When I Think of Child Development

It is difficult to think about children and their development at this current time due to the tragedy that struck last week at the Shady Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut  that resulted in so many young children’s life being cut short for no reason.   Children are precious gifts that are to be nurtured and loved and given every chance to live a life that is full of opportunities. 

While the past several weeks have been full of thought provoking assignments the interactions that have been done between my fellow classmates have not only enriched my educational perspective but have also given me other avenues in thinking and working with children and their families.  And it is for that I want to say THANK YOU.  Thank you for your insight. Thank you for your comments.  Thank you for sharing your personal stories.  And thank you for being a caring educator who will put each child first.

“In addition to their relative brevity, one of the critical ingredients that make stressful events tolerable rather than toxic is the presence of supportive adults who create safe environments that help children learn to cope with and recover from major adverse experiences, such as the death or serious illness of a loved one, a frightening accident, or parental separation or divorce (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2009).”

 

Reference

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2009). Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain. Working Paper #3. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.  Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/resources/reports_and_working_papers/working_papers/wp3/

Testing for Intelligence?

Anytime there is an evaluation of a child a holistic approach has to be done.  No two children are reared the same way; this includes children raised in the same house.  Each child is exposed to the world in different ways thus leading to their views of the world being different.  When looking at academics, children learn differently and are taught differently.  An example of this is catholic or private schools and public schools.  It is said that public schools are taught things a year or two behind catholic or private school children.  So if you were to take a child from a public school and place them in a private educational facility, not many would fare well because they lack the skills and knowledge needed in order to keep up with the class.  And if you were to take a child from a private school they generally act out due to being bored in the class because the work is too easy or they know it already.  When we look at social and emotional states of children, you have to look at the family structure and the community they live in.  An example of this would be a child raised in a poor, single parent family to that of a child in a middle class two parent home family. The differences here is the community would be less violent and not crime infested as well as two parents in the home instead of one making the struggle less to live from day to day. 

When looking into how European children are assessed it was interesting to only find information about how the age a child should start school.  I could not find a detailed article or write up on how European children are assessed or demographics on children assessed.  But I did find it interesting that Northern Ireland children are start school at the age of 4 and have established the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order of 1989. This order revised the compulsory school age in order to ensure every child receives a full 12 years of school.  Below is a chart outlining the ages children start school in European countries.   

Table 1 Compulsory age of starting school in European countries, 2002

 

Four	Northern Ireland
Five	England, Malta, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales
Six	Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain
Seven	Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Sweden

Source: European Commission. EURYDICE and EUROSTAT (forthcoming) Figure D1.

"Several recent UK studies have addressed the questions about the impact of age and length of schooling on children’s academic attainment and progress at school. It is now well known that children who are younger in the year group (the summer-borns) perform less well than their older classmates. There are some suggestions that an early introduction to a formal curriculum may increase anxiety and have a negative impact on children’s self esteem and motivation to learn. The long-term impact of different early childhood curricula would seem to be an important topic for further research. (Sharp. 2002)

 

Reference

Sharp, C. (2002). School Starting Age: European Poilcy and Recent Research. NFER. Retreived from www.nfer.ac.uk