Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

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THE ISSUE OF THEORIES AS CULTURALCONSTRUCTIONSAs a result of recognition that the childdevelopment theories espoused in theMinority World may be affected by thecontext in which they were developed –because the children and the researcherswere influenced by the assumptions,values, expectations and practices ofa particular time and place, theories arenow seen as ‘cultural constructions’.Nevertheless, as Bruce maintains,‘Theories help us to predict and toanticipate how children might behave andreact. They help us structure what weobserve.Theories help us to make senseof what we see…When we analyse play,we find ourselves linking what we havefound with what other people (theorists)have found. We may find our observationsfit with theories. We may find that theydo not. This will help us think deeply…’(Bruce 2001: 19).This chapter merely introduces someof the key ‘grand’ theories and theresearchers who have proposed them.It is not possible to provide a long critiqueof each theory, simply to point up wherefurther information can be found forreaders who feel tantalised by thesedeliberately brief overviews. The theoriesincluded are:- psychoanalytic; learning;cognitive developmental; ecologicalsystems; information processing; andlanguage development theory.BIOLOGY AND MATURATIONBiological theories of human developmentusually suggest that there is a setsequence or pattern of change throughmaturation which is geneticallyprogrammed. The main pioneer theorist ofthis view was Gesell (Gesell and Armatruda1947). According to this type of theory, anindividual’s temperament would also beinherited and persist throughout their life.In the 19 70 s, Hi n d e’s Bi o l og i cal Bases ofHuman Deve l o p m e n t a rgued that in ord e rto understand human deve l o p m e nt weshould use the same approaches as thoseused to study animals – so what is kn ow nas human ethology was bo rn . St u d i e sco n d u cted in the 1970 s, such as Huttet al (1989) Pl ay, Le a rning and Ex p l o ra t i o n,a d o p ted the approach of non-part i c i p a nto b s e rvation in at tempts to understand thep rocesses affe cting young childre n’s live sand learn i n g.The idea of the impo rt a n ceof bonding for a new bo rn baby, or animal,and at t a c h m e nt to a particular nurt u ri n gf i g u re (usually the baby’s mother) linkse t h o l ogy with Bow l by’s lite rat u re onat t a c h m e nt (see late r ). Other aspe cts ofe t h o l og i cal theory include pro po s i t i o n sa bout sensitive (or, m o re ri g i d ly, c ri t i ca lpe ri od s ); a l t ruism – helping others forno appare nt gain to oneself, e s pe c i a l lyin re l ation to surv i val and well being (fo rex a m p l e, is a human more like ly to helpa person who shares their genetic make - u pthan one who does not?); d o m i n a n ce ands u b m i s s i o n .The lat ter aspe cts link25
e t h o l og i cal theory with soc i o - b i o l ogy (seefor ex a m p l e, Daw kins 1976 ).Murray Thomas (1996) proposes abio-electrical ‘model’ of child developmentwhich,he claims, explains children’sphysical development well,in terms of thebody’s physical structure but thisapproach fails to cover children’s emotionsand thoughts in any satisfactory way.The experience of young children bornwith immense physical problems, suchas cerebral palsy or Down’s syndrome,who have overcome many of theirapparent difficulties to go on to leadrich and exciting lives also refutes thisargument (see for example Grandin 1996).To some extent, recent gene and brainresearch, together with some thinkingfrom neuroscience may be revivingbiological theories but critics are awarethat there may be dangers in believinghuman development and learning to befixed, limited or immutable.Biological explanations of childhoodIn exploring the evolution of childhood,Bogin (1998) argues that there are soundevolutionary reasons for prolongedimmaturity, which include:- feeding(a child can be fed by any other memberof the group once weaned); the relativelylow cost of feeding a child compared witha fully grown adult; the fact that nurturingcan be done by other members of thespecies, so freeing the mother – childrenretain an infantile appearance, sostimulating nurturing responses;developmental ‘plasticity’ is possible –they can adapt to different or changingenvironments more readily. Bogin claimsthat these factors contribute to thesuperior survival rate of human offspringcompared with other animals.FREUD AND THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TRADITIONFre u d’s psyc h o a n a lytic theory is impo rt a ntto the field of early childhood be cause hewas one of the first to draw at te ntionto the ways in which babies’ and yo u n gc h i l d re n’s ‘inner live s’ and ex pe ri e n ce scould be shaping their deve l o p m e nt andl e a rn i n g. He pro posed diffe re nt levelsof consciousness in the mind, with theu n co n s c i o u s being a re ceptacle to whichhumans ‘s e n d’ kn owledge about aspe ctsof their lives of which they either do notneed or wa nt to remain co n s c i o u s. He alsos u g g e s ted that there are pre d e te rm i n e dstages in human ‘p s yc h o s ex u a ld eve l o p m e nt’ and that the mouth, a n u sand genitals are sensitive parts of the body– e rogenous zo n e s – which are succe s s i ve lyi nvo lve d. Freud argued that childre n’sc h i l d h ood and adult re l ationships witho t h e r s, and feelings about themselve sd e pend upon their ex pe ri e n ces duri n geach of these psyc h o s exual stages. Fre u d’s‘m od e l’ of child deve l o p m e nt was deri ve dm o re from his re f l e ctions on his adultp at i e nt s’ re co l l e ctions of childhoodex pe ri e n ces and was not based upo no b s e rvations of childre n . His daughte r,Anna Fre u d, took his wo rk on in this are a ,26 EDUCATIONAND SKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S
Page 2: AcknowledgementsThe authors and pub
Page 6 and 7: Relationships with other people (bo
Page 8: policies for families. So this lite
Page 12: etween three and nine years old whi
Page 16 and 17: 0 - 8 months: Heads Up, Lookers and
Page 18 and 19: e a rliest ye a r s’ 1 , is the c
Page 20 and 21: distinguish between things, and tha
Page 22 and 23: Chapter 2Influential research and t
Page 26 and 27: p a rt i c u l a rly in re l ation
Page 28 and 29: developed by Bereiter and Engelmann
Page 30 and 31: familiar settings. By about one yea
Page 32 and 33: child as learning and developing in
Page 34 and 35: are important to them,blanking out
Page 36 and 37: THEORIES ABOUT EARLY CHILDHOODEDUCA
Page 38 and 39: Chapter 3A Strong ChildIn the Frame
Page 40 and 41: A GROWING AWARENESS OF SELF AND THE
Page 42 and 43: ( a d a p ted from Davies 1999 : 12
Page 44 and 45: them with an inadequate modelof rew
Page 46 and 47: However, even sensitive parents and
Page 48 and 49: It is preferable to have stabilityi
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Page 54 and 55: main factors enabling such self-ass
Page 56 and 57: demonstrate achievements - ‘Go on
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Page 60 and 61: with friends fared be t ter than th
Page 62 and 63: Attending to external demands (such
Page 64 and 65: Chapter 4A Skilful CommunicatorThis
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Page 70 and 71: interactions and interchanges depen
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Karmiloff-Smith 2001: 183). Further
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then language grows in a safe and f
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‘language’. However, there is m
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of his granddaughter Alice’s very
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For example, Eliot (just two years
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Chapter 5A Competent LearnerA Compe
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understandings was crucial. They sh
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still gave them biscuits, because t
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The importance of social interactio
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a fast-moving sce n e. When the pro
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exploratory and affective nature of
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with image (the image of a letter)
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in the literacy life of his three y
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Being CreativeYoung babies explore
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Chapter 6A Healthy ChildA Healthy C
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FIGURE 1:SIX ASPECTS OF HEALTH (MEG
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It is only by being given oppo rtun
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developmental psychology and earlye
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f rom such an approach can be t ter
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It has also provided useful insight
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FIGURE 2:SHORE’S (1997:18) CHART
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dysfunction is one of the leadinghy
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memory; synapses associated withexp
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cognitive development of the childr
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ejection - when it is primary - is
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of control through safe exploration
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greater risk) and girls halved betw
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et al 2000). Further, lone mothers,
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ecoming securely attached (Seifer a
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(Whipple 1999);training projects fo
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As we have found over and over agai
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disseminate effective practicerespe
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Chapter 7Conclusions and implicatio
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1996; Pugh et al 1994; Smith and Pu
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Finally, in this review of the rese
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meaning making. Paper presented at
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Pre-school Program on Youths throug
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Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecolo
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for intervention. In B.B. Lahey and
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children. In J. Bruner and H. Haste
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Fawcett, A. (2001) Special Educatio
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Grainger, T. and Goouch,K. (1999) Y
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Howes, C. (1987) Peer interaction o
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months Journal of Reproductive and
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Mandler, J. (1999) Preverbal repres
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Mo r s s, J . ( 1990) The Bi o l og
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Patel, P., Mendall, M.A., Khulusi,
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Roberts, H. (2001a) Fit or fat? Coo
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Singer, E. (1992) Child Care and th
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Teti, D.M.and Gelfand, D.M. (1991)B
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Issues in the Early Years London:Pa
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National Association for SpecialEdu
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PEOPLE FOCUSED continued/setting fo
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BIRTH TO THREE MATTERSPro Forma for
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184 EDUCATIONAND SKILLS B I RT H T
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