SCHOOL READINESS AS CORRELATE OF ACADEMIC SKILLS OF PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

Abstract

The study investigated school readiness as a correlate of academic skills of pre-primary school pupils in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. Three (3) research questions were raised to give direction to the study, out of which one (1) was hypothesised.  The research design adopted for this study was the survey research design based on a correlational approach. The population of the study comprised all one thousand five hundred and fifty-four (1554) Pre-primary class 1 pupils,  and ninety-two (92) teachers serving as caregivers in 41 private pre-primary schools in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. The sample size for this study was one hundred and twenty (120) Pre-primary class 1 pupils and eight(08) teachers serving as caregivers in 4 schools selected using a multi-stage sampling technique. The research instruments for the collection of data for this study are the School Readiness Questionnaire (SRQ ) and the Academic Skills Questionnaire (ASQ). The instrument was validated by three experts and reliability was done using Cronbach alpha statistics, the coefficients of 0.93, and 0.92 were obtained for School Readiness and Academic Skills respectively. The research instruments were personally given to the teachers to respond to the items on behalf of the pupils, this is because the teachers as the caregivers are familiar with these pupils, having always been with them for at least six (6) active hours per day which make them be in the best position to respond to the item in their stead. Research questions 1 and 2 were answered using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. Hypothesis 1 was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) Statistics. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the level of school readiness and academic skills are high among pre-primary school children in the Egor Local Government area of Edo state. It was also revealed that there was a significant relationship between school readiness and academic skills among pre-primary school children in the Egor Local Government area of Edo state. Based on the findings from the study, the researcher recommended that Parents should always send their children to school when they are ready for school. The government should implement the law to make sure that only ready children are admitted to the school by sending officials of the Ministry of Education for routine checks on schools