TMA 01: Perspectives on Childhood
Part 1: describe your motivation for studying this module, and explain how your interests connect to the perspectives you have encountered in the module materials.
a. Describe your motivation for studying this module, including your particular interests in children and childhood
My main motivation in studying E102 is primarily to follow a career path as an educational psychologist. I’d like to have a degree because it’ll enable me to: gain my dream career, to use my brain more and to help people. My other motivation to study this module are that I relate to children, as everyone is one growing up and I enjoy watching programmes that involve learning about children. Above all, I thoroughly enjoy being around my two younger stepsisters, who are six and twelve.
The main interest that influences my motivation is my eldest stepsister who has learning and attention difficulties; problems with her working memory; and a developmental co-ordination disorder. Over the years I’ve seen her struggle and become anxious with her education and the impact of not receiving the help she needed at the right time. As part of my chosen career I intend to help improve children’s lives (and their families) that have developmental delays, like she does, by implementing the support required at the appropriate time.
Another interest is my youngest stepsister; I enjoy observing how she is growing up, including witnessing changes in her development. I’m predominantly keen to learn why children develop how they do. I’m also interested in looking at differences between individual children; this is specifically fascinating to me for those growing up in the same household. This is because even though they’ve grown up in the same environment, with the same parents, they’re completely different in terms of personality.
Lastly, I’m particularly interested in learning about the link between children’s developments and how this impacts what they will be like as adults.
b. Which perspectives on children and childhood presented in Block 1 connect with your own interests in children and childhood and how?
The main connection between my interests and perspectives presented in Block 1 is Vygotsky’s theory of social cognitive development. This is because I’m aiming to help children with educational developmental delays in my career. His theory explains that children develop as they interact with the world; suggests that with an adult’s intervention you can help speed up their progress. This is extremely ideal when working with children who have developmental delays. This connects to my interest of implementing support for these children; it explains that I could work with a child, assigning them a task that they wouldn’t be able to complete on their own. I should provide them with an example and support needed to do the task on their own, so that in future they will be able to tackle harder tasks. This means I’ll be ‘scaffolding’ their learning so they achieve new understanding. This is especially true if they are in the ‘zone of proximal development’, which is the difference between what children can and can’t do without help.
Galton’s research into hereditary intelligence is another perspective that connects with the same interest. This is because it provides a possible explanation into why some children may be behind, as his research found that intelligence is primarily inherited from parents. I may be able to use this research to help these children as I can use the parents’ experiences to help inform the best way to give support.
Galton also did a lot of research into twin studies, which is another of my interests. It connects because his research found that most twins who were raised in different environments behaved in a similar manner.
c. How might other perspectives presented in Block 1 contribute to your developing understanding of childhood and children?
I’ve found that Piaget’s theory of cognitive development links to my interests because it references how children develop. However, due to my developing understanding of childhood and children, I’ve discovered that it differs from how I’m aiming to improve children's lives. Through research I’ve learnt that (although schools base their teachings on Piaget’s theory) it doesn’t work for children who don’t ‘fit in the box’. This means it doesn’t necessarily relate to all children, especially those with developmental delays. Still, I can learn from his theory and develop my understanding because he suggests children develop in certain stages. In any investigations I may use in the future, I could compare the stages of mainstream children to identify when a child needs extra support. Therefore, I could use his theory to further my career even if it doesn’t fit for ‘non-mainstream’ children.
I’ve also found that the UNCRC’s perspective that children have the right to participation has contributed to my developing understanding of childhood and children. This is because it’s something that I knew nothing about before starting this module, so I never thought in this way. This part of the convention taught me that it’s beneficial to let children have a say because they usually know more about what they want than adults around them. This will help with my chosen career, as it will be useful to include the child in the process of determining what support will be most valuable; they will have their own views on what will help them most. Although in some cases adults may know better, I’ve concluded that they should at least get to share their views about decisions affecting them.
Part 2: Reflect back on your completed Learning Journals 1 and 2 and summarise your learning and development by responding to the following questions.
a. What have you learned about yourself regarding your study skills and habits? What are your strengths and what areas are in need of improvement?
Since embarking on this course I’ve learnt that I am more enthusiastic and motivated about learning than initially I thought I’d be. For example, I didn’t just use the online activities and the textbook, I also completed extra work by making lots of notes, looking up words in the dictionary, as well as extra research to make sure I got as much as I could out of the course. I did this because I hadn’t studied for years, so I was excited to learn new things and use my brain more. Because a lot of the information was completely new to me, I wanted to make sure I could comprehend it as much as possible. Being motivated and enthusiastic meant that I was able to work as hard as I could to do my best, as well as overcoming a few of my weaknesses along the way.
There are a few weaknesses that I’ll make every effort to improve upon. The main weakness was falling behind; this was because I gained an injury meaning I couldn’t concentrate on studying. Other weaknesses of mine were: my notes being too long to study from and not asking for help when I needed it.
Lastly, I found that I worried too much. For example, some of my worries were about learning new words and complicated information, remembering things, falling behind and not understanding what I was learning. However, I was able to overcome this particular weakness by doing extra work to aid my understanding of course material and prevent some anxiety.
b. What resources/sources of support could you draw upon in order to address these?
There are many resources and sources of support that I can draw upon in order to address my weaknesses.
Unfortunately during the first block of E102 I fell behind with my studies, as I became injured. I’m hoping to overcome this as quickly as possible and stay ahead of my studies so there won’t be a problem if I do fall behind again. Similarly, if I do find myself worrying again in the future, it will give me extra time to make notes, look up things I don’t understand and do more research around the subject.
Another weakness of mine was my notes being too long. To solve this problem, I plan to sit down and make them briefer; I’ll edit them and only keep the most important pieces of information.
To improve my weakness of not accessing help when I need it, I’ll use the group forums more to talk to my fellow students. I will also ask my tutor if I have any questions about not understanding course materials.
Lastly, I’m aiming to make my studying more effective in general to improve my course understanding. I’ll do this by revisiting the study skills sections of the module and prioritising tasks by making schedules and to-do lists. This will allow me to set realistic deadlines for tasks and make sure I’m getting the most out of my studying.
Word Count: 1319
References:
Heather Montgomery (2016) ‘What is ‘childhood studies’?’ in Lee Farrington-Flint & Heather Montgomery (3rd ed.) E102 An Introduction to Child Studies and Child Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University Press, pp. 13-15.
Nathalia Gjersoe (2016) ‘What is ‘child psychology’?’ in Lee Farrington-Flint & Heather Montgomery (3rd ed.) E102 An Introduction to Child Studies and Child Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University Press, pp. 29-32
Nathalia Gjersoe (2016) ‘Nature and nurture’ in Lee Farrington-Flint & Heather Montgomery (3rd ed.) E102 An Introduction to Child Studies and Child Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University Press, pp. 59-62
United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child [Online]. Available at www.hakani.org/en/convention/Convention_Rights_Child.pdf (Accessed 2 December 2017).