Pedagogical Diagnosis at the Threshold of Education

Introduction

Contemporary education includes carrying out pedagogical diagnostics of the pupil by identifying the level of their development for planning and implementing educational and teaching activities. At the threshold of education, it becomes a significant component of the teacher’s work, where the pupil is known individually and also in wider contexts. In this period, specific attention is paid to diagnosing the child’s school readiness, which is a prerequisite for entering primary school and successfully coping with school education. In the professional literature, we find several formulations of the “content” of school readiness (Bednářová, J. – Šmardová, V. 2012; G. T. Halle, G. H. et al., 2012; Slezáková, T. – Borbélyová, D. 2013), which we perceive as a link between pre-school and school education. In kindergarten, necessary abilities are acquired and perfected, becoming the content- and activity-based foundation of work at the start of school attendance.

Pedagogical diagnostics in the final part of pre-primary education and at the beginning of primary education

In primary education, the object of pedagogical diagnostics is the child of younger school age, who represents a complex personality within individual components of personality, as a member of the social group and family environment. According to B. Kasáčová and M. Cabanová (2011), emphasis is placed on understanding the child’s social context, which relates to readiness assumptions, interests, characteristics, and ideas about school and curriculum content.

In the professional literature, one finds a terminological delimitation of the concepts pedagogical diagnosis and pedagogical diagnosing, with content differences specified. P. Gavora (2010) presents pedagogical diagnosis as a separate scientific discipline with a defined object of study and one that meets scientific requirements. For the teacher, it becomes a knowledge- and experience-based starting point through which diagnostic competence is shaped. The author (2010) denotes implementation of diagnostic activity in pedagogical practice as diagnosing. Z. Syslová and J. Kratochvílová (2015) further specify professional mastery of partial diagnostic activities and the need for collaboration with experts, which is a prerequisite for the adequate development of the child.

In the context of this paper, we give dominant attention to pedagogical diagnosing of the child at the threshold of education, with emphasis on supporting the smooth transition of the child to primary school and successful adaptation.

School readiness of the future and beginning school pupil

According to M. Cabanová (2016), emphasis should be placed on exit diagnostics at the end of pre-primary education. For school education it gives a picture of the set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that the future pupil has at the individual level. Its development is specified in pre-primary education, the family environment, and social interactions of the child.

In the School Act (Act No. 245/2008 on the Upbringing and Education, Z.z., § 2, para. b), school suitability is defined in this sense as “a sum of psychological, physical, and social abilities, which allows a child to become a pupil and is a prerequisite for completing the educational and developmental programme of primary school.”

M. Lipnická (2013, In: Kasáčová, B. – Cabanová, M. a kol. 2013) emphasizes assessing school suitability at both the level of school maturity and school readiness.

According to T. G. Halle et al. (2012), school readiness represents the prerequisites for successful academic and social functioning in school education. T. Slezáková and D. Borbélyová (2013) regard it as an outcome of pre-primary education, a determinant of the child’s smooth transition to primary school and successful adaptation.

From the definitions given, we see differences within the pedagogical diagnostics of school readiness, which arise from the terminological delimitation of this concept. At the end of pre-primary education, it represents a comprehensive view of the developmental level of the future pupil, and at the beginning of primary education it is a prerequisite for ensuring continuity between levels of education.

At the start of school attendance, introductory diagnostics of the beginning school pupil is a necessary component. According to T. Slezáková (2006), the teacher’s diagnostic activity becomes the starting point for creating suitable educational conditions that correspond to the characteristics of individual pupils. At the threshold of education, it is specifically desirable to respect the abilities and possibilities of each child.

The teacher has several ways and methods available for conducting entry diagnostics. The conclusions reached should be applied in pedagogical practice as support for successful adaptation of the pupil, i.e., for overcoming and removing adaptation difficulties present in individuals. After entering the first grade of primary school, we speak of diagnosed start readiness of the pupil, which is assessed mainly through pedagogical tests, observation, portfolio, analysis of pupil products, and interview. (Borbélyová, D. 2014, In: Borbélyová, D., Špernáková, B. 2014)

Criteria and indicators of school readiness according to performance standards of the State Educational Program

The starting point of pedagogical diagnostics at the threshold of education can also be these performance standards formulated in the State Educational Program for pre-primary education in kindergartens (2016). According to this document, performance standards are “expressed in observable and assessable performances only for the last year of kindergarten… and are achievable for most of the child population within the standard educational and developmental conditions of kindergarten.”

In terms of this paper, this part of the document represents expected outcomes of the future school pupil and the assumptions of the pupil at the beginning of school attendance. By its content it corresponds to the focus of exit and entry diagnostics at the threshold of education.

For the purposes of our work, we analyzed the established performance standards from the perspective of school readiness. In view of several theoretical views on its delimitation, we selected the structure of school readiness according to I. T. Babajevová (1990, In: Slezáková, T. 2006), which consists of four mutually conditioning components delimited by the child’s personality development and relations with the social environment: emotional-motivational component, content-meaning component, operational-activity component, and control-regulatory component.

For the emotional-motivational component of school readiness we present criteria derived from its individual characteristics and the performance standards in the State Educational Program. We understand a criterion as a sign we observe to assess the selected component of school readiness. It is a specific knowledge, skill, ability, or habit. The criterion is further specified by formulating indicators, which are a set of markers indicating the degree of an individual’s development within the chosen scale. A similar analysis can be conducted from the perspective of the remaining components in the structure of school readiness.

The emotional-motivational component is oriented toward the future role of the pupil and peer, which is specified by a triad of motives—the social, cognitive, and moral motive. The future school pupil gains an image of themselves as a pupil, and existing relations and interactions are distinguished separately.

Tab. 1: Pedagogical diagnostics of a child’s readiness for the pupil role

Tab. 2: Pedagogical diagnostics of the moral dimension of the pupil role

Conclusion

Entry into the first grade of primary school is conditioned by sufficient readiness of the pupil, whose level of development is individual. A necessary prerequisite of successful beginnings of school education and the adaptation process is knowing the beginning pupil through diagnostic activities. Carrying out pedagogical diagnostics at the end of pre-primary and at the beginning of primary education will provide a comprehensive picture of the pupil in wider contexts. In this contribution, we focused on diagnosing school readiness in the context of successful adaptation of the pupil at the start of school attendance, with the premise of preventing adaptation difficulties. In the text we presented the possibility of diagnosing a component of school readiness through established performance standards in the State Educational Program for pre-primary education in kindergartens (2016). In pedagogical practice, they are available tools for understanding the individual level of outcomes of the child from pre-primary education, i.e., the pupil’s entry.

Author: Mgr. Radka Teleková Katedra pedagogiky, Pedagogická fakulta, Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre

The article was prepared with the support of a grant. Grant: V12/2021 (UGA UKF v Nitre) Grant title: Prevention of adaptation difficulties of the child in the period of transition from kindergarten to the first grade of primary school

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Zákon č. 245/2008 Z.z. o výchove a vzdelávaní (školský zákon)