarten, family and advisory and prevention centre. Statistics further indicate that a significant group of children repeat year 1. This is mostly experienced by children in Eastern Slovakia. The Learning Makes Sense questionnaire survey suggests that most teachers in Slovakia agree with the concept of grade repetition. Unpleasant feelings of failure can be experienced by children tracked into special needs schools in their early years of schooling. This phenomenon is more frequent in Eastern Slovakia as well.

Analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data in the Learning Makes Sense survey are examined in more detail in the following sections:

Readiness for school as a problem.

Assessing  readiness for school introduces elements of inequality into the system

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Preparing children for transition to schools and kindergarten shortcomings.

Kindergarten shortcomings in preparing children for a seamless transition to primary schools

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Diverse practices in enrolment to year 1.

Practices applied in enrolment to year 1 are not standardised

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Disappointment and failure at the start of the education path.

Children have already experienced disappointment and failure when they start their education paths

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Conclusions

 Children in Slovakia start compulsory schooling at various ages and similarly, leave primary school at various ages. The starting point is not just determined by their age, but also by their readiness for school. Had the children who received a “red light” at entry to year 1 attended kindergarten, their chances would have been higher. This mainly concerns children that start their compulsory education in the preparatory “zero” class. The chances of reducing the numbers for postponed compulsory schooling or placements into preparatory “zero” classes is largely determined by the customised support for learners, and the engagement of professional staff or teaching assistants in kindergartens. Unless quality diagnostics and intervention is directly guaranteed by psychologists and other professionals in classrooms, the quality of co-operation with the advisory and prevention centres remains crucial. Postponement of compulsory schooling creates an objective barrier to the seamless transition to schooling. This is accentuated by the fact that such decisions are made at enrolment procedures at individual schools without using standardised procedures for assessing the readiness for school. As indicated by the Learning Makes Sense research findings, there are still many children experiencing failure later in their schooling, despite passing the readiness for school assessment.