In today’s session we were looking at the Maslow’s Hierarchy diagram. We also started to look at Bronfenbrenner’s theory and how in his theory he looked at the child being the centre of the theory and how its surroundings affect the child’s learning. The child being at the centre of the theory he discovered the were 5 different systems around the child to help the child learn these being:

• Microsystem = Family, Teacher and Peers etc.
• Mesosystem – Childs home, Classroom setting etc.
• Exosystem – Parents Workplace and extended family.
• Macrosystem – Culture
• Chronosystem – Things that happen overtime.

We established that looking at these systems and how they affect the child can help the child learn. If the child feels comfortable with the teacher and at home with their family can have a positive impact on their learning skills. Looking at the exosystem and how a parent’s workplace can affect the child if the parent gets paid the child could get treated to something nice which can make the child go to school happy and feeling positive.

We moved on to looking at how to maintain a positive relationship with Children and Parents which we then watched a video on. The video helped look at what positive affects you can have on a child to help build a good relationship with.  I found that children also respond through relationships which can help them start to feel and then they can learn and explore. I also found out that you need to make sure the child feels understood and you should encourage the child when they do well because it helps build the child’s self-esteem. If you also make sure the child knows you are there for them as moral support it helps them gain trust in you and help them gain the confidence to come to you when they need to.

You can also build an emotional bond with them and find a balance with a child’s learning skills so you know you can adjust the work to help their needs and help them understand better. A child will also gain an interest in a specific way through play such as; building or being artistic so putting this in place in their work can help them build more of an interest because you know what the child likes to do so they will be excited to learn and look forward to doing the activity in a lesson. Once you build a relationship with a child you will then understand what makes them happy, sad and what they like. You will then be able to identify their weak points in learning. Building a relationship with parents would be more difficult because a parent knows what they want their child to be learning and what expectation they have for their child. So to build a relationship with a parent you need to talk to have regular contact with them even if it’s a brief conversation when they pick their child up from school or you can give the child a communication book where if you or the parent have any concerns you can write it down or even arrange a meeting.