Many authors define phonological awareness and highlight its importance, as well as the importance of letter knowledge in the acquisition of reading and writing skills. In addition to the many authors who study phonological awareness as one of the most important pre-literacy skills, numerous studies confirm its crucial role at the beginning of children's literacy development. This paper presents definitions, a chronological overview of the emergence of the term phonological awareness, and research findings. The theoretical framework of Croatian language phonology and the development of a child's speech are discussed, as well as the impact of phonological awareness on language activities (listening, speaking, and early reading and writing), since the research part of the paper focuses on school-aged children. The aim of this paper was to examine the level of phonological awareness among students at the beginning of primary education. It is important to note that the research in this paper is focused on school-aged children with typical language-cognitive development. The study was conducted over two weeks in two schools and their affiliated branch schools, involving a sample of 162 participants aged 6 to 8. The average age of the participants was 7 years, as the testing was carried out at the end of the first semester of the first grade of primary school. The research results showed a high level of phonological awareness among the participants at the beginning of primary education, indicating their readiness for further development of language skills in early literacy instruction.