Studying young children: The purposes
Why do early childhood educators need to know about
'why' studying young children (and indeed the studies of young children) are
important?
Why do early childhood educators need to know the
purposes for studies like LSAC and AEDI and other studies?
There are a couple of ways to think about these questions.
The first is critical, and it is more of 'what' is to be
studied about this child? There are developmental norms; sociocultural contexts
to be understood; the way the child asserts his/her agency and how their
growth, development, life and realities are impacted by societal structures.
Some of this is more straight forward than the others but nonetheless, if it is
a comprehensive understanding that is the 'what', then this will affect the
'how' you make decisions as an early childhood professional.
Another way to think of this is in terms of Bronfenbrenner's
ecological systems theory and apply the concepts to the purposes for studying
young children.
It is known that the five systems interact on each other and this in turn, impacts on the growth and development of a child and his/her family. Similarly, early childhood educators don't operate in a vaacum. These roles are impacted on by wider systems and elements such as government policies and legislation and current movements (eg. safe neighbourhoods).
In Australia, this is evident in initiatives such as: the Early Years Learning Framework (2009); the Australian National Curriculum (some subject areas still under development); the National Quality Framework; the National Professional Standards (by the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership). Each of these initiatives have been informed by research that provides specific knowledge, based on research, as to how children grow; how children develop; how children learn and how they can be taught.
These are the major purposes for studying/observing young
children:
- to know and understand their growth and development;
- to apply this knowledge to individual children and
maintain knowledge of their development and growth;
- to know how to provide effective, relevant and realistic
learning environments.
More specifically, the purpose is to study the following
domains and build a clearer and more comprehensive picture of the child and
his/her:
- physical growth;
- cognitive and intellectual skills abilities and areas of
further development;
- language development;
- social abilities and competence that are Intrapersonal and
Interpersonal;
- emotional qualities and characteristics and ability to
regulate and respond these.
In this way, the purpose, or reason for studying young
children also becomes the 'what' of such studies. Some are specific and you
will have seen in the LSAC/ 'Life' studies ther is a focus on social and
emotional domains and concepts such as:
- Attachment;
- Temperament and Personality;
- Behaviour
- self-regulation.
Depending on the purpose of the study, the methods for
gathering information on particular domain and it's concepts will differ.
