The investigation of the relationship between the early academic and social skills of preschool children and the school climate

In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between the early academic and social skills of 60-72 months old children attending kindergarten and the school climate and to determine the weight of the factors that make up the school climate (adult attitude and relationships, administrative atmosphere, peer relationships, teacher attitude, physical environment and educational planning and implementation) in predicting these skills. The samples of the study consist of 120 children from six kindergartens located in the central districts of the city of Adana. In order to determine the samples, Preschool School Climate Scale (PSCS) was used, which was developed within the present study. PSCS was administered to 250 teachers and 41 administrators in 36 schools who do not have transportation difficulty in travelling from the kindergartens located in the central districts of Adana. These data were evaluated on school basis and a school climate score was calculated for each school. These scores were ranked in descending order, and the study was conducted in six schools, three schools each with the highest and lowest school climate scores. An equal number of children who attended classes for 60-72 months in the aforementioned schools, who were allowed to participate in this study by their families, and whose normal development was declared by their teachers, were determined. Test of Early Mathematics Ability-Third Edition (TEMA-3) was administered to 120 children in total, 20 from each school, in order to determine the early mathematics skills and Early Literacy Skills Evaluation Tool was administered in order to determine the early literacy skills by means of face to face interviews. On the other hand, Social Skills Evaluation Scale was answered by the teachers respectively for each child. In data analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used in order to determine if the early mathematics, literacy, and social skills of children create a meaningful difference in terms of school climate level. The multivariate regression analysis was used in order to determine the relative significance of adult attitude and relationships, which are the dimensions of school climate, administrative atmosphere, peer relationships, teacher attitude, physical environment and educational planning and implementation on the children's regression of social skills. As a result of the research, it was determined that there is a significant relationship between the early academic and social skills of the children and the school climate level of the kindergartens where the children attend. It was found out that peer relationships and teacher attitudes, the factors which constitute the school climate, are the most important school climate variables in explaining the EMS scores of the children. The most important school climate variables in explaining the ELS and SS scores are the administrative atmosphere, adult attitude and relationships. On the other hand, it was determined that the physical environment variable is the one least relevant to the school climate dimension with both EMS, ELS as well as SS scores. The derived result reveal that the variables of school climate not only in the classroom, but also outside the classroom correlate with the early academic and social skills of the children. Keywords:, school climate, preschool education, early mathematics skills, early literacy skills, social skills