Child Development and School Readiness Checklists

Child development checklists track the developmental milestones of children aged two to six through age-specific items. They are not tests administered to the child: a teacher or parent who observes the child regularly marks each skill from their own observation. What emerges is therefore not an exam result but a picture of development. The checklists for ages two, three, four and five follow psychomotor, cognitive and language development against age expectations. The checklist for age six adds social-emotional development and self-care to those areas in order to assess readiness for primary school. A separate classroom observation scale evaluates the child's peer relationships, social adjustment and behavioural control in the classroom and at play.

The purpose of these instruments is not to rank a child against peers but to notice early which area needs support. Development is not linear; a delay in one area often sits alongside rapid progress in another. For that reason checklists are used as repeated monitoring instruments over time rather than as a one-off decision tool. A school readiness assessment likewise does not decide school entry on its own; it is weighed together with a conversation with the family and, where needed, further assessment.