Table of Contents
In this introduction, the author will describe in detail the importance of the role adults play in the observation of children and the use of observations in the implementation of interventions for individual children to advance learning and development.
Practitioners who have good personal relationships with the children in their care are best placed to observe and assess their learning to improve their understanding of and be able to identify certain behaviour in children. Observation allows the practitioner to understand a particular child in terms of social skills, hand eye coordination, conversational ability, colour recognition, likes and dislikes, sleep patterns and toilet patterns. Goldschmeid and Jackson (2004) suggest that within the context of close relationships that children are most likely to seek appropriate support from adults… they are also likely to make their feelings known and so make it easier to assess their well being. (Child Development class notes 19/10/2013)
Adults play a very important role in child development, as it is the adult who has the power to structure the environment, to buy the toys and books needed for children and to plan the activities and to organise play and the curriculum. If the adult is not aware of and is not committed to the needs of the child, then it is irrelevant what resources are available to the child as the adult must respond to each child’s individual needs.
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The interaction and communication between the adult and child is at the heart of personal and intellectual development according to the views of Lev Vygotsky.
He developed the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the space between the most difficult thing a child can do alone and what s/he can do with the help of an adult. An adult or capable peer can act as a scaffold to support the child reach their goal. John Dewey also agreed that it was more beneficial for co-operative learning between adult and child that, children imitate adults who they look up to as role models.
Children have a right to experience environments, which meet their needs. High quality early childhood programmes do not separate care from education, or education from care. They provide warm caring and stimulating environments for children. Children are deeply involved in their own learning, supported by trained observant staff in an environment, which encourages exploration and discovery (IPPA, the Early Childhood Organisation, 2002)
(Pre-School Regulations 2006) Article 5 states that the Pre-School service shall ensure that each child’s learning, development and well-being is facilitated within the daily life of the service, through the provision of appropriate opportunities, experiences, activities, interaction, materials and equipment, and having regard to the age and stage of development of the child and the child’s cultural context, this would concur with Maria Montessori who believed a prepared environment with appropriately trained adults encouraged child development
Program of Implementation
During this assignment the author had the opportunity to include a variety of observations, which included the Narrative, Time sample, Checklist, Learning stories and because she had work experience in the baby room she included an observation on Daily Planning/Happenings for the babies using the Aistear themes as well as a Narrative observation on a baby.
Before starting these observations she spoke with the crèche manager about her intentions and to ask her if she would sign a permission slip for these observations to take place. The author also explained that she would research Aistear and Siolta and the development theories that would support an observation in the implementation of interventions for individual children to advance learning and development. As a childcare student the author learned about the different types of theories and the theorists behind them, which are as follows:
- Maturationalist Theory: This is based on child development was mostly biological not environmental and that a stable environment is important for a child to develop naturally according to their genetics. (Gesell 1925)
- Behaviourists Theory: Where any physical action is behaviour. All behaviour is learnt from the environment, we learn new behaviour through classical conditioning that is a reaction; caused by a behaviour or operant conditioning this is a method of learning that occurs with rewards and punishments for behaviour. (Behaviourist Skinner)
- Constructionist Theory: That all children are unique, and learn through play in a suitable learning environment. Through play children pass through a series of intellectual development stages before they have the ability to reason by giving meaning to place, people and things. (Jean Piaget)
- Social Constructionist Theory: This approach refers to the importance of the social group and the child’s development and its dependence on interactions with adults.
Yvgotsky supported this theory believing that adults should know what’s within each child’s ZPD and plan curriculum around this to support holistic development. (Coughlan. H.25/05/13/Child Development class notes).
The main reason observing children takes place is to improve our understanding of them and their needs so that we can assist them as best we can.
“ It is by closely observing behaviour that you come to understand the theoretical information derived from research studies into children and their development”(Hayes 2012) The observation recorded must be factual with no perceived ideas of what may happen.
Plan
The authors plan for this assignment is to begin with a series of observations on a child or group of children, to evaluate observe and make recommendations for interventions. She will do this by obtaining work experience in a credited childcare setting, which caters for up to forty children ranging in age from six months to five years
The author explained to the crèche manager that once having observed a child or group of children in their daily activities she would decide what method of observation she would choose in order to record and make a recommendation in the implementation of interventions for individual children to advance learning and development.
She also explained she understood the importance of confidentiality towards the children and their families as all children are unique individuals with rights as outlined by Marie Montessori. When the observation is recorded the author will support her recommendations with the appropriate theory from a number of theorists for her intervention programme and she will discuss in detail Aistear and Siolta curriculum for early childhood development.
Observations allow the child practitioner evaluate their own work, their daily routine and the knowledge to plan for change.
The author decided to do her first observation during her work experience in the Baby Room using the Narrative method.
The Narrative method is one of the most common forms of observation as it involves recording exactly what the child is doing and saying while being observed. This approach is used to assess a child’s emotional, social and educational needs. The narrative method involves setting aside time to observe carefully what the child is doing and to write down in detail their physical activity as well as their use of language. This allows the practitioner to have a better understanding of the child’ needs without having any preconceived ideas of what may occur during observation.
The Baby room caters for eight children ranging in age from 10 months to 17 months with two qualified adults in the room at all times. The room is laid out in such a way that children may move around freely exploring their environment and deciding what toys to play with. The room consists of push and pull toys, climbing equipment, soft toys and musical instruments as well as books and arts and craft materials.
The child practitioners are also involved in the child’s play by looking at pictures, singing, blowing bubbles, providing soft materials like foam or suds with toys for children to play with, this allows the adult an opportunity to observe and support the child’s learning and development. Outdoor door play is also an important part of the Baby room with children going into the garden each day weather permitting.
Observation
- Observation date 12/12/13
- Method used Narrative
- Media used Pen and paper
- Start time 11.15
- Finish time 11.35
- Number of adults present 6
- Number of children present 19
- Permission obtained from Manager
Setting
The observation took place in the garden of Chatterbox Childcare Facility, which is open from 8am until 6am, Monday to Friday and caters for thirty seven children presently. The equipment consists of a wooden play house, sea-saws, bikes and cars ,buggys and pull toys. There were six adults supervising play with nineteen children ranging in age from 1 year to 4 years.
The observation took place in the garden. Four of the children from the baby room went for their outdoor play while two of the children went down for a morning sleep. The children had just finished story time and picture showing before going outside.
Description of child
T is a male aged 17 months; he is an only child and has been attending Chatterbox since he was 8 months old.
Aim
The aim of the observation is to observe T for a short time as he involves himself with the toys and other children during outdoor play so the author can assess what physical development he is at.
Observation
T is holding the handles of a four-wheel bike pushing it into an older child who is bending down to pick up a leaf. The older child looks at T for a second, says nothing and runs of towards her friend to show off the leaf she has just found. T then continues to push the bike and while turning right crashes the bike into a car, he begins to push his bike away from the car with his right hand and once successful stops and looks at the yellow car for 15 seconds.
He then stretches out both hands placing them on the car and smiles saying mi,my.T then stands back from the car looking back to his right where the bike is and running he grabs the bike with his left hand and lifts his right leg over and is quickly sitting in an upward position holding on to both handles and his feet are placed firmly on the ground.
He begins to rock back and forth smiling all the time, a minute later he starts to use his feet which makes the bike move in a reverse position this continues for 7 seconds then he stops and begins to look to his left towards four children, after a few seconds the rocking starts again as does the smiling. A minute later a three year old boy approaches T placing his left hand on the left handle .T instantly begins to stand up and lifting both his hands leans over placing both of his hands on the older boys chest and begins to cry.
A child practitioner quickly suggests to the older child to go play with the empty car, which he does and she then returns her attention to T who is once again rocking back and forth. The carer asks T would he like to ride his bike over to the garden gate, then crouching behind him, places her hands on his feet and then lifts them in a walking position and the bike moves, she continues this, stopping and starting for the next two minutes.
She then stands in front of T and clapping her hands says to him” look at you riding your bike, try catch me as she runs on the spot” T smiles, leaning forward he moves his right foot then his left and the bike begins to move, this continues for 15 seconds all the time the adult claps her hands and praises T who is saying “my my” T stops stands with both hands on the handles he begins to lift his right leg over but stumbles while holding both handles, he looks at the carer, lets go of the handles and rubs both hands together, the carer says ”did you enjoy that” but T does not reply, the carer holds out her right had to T and he holds her with his left hand and they both walk into the baby room together.
Evaluation
The aim of the observation is to observe T for a short time as he involves himself with the toys and the other children during outdoor play so the author can assess what physical development he is at. Play is a very important part of a child’s learning and development this is known as Pedagogy.
This theory was developed by Elizabeth Wood who said, “the power of play helps a child develop confidence, problem solving, independence, achievement, well-being and interaction with others “In order for this to work Wood believed that child practitioners needed to be professionally trained in the area of play.
On observing T the author would agree with this as she saw T display a confidence and independence relating to the toy he wanted to play with. He had many toys to choose from but choose the pushbike and when another child who demonstrated an interest in the bike approached him T showed a confidence and was able to problem solve by standing his ground and not give up the pushbike.
The physical development is the development of gross and fine motor skills. This is the theory of Gesell who believed that child development is mostly biological not environmental, he carried out his research on a small number of children through quantitive study. The author observed the gross motor skills of T, which included walking, climbing as well as good coordination of eye and hand movements. His language capabilities were not unusual for a child of this age but because he was not interacting with other children his language was somewhat limited.
When the child practitioner saw T was not able to go forward on the pushbike by moving his legs she used Lev Vygotsky theory, which emphasises the importance of adults in advancing children’s knowledge.
He developed the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the space between the most difficult thing a child can do alone and what he can do with the help of an adult. An adult or capable peer can act as a scaffold to support the child reach their goal. In this case the practitioner demonstrated by placing her hands on T feet and lifting them in a walking position and with words of encouragement T was able to move forward on the pushbike himself. He displayed feelings of achievement by smiling as he moved around the garden on his own.
Recommendation
The narrative approach for this observation was useful, as the author had no preconceived ideas or expectations of what a child of this age was capable of. This observation is a Social-cultural approach, which believes “for optimal development is dependant on the interactions with adults” this coincides with the ZPD: which is defined as the distance between what a child can do independently and what they can do with the help of a more competent person. (Child development class notes)
During the observation the author was aware that the Aistear four principles were being carried out. These included well-being, identity and belonging, communication and exploring. The children were taken into the garden so they could interact with other children, play, use their imaginations and make sense of their environment. There was a mix of babies and older children in the garden, the authors only recommendation would be that babies would have the use of the garden without the older children and vice versa as this would allow for easier movement for the babies.
From birth, children are sociable beings with an interest in their environment and the people around them. It was Jean Piaget who said that” through play children pass through intellectual developmental stages before they have the ability to reason by giving meaning to place, people and things” He felt children needed time for uninterrupted free play and to be provided with many real world, problem-solving experiences and open ended activities. (Coughlin.H. 05/10/2013 Child development class notes)
References
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – The role of adults in child language development
- Australian Institute of Family Studies – Effects of Parental Conflict on Child Well-being
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – The influence of caregiving relationships on early childhood psychosocial development
