Ecological Map By Rosie Phillips S

Introducing Jamila Karam  Jamila is a 17 year old female of Middle Eastern descent from Lebanon and is first generation Australian.  She lives with her Father, Mother, and her two older brothers in Western Sydney.  Jamlia’s religious status is one of Islam, where her entire family are strong-believing Muslims.  Jamila and her family form a low socioeconomic status, where both parents have to work to support the household.  She attends school, but does not have an after school job as she has many jobs at home; preparing meals, washing and other types of housework. This is mainly due to her religion, but also her socioeconomic status.

Jamila’s Parents  Jamila’s parents immigrated from Lebanon to Australia just after they were married in 1987, along with 2,600 other Lebanese immigrants (ABS, 2008).  They have rented the current family home since they arrived in Australia.  Both parents have strong religious backgrounds in Islam.  Both of Jamila’s parents work at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport as check-in staff.  Since their arrival in Australia, they have been considered to have a low-socioeconomic status.

The Similarities & Differences Between Jamila and The Average Australian Adolescent TOPICJAMILAAVERAGE ADOLESCENT Religion 2001 Census Data suggests that Other Religions (like Islam and Buddhism combined) account for 20.7% of religions in Australia (ABS, 2006) Census Data suggests that Anglican (20.7%) & Catholic (26.6%) are the biggest religious groups in Australia (ABS, 2006). Employment Is not allowed a job due to religious and family beliefs survey by ABS suggests that in 2006 more than 54% of Children (aged 5 to 14 years) had worked for an employer(ABS, 2007). Also in 1995, ABS discovered that 85% of Young People (aged years) were employed (ABS, 1996). Socio-Economic Status Jamila and her family are part of the widespread low socio economic status in Sydney’s Western Suburbs (SEIFA, 2001) Sydney, due to it’s own sizable area, is found to be relatively diverse when factors of socio economic status’s are concerned. There is a large proportion of middle class citizens, with a smaller proportion of the wealthy and the lower socio economic groups (SEIFA, 2001).

The Similarities & Differences Between Jamila and The Average Australian Adolescent TOPICJAMILAAVERAGE ADOLESCENT Family - Jamila’s family is larger than the average, with two parents and three children. - Although, according to the graph on the next page, Jamila’s family is part of the largest group in society in 2006, ABS (2008) Year Book suggests that there is an overall average of 2.6 people to anyone household - which makes Jamila’s family seem large. Ethnicity - Jamila was born in Australia. -Jamila is of Middle Eastern descent, from Lebanon. - Jamila and her family live in Sydney. - Both of Jamila’s parents were born in Lebanon. -40% of migrants that make up Middle Eastern numbers are from Lebanon % of the Australian Middle Eastern-born population live in Sydney. -In 2006, Lebanese-Australian’s said that both of their parents were born in Lebanon (ABS, 2008). Technology -Jamila and her family own one computer, that resides in the family home. - The computer has access to the Internet via a Dial-Up Network. - Jamila does not own a mobile phone. -According to ABS (as cited in Bahr & Pendergast, 2007), 61% of Australian households have access to a personal computer. - According to ABS (2007), 63.4% of households in Central Western Sydney has access to the Internet (Dial Up or Broadband). - ABS (2007) states that in 2002, 72.0% of Australia’s population owned at least one mobile phone in each household.

Jamila’s Family Source: ABS data cited in 2008 website.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Map (1977)  In 1977, Urie Bronfenbrenner designed a theory to describe the complexity of layers that surround a child during his or her developmental stage.  Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Map (1977) looks at four particular layers, in which different parts of the surrounding environment are encapsulated by these particular layers. - The Microsystem - The Mesosystem - The Exosystem - The Macrosystem (Dennis, 2009). Source:Bronfenbrenner (1977)

Jamila’s Microsystem  Bronfenbrenner’s Microsystem can be described as the inner most layer of the child’s environment (as cited in Dennis, 2009).  In Jamila’s microsystem, it can be seen that there are very particular factors that can be related back to her upbringing and her family values, as well as other more general factors. These factors are: - Her Family - Her Islamic Religious Beliefs - Her Peers (in the classroom) and Closer Friends - Her Teacher/Mentor - Her Neighbours  Jamila relies heavily on the relationships that she has with the Family and Religious Factors, because these are very strongly influenced by her culture and upbringing. The other factors like Jamila’s Peers, Friends and Teachers are also very important, but in her culture, these are not seen as a priority.

Jamila’s Exosystem  Bronfenbrenner’s Exosystem can be described as the layer that does not directly interact with the child. These structures or factors affect the child’s development by interacting with the factors of the Microsystem (as cited in Dennis, 2009).  The factors or structures that would be found in Jamila’s Exosystem are: - Her School - Her Community - Her Parent’s Workplaces - Her Community Amenities (i.e. Police, Hospital, Local Library)  These factors are not necessarily linked directly to Jamila, but her development is affected by their influence on her factors or structures in her Microsystem. For example, if Jamila’s school changed it’s rules and regulations on teaching and learning, her classroom, friends, peers and her teacher/mentor would all be affected therefore leaving Jamila affected also.  Another example would be if one of her parent’s lost their job, it would effect Jamila and her family entirely,yet Jamila has no direct contact with her parent’s workplace.

Jamila’s Macrosystem  Bronfenbrenner’s Macrosystem is described as the “outer most layer”, where the structures in this layer almost have a ‘flow-on’ effect on the other systems below it, where the structures have a powerful influence non-directly on the child (Dennis, 2009).  The Macrosystem for Jamila would most likely include structures like: - Culture - Laws & Values - Society - Economics - Political System - Global Village  An example of how these factors or structures would non-directly affect Jamila would be if the Australian culture in the Macrosystem suddenly changed from being multicultural to becoming a non- accepting society of multi-cultures. This would then affect Jamila’s community in Her Exosystem, which would then flow on to Her Microsystem and affect her and her family significantly, because of the fact that she is of Lebanese descent and is has Islamic beliefs.

Jamila’s Mesosystem & Chronosystem  It is imperative that the Mesosystem, created by Bronfenbrenner (1977) is mentioned as this system does play a role in the development of a child.  According to Bronfenbrenner (as cited in Dennis, 2009), Mesosystems foster the connection between the Microsystem factors that are necessary for the development of the child. For example, one Mesosystem in Jamila’s case could be the relationship/communication between her family and her school teacher/mentor.  The Chronosystem was created by Bronfenbrenner (1977) to describe the system that sits on the outside of the other systems. Dennis (2009) describes Brofenbrenner’s Chronosystem as, “Temporal changes in the child’s environment which produce new conditions that affect development” (p.6).  An example of the Chronosystem could be the recent Global Economic Crisis. This may affect Jamila through her parents and their jobs.

-Family - Religious Beliefs (The Karam’s) (Islam) - Peers/Friends - Classroom -Neighbours - Teachers/Mentors -JAMILA’S ECOLOGICAL MAP- Community: Central Western Sydney School: Girls Public School -Health Agencies -Parent’s Workplace: Sydney Airport Political System : Australia Economics Society: Australia Culture: Australian, Muslim/ Islamic Laws and Values : Islamic Rules & Values, Local & Federal Laws Global Village **Adapted From Bronfenbrenner’s Model (1977) -The Global Economic Crisis

References -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2001). Information Paper: Census of Population and Housing — Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, Australia, Retrieved March 17, 2009, from -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). Media Release – New Survey on Child Employment: ABS. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from cument -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). Perspectives on Migrants. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1996). Social Trends, Paid Work: Youth employment. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from nDocument -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). Social Trends, Trends in Household Consumption. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). Year Book Australia, 2008 – Households and Families. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from ndocument -Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Year Book Australia, 2006 – Religious Affiliation. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from ment -Bahr, N. & Pendergast, D. (2007). The Millennial Adolescent. Victoria: ACER Press. -Dennis, C. (2009). Week 2 ACU Lecture- Contexts for Development and Learning. ACU: Mount St Mary Campus.