Are you aware of the Eileen Munro’s Recommendations?
Any suspicion of child abuse in school or at home?
Can you relate mood disorders you recently noticed in your child to child maltreatment?
Can you relate poor academic performance you recently noticed in your child to child abuse?
The Figure 1 below represents the data in the table format obtained from the responses of the participants in the questionnaires.
Key
F2 represented the number of the parents who answered yes when asked whether poor child protection measures at school or even by caregivers at home caused mood disorders among their children.
The independent variable in this case is the age of the child. The variable that the influences the intended outcome of the researcher. The dependent variable is the poor academic performance and the mood disorders. The two variables change with respect to age.
Figure 1
Child's age group
Poor academic performance F1
Disruptive behavior
F2
3-5
12
7
6-8
8
13
9-11
16
8
12-14
9
14
15-17
5
8
Grand Total
50
50
4.4 Discussion
According to the results, more parents with children at the age of 9 to 11 reported that their children had registered poor academic performance. Moreover, children at the age of 12-14 also displayed more signs of mood disorders. There is no doubt that the children showed negative signs both in their academic and personal development because of the maltreatment suffered at school or even at home. Carl Rogers in the person-centered theory acknowledges that human beings have an inborn tendency to attain their potential when they operate freely and in a conducive environment (Slater et al. 2017, p. 541). Nonetheless, Carl Jones notes that such innate abilities that people have may become distorted or even shattered by the experiences of life, more so by those that undermine the sense of value. The children would not have had incidences of poor academic performance or mood disorders if they did not experience poor treatment from their teachers and caregivers both at school and home.
The crisis that children experience in school to the point of affecting their academic performance and suffering disorders as evidenced by table 1 can be solved through the application of task centered practice. The approach helps in crisis intervention whereby the children, teachers and caretakers get the assistance over a specific time period to carry out the tasks that would reduce the problem (Rooney 2017, p.118).
Systems theory will attempt to develop a holistic view of the children within the school environment. In this context, there are several factors that inextricably connect to influence the performance of the children in school and the drastic changes in mood. Thus, contextual understanding of the behavior of the children, the effect of the caretakers, teachers and parents will assist in formulating the appropriate solution (Weick 2015, p.189).
Conclusion
The paper was produced as part of an extensive project on advancing consequences in the system of child protection, commissioned by Early Intervention Foundation, supported by Local Government Authorities and NSPCC. Moreover, its also evidenced in the paper that both the family and school need to work together in detecting the issues that trouble children and thus hinder them from realizing their potential.
References
Rooney, R., 2017. Task-centered practice. In Social Work Theory and Methods (pp. 118-128). Routledge.
Slater, P., McCance, T., & McCormack, B. (2017). The development and testing of the Person-centred Practice Inventory–Staff (PCPI-S). International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 29(4), 541-547.
Weick, K.E., 2015. The social psychology of organizing. Management, 18(2), p.189.
