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Background. A successful transition from preschool to primary school education is determined not so much by cognitive readiness as by the child’s social and personal readiness: the ability to self-regulate, engage in constructive interaction within a group, and fulfill new social roles. At this stage, social skills become a key resource for school adaptation. However, the expectations of adults (family and school) may diverge, and the subjective assessment of a child’s skill development may not meet the level of required standards.

Objective. To conduct a comparative analysis of the importance ratings of social skills by parents and primary school teachers; to identify the skills perceived by parents as least developed; to establish which skills necessary for school are most often insufficiently developed in children at the start of their education.

Sample. The study involved 80 primary school teachers (assessing skill importance) and two groups of parents: 510 individuals assessed the importance of skills, and 1,269 individuals assessed the level of their child’s skill development.

Methods. A cross-sectional, multi-informant survey was conducted. Skill importance was rated on a 1–5 scale (5 – “very important”), and skill development was rated on a 1–5 scale (5 – “describes the child extremely accurately”). The analysis included descriptive statistics; group comparisons using Welch’s t-test and effect size estimates (Cohen’s d); Spearman’s correlation analysis (r); calculation of the difference (imbalance) between importance and development levels; identification of “critical zones” based on importance-performance analysis (IPA).

Results. Teachers, on average, rated social skills as more important (M=3.96) than parents did (M=3.87), with statistically significant differences found for 15 out of 18 skills. The greatest discrepancies in priorities were identified for emotional regulation and responsibility for personal belongings (higher among teachers), as well as for the ability to ask clarifying questions, express needs, and demonstrate learning motivation (higher among parents). According to parental assessments, the least developed skills in children are emotional regulation (M=3.03), persistence (M=3.36), and adaptability (M=3.40). The maximum gap between high importance and low development, noted by both groups, was recorded for the skill of emotional regulation. Common “critical zones” for both parents and teachers were the skills of peaceful conflict resolution and active listening.

Conclusions. The results emphasize the need to enhance practices in preschool age aimed at developing self-regulation, resilience to difficulties, and skills of constructive interaction. The discrepancies between school and family expectations require not merely informing parents but jointly designing the content of educational continuity. Preschool institutions can initiate dialogue with primary school teachers, including through joint diagnostic and preventive measures.

The article discusses the experience and results of the researches of emotional well-being of preschoolers, especially 6–7 year old children. The factors that affect the emotional well-being of preschool children in the family and in educational organizations and educational opportunities of the environment (values and ways of interaction of teachers with children, designing of the environment of a kindergarten, planning of current activities) are considered separately, in particular those increasing emotional well-being of children. The principal trends of the current approach to the study of emotional well-being: a synthesis of achievements of different theories, a shift in the study of emotional well-being from problems to its positive manifestations, interest in the opinion of children themselves, complexity (inclusion of all stakeholders in the study design – children, parents, teachers) and variety of methods. The relevance of the study, based on the «child’s voice», reflections by educators and parents, and structured video analysis, is shown.

The article discusses the relevance of the problem of children’s speech readiness for schooling, including the development of language and communication abilities of preschool children. It is shown that the transition from kindergarten to school is associated with a change in the social status of a child who becomes a pupil. This is preceded by a huge preparatory work that develops general and special preparation for learning at school, which should result in readiness for school, including speech. The authors consider the cognitive aspect of preschool children’s speech readiness for school. It is shown that the study of the correlation between thought, speech and language in the formation of a preschool child’s personality provides opportunities to identify patterns of development of intellectual, communicative, speech and language abilities in preschool childhood. Language (linguistic) competence in relation to preschoolers is considered as an elementary awareness of the phenomena and facts of language and speech, the formation of the ability to use words, their forms and syntactic structures in accordance with the norms of the literary language, to use synonymic and antonymic resources of the native language. The tasks of the development of linguistic and communicative abilities are presented. The development of all aspects of speech, knowledge of the rules and norms of speech etiquette, and their use, depending on the situation, play an important role in educating the culture of speech communication among preschoolers. The improvement of communicative competence is impossible without learning the basics of speech culture, the absence of which can cause a misconception about the essence of the statement. The prospects of research on the formation of speech readiness for school education are outlined. The conclusions summarize the main points of the article.

This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the leap from kindergarten to primary school level of education. Different approaches to understanding the indicators of successful transition have been considered. As the most relevant condition and experience of children concerning occurring changes and new environments, expectations and activity of parents, quality of cooperation with family, educational and public organizations, quality of preparation of teachers come to the fore.

The transformation of ideas about factors influencing the well-being of the transition has been analyzed. The conclusion about the need for a comprehensive consideration of the role of early educational experience of children, their preparation to school, the continuity of the content and methods of education, the involvement of parents and the quality of interaction between all participants in the transition process has been drawn.

Some of the transition strategies have been considered, in particular, from the point of view of the purposes of support of this process, the basic regulatory documents, the most widespread ways of working with children, families, educational and public organizations, as well as challenges and complications.

Cases from Japan, Finland and Australia have been considered to illustrate possible areas of work to improve the transition between preschool and primary education. These countries are implementing significantly different strategies and tactics, while recognizing the need to improve the transition process and appreciating the role of early learning experiences. Japan’s approach is more oriented towards the creation of detailed regulations and the organization of interaction between teachers. The creation of a common methodological framework for early childhood education is relevant for Finland, and the particular implementation of innovations in transition is delegated to the educational institutions themselves. Australia is primarily focused on working with children in the preparatory stage, as well as on informing parents and encouraging them to engage proactively with children, teachers and each other.

This paper considers the issue of cooperation between the family and pre-school teachers during a child’s transition from kindergarten to primary school as a factor contributing to the child’s greater psychological readiness for school. For this purpose, the materials of a nationwide survey called Monitoring the Economics of Education: Early Childhood Education were used to analyze the degree of harmonization of parents’ and preschool teachers’ ideas of kindergarten and issues related to preparations for the transition to school. It is showed that teachers and parents, as well as parents themselves have different perceptions of a good kindergarten, the objectives of education and ways of preparing their child for school, many of the differences stemming from their level of education among other things.

The aim of the article is to help children and their parents in a difficult period of child’s adjustment to the school. The authors examine the relationship of psychological readiness and success of the child’s entry into school life. Indicators of these process successfulness are described. The article highlights the series of preparatory steps for school and the begining of the school life. Possibilities of support of first-graders in this interesting and difficult path to adulthood are explored. The answers to the questions whether the child knows the rules and able to comply with them without supervision by the parents and other adults, whether the child is ready to build a relationship with the teacher and peers in the form of cooperation are provided. Guidelines for psychological care to ensure safe entry child in school life are described.