Investigation of the school adaptation status of 5 – 6 years old children in terms of different variables

The main purpose of this research is to examine the school adjustment levels of students aged 5 to 6 who started kindergarten in terms of different variables. The descriptive survey method, one of the quantitative method designs, was used in the research. The universe of the research consists of children aged 5-6 years who started to receive pre-school education for the first time in the official independent kindergarten, official kindergarten and primary school kindergartens affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the 2021-2022 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 234 preschool children in the 5-6 age group who are educated in 12 different kindergartens in different districts of Sakarya in the 2021-2022 academic year. Purposive sampling method, one of the non-random sampling methods, was used in the selection of the sample group. Within the scope of the research, the "Personal Information Form", which includes the variables determined by the students and prepared by the researcher, and the "School Adaptation Teacher Evaluation Scale for 5-6 Years-Old Children" adapted into Turkish by Önder and Gülay (2010) was used to determine the school adjustment level of the children. During the data collection process, necessary permissions were obtained from the Sakarya University Ethics Committee, and then from the Sakarya Provincial Directorate of National Education. The School Adaptation Teacher Evaluation Scale was filled in on a voluntary basis by teachers in September and October of the 2021-2022 academic year. While the Personal Information Form was filled by the teacher, the necessary permissions were obtained by informing the parents about the process. For the analysis of the obtained data, first of all, normality test was performed. Based on the assumption of normality as a result of the test, the Independent Samples t-Test and ANOVA, which are parametric tests, were used in accordance with the content of the research. In this context, the Independent Sample T Test was used to determine whether the scores of the students in the sample group regarding the school adjustment status differ according to the gender of the students and having a sibling who goes to school. The F Test (ANOVA) was conducted to determine whether the students differed according to their age, birth order, number of siblings, and educational status of their parents. Tukey test was used to determine the source of the difference in the results and which group was in favor. According to the results of the research, it was concluded that the school adjustment status of children aged 5-6 years differed significantly according to gender and father's education level. It was observed that age, birth order, number of siblings, mother's education level and the presence of siblings who went to school did not make a significant difference on school adjustment. Keywords: Pre-school education, Early childhood education, Adaptation to school