Abstract:

This study aims to identify the opinions of parents who start their children in primary school on the process of preparation for school and adaptation to school. The research, which is an example of the phenomenology pattern from the quality research methods, has been attended by 20 parents who have begun the child to primary school in the 2018-2019 educational year. Homogeneous sampling has been used for the determination of participants. The research data was obtained through a semi-configured interview form developed by researchers. The data was collected through the face-to-face interview technique and analyzed through content analysis. The research findings were gathered under two main topics: preparation for school and the process of adaptation to school. The research results showed that parents defined preparation in such a way that emphasizes different areas of development and most of them make explanations that highlight the social and emotional development field. Parents talk about the numerous skills and qualifications gathered in five separate categories about the characteristics of the children to start primary school, but they have more emphasized their social and emotional development field and self-care skills. When parents are studied their opinions about the processes of adapting their children to school, they point out that they miss many positive and negative behaviors in their children during this process. School management and teachers have said that they have done different work to ensure their children fit to school, and they have emphasized the importance of school-family cooperation to ensure that this process can be passed healthy. The findings obtained were discussed in the light of literature and presented in various suggestions. Keywords: Preparation for school; Adaptation to school; Parents; Primary school first-class student; Qualitative research.