Better behaviour skills ‘vital to preparing children for school’

Parents need to prepare children for school by helping them to adapt to new experiences and develop behavioural skills, a Northern Territory academic has said.

Amy Graham, a PhD researcher at Charles Darwin University, talked to parents and teachers at 35 schools in the NT and South Australia. She found that parents were focused on building literacy skills while teachers were more concerned about learning behaviours.

“My research also shows that teachers find around 62 per cent of children starting school have at least one cause for concern, whether that is their emotional development, social skills, cognitive maturity, physical or literacy development,” she said in a university statement.