Kindergarten to Primary School - More Findings 

Here are the main findings of an evaluation study into whether taking part in Zippy's Friends in their last year at kindergarten helped Lithuanian children adjust to the new environment of a primary school.

The study was conducted by six postgraduate students from the Department of Preschool Pedagogy at Vilnius Pedagogical University, under the leadership of Dr Ona Monkevicience. It compared 224 children in an experimental group and 122 in a control group, and assessed them over a three month period.
Main Findings

• Participation in the programme helped children to adapt at school. These children found it easier to get used to school and overcame any difficulties encountered. Within three months, the number of children from the programme who did not want to go to school decreased, whereas the number of children from the control group who were not too willing to go to school remained the same.
• The general emotional state of the children who took part in the programme was better than that of the children who did not participate in the programme.
• Children who took part in the programme found it much easier to get used to school discipline - indeed, less than 2.3% found it difficult or very difficult to do so. The figure was several times higher in the control group.
• The children who took part in the programme made many new friends within three months, whereas children in the control group still communicated mostly with their old friends.
• Analysis of the study data revealed that children who took part in the programme much more often showed the initiative themselves in finding ways to resolve problems that arose during the period. Children in the control group showed initiative on their own very rarely. The study results showed that the children who took part in the programme asked others for help more often than the children who did not participate.
• These children also often tried to help others solve problems. About two thirds of the children who took part in the programme, but only one third of those who did not, tried often or very often to help others.
• In the opinion of adults, the children who took part in the programme managed to resolve their problems more successfully.
• The study of children's adaptability showed that the children who took part in the programme were much more adaptable than their contemporaries.
• Parents (more often than teachers) had the opinion that their children found it easy to adapt to school.
• Parents of children in the control group were mainly aware of their children's learning problems, about which the teacher informed them, but parents of children who took part in the programme were also well aware of their children's emotional-social problems. Children themselves told their parents about their problems more openly. For example, the father of a boy who took part in the programme stated: "He did not do his homework and the teacher wrote a reproof in his report book. He returned from school anxious and worried. He started telling me at once about what had happened - how he forgot (to do his homework), how he was given a reproof for that."
• In the opinion of teachers and parents, children in the control group experienced feelings of failure, anxiety or guilt much more often than did the children who took part in the programme.
• Study data showed that in problematic situations, described by both the teachers and parents, the children who took part in the programme showed more initiative and made efforts by themselves to overcome any difficulties that arose.
• Children who took part in the programme more often turned to other people for help when they needed that help. They failed to do so in only 19-21 per cent of situations, whereas in 38 per cent of situations (according to teachers) and 50 per cent (according to parents) children in the control group did not turn to others for help, even though they obviously needed that help.
• There was a significant difference in the percentage of children who behaved destructively in difficult situations. With children in the control group, this happened in 11-17 per cent of situations, whereas with children who took part in the programme it happened in as little as 4-5 per cent of situations.
• Children who took part in the programme more often said what they felt than did children in the control group. This also helped them overcome difficulties.
• Children who took part in the programme yielded to the bad influence of other children much less than did children in the control group. This is a significant achievement because the programme is aimed at making children reach solutions independently.
• Finally, those who took part in the programme were not so reserved and showed far fewer negative actions in their behaviour.