Preschool physical learning environments and children's cognitive school readiness in Klang Valley, Malaysia / Mariam Felani Shaari

Cognitive abilities of Malaysian children have fallen behind considerably. Recently, the Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced measures to address this issue and MOE preschools were tasked to ensure children are cognitively ready for primary school. But, evidences suggest that the quality of preschool physical environments (PPE) have received little attention. No study on the relationship between PPE quality and cognitive school readiness (SR) in MOE preschools exists in Malaysia. Hence, adopting a Piagetian approach to children's cognitive development, this study is motivated to explore the association between these two elements in Malaysia. A prospective cohort study was done on 6-year old MOE preschool children in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The CPERS5 scale and BSRA-3 instrument were used to assess PPE quality and cognitive SR respectively. Correlation analysis was done to study the relationship between these two aspects and regression analysis was done to construct predictive models for children's SR. Throughout the study, cognitive SR remained moderate and unsatisfactory for a 6 -year old while PPE quality of MOE preschools were fair - none were poor nor excellent. Overall PPE design quality demonstrated significant positive influence on children's overall cognitive SR but overcrowding was found in all MOE preschools; the ratio of usable space per child was too small.