Abstract:

In this study, it is aimed to determine the opinions of pre-school teachers and classroom teachers about school maturity. As in the current situation, since this research is aimed to be a qualitative approach, the research is a case study of qualitative research type. In the study, interviews were conducted with a total of 25 teachers including 15 teachers and 10 pre-school teachers and the interviews were conducted through an interview form. Content analysis was performed on the data obtained from the interviews. As a result of the research, it was seen that the class teachers' definitions and expectations about school maturity were higher than the pre-school teachers. According to this, both groups stated that social-emotional development, motor development, cognitive development and self-care skills were important for starting school. Preschool education teachers have made less definitions for these themes. It is observed that class teachers' expectations in terms of cognitive development and maturity are higher than preschool education teachers’. They stated that children who do not complete their 72 months experience problems such as peer communication, lack of self-confidence, inability to perform self-care skills. In this respect, it is stated that children will have negative experiences in education as they cannot reach school maturity yet.

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