They may be ready for school, but are you? A parent’s experiences

A qualitative investigation and exploration of parental perspectives regarding their child or children starting at school full time. A mixed method of an autoethnographic diary and open-ended questionnaires were used to gather data which was then analysed thematically for any emergent themes. In line with current literature it was found that parents were unsure about their child’s readiness to start school, and that they had vague knowledge of school practices. Home learning also appeared to be a dominant underlying factor to the activities undertaken out of school. Whilst it also emerged that culture and religion especially, appear to have a dominant role in establishing productive relationships between school and home, and that good relations between school and home often appear to be beneficial to both parents and possibly child on an emotional level, and beneficial to the child on an academic level. It is also proposed that constructions of childhood along with social norms and expectations also go some way into determining how school life is interpreted and experienced