Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools Essay Example for Free

Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools Essay Question 1 Summarise the main development of a child from the age range 0-2 years, 3-5 years and 5-8 years. Development 0-2 years When a baby is born they are helpless. Although from 0-2 years the development of a child is very rapid. A baby will go from not being able to hold up their own head to being able to talk, walk, run and climb the stairs all within this time frame. Through this time frame a baby will be able to support and lift their own head and kicking their legs. They will be able to focus on close objects such as their own fingers and hands. They will start to smile and recognise the face of their main care giver. The baby will be startled by sudden noises, such as banging doors. As they progress they will start to reach out for objects and toys that attract their attention and start to make noises. Their hand to hand and hand-eye coordination develops as they learn to pass objects from one had to another and reach out and grab things for themselves. When the child is older they will use this developed hand to hand and hand to eye coordination to start making marks on paper with crayons. As their muscles develop and get stronger they will start to sit up unaided and pull themselves up to a standing position. The child will start teething and begin to learn to crawl and eventually walk unaided. Their independence will grow as they start to want to feed themselves first  with finger food then using a spoon. They will start to say simple words such as mama/dada and start to recognise their own name, this will eventually develop into the child starting to string simple sentences together and saying other words and understanding them. As the balance improves a child will learn how to kick and throw a ball. 3-5 years In this stage of development a child will build on what he/she already knows, such as walking. This will be steadier and they will be able to walk backwards and climb up and downstairs confidently. The child will be able to draw more recognisable pictures, such as faces, rather than just scribbles. The vocabulary is a wider range as they learn how to say more words and can string together longer sentences. They will start to ask ‘why’ as they grow more curious about the world around them. As the vocabulary grows they will be more capable of describing how they are feeling (happy, sad or angry).They can learn and recite simple nursery rhymes from memory. As an adult you start to see a personality develop as they develop a sense of humour a sense of what they find funny or not so funny. They start to become sociable and enjoying playing with other children . 5-8 years With this stage of development again the child builds on what he/she already knows. Through this stage adult teeth start to grow. The child can start to do things more confidently, such as being able to use scissors to cut out shapes. With guidance a child will start to learn the consequences of their own actions and behaviour whether it is good or bad. Whilst playing games and sports with their peers they will start to become more competitive. The vocabulary has grown enormously to roughly 2000 words which they have learnt through learning to read or picked up from what other people, adults and peers, have said around them. The ability to concentrate on one thing at a time has also increased and they are less easily distracted. For 3-8 year olds physical development is not as fast paced as it is in the first 2 years of life. 3-8 year old development is more cognitive and emotional. Question 2 Analyse key social, economic and environmental factors which may influence development Allergies  Food allergies can be severe as well as fatal, as some allergies, such as nuts, can cause anaphylactic shock. This causes the airways to swell up and cut off the ability to breath. A food allergy that is often over looked is an allergy to E numbers, which is an allergy to artificial colouring and flavouring and sometime emulsifiers that are found in our food. This allergy can cause the child to become hyperactive, violent and in extreme cases physically sick. This can have an effect on a child’s development physically, emotionally and socially. The child may stop eating altogether if, in the extreme cases, they start to associate eating with being sick. This can lead them to stop growing as they are not digesting the nutrients that they need for growth and development. With the hyperactivity comes the inability to focus on any one thing for a set period of time, which will have an effect of what they learn and how well they learn it. Socially the child may be in able to make the friends that he wants as the other child may cautious of the child due to the hyperactivity and possibly the violence. Health Problems There are many health problems that can affect a child’s development. Eczema can cause distraction problems particularly if the child is badly affected by it. Eczema is a drying of the skin which leads it to becoming itchy. If the eczema is not effectively treated then it can lead to the skin being itched to the point where it is broken and bleeding and this in turn can lead to infection. Some cases of eczema are caused by food allergies, fabric powders/ softeners and in some cases we just don’t know why the skin flares up as it does. If the eczema is not treated the child can constantly be itching and uncomfortable and this is at the fore front of their mind rather than the activity at hand. If the child does end up with infected parts of the skin this can lead to poor attendance for school and missing out on the needed education. Environment/Poverty/Social factors such as love and affection The environment a child grows up in can have a detrimental effect on their soc ial skills and building relationships with others. If the child grows up on an environment where there are caring parents/siblings then a child will grow to learn and realise that this is how relationships with others should be, whether it is with a teacher or another child. If there is no love in a family then a child will grow up to think that it is not cared  for by anyone at all, this can follow them on into adult life and effect relationships there too. They may become withdrawn, sad and untrusting. Although a child may look ok on the outside inside is full of turmoil. They may come to believe that what has happened to them is there fault and come to regarding themselves as no good and not deserving of the love and kindness that their peers receive. They may also have little trust in the people around them for fear of being hurt by them as they have been before. Living within a large city may cause problems for a child’s development if there is a high level of unemployment and low income. Something as simple as not having access to public transport, whether it’s a bus, taxi or train, because you can’t afford the fares can affect the child being able to get into school on a regular basis and so miss out on the education that they deserve and need. There is another problem that comes with low income. If you have a low income you may only be able to buy what you can afford which may mean a child does not get a balanced diet. Usually with unemployment and low income comes poorer housing. This can lead to health problems in both child and adult alike. They can be affected by mould spores and living in drafty and cold conditions, this will lead to children who may be constantly ill and so in turn cannot attend school as much as they should. These illness may also have an effect on their physical development as the illnesses may affect the ability for the body to develop as it should. Children need constant stimulation whether it is for the mind or the body. Living in poorer areas may mean that areas to play and run around are lacking, whether it is a park or a garden, without proper stimulation a child’s development can be slower to progress that that of his peers. Loss or Bereavement A child may not process death in the same way that an adult or young person does. They may come to realise that a person is no longer a part of their lives. On the other end of the scale they may suffer anxiety that is focused on yourself as the parent. They may begin to believe that you yourself may not return to them when leaving them at either play group or school. They may become clingy and withdrawn compromising their ability to learn and maintain their friendships with their peers. They may also suffer anger and hostility towards people or may even think that the person who has died has  left them because they didn’t like the child anymore so the child may see it as being their own fault. This can lead to a child growing to be very lonely and not being able to build new or maintain any sort of relationship with anyone. Separation and Divorce A child’s social and emotional development can be affected by the separation or divorce of their parents. They can come to believe that the separation is their own fault. They can experience feelings of guilt, anxiety and sadness. They may as with bereavement become withdrawn and sorrowful or hostile and angry. This factor can also make it difficult for a child to maintain relationships or make new ones. Care givers need to be available for the child should they need them for emotional support. The child may also apportion blame on to someone else within their lives, whether it be the parent that has left the family home or and new partner that the remaining parent has found. During and after this time the child in question may find it difficult to develop new or maintain any social relationships, especially while they have several different emotions going on inside them. They may find it hard to process all these possibly new emotions and find it hard to concentrate on anythi ng else. Learning Difficulties Learning difficulties come in a vast range, anything from Downs Syndrome to Dyslexia. These learning difficulties can slow the learning development of the effected child. Dyslexia sufferers have particular difficulty with reading and writing Just because a child of 4yrs can write their name and read a few words doesn’t mean that a child of the same age with dyslexia can. When we learn to read we learn to sound out the letters that make up the word. Children also have lessons in school that focus on phonics which is to help them identify the sounds in words such as igh, oo, ai. These are called phonemes. A dyslexic child has difficulty in identifying and sounding out these phonemes and so makes the whole learning process slower. This can lead to the child becoming behind in there learning to that of their peers and will need extra help in place to help them not fall so far behind in their learning. Loss of limbs or the use of senses The loss of limbs or senses can be very traumatic both emotionally and  physically. Loss of limbs or senses can happen in a variety of ways such as a road traffic accident, a birth defect or severe infection. Losing a limb or senses can effect a child mentally, emotionally and physically. If the limb or sense is lost through accident a child may become angry and upset, withdrawn or even become depressed. They may feel a sense of hopelessness, worthlessness and have in appropriate guilt that the loss of limb or sense was their own fault somehow. The adjustment for a child losing a limb or senses will be an ongoing process. They may seem to be adjusting and taking everything in their stride but as the cognitive side of development grows then the child will start to understand more fully what has happened and may set them back in the adjustment process, as they begin to realise that the loss of a limb or the senses can an impact on their future lives.