Early Childhood Education Commons^™

School Readiness At The Nexus Between Poverty And Education: The Insights Of Two Jamaican Teachers, Zoyah Kinkead-Clark

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

In this article, the role of poverty as a barrier to children’s readiness for school is discussed. Using two Jamaican early childhood teachers to illuminate the findings, this piece sought to gain insight into teachers’ perspectives about supporting children, who come from impoverished circumstances, to be ready for primary school. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews revealed two dominant themes; Better preparation to meet children’s developmental needs Unrealistic expectations- curriculum expectations perpetuate knowledge gap These findings draw attention to some of the challenges teachers face in meeting the needs of children who live in poverty. These challenges have implications for …