Interaction Between Educational Organization And Family During Formation Of Motivational School Readiness`s

Abstract

The present study is about the influence of destabilizing factors on the process of the formation of components of motivational readiness for schooling: a negative experience on the attitude of older siblings, the closest associates and parents toward schooling. A comparative analysis of the results of the formation of motivational readiness for schooling in children aged 6-7 years old from single-child, two-child and large families as well as of the influence of the type of child-parent relations on the formation of the child's attitude to schooling is executed. A development stage of the experiment has lasted for seven months and been aimed at interaction with families of children at risk in the formation of motivational readiness for schooling. The comparative analysis of the results in the control and experimental groups makes it possible to conclude that there is a need for targeted support for parents and children in the period of forming the components of motivational readiness for schooling. This work helps to increase the number of preschool children who are positive about the upcoming schooling and accept a pupil's internal position. The significant result is a decrease at the level of "school anxiety" in the families with disharmonious relationships. The parents learn the skills of a positive support of their children having learning difficulties

Keywords: Motivational readinessInteraction with family

Introduction

At the present stage the problem of "school disadaptation" is acute, and specialists state that the reason for the increase in the number of children who are not successful in schooling is the low level of motivational readiness for schooling, which forms at the stage of preschool age.

The increase in the number of children who do not want to go to school is due to various reasons: the negative experience of older brothers and sisters, negative evaluation of parents and relatives about school, their own fears associated with the future learning; the low degree of awareness of the upcoming learning and inadequate representation of the child about school, etc. One of the destabilizing factors in the formation of a preschooler motivational readiness is the family, its composition and type of child-parent relations. In addition, parents act for the child as significant subjects of the formation of his/her social experience, including the attitude to the upcoming schooling. Currently, motivation as a mental phenomenon is treated differently. In one case it is a set of factors that support and direct, that is, determine behavior; in another case it is a set of motives; in the third, it is an incentive that causes the activity of organism and determines its direction (Ilyin, 2011).

The study of motivation is presented in the works of: V.G. Aseev, L.I. Bozhovich, J. Godefroid, N.V. Elfimova, V.A Ivannikov, E.P. Ilyin, A.N. Leontiev, M.Sh. Magomed-Eminov, A.K. Markova, A. Maslow, K. Madsen, A.B. Orlov, N.F. Talyzina, L.N. Fridman, and others. The analysis of the research allows us to define the motive as a complex psychological formation that induces to conscious actions and acts and serves as their basis (Aseev, 1976; Atkinson, 1966; Bozhovich, 2008; Godefroi, 1992; Gutkina, 2004; Ilyin, 2011; Leontiev, 1971; Madsen, 1974; Markova et. al, 1983; Maslow, 1971).

V.G. Leontiev, N.V. Nizhegorodtseva, V.D. Shadrikov and G. Rozenfeld argue that human motivations develop throughout one’s life through the expansion and enrichment of the subject's vital world (Nizhegorodtseva et al., 2001).

In the context of the stated subject of research, the development of motivation at preschool age can be represented within studying psychological readiness for schooling (T.I. Babaeva, L.I. Bozhovich, L.A. Wenger, N.I. Gutkin, I.V. Dubrovina, D.B. El'konin, and others).

At older preschool age, the structure of motives acquires a relative stability. Cognitive and broad social needs begin to occupy a dominant position. Speaking about the motives in the structure of the initial readiness for schooling, we have in mind those factors of an external and internal nature that induce the child's activity and can serve as a basis for the formation of actual educational motives. The arrival of a preschooler at school is prompted not by one but a whole system of diverse motives: social, educational, cognitive, evaluative, positional, external to school and learning as well as and playful. The presence of only social-role motives for attending school and lack of motivation for studying testifies to that preschool children are not ready for school.

L.I. Bozhovich, A.V. Zaporozhets and D.B. Elkonin indicate that the most important component of the child' personal development aged six-seven years old is the motivational readiness for school. It implies the formation of the internal position of a pupil and hierarchy of motives as well as the child's attitude to school, learning activity, teachers and himself or herself.

Problem Statement

Thus, there is an objective need to study the influence of a family on the formation of the components of motivational readiness for schooling of senior preschool children. The development and implementation of a program of targeted support for parents and children during the period of preparing the child for schooling will reduce the risks of "school disadaptation" and the failure of the child in further educational activities in school.

Research Questions

Within the framework of this study, the following "risk areas" are defined in the formation of motivational readiness for schooling:

  • in a one-child family with disharmonious child-parent relationships, the child of senior preschool age may show a negative attitude towards schooling and a lag in the formation of a pupil's "internal position," among the motives there are appraisal and game motives.

  • In a large family even with harmonious child-parent relations, the negative influence of older brothers and sisters with a negative experience in school is going to increase, which leads to the formation of a preschooler's stable negative attitude towards the upcoming school education.

At the same time, one should point out that the demonstration of a positive experience of schooling by senior siblings contributes to the early development of the "internal position of the pupil" in preschool childhood, the formation of a stable and positive attitude towards schooling, and social and educational motives are going to dominate.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to identify the influence of family composition and the type of child-parent relations on the formation of motivational readiness for schooling in children of senior preschool age.

Research Methods

420 children of the senior preschool age and their families participated in the assessment experiment (September 2016).

Diagnosis of children

Table 1 presents the diagnostic program compiled in accordance with the components of motivational readiness for schooling:

Table 1 -
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Additional diagnostics

Additionally, diagnostics were carried out to identify the relationship between children and parents:

  • Picture test for children - "The drawing of the family";

  • Parent survey - Parental Attitude Test Questionnaire (A.Y. Varg, V.V. Stolin).

Findings

The results of the assessment experiment are analyzed initially in accordance with the components of motivational readiness for schooling. Table 2 shows the obtained results on a sample of 420 preschool children.

Table 2 -
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The obtained results indicate a predominance of social and educational motives in the children. One should note that due to the fact that the leading activity at preschool age is game, and the play motif acts on a par with the educational one. The correlation of the types of motive, the presence of the pupil's internal position and attitude to the upcoming school education showed a direct dependence of the results. The children, having mostly a predominant social, educational and partly game motive, demonstrate a positive attitude toward the upcoming schooling process, accept themselves in the position of a schoolboy/schoolgirl and the role position of a teacher. The preschoolers who have a positional and playful motive, and several children with an evaluation show insufficient level of a pupil's internal position and experience "school anxiety". This manifests most clearly in the drawing test "I'm at school" and in the conversation (method of T.A. Nezhnova). The children do not depict themselves in the context of educational activities (in the classroom or school). They often demonstrate an evaluative activity on the part of a teacher (scores in the notebook and on the school board). When drawing up the "school timetable", the children often choose music and drawing, and as teachers they are happy to see their mother. A high level of anxiety manifests in the presence of hatching in the drawings, large and dark clouds, and a dark background of the picture or a darkened building of the school. In the special group the children are identified with a predominated appraisal or external motive, and a clearly expressed disapproval of themselves as future pupils. In addition, they demonstrate a fear of going to school. They often answer in the conversation that "we will not go to school and stay in the kindergarten". They do not depict the school in the drawings, replacing the topic for drawing, or schematically depict the school building in a dark color. Some of the children, with a predominant external motive, paint school and writing materials. In the test "Cheerful - sad" the children portray the face of a pupil at school as sad, they say that he or she is punished by the teacher for a bad behavior or unlearned lessons. In this case, teachers are always described as very strict and angry, and their main role for is determined as the issuance of marks.

At the next stage of the assessment experiment, the analysis of child-parent relations is carried out. Statistical data on the composition of the families are collected.

The results attest to the direct dependence of the parents' attitude toward the child, their attitudes toward the forthcoming schooling and the child's predominant motivation for schooling, and his/her attitudes toward learning and a teacher. In the single-parent families and families having many children, where the both parents demonstrate "acceptance", "cooperation" and "symbiosis", the children show a positive attitude towards the school. Although the preschool children know that they may face difficulties, they have an educational motive and a pupil's internal position. At the same time, one should remark that the attitude of the father is very important for boys.

In the single-child families with disharmonious child-parent relations, the children have external, game and evaluative motives, dominantly. The inner position of a pupil is not developed enough.In the presence of authoritarianism, non-acceptance of the child, inflated demands, despite the mother’s harmonious attitude, the boys show "school anxiety". The estimated motives prevail, and there is even a refusal to go to school because of the fear of failures. In families where the both parents show excessive demands on the child and regular punishment, the attention is focused on his shortcomings; the children display a high level of anxiety, non-acceptance of himself or herself as a pupil and refusal to go to school.

The parents' interviews show that in preparing the child for schooling the priority for them is the formation of special knowledgeб skills and abilities, in particular, the ability to read and count. At the same time, only 17% of the parents believe that it is necessary to carry out teamwork on the formation of motivational readiness for schooling.

Another important factor in the formation of the components of motivational readiness for school is older siblings who already have their own experience in school. Visually demonstrating to younger siblings how the attitude of the parents changes after the child enters school, how the image and content of life changes, they influence the formation of the hierarchy of motives, the formation of a pupil's internal position and attitude towards school.

The parents' surveys show the following negative aspects of the risk in the formation of motivational readiness for schooling. All the communication is built only within the framework of educational activity; a personal communication between the parents and the children goes to the background. The number of conflicts may increase due to the failures in schooling. In addition, the preschooler sees the difficulty in doing homework, anxiety before the tests and does not notice any joyful events associated with the school. If older children demonstrate success in schooling, and the parents praise them only for success in school without distinguishing any other achievements, the preschool children refuse to go to school, because they fear of that they "will not be able to study so well." However, there is no negative impact if older children demonstrate a positive perception of "school as a place where you can learn a lot of new things, and where there will be many friends." In these families the preschool children have a pronounced educational motive and formed inner position of a pupil.

According to the results of the assessment experiment, 38% of the children (160 people) are selected. They are at risk of forming the component of motivational readiness for schooling (complete families with two or more children). On the basis of preschool educational organizations, a program is implemented to support the children and parents (80 children of senior preschool age and their families) in the process of forming a motivational readiness for schooling (October 2016 - May 2017). The remaining 80 children are assigned to the control group to determine the effectiveness of the work.

Among the priority areas for the interaction with the family in the experimental group there are following:- enriching the educational experience of the parents and increasing the effect of family socialization of preschool children before the schooling;

  • activation of feelings, experiences, actions of parents based on their subjective experience of school education;

  • enriching the practical experience of parents in gaming partnership with the children.

  • attraction of older children attending school to activities with preschool children to demonstrate positive learning experiences and school communication.

  The activities of the program are also built in accordance with the components of motivational readiness for schooling.

Conclusion

A comparative analysis of the results obtained in the control and experimental groups after the experiment is presented in Table 3

Table 3 -
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In the control group, there have also been changes, educational and social motives have appeared. This is due to the fact that there is a natural cognitive and social maturation of the child, teachers in groups with children work to form the components of learning activities, in particular, educational motivation, and also form representations about the school. However, the most significant changes occur in the experimental group, where the dynamics in decreasing the number of children with appraisal motives and a high level of "school anxiety" are more evident. A targeted work with parents and older siblings has helped to prevent or to reduce a negative impact of their attitudes. Thus, the support of parents and children helps increase the effectiveness of the formation of motivational readiness for schooling in children of older preschool age.

References

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Publication Date

13 July 2018

eBook ISBN

978-1-80296-042-6

Publisher

Future Academy

Volume

43

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1st Edition

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Subjects

Child psychology, developmental psychology, child care, child upbringing, family psychology

Cite this article as:

Vinogradova, M. (2018). Interaction Between Educational Organization And Family During Formation Of Motivational School Readiness`s. In S. Sheridan, & N. Veraksa (Eds.), Early Childhood Care and Education, vol 43. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 543-550). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.07.72