Reflect Report on Early Childhood

The shared responsibilities between families and teachers in childhood education have a long history. Each community has an important role to play in the education of a child. The value of relationships with families with teachers, children with teachers and children with parents is explored across three psychological theories. The theory of Vygotsky focuses on parent-educator relationships. The principle of needs hierarchy discusses how carers interact with children through Abraham Maslow. The psychoanalytic theory of Erik Erikson is used in the relationships between children and parents. In the relationship between parents and educators, sharing information about the child between and relatives stands out among their separately vital functions. Family, in this case, refers to all who care for the child at home. To be able to cater for a child's needs, the teacher needs awareness of how each child is raised. Family participation is for critical decision-making. Among the first and most rigorous ways parents and teachers collaborate is when the child is being separated from family as they enter school. Many skills are required by a teacher to handle varying scenarios with an ever-increasing diversity in of families and parents. Parents and teachers should communicate in an open and frequent way to better the education of the child. Vygotsky theory can explain this.
Vygotsky's theory states that social interaction is requisite in the development of cognition. It says that cultural development of a child occurs in two ways. One way is the social approach, focusing outside the child, and then individually on the inside. That applies to deliberate attention, cognitive memory, and concept formation. Vygotsky_x0092_s theory also purports that cognitive development depends on complete social interaction. The theory explains consciousness as a result of socialization, for instance, language is first used for communication but once mastered it forms inner speech.
A child needs both teachers and family for the best results in their development while at school. Apart from safety and care that they both provide to the child, they help the child develop as per Vygotsky's theory. The child can attain full cognitive development when social interaction is provided adequately, as seen in many children. The reverse is also true. The theory, however, does not explain how many famous geniuses with full cognitive capability manage that despite disposition to being socially isolated (Gordon & Browne, 2013).
Beyond being physically cared for, children also need caregivers to continuously interact with the children. Instead of being controlled in the manner of doing things, kids learn better in an environment that they are allowed to choose what they want to do. Institutions have developed curricula concentrating on understanding needs of children, their interests, and fostering their relationships with teachers. That relationships-based curriculum improves the kid_x0092_s learning. Children that have trust, a sense of security, and self-assurance are in a better state to learn, and this is developed through bonds with educators. Teachers, on the other hand, are exhausted by the responsibility of controlling children. With such a space being provided, maximum results in the education of the kids are expected. Maslow_x0092_s theory explains this relationship.
Abraham Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs presents various levels of things that motivate people. People are motivated to meet needs with some having precedence over others. First is physical survival needs, followed by safety requirements, then belongingness and love needs, esteem necessities, and finally self-actualization. For one to reach the peak, which is self-actualization, they need to meet the needs in progressive order to be able to progress toe self-actualization
Educators with their support staff play a fundamental role in taking care of the needs of a child at school. They provide physical needs, safety, and appreciation as some of the needs on the hierarchy. They ensure attention to each child_x0092_s preferences needs to ensure their happiness. The intention is to lead them towards self-actualization. Self-actualization, however, is not a permanent state. Where the lower level needs fall short, it becomes unreachable. All needs of a child if consistently addressed result in self-actualization. (Philomin, 2015)
On the relationship between a child and a parent, behavior of a parent as seen by the child is vital for social and intellectual outcomes in kids. The parent forms among the first relationships the child has in life, which is apparently critical for the founding of skills such as social-emotional, cognitive, as well as self-regulatory skills. Those skills get a person ready for a life of adaptation and functioning. The nature of interactions in the family setting is the template a child applies to their world. _x0091_Parent_x0092_ as a term, in this context, refers to the chief parenting figure of parenting and may also mean guardian or to other figures that do major parenting to a child. Parents arrange young children_x0092_s learning opportunities outside the home, by how they care for the child, take them to a place that offers interaction opportunities with other children, and also how they interact with the kids and educators. Parents_x0092_ steady participation in activities at school, such as parent meetings and class events is related to the academic success of children. The collaboration of parents and teachers is vital for a child to be socially, emotionally, and academically fruitful.
Erik Erikson suggests a psychoanalytic theory, explaining psychosocial development in eight stages, ascribing each stage to an age group. At any stage an individual may experience a crisis, ending up with a weakness instead of strength, in that specific stage. The theory states that successful completion of each step results in a strong personality and helps in the acquisition of core virtues. Failing to complete a stage regularly causes incapability to complete other stages, and therefore an unhealthy personality and sense of self.
Most relevant to a child according to Erikson are stage one to stage five. The family of the child has the undeniably the biggest task in ensuring that a child beats the crises at each stage for optimal development. The parent is to teach both by words and by example. For example, a parent needs to keep encouraging a child that they are the best, even with their limitation, to overcome role confusion as they acquire ego identity in stage 5 of psychosocial development. All the stages of psychosocial development may not necessarily occur in the given order and estimated age they may also happen concurrently, so it is not an exact science. Psychological development can only be estimated (Edwards, Sheridan, & Knoche, 2008).
It is safe to conclude that relationships between children, parents, and teachers are interdependent to ensure maximum social, emotional and academic success of young learners at school, and even beyond. The psychological theories offered above are in support of the holistic social approach to childhood education. For the optimal performance of the child, parents and teachers have to cooperate._x000c_References
Edwards, C. P., Sheridan, S. M., & Knoche, L. (2008). Parent engagement and school readiness: Parent-child relationships in early learning. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=famconfacpub
Gordon, A. M., & Browne, K. W. (2013). Beginnings and beyond. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Philomin, L. E. (2015). Relationships-based learning may be key to better preschools. Today Online. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/relationships-based-curriculum-may-improve-preschool-learning