How theories of development and frameworks to support development influence current practice Theories of development and frameworks to support development are incredibly important to us working with children and young people. They help us to understand children, how they react to things/situations, their behavior and the ways they learn. Different theories and ways of working with children have come together to provide frameworks for children’s care, such as Early year’s foundation stage (OFFS) which Is used wealth all child care settings.
This encourages us to work together, help and heck the development of babies, children and young people, to keep them healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure a child is ready for school etc. Some of the theorists and their theories that have a huge influence in current practice (where elements are also included and used within the EYES) are: Ivan Pavlov – behaviorism Pavlov believed In ‘controlling’ his research started with dogs who salivated when their food was put down for them.
He noted that whilst ringing a bell when the dogs’ food was put down resulted eventually in the dogs still salivating at the sound of the ell ringing even if no food was put appeared. This is because he had conditioned them to do so. Gradually after a while of Just the bell ringing the dogs’ conditioned response to salivate weakened until they finally did not react – called ‘extinction’. This is a useful theory to help us understand the reasoning/valorous of a child for example, having a phobia of going to the toilet In a new/strange place. Since he/she has been conditioned not to Like the new/strange place and may refuse to go Inside.
This is where the conditioning is linked to an irrational fear and it is best to try to get IM/her not to link the two and ‘UN-condition’ him/her. B. F Skinner – behaviorism Skinner suggested that humans and animals learn from exploring their environment then drawing conclusions based upon consequences of their behavior. He dwelled the consequences into three groups. Positive reinforces- Likely to repeat their behavior when they get something they desire. He suggested this was the most effective way of encouraging new learning. Positive reinforces for children include gaining adult attention, praise, stickers, sweets and treats.
Negative reinforces- Likely to make people repeat behavior as well but the behavior is being repeated to stop something from happening I. E. Children who are going down the slide too the speed. Punisher- Likely to stop behavior from being repeated I. E. Staying away from the plug socket after receiving an electric shock. Albert Bandeau – social learning Bandeau suggested children learn from watching adults – referred to as ‘Bob doll experiment’. Three groups of children watched a film of a variation in behavior in adults towards a doll.
Group A – saw the adult behave aggressively towards the doll. Group B – saw the adult behaving aggressively towards the doll and then rewarded by sweets from another adult. Group C – saw the adult being aggressive but then told off by another adult. After the film the children were observed in a playroom with toys and the bob doll. Group A and B were similar, this telling they was not influenced by the reward but more influenced by the telling off. Afterwards they were all asked to imitate what happened to the doll and they could all copy the adult’s actions.
Therefore adults within a setting are expected to act and behave in an appropriate and healthy manner, speaking politely to children and to each other and to generally act as a good role model, as the children will learn a lot of their social behavior through observation of the adults around them. Jean Pigged – constructivist Pigged was a zoologist who became interested in children’s development after working on intelligence tests. He noted that children often gave similar wrong answers to some questions. He used his own children to do observations.
He suggested that children constructed or built up their thoughts according to their experiences of the world around them. He felt that their learning was an ongoing process and that children may have to adapt their ideas if new information contradicted their conclusion or ‘schema’ a term Pigged used. An example of his work was, a group a toddlers receive milk in a blue beaker and become to think that milk is just served in blue beakers, until one day they are given Juice in a blue beaker, then they have to reconsider and realize Juice, milk and other things come in blue beakers.
Stages of learning in Piglet’s theory are: Assimilation – the child constructs a theory (schema) Equilibrium – the child experiences to date fit everything (so everything balances) Disequilibrium – an experience occurs that casts doubt on the schema (things don’t add up) Accommodation – the child changes the original schema to fit in the new piece of experience or information. Level Bosky – constructivist Bosky believed children’s social environment and experiences are very important.
He saw children as apprentices learning and gaining understanding through being with others (scaffolding). He also suggested that maturation was an important element in children’s development and parent/careers should extend children’s earning so they can use emerging skills and concepts. He used the term ‘zone of proximal development’ or ‘potential’ He said that people working will children need to extend and challenge their thoughts so that their zone of proximal development can to work alongside children.
He thought direct teaching was important and that children should be active in their learning. Vigorous theory has been extremely influential in the current practice. Children are encouraged to interact and have a ‘hands on’ approach to learning. Children and quite often given and carry out tasks together or to generally help each other out. Sigmund Freud Freud suggested our personalities are made up of three parts, the ‘d, ego and superego. Not all parts are present at both, only the id, but develop through childhood. The id – the instinctive part of the personality.
Governed by drives and needs of body such as, hunger or finding pleasure. The id does not consider how meeting desires and wants will affect others and is thought of as quite selfish, I. E. A baby crying and crying until it gets what it wants (food) not considering the need of the mother, needing sleep maybe. The ego – has a planning role. Works out how to et the id’s needs and desires in the best way I. E. The baby may learn that smiling in some situations will get what he/she wants and in other situations it may be better to cry.
The ego is the common sense part of the personalities and sometimes make the id wait for its demands like waiting to be offered a cake rather than snatching one as they may have it taken from them this is ‘deferred gratification’. Superego – develops later in childhood. It tries to control the go. It comprises of the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience will punish the ego if it misbehaves. This is where lilt comes from. The ego-ideal will reward the ego if it shows good behavior. This is a source of pride and confidence.
Fraud’s theory has been criticized, however his theory is still useful to consider when observing a child’s link between our UN- conscience actions and our minds. Abraham Moscow – humanist Moscow looked at people’s motivation and needs. He suggested that people had certain fundamental needs that had to met before they could fulfill their full potential or ‘self-actualization’. Mascots hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, love/ belonging, esteem then self-actualization. If a child’s ‘basic needs’ were not met then this would cause a deficiency in that person.
These needs are hierarchical but all have to met before the person can achieve self-actualization. This is certainly influenced with current practice and extremely important and crucial whilst working with children and young people that we make sure we think about the environment around them and forming positive supportive relationships and recognizing that a child needs warmth and shelter, food and love and the promoting of self-esteem for them to fulfill their full potential or ‘self-actualization’.
