`An exploration of school-readiness perspectives of early years professionals, teachers, and parents in the Northwest of Ireland

School-readiness has been a pervasive term in the discourse of transitions within Irish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policy, though this is shifting. Previously, the language used within policies and frameworks have suggested ECEC as a time of preparing children for school. More recently, First 5 (Ireland, 2019) has shifted the focus towards promoting positive transitions through ready schools, collaboration between educators, and instilling positive dispositions in children. For this reason, a small-scale masters research study was undertaken to explore school-readiness perspectives held by early years professionals, primary school teachers, and parents. Data collected through semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires identified that participants focused on social and emotional qualities of school-readiness. Although children are key actors within transitions, their voices are missing due to the projects time constraints. As school-readiness also includes schools readiness for children (OKane, 2016), this research noted evidence of `ready schools, where teachers incorporate ready classroom practices, and adapt to meet childrens needs. However, while First 5 (Ireland, 2019) encourages collaboration between educators in ECEC and primary schools, inconsistent practices were identified in this project.