School Entry Age: 66 Months of Age for Literacy Skills

The new Compulsory Education Law enacted in 2012 lowered school entry age from 72 months to 66 in Turkey. The interaction among age, schooling, and early literacy has been issue of interest. The aim of this study was to examine literacy development of first graders in terms of school entry age and pre-schooling. This qualitative case study was conducted at three primary schools in Ankara. One of them was a private primary school in which children of high income families attended. The other two were state primary schools; in one of which children of middle -income families, and in the other, children of low-income families attended. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The participants of the study were nine first grade teachers to give implications from classroom settings via their experiences. The curriculum guide and annual/daily lesson plans of grade 1 Turkish course were also analyzed. The findings indicated that the children below 72 months had shorter attention span and their literacy development took longer time. Effective literacy training at pre-school stage had positive influence on the literacy.