Parental Engagement, Media Behavior, and Academic Readiness of Preschool Learners

This study examined the influence of parents’ engagement and preschoolers’ media behavior on the academic readiness of learners, particularly their literacy and numeracy skills. Using a descriptive-correlational design, data were gathered from 182 preschool learners and their parents through parent engagement and media behavior surveys, together with teacher-documented literacy and numeracy records. Findings showed that parents’ engagement was very high, while learners’ media behavior was generally very satisfactory. In literacy, most learners were advanced in alphabet knowledge, while phonological awareness showed mixed levels and book and print knowledge was generally intermediate. In numeracy, most learners were advanced in number skills and identifying attributes, whereas thinking skills were generally intermediate. Parents’ engagement had significant moderate positive relationships with both literacy and numeracy skills. Learners’ media behavior had a significant negligible negative relationship with literacy skills, but its relationship with numeracy skills was negligible and not significant. The findings highlight the importance of sustained parent-school collaboration and guided, developmentally appropriate media use in supporting preschool academic readiness within supportive home and school learning environments for children.