This took me ages to write. Now for a break because I have dinner.
THE SOCIAL WORLD OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
Development Stages. Erikson.
Erikson originally outlined his understanding in a publication called Childhood and Society.
His focus was on the child in society and he emphasised the importance of individuals developing an understanding of who they were in relation to their social world.
Erikson agreed with Freud (and Piaget) that development took place in stages and that the negotiation of each stage influenced the development of personality.
Unlike Freud, he regarded the stages as continuing throughout a persons lifespan, arguing that each of his eight stages took place during approximately age-related times and involved learning from experience that could have either a positive or negative outcome.
Stage Age Learning event for the child Successful outcome Role of adult
1
Mistrust vs.
trust 0-18 months Food and care needs are met Learns to trust others To be sensitive to the child's needs
2
Autonomy
vs. shame 18 months -
3 years Child becomes responsible for 'self-care' i.e. feeding, using toilet and dressing Feels confident of own abilities; develops independence To support but not overly so, as this could have a negative impact on confidence
3
Initiative
vs. guilt 3-6 years The child has a desire to initiate activities Develops a willingness to explore and investigate but can judge when this is appropriate. Is becoming independent To provide supervision without taking over
4
Industry vs. inferiority 6-12 years Child sees that the 'work' they do is valued by others such as peers, teachers and parents Shows a desire to do a good job or complete a worthwhile activity To provide realistic challenges that can be seen to be useful. Use mistakes as a springboard for learning
5
Identity
vs. role
confusion Adolescence The individual starts to make clearly thought out choices that reflect their abilities and beliefs Develops an understanding of the self that recognises own unique abilities and beliefs. Has an understanding of 'who I am' To provide opportunites to discuss 'issues'. Avoid criticising the things young people do. Be honest and do not give unrealistic
expectations
The final three stages are:
Intimacy vs. islation. Young adulthood.
Generativity vs. stagnation. Middle adulthood.
Ego integrity vs. despair. Late adulthood.
The Need for Acceptance and Approval. Rogers
The central idea behind this theory is that individuals seek the approval and acceptance of others.
Rogers calls this the need for positive regard.
This can be seen as a theory of motivation, as Rogers argues that this is what drives out behaviour.
His ideas are general ones, but have been applied to psychotherapy as person-centred psychotherapy and to education as student-centred learning.
Despite the fact that the theory focuses on the individual subjecive experience, this is understood in relation to the social expecation of others.
Children are aware of their own needs and desires, for example they know when they are hungry or do not understand the learning task in front of them, as this is their subjective experience. THey would like these needs to be met, but this is not always possible as their carers may have other things to do before providing food, or there could be other children who have the same needs. This puts the child in potential conflict with other people, by making unreasonable demandson the carer or by trying to have their needs met ahead of other children.
Roger argues that the child will have to compromise their needs in order to endure their accpetance an approval by others.To do this this, they will have to curb their desires or wait their turn. This response is needed if the social world is to function, as in reality, it is impossible to meet everyone's individual needs. What is important for children is that adults are able to make them aware that these feelings are not wrong and that there is a need to respect the feelings of other people.
The conflict between what an individual wants and what in reality an individual can get is the highlight of this people-centred theory.
People develop an ideal self, which is the person they would really like to be if all their fantasies and desires could be met.
It is the roles of aduls to help chldren to deal with this conflict and to endure that the child is not left with feelings of disapproval.
If adults make children feel guilty about their ideal-self desires, or even allow them to have all their needs met, this will not facilitate them being able to develop behaviours that will encourage positive regard and will put them in conflict with themselves and others in society.
Moral Development. Kohlberg.
Piaget's ideas have been developed over many years by Kohlberg. He used stories of hypothetical situations that involved difficult decisions in order to gain insight into the thinking of children and adults. He proposed three main levels of moral development. *Refer to Turning to Crime*
Kohlberg's ideas are interesting and can be seen to be helpful to reachers in trying to understand the behaviour of young people, they can also provide guidance on how to set rules. Adults should not be surprised if pre-school children do not always do as they are told, as their focus is on their own needs, not the needs of others. The 'tale-telling' of primary-school children matches the stage that suggests that children have an absolute view of right and wrong. Kohlberg's stages should alert those who work with adolescents to the fact that it is very likely that they will not just accept rules and will feel the need to question authority, especially if the rules conflict with their own consciences.
Kohlberg's ideas have been criticised, but recent evidence does suggest that his tages are linked to cognitive development. The ability of young children to make moral decisions was questioned by Wainryb et al. who found that getting young children to tell their own stories showed them to be capable of higher-level moral decision-making than was previously thought possible. There are questions that can be asked about the validity of Kohlberg's technique in questioning participants about made-up stories, as these do not reflect real situations and could therefore produce answers that do not match real situations.
