The effect of the Transition to School Teacher Training Program on the social emotional adjustment and school readiness levels of children starting preschool

This research was conducted to investigate the impact of the Transition to School Teacher Training Program (TSTTP) on the social-emotional adjustments and school readiness of children entering kindergarten. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test control group, utilizing a nested mixed-methods research design. The study groups were determined through non-random purposive sampling. The research participants included 19 preschool teachers with a minimum of 2 years of professional experience and 152 children aged 48-72 months enrolled in official preschools and kindergartens in a province and its districts in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey during the 2020-2021 academic year. The experimental group's teachers received the TSTTP, consisting of 12 sessions over four weeks in March-April, three days a week, five months before the school year started in September. A 3-session TSTTP Reminder Training was provided to the experimental group's teachers in August, just before the school opening. The control group's teachers did not receive any supportive training program. The data collection instruments included a "General Information Form", "Reflective Journals", "General Assessment Form", "School Readiness Scale" adapted to Turkish through validity and reliability studies by the researcher based on Xie and Li (2019) and the "Preschool Social Competence and Behavior Assessment Scale" validated and reliable according to Çorapçı et al. (2010) filled out by teachers on behalf of children and parents, respectively. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The research findings revealed statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the experimental group children compared to the control group in terms of their social competence levels focusing on socioemotional development, levels of anger-aggression, anxiety-introversion, and their readiness for school focusing on social competence, learning tendencies, cognitive and communication skills and adherence to class rules. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that teachers participating in the TSTTP had a statistically significant positive impact on the social-emotional development and school readiness levels of children in their classrooms compared to the control group. Therefore, it can be inferred that the TSTTP has a positive effect on the social-emotional development and school readiness levels of children during the school transition process.