Some Theoretical and Practical Questions Children’s Preparation for School-Entrance

The perspektive of a ten-year secondary school compulsory for all children calls for a substantial increase in the educational work of the school. The success or failure of the pupils in the higher forms often depends on the foundations which the child has received during the first years of school attendance and at the nursery school. The question is when the child is able (or »mature enough«) for school attendance (Schulreif). The ability for school attendance does not depend on the absolute stage of development, but it must be judged firom the viewpoint of the requirements of the school which the child Is to attend. The theoretical basis for the solution of this question Is provided by the problems of maturing, development and education, which the Marxist pedagogy regards as a single process, in which the cause and effect are being continually interchanged. In finding out the ’ children’s ability for school attendance the methods of testing are rejected on principle, and it is suggested that the ascertainment should be carried out one year before the child starts to attend the scholl, In close co-operation of doctors, nursery school teachers, national school teachers and pedagogical psychologists. The ascertainment will be accompanied by a proposal for educational measures aiming at each child reaching the stage of development necessary for entering school in time. Concrete conditions for the Implementation of these measures will be provled by the nursery schools. The chldren who do not attend nursery school will be grouped in teams for common play under the guidance of expert educationists.