Theoretical perspectives of children’s personal, social and emotional development
Analyze the theoretical perspectives of children’s personal, social and emotional development in relation to current practice and the EYFS.
The perspectives of Albert Bandura, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Mildred Parten and Abraham Maslow are relevant to current practice and the EYFS in that they provide insight into emotion-related processes that cannot be easily explained through scientific theories.
These researchers have all contributed their knowledge of child development through their work with children of a variety of ages.
Bandura’s work focused on how repetition helps strengthen learning from reward systems. His theory emphasizes social learning in children and how this process can be used to teach them new behaviors.
Bowlby was also interested in how learning takes place through nurturing relationships with babies; developed the concept of attachment for this purpose. Ainsworth believed that attachment is not just an emotional relationship but also a physical one; she isolated the behavior patterns that showed attachment between mother and child.
Maslow’s theories emphasized self-actualization as the highest level of belonging; he understood human motivation by examining what he called “hierarchy of needs” ie need fulfilling first, safety second, and belonging third before actualizing any full potential as an individual.
The perspectives of Albert Bandura, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Mildred Parten and Abraham Maslow have greatly shaped parenting practices and the development of young children According to Bandura (Cherry, 2021), it is important for parents to ensure children are able to control their own behavior by providing opportunities for self-initiated activities that includes dominant behaviors as well as subordinate (i.e., dependent) behaviors. This would allow children to learn appropriate behaviors, build confidence and self-esteem, and promote higher-level cognitive abilities.
As opposed to that of Bandura’s perspective, John Bowlby emphasizes the importance of attachment between parent and child as a crucial element in creating a trust that teaches nurturance rather than punishment.
Mary Ainsworth emphasizes genetics and environment interaction but often spends most time focusing on early childhood experiences. She also stresses parent-child relationships which are very important for a child’s healthy development.
Within the current Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), personal, social and emotional development is seen to be essential and is therefore one of the three prime areas, as its thought to be a vital building block for children’s academic development later in life.
There are three different aspects within this area of learning: ‘self-confidence and self-awareness, ‘managing feelings and behavior’ and ‘making relationships.
When it comes to Mildred Parten’s social stages of play, the Early Learning Goal for ‘making relationships’ refers to an individual child’s ability to play cooperatively, which links to Parten’s work that suggests most children are doing this by the rough age of 4 years old. Early years settings will set up their play environments that best allow the children under their care to socialize and begin playing with others. (Department for Education, 2021, pp. 11-12)
The EYFS implements the key person system into early years settings to ensure that emotional needs and physical requirements are met promptly. In terms of toddlers, its good practice for practitioners to provide plenty of encouragement as they start trying to do things for themselves, for example, practitioners allow sufficient meal times for 2 – 3-year-olds so that they can learn to feed themselves, the encouragement to explore materials through open-ended activities such as heuristic and block play.
When children reach the age of 4 to 5, early years staff should encourage them to plan for their play and follow their individual interests, however, boundaries are decided and implemented by the practitioners.
When it comes to those children in Key Stage 1 framework, they should be encouraged to take responsibility and to also carry out tasks for themselves; again, it’s the teachers that will put boundaries in place so that there is a balance.
Personal, social and emotional development In addition to personal, social and emotional development as a prime area of learning, the current EYFS also provides some characteristics of learning that link closely to Albert Bandura’s work on supporting babies’ and young children’s self-efficacy.
Early years practitioners are therefore encouraged to provide the children with choices, enable them to be active in their learning as well as provide interesting opportunities so that children can be motivated. In the Key Stage 1 framework, it is good practice for adults to provide feedback to children so that they know what they’ll need to do in order to achieve, rather than just saying “good work” or “well done”.
The Key Stage 1 framework also encourages children to take on responsibility and to set simple goals for themselves.
The EYFS is designed to give children the best start in life. It does this through a coordinated system of development delivered in their early years and with sustained support for school-age children.
While there are many ways to understand what the EYFS is, there are also several perspectives from which it can be understood. The perspectives include the systems-theoretic, the motivational self-determination theory, and the psychological constructivist views.
While one perspective may be more important to a particular individual or community, they all can be used together to appreciate what is involved in a child’s development so that each child can attain their own unique potential.
