This study examined factors associated with four domains of school readiness among 170 preschoolers from low-income families in seven Malaysian public preschools. Direct assessments of preschool children’s performance on a battery of tasks indicated proficient levels of readiness in approaches to learning, language and emergent literacy, and socioemotional development. Relative to other domains, children demonstrated lower levels of readiness and greater variability in cognitive development. Using a multi-level modelling approach, the duration of Early Childhood Education (ECE) participation was positively associated with improvements in language and emergent literacy while controlling for child and other contextual factors. However, duration of ECE participation correlated negatively with socioemotional development. Additionally, household wealth was a significant predictor of better academic outcomes in language, literacy, and cognitive development. This study underscores the importance of nuanced educational policies that address the duration and quality of ECE and the socioeconomic disparities that affect school readiness to ensure comprehensive developmental support for Malaysian preschoolers from low-income families.

这项研究调查了马来西亚七所公立幼儿园的 170 名来自低收入家庭的学龄前儿童的入学准备四个领域的相关因素。对学龄前儿童在一系列任务上的表现的直接评估表明，他们在学习方法、语言和新兴读写能力以及社会情感发展方面的准备程度很高。与其他领域相比，儿童的准备程度较低，认知发展的变异性较大。使用多层次建模方法，在控制儿童和其他背景因素的情况下，幼儿教育（ECE）参与的持续时间与语言和新兴读写能力的提高呈正相关。然而，参与 ECE 的持续时间与社会情绪发展呈负相关。此外，家庭财富是语言、读写能力和认知发展方面更好学业成绩的重要预测因素。这项研究强调了细致入微的教育政策的重要性，这些政策应解决幼儿教育的持续时间和质量以及影响入学准备的社会经济差异，以确保为来自低收入家庭的马来西亚学前儿童提供全面的发展支持。