An Investigation of Studies Conducted on School Adjustment in Early Childhood Education

This descriptive qualitative research aims to investigate the studies conducted on school adaptation in early childhood education. Within the scope of the research, graduate theses published in the National Thesis Centre of the Council of Higher Education and articles published in journals indexed in the ULAKBIM TR Index on school adaptation in early childhood education, including the year 2024, were examined. The data analysis used a form to evaluate the "type, year, study group, research method, research design, data collection tools and prominent results" in the studies. According to the analysis findings, there are 41 studies, including 25 master's theses, four doctoral theses, and 12 research articles. It is seen that most of these studies were carried out with children with typical development. Additionally, it was determined that quantitative research methods were used the most in the examined studies. The relational survey design was the most used among the designs used in this method. According to the data collection tools used in the studies, it is noteworthy that the scale-questionnaire form was used the most, in parallel with the research method and design of the examined studies. Finally, the most frequently repeated result in the studies was significant relationships between children's demographic characteristics such as gender, number of siblings, mother's educational status, birth order, family income level, etc., and their level of school adaptation. Based on the study's results, using qualitative and mixed research methods effectively in studies on children's school adaptation in the preschool period is recommended.