The Registration of the Child in the First Form - Criteria, fairness and the view of legal representatives
Abstract
This article presents the results of a multiple case study concerned with the course of registration in four elementary district schools. There is no single standardised procedure in the Czech Republic when it comes to assessment of whether children are ready for school.
Schools therefore have relatively great freedom in choice of method for testing the children's skills and some of them admit children into the first forms on the basis of these methods. The division of children according to ability falls within the definition of external differentiation that is considered to be a significant source of inequality and so here it seems to be happening right at the start of children's school careers.
In the study I analysed the process of registration of children for the first form with an eye to the fairness of the approach to primary education. I gathered the data by interviews with parents of mainly pre-school children, and also the method of observation, and I supplemented the study with legal documents.
The criteria for admission of children were compared with the current legal norms and they were also considered through the eyes of the parents of pre-school children. The results of the study offer information on the various approaches to registration on the part of the primary schools, as well as the views of parents on the different criteria and their readiness to fulfil these criteria, and also draw attention to contradictions between the law and the actual criteria for the admission of children at the schools analysed.