1. Child and Young Person Development
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Session Two

2. Learning Outcomes for this session
Recognise what is meant by an ecological model of human development
Apply the theory to personal life stories and those of others
Respond to Jack’s (2000) work on ‘Ecological Influences on Parenting and Child Development’ (guided task via WOLF)

3. Guided task and OOCA – last week
Lindon (2012) ebook – read Chapter 3 ‘Explaining Child Development’ OR
Kassem, Murphy and Taylor (eds) (2010) ebook – read Chapter 2:1 ‘The Psychology of the Child’
See digital resources on WOLF
Guided task to be done and brought along to next week’s session
Track the main influences on your own life’s development to date (the people/ places/ events)
[you will NOT be asked to share any details you do not wish to share]

5. Terminology ?
Ecology: the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment (pond)
Development: “..enduring changes that carry over to other places at other times”
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p.14)
Ecological model of human development

6. Background
Father’s occupation: institution for the ‘feebleminded’ – help in house
Saw changes in those who had spent time in the house
“Much later these concrete experiences were reflected in conscious ideas about an ecology of human development” (xii)
Founder member of American Project Head Start
Went on to become a Founder member of American Project Head Start which led to long-lasting and positive effects on disadvantaged children. belief systems of parents, peers, teachers and mentors can all be changed as a result of education, intervention programmes and mass media.

7. Human nature as plural/ pluralistic
“for the environments were producing discernible differences not only across but within societies, in talent, temperament, human relations, and particularly in the ways in which the culture, or subculture, brought up its next generation. The process and product of making human beings clearly varied by place and time” (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. xiii)
Importance of social policy to affect lived experiences
Even within families – as siblings. Adler, Austrian doctor who worked alongside Freud until 1911 – birth order important. Child interprets social interaction which leads to child’s behaviours. Each child is born into a ‘different family’ as different configurations of the roles and interactions, which have changed in time and place!

8. Bronfenbrenner (1979, p.3)
“The ecological environment is conceived as a set of nested structures, each inside the next, like a set of Russian dolls. At the inner-most level is the immediate setting containing the developing person”
Wholeness and an order to how it works; the whole consists of the parts and their inter-relationship; so, change in one part will affect other parts; it is not possible to separate them (Lindon, 2005)

9. Research very hard to measure the types of changes, effects and outcomes. Too many variables to accommodate at one time! However, Bronfenbrenner believes that since social policy can affect the lived experiences of children and families, when seen particularly using the ecological model, it is researchers who should be influencing the direction of social policy in order to nurture positive human development. He notes that capacities of children – and hence adults – may be far greater if programmes of intervention, resources, and stability over time is allowed – especially in a rapidly changing society.

10. Let’s take an example: Joan born in England 1926
Microsystem
Family
Peers
Classroom
Religious setting
Small group discussion

12. Example of influences within different ‘systems’
Bronfenbrenner talks of changed practices within the maternity ward affecting mother -child relationship for years in the future
Fathers at childbirth
Feeding times
‘spoiling’

13. Some examples of mesosystem ‘links’
Parents who get on well with the educational/ care setting contribute to child’s well-being
Divorced parents who disagree about how child should be raised will give out conflicting messages
Child who exhibits challenging behaviour may exhaust and frustrate her carers and so affect how she is treated by them
Implications then for social policy?

14. Exosystem: potential to affect development? Return to Joan!
Community services
Parents’ workplace
School
Mass media
Health agencies

15. Some examples of effects within exosystem
There may be a SureStart/ Children’s Centre in the area to provide outreach support/ a place to go and to meet others
A parent may be promoted at work and highly valued/ may become unemployed and so feel under-valued
Schools may have good Ofsted reports/ may be seen as ‘failing schools’ in a ‘problem’ area

16. Macrosystem: potential to affect development? Return to Joan!
Culture
Political/ economic systems
Society
Nationality

17. Some examples of effects of Macrosystem
Privacy of family – little accessible and affordable all-round childcare
Value on independence – individualism and competition rather than collectivism and co-operation; ‘economic recession’; ‘markets’
Majority ethnic population is white; discriminatory practices in respect of many sectors of society; growing gap between rich and poor; limited opportunities for social mobility; asylum- seekers and migrant workers from EU; social attitudes to poverty/ class/ ‘race’

18. Your own ecological context?
Consider for a moment your own upbringing, recall the environment in which you were raised as a child: what were the features of the environment (the microsystem, the exosystem and the macrosystem) that were beneficial to you?

19. Possibilities for a more compassionate future?
Working in small groups, design an ecological model that you feel would help to raise a healthy and happy child/ young person
Think about what might be within the different ‘systems’ (layers) to enhance the well-being of the child/ young person

20. Guided task for next week
Do read the article by Jack (2000)
Jack, G. (2000) Ecological Influences on Parenting and Child Development. British Journal of Social Work, 30 (6), pp
Audio format available
Use the list of 10 questions (and prompt sheet) to help you to ‘unpack’ the content of this article. You will find it in the webfolio.
Do come prepared to share your ideas next week
Do see webfolio for OOCA ideas

21. Reference list
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development. Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Jack, G. (2000) Ecological Influences on Parenting and Child Development. British Journal of Social Work, 30 (6), pp