Ph.D. Topic: An Exploration of a Community's Impact on Children's School Readiness in Galway.
This research intends to explore a disadvantaged community in Galway, and identify the level of school readiness in that area as a function of the community and the parents, who together share the responsibility of preparing the three- to four-year-old population for entering primary school. Beliefs about school readiness are locally determined.
Exploring community factors and promoting the voice of parents should facilitate a bottom-up approach, where the actual experiences of preparing children for starting primary school are made known. This is essential in informing the design of effective evidence-based interventions and policies, in addition to the identification of the roles that people and organisations can play at the local grassroots level.
