‘This is Possibly the Hardest Decision a Parent has to Make.’ Deciding when your Child is Ready to Start Prep

Abstract

WHILE THE MAJORITY OF Queensland state school students begin schooling in the first year they are eligible to do so, a small number of families delay entry. This paper explores voluntary delayed entry to state schools in Queensland through analysis of quantitative data gathered by the Department of Education and Training, and parental decision making around delayed entry via qualitative data sourced from an Australian parenting website. Results revealed that the number of children who are delayed entry is increasing, and that the majority of students delayed are boys who are the youngest in their cohort. A key reason for parents choosing to delay is the child's birth date being close to the state's cut-off entry date. Importantly, the decision of whether to delay entry appears to be emotional for parents, and it is argued that parents require support and services to help them make this decision.

Exploring the Associations Between Delayed School Entry and Achievement in Primary and Secondary School

“… Figures from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (Edwards et al, 2011) except a Mergler and Walker (2017) using QLD population data. …”

“…A second factor implicated in delayed school entry decisions is gender. It is widely acknowledged that boys are more likely than girls to be delayed from entering school on time (Bassok & Reardon, 2013;Edwards, Taylor, & Fiorini, 2011;Graue et al, 2002;Hanly et al, 2019;Mendez et al, 2015;Mergler & Walker, 2017). Despite this, studies that include an investigation of gender in the context of delayed school entry are surprisingly rare.…”

“…Social, emotional, and behavioral capabilities are noted as an integral aspect of school readiness (Dockett & Perry, 2009) and delayed entry children have been shown to have more advanced social-behavioral and noncognitive skills in the early school years (Datar & Gottfried, 2015;Suziedelyte & Zhu, 2015). Parents may be concerned about the capacity of young children with seemingly shorter attention spans and more hyperactive behavior than their older peers having the skills to cope with the structured nature of formal schooling (Mergler & Walker, 2017). Such concerns may contribute to decisions to delay the school start of some children.…”

“…It is accepted that given this additional time, children will naturally develop, become ready to start school, and by extension perform better academically and socially throughout their schooling career than they would had they not been redshirted (Meisels, 1998). Research that explores parents’ views indicates that choosing delayed entry for some children is generally believed to be the right decision if parents have any doubts about their child’s maturational readiness (Graue, Kroeger, & Brown, 2002; Mergler & Walker, 2017). On the other hand, parents who redshirt their children might be interested in providing them with a perceived advantage due to their greater age (Deming & Dynarski, 2008).…”

“…The rate at which children are delayed from beginning primary school has been steadily rising for the last 30 years in Australia and in the United States (Bassok & Reardon, 2013;Dockett & Perry, 2002;Elder & Lubotsky, 2009;Mergler & Walker, 2017). In the United States, where much of the research in this area has been conducted, estimates of delayed entry range from 2% to 7% of students annually, with variations between national samples and those in different states (Bassok & Reardon, 2013;Fortner & Jenkins, 2017;Graue & DiPerna, 2000).…”