CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY             Introduction

This chapter presents background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study and the research hypotheses. It also focuses on significance of the study, delimitations and limitations of the study, assumptions of the study, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, and operational definition of terms.

            Background to the Study

School readiness has become a growing concern in many countries. (UNICEF, 2012). It is therefore, important to note that before children get ready to learn the subjects taught at school, they need to be ready for school. This justifies the need to look at school readiness before embarking on readiness to learn mathematics. School readiness entails various aspects of the child’s development. School readiness may be defined as the child’s attainment of a certain set of emotional, behavioral and cognitive skills needed to learn, work and function successfully in school (Raforth, Buchenquer, Crissman and Halko, 2004). According to Conn- powers and cross (2011), one current definition is that school readiness means children having the skills to achieve later academic success.

Mathematics education in the early childhood years is key to increasing all children’s school readiness and to closing the achievement gap. Within the mathematics field, preschoolers’ knowledge of numbers and their sequence, predicts not only mathematics learning but also literacy skills (2009, NAEYC).

Readiness to learn mathematics refers to the development of basic mathematics abilities or skills to help pupils to gain knowledge of the subject (Baroody & Wilkins, 1999). For children to be considered ready to learn mathematics particularly in class one, they ought first to have been equipped with the conventional math skills at the pre-school level. Tinajero and Loizollon, (2012), report that early mathematics abilities are widely regarded as important for pupils’ readiness to learn the subject. Early mathematics readiness is critically important in early childhood, since it is likely to determine children’s later mathematics achievement as well as their disposition to the subject (Jochi, Jill, & Williams, 2008, Locuniak & Jordan, 2008)).

A growing body of research also highlights the importance of school-entry-math skills which have been found to influence later academic achievement in both reading and mathematics (Duncan, Dowesett, Claessens & Magnuson,  2008). The skills also help to provide a launching pad for later numeracy learning in complex skills and concepts. Dickerson (2012), says that the development of advanced mathematics skills requires knowledge of mathematics concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This is in agreement with Duncan, et.al (2008) & Jordan, Glutting and Ramineni (2010) who state that early

numerical skills at kindergarten are predictive of mathematics achievement in later grades.

The major concern in early childhood is whether children are ready to learn school mathematics (Jochi etal 2008). To support children’s understanding of mathematics, it is necessary to measure mathematics readiness in the early years. To be able to establish children’s school readiness, it is important to carry out investigations on readiness for every subject that children are exposed to at school entrance. There is an urgent need to establish readiness to learn, in subjects such as mathematics in which performance has raised much concern.

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