1. Culture and Child Development
ECS Year 3 Policy and Practice in Early Childhood
08 October 2015

2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

3. Child Development from Birth to Five
Write down any changes you think take place between the ages of 0 to 5 years and at what age you think these changes happen. (We’re going to use these lists momentarily.)

4. Physical Development Gross Motor Skills Fine Motor Skills
Large muscles
Walking, running, climbing
Fine Motor Skills
Throwing, catching, sweeping arm movements
Pointing, drawing, using a knife and fork/chopsticks, writing

5. Social Development
Growth of the child’s relationship with other people
Socialisation is the process of learning the skills and attitudes that enable a child to negotiate their place in the larger community

6. Emotional Development
Developing feelings
Awareness of oneself
Feelings toward others (other-mindedness)
Self-esteem and self-concept
Further ppt

7. Organise your lists into the following
categories:
Physical
Social
Emotional

8. DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETENCE
A need for early cognitive enrichment and education programmes to support families and other caretakers to provide more stimulating environments to young children.  
A very important issue is social change

9. Universal Immigration
The world’s population is fast becoming less rural and more urban
What was adaptive in rural context may not be adaptive in urban life.

10. Urbanization of Populations
Given the increasing similarity in urban lifestyles in the world, and particularly with the expansion of public education, some common standards of competence are emerging
We can contribute significantly to the enhancement of the developmental successes of children and youth.

11. Concerted efforts have been made in many countries to provide disadvantaged children with early enrichment that would enhance their ability to benefit from formal schooling.
Head Start (USA), Sure Start (UK) and Children’s Centres (UK)

12. Autonomy and Relatedness
While all societies manage to meet these two basic needs, autonomy has been prioritised in the Western World and in Psychology 
Reflected in an emphasis on individual independence, agency, and privacy often at the expense of interpersonal relatedness

13. Why does autonomy sacrifice interdependence?
Not evolutionary, which rather stresses the survival value of cooperation and relatedness in humans and other primates (Euler et al, 2001; Guisinger & Blatt, 1994).
It is cultural ... Western Individualism as a ‘Cultural Affordance’ (Kitayama, 2002; Poortinga, 1992).

14. It is neither logically nor psychologically necessary for Autonomy to mean Separateness
What are your thoughts?

15. CONTRASTING VIEWS ON PARENTS AS NURTURERS OF HEALTHY AUTONOMY
Close relation (attachment) necessary for autonomy
(Grotevant & Cooper, 1986; Ryan et al, 1989, 2000; Quintana & Kerr, 1993; Schwartz, 2000; Schmitz & Baer, 2001; Grossman, et al, 1999)
Integrates agency and interpersonal distance dimensions
Distancing (detachment)
necessary for autonomy
Psychoanalytic (A.Freud, 1958; Mahler, 1972;Blos, 1979; Hoffman, 1984; Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986)
Confounds agency and interpersonal distance dimensions
versus

16. FAMILY MODELS, PARENTING AND THE SELF
Interdependence
Independence
Psychological interdependence
Parenting style
Authoritarian
Relatively permissive
Authoritative
Child rearing orientation
Control / obedience
Autonomy / self reliance
Control / autonomy
Self
Heteronomous
Related
Autonomous
separate
Autonomous-related

17. Ethnic minority family patterns should not be seen as unhealthy.
Immigrants, particularly those with low levels of education and social capital have a lot to learn and have to acculturate to the host societies. However, from a cross-cultural psychological perspective, they have a lot to offer, also.
Immigration involves culture contact with the potential for mutual learning and change.
In particular, there could be a convergence toward the Family Model of Emotional Interdependence and the Autonomous-Related Self in multicultural society.

18. Source

19. So…..Now what?
Measures of children's well-being should encompass physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development
The physical and material environment, family environment, and social and community environment can all affect a child's healthy development
Policies designed to increase maternal employment, reduce welfare use, and strengthen families do not necessarily lead to more positive environmental contexts and increased child well-being

20. Goals for Enhancing Children’s Development
In the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, scholars are bringing a human rights perspective into policy discussions, framing the discourse around children's rights as embodied in the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child.

21. Points to discuss:
To what extent should policies for children be judged by their contribution to the adult that child may become?
To what extent do children have the right to certain types of protection or benefits from society?
Should welfare policies for parents make positive contributions to children's well-being?

22. Some maintain that child well-being should be defined solely by the child's characteristics, whereas others believe the context in which the child lives should also be considered.
Are a policy's effects on the home environment, for example, as relevant as effects on a child's school performance?

23. Conclusion There is no one, correct answer…
Sensitivity to culture—home and community necessary…
The challenge is to be creative and to seek new solutions while being responsive to competing interests and concerns.