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Learning Objective
• Examine effective relationships and interactions between early childhood professionals, children, families, and colleagues, including the importance of collaboration.
08: Partnering with Families
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation addressed in this chapter:
Standard 1: Promoting child development and learning
Standard 2: Building family and community relationships
Standard 5: Using content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum
Standard 6: Becoming a professional
8.02: New Page
The following competencies are addressed in this chapter:
• Child Development and Learning
• Culture, Diversity, and Equity
• Dual Language Development
• Family and Community Engagement
• Professionalism
• Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
8.03: New Page
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Ideals 2.1 – 2.9
Principles 2.1 – 2.15
8.04: New Page
This chapter examines how we, as early childhood professionals, create important relationships with families to build effective home-school relationships. As a professional, we need to include families at the center of the work we do with their children. Valuing the input of families creates a sense of belonging that promotes success in school and home.
Unity Poem
I dreamed I stood in a studio
And watched two sculptors there,
The clay they used was a young child's mind
And they fashioned it with care.
One was a teacher; the tools she used were books and music and art;
One was a parent with a guiding hand and a gentle loving heart.
And when at last their work was done
They were proud of what they had wrought.
For the things they had shaped into the child
Could never be sold or bought.
And each agreed she would have failed
If each had worked alone
For behind the parent stood the school,
And behind the teacher; the home.
-Anonymous
8.05: New Page
While most early childhood professionals choose to go into this field because they want to work with children, it is important to understand that those children come with families. Those families are the child’s first teacher and play a crucial role throughout that child’s life. In the early years, there will be much interaction between the child’s home and school environments and the important people in each.
In Chapter 1 (Theories), you may have noticed that the majority of the theories presented focused on the individual child and their development from “within”. Constructing knowledge; meeting basic needs; developing a sense of trust. These are all very important. Bronfenbrenner's Ecological model took a different approach and looks at developmental influences outside of the child, and how they impact who the child becomes. One very important system is the child’s family. Children develop within the context of their families and the community that supports those families. As early childhood professionals, we build meaningful partnerships with the families of the children in our programs to ensure that their families are respected and valued in our program.
8.06: New Page
In its most basic terms, a family is a group of individuals who share a legal or genetic bond, but for many people, family means much more, and even the simple idea of genetic bonds can be more complicated than it seems. [110] In your work with children, you will encounter many different types of family systems. All as unique as the individual children that are part of them, and all needing to feel that they can trust one of their most valuable assets to you.
Pause to Reflect
Think about your family of origin. What did they “teach” you? How did they “shape” you? How important were they in who you are today? How does this relate to the families of the children you will work with? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/08%3A_Partnering_with_Families/8.01%3A_New_Page.txt |
According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Code of Ethical Conduct (May 2011) “families are of primary importance in children’s development. Because the family and the early childhood practitioner have a common interest in the child’s well-being, we acknowledge a primary responsibility to bring about communication, cooperation, and collaboration (the three C’s) between the home and early childhood program in ways that enhance the child’s development.” [111]
The code consists of ideals and principles that we must adhere to as ethical professionals. The ideals (refer to the Code of Ethical Conduct ) provide us with how we need to support, welcome, listen to, develop relationships with, respect, share knowledge with and help families as we work together in partnership with them to support their role as parents. The principles provide us with specific responsibilities to families in our role as early childhood professionals. These principles include what individuals must do as well as the programs that serve those families.
Pause to Reflect
After reviewing Section II – Ethical Responsibilities to Families in the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct, what stands out to you and why? What seems to make the most sense and why? What might be easy for you to uphold? What may be challenging? How can you use the code to shape your interactions with families?
8.08: New Page
Figure \(1\): This montage of photos shows a variety of families. [112]
The landscape of families has changed considerably over the last few decades. It is not that different types of families have never existed, but in today’s society, we are making places at the table for this diversity. The families that we serve in our early learning centers reflect this.
Types of Families:
• Dual parent family
• Single Parent
• Grandparents or other relatives
• Teen parents
• Adoptive families
• Foster families
• Families with same sex parents
• Bi-racial/Multi-racial families
• Families with multi-religious/faith beliefs
• Children with an incarcerated parent(s)
• Unmarried parents who are raising children
• Transgender parents raising children
• Blended families
• Multigenerational Families
• Families formed through reproductive technology
• First time older parents
• Families who are homeless
• Families with children who have developmental delays and disabilities
• Families raising their children in a culture not their own
The list above is extensive; however, other family systems you will encounter in your work with children's families, are all worthy of respect and understanding. For a definition of the types of families listed above, refer to the Appendix.
Pause to Reflect
As an early childhood professional, why might it be important to understand each of these family structures?
8.09: New Page
In addition to the types of families we will work with, there will also be different parenting styles within those families. Diana Baumrind, looking at the demands parents place on their children and their responsiveness to their child’s needs, placed parenting into the following categories:
1. Authoritarian Parenting Style: Authoritarian parenting is a strict style in which parents set rigid rules and high expectations for their children but do not allow them to make decisions for themselves. When rules are broken, punishments are swift and severe. It is often thought of as “my way or the highway” parenting.
2. Authoritative Parenting Style: Authoritative parents provide their children with boundaries and guidance, but give their children more freedom to make decisions and learn from their mistakes. It is referred to as a more democratic approach to parenting.
3. Permissive Parenting Style: Permissive parents give their children very few limits and have more of a peer relationship than a traditional parent-child dynamic. They are usually super-responsive to their kids’ needs and give in to their children’s wants. Today we use the term “helicopter or lawnmower parenting.”
4. Neglectful Parenting Style: A style added later by researchers Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin, neglectful parents do not interact much with their children, placing no limits on their behavior but also failing to meet their needs. [113]
While this research suggested that children raised with authoritative parents have better outcomes, we must be careful not to rush to judgment when working with families. Our style of parenting is deeply rooted in how our parents raised us. As early childhood professionals, we have the opportunity to collaborate with families to join in working together for the betterment of their children, while considering culture, personality, and other circumstances.
Pause to Reflect
What parenting styles did your parents use with you? Do you see yourself using any of these styles as a teacher? Why or why not?
8.10: Stages of Parenting
Ellen Galinsky traced six distinct stages in the life of a parent in relation to their growing child. Much like how a child moves through stages. By looking at these different stages of parenting, those who work with children and youth can gain some insight into parental needs and concerns. [114]
Table \(1\): Stages of Parenting
Age of Child
Main Tasks and Goals
Stage 1: The Image-Making Stage
Planning for a child; pregnancy
Consider what it means to be a parent and plan for changes to accommodate a child.
Stage 2: The Nurturing Stage
Infancy
Develop an attachment to child and adapt to the new baby.
Stage 3: The Authority Stage
Toddler and preschool
Parents create rules and figure out how to effectively guide their child’s behavior.
Stage 4: The Interpretive Stage
Middle childhood
Parents help their children interpret their experiences with the social world beyond the family.
Stage 5: The Interdependence Stage
Adolescence
Parents renegotiate their relationship with adolescent children to allow for shared power in decision-making.
Stage 6: The Departure Stage
Early adulthood
Parents evaluate their successes and failures as parents.
Pause to Reflect
How does understanding these stages assist in your work with parents? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/08%3A_Partnering_with_Families/8.07%3A_New_Page.txt |
Previous chapters have introduced reflection as a process we engage in to better ourselves, our practices, and by extension our programs. Working with families will bring an additional piece to our reflection as we continue to understand our values and beliefs and how they affect the way, we view different families. Are we feel more comfortable with some family structures over other family structures? Do we agree with certain family discipline techniques and not others? Do we connect with some families more than others?
These are all natural; after all, we all come from a family that has instilled certain beliefs and mindsets in us. Having these feelings is expected; acting upon them as an early childhood professional is different. All family members deserve respect and to feel valued. Just because they do something differently does not necessarily make it “wrong”. We do not know what happens in a full day with that family any more than they know what happens in yours. We get a glimpse into the small portion they want to share with us, which may or may not be indicative of the rest of the picture. If we approach our families with a reflective lens, we can do much to understand and truly collaborate with them.
To begin this process, it is helpful to consider the following questions:
1. How can I learn more about that family?
2. What kinds of opportunities can I provide for families to be a part of their child’s classroom experience?
3. How can I help all families feel connected, respected, and valued?
4. What judgments/assumptions do I have about different family structures? How do those judgments/assumptions get in the way of me connecting with all of my families?
Pause to Reflect
Which of these questions resonate with you? Are there others you might add?
Previous chapters have also repeatedly emphasized the importance of establishing relationships; providing a warm, safe, and trusting environment; and creating long-term connections with the children we work with. By extension, we can employ those same measures for each family member. A family is entrusting you with a very large and special portion of their life, often with very little knowledge of who you are. Finding ways to help them feel secure in their decision will go along way towards bridging the two most important worlds of a child’s existence.
Pause to Reflect
What strategies that you have already considered using to make children feel comfortable and valued might you use with their families?
To serve families holistically, it requires a shift in our thinking. It is common for teachers to feel as if they are the experts, and that parents bring their children to us for our expertise. While this may be partially true, we need to understand that although we may be the experts in the way children develop and learn in general, parents are equal experts in their particular child. This acceptance of two complementary but different types of knowledge allows us to form true partnerships with families. It allows all parties to be better than they would on their own. How exciting it is, to learn from families all that they have to offer! How wonderful for a child to know that everyone is behind them, supporting them in the ways that they know best.
Figure \(1\): The relationship between family and teacher centers on the child
8.12: Planning Partnerships
As we learned in Chapter 6 (Curriculum) and 7 (Environments), planning can be quite valuable for many aspects of our early childhood programs. Planning to include families will be no different. Usually, teachers consider the following to collaborate with families throughout the year:
• Setting the tone (making connections to help families feel included and comfortable)
• On-going communication (valuing this crucial process throughout the school year)
• Including families in the program (drawing on their expertise, experiences, and support)
• Home-School Connections (extending experiences between home and school)
Figure \(1\): Family Friendly Strategies [115] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/08%3A_Partnering_with_Families/8.11%3A_Valuing_Families_through_Reflective_Practice.txt |
The NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct states I-2.6 – To acknowledge families’ childrearing values and their right to make decisions for their children. [116] There are many conflicting messages about how to raise children effectively today. When we listen to the concerns of families, we are better equipped to offer them educational experiences that can open their hearts and their minds to other ways of raising their children. (Refer to the list of parenting resources at the end of this chapter). It is important to be mindful that there are many ways to effectively parent. Noting that will help early childhood professionals to have respect for differences in all aspects of our field.
In addition, behavioral expectations vary from culture to culture. Behavior can be verbal, expressive, non-verbal, or non-expressive. Our role is to understand what the child is telling us by their behavior and to provide the necessary guidance that elevates the child and their family’s sense of being.
Pause to Reflect
What behavior expectations did your family have for you as a child? How does that differ from other people in your life? What judgments do you hold about those behavioral expectations? How could those judgments affect the relationships you want to build with families?
8.14: Family Education
One of the important roles of early childhood professionals is to provide opportunities for families to gain more skills in the role of parents. We accomplish this by using various strategies that work for each of the families that we serve.
These strategies may include:
• Family workshops – we offer these workshops to families who may want to have more information about parenting. At the beginning of the school year, you can send a questionnaire home to inquire about what the families at your center may want to know more about in their role as parents. Facilitation of these workshops by center staff/administration, by other professionals who work closely with children and families, or professional family educators provide a diverse lens in which to support families in their quest for support and information.
• Meeting with families – families often parent in isolation and need support in their role as parents. The teacher can offer to meet with them to listen to their concerns and to share ideas with them. This is accomplished in the context of understanding, compassion, and respect for the role that families play.
• Support groups for families - You may want to consider providing opportunities for parents to provide support to each other. You can accomplish this by creating a space for parents to meet both formally and informally. This helps to engender agency in families and to create parent leaders.
• Newsletters – provide families with parenting resources in a newsletter. You can write articles about specific parenting topics that the families at the center have identified. You can provide links to reputable parenting sites.
• Providing community resources to families – the Code of Ethical Conduct speaks directly to this. In I-2.9 it says: To foster families’ efforts to build support networks and, when needed, participate in building networks for families by providing them opportunities to interact with program staff, other families, community resources, and professional services. P-2.15 states – We shall be familiar with and appropriately refer families to community resources and professional support services. After a referral has been made, we shall follow up and ensure that services have been appropriately provided. [117]
• Resource library – provide families with materials that they can check out. These resources could be parenting books, parenting articles, or parenting curriculum.
Pause to Reflect
These are just a few of the many ways we can provide families with education and support that can assist them in their parenting journey. In reviewing this section, what additional ideas do you have that excite you in educating parents? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/08%3A_Partnering_with_Families/8.13%3A_Behavior_as_it_Relates_to_Family.txt |
According to NAEYC’s - 5 Guidelines for Effective Teaching , the fifth guideline states “Establish reciprocal relationships with families.” Effective communication begins with cultivating a trusting and mutually respectful relationship. As a best practice, teachers must strive to make family members feel like they are valued members of the team. Teachers must strive to encourage open lines of regular communication and should collaborate whenever possible, especially when it comes to making important decisions about their child. It is ultimately the teacher’s responsibility to set the tone that lets families know a partnership is highly valued. In this section, we will review what effective communication entails, and we will look at how to prepare for family conferences. [118]
Sharing Perspectives
Effective communication is based on respect for others. When we have regard for other people’s perspectives, we are able to show genuine respect and can cultivate a caring classroom community. Perspectives are personal viewpoints that allow us to make sense of the world we live in. We develop our attitudes, beliefs, and biases based upon our own knowledge, experiences, family history, cultural practices, and interactions we have throughout our lives. Both teachers and families make crucial decisions on how to guide and support children based on their own perspectives. Without realizing it, our perspectives can influence the way we interact and judge others. If we recognize our biases and try to understand that everyone is entitled to their own perspective, we can strive to develop respectful relationships with our families as we continue to support children’s development. Let us look at valuable contributions both teachers and families bring to the relationship.
Pin It! What Teachers and Families Bring
Teachers bring
• information about the child based on observation and assessment
• information about the child’s developmental performance
• information about the curriculum activities and learning goals for the child
• knowledge about the best practices, theory, and principles in early childhood
• Information about the program’s philosophy, job description, agency policies
• their own unique personality and temperament
• their own training, experience, and professional philosophy
Families bring
• an understanding of the child’s temperament, health history, and behaviors at home
• expectations, fears, and hopes about the child’s success or failure
• culturally-rooted beliefs about child-rearing
• past experiences and beliefs about school
• parent/caregivers’ sense of control and authority, and other personal and familial influences
Developing a Collaborative Partnership
Figure \(1\): Family-centered care relies on respect and collaboration. [119]
As you engage in conversations, be aware that you communicate with your words, as well as your actions and body language. How can you create a warm and welcoming vibe that encourages open communication with families?
• A smile goes a long way. Make every attempt to greet each family at drop off time and be sure to say good-bye when they pick up their child.
• Family Questionnaires. It is important to realize that children come from diverse family settings and we should never assume to know the unique dynamics. In most cases, a child’s home life is the child’s first “ classroom ” and the parents are the child’s first “ teacher. ” A questionnaire will provide useful insight and background information that you will need to approach the family more responsively.
• Offer anecdotes. Families appreciate hearing about special moments that occur in their child’s day. Some parents may feel guilty or may struggle with missing out on those milestone moments. To help families feel connected, share those moments whenever possible.
• Have opportunities for families to volunteer. Include opportunities where families can get involved both in and out of the classroom setting.
• Have a system in place for on-going communication. Consider how you will share all that is happening at school and think about how families can inform you about what is happening at home. Some programs use handouts, emails, bulletin boards, and file folders to relay messages.
• Share your ECE knowledge. Keep in mind that childrearing practices are embedded in cultural practices. When we recognize that every family is doing their best that they can and wants the best for their children, we can provide support to families that matches their needs. Some families will need more support than others will. Provide parenting resources (handouts, books) and post information on community services (food pantries, free events, counseling) for your families.
• Maintain confidentiality and keep sensitive information private. Monitor what you say and write and NEVER share information about other families. Keep all documents, assessments, and important information stored in a safe place.
• Honesty is the best policy. Be direct and tell the truth (which is sometimes easier said than done). It is a good practice that if a parent asks you something and you do not have the answer- tell them you will have to get back to them. Guessing or giving inaccurate information can ultimately breakdown communication.
• Follow through. When you and a parent agree upon something (to talk at a certain time or to implement a new guidance strategy) be sure you do your part to keep up with the agreement. [120]
Pause to Reflect
Do these make sense to you? Why or why not? What would you add?
Figure \(2\): Cycle of Connection
Effective Family Conferences
The purpose of conferences with families is for both teachers and families to share information about the child and to find ways to foster continued growth. To ensure that family members understand the purpose of the assessment process, you may want to create a handout that explains what family conferences look like at your center and what your goals are as the teacher. Be mindful that many families work and may find it difficult to engage in a traditional face-to-face conference. We recommend that you provide alternative ways to communicate with families to discuss their child’s progress.
Here are some other tips and recommendations to consider when planning effective family conferences:
• Create a welcoming conference space. Set up a private space for the conference and arrange chairs side by side. Provide light snacks and beverages to help families feel more comfortable and relaxed during the conference.
• Be Prepared. Preparation is vital to conducting a successful conference. Take time to review the child’s work and make notes of what you want to discuss during the conference. Prepare any handouts/resources you may want to give families at the meeting. Have the child’s portfolio up to date and in pristine condition.
• Start the conference with a positive comment or question. Families are often anxious about what teachers will say about their child, so start the conference with a positive comment and let them know you appreciate them being there. Ask a question to open the dialogue (this will also let you know what is important to the family and what to focus on).
• Knowing the family’s expectations will help guide your conference. Ask the family for input on their child's strengths and needs, behavior, and learning styles. Actively listening to the family will help you learn more about the child and his or her home life. This will help you better understand the hopes and goals the family has for their child.
• Remember that you are not a professional counselor, therapist, or social worker. Some families may want to tell you about their personal family matters, or about the challenging situations, they are facing. Keep social service resources on hand and have them readily available to give to your families.
• Stay focused. Conferences can easily get off-topic for one reason or another. The child’s development is the purpose of the conference, so circle back around as needed to keep the conference on track.
• Ask open-ended questions. This will facilitate conversation and encourage families to engage and participate during the conference.
• Use family-friendly terms and avoid professional jargon. We want to make sure that families understand what we are telling them. We use professional jargon with our colleagues/co-workers. We may even consider colleagues as professional jargon. Remembering that families did not study child development will help us to use family-friendly terms in all of our communications with families.
• Have an inclusive support team on hand. Some families may not speak English and may need someone available to translate information.
• Engage families in the planning process. To further support their child’s development, families will need practical activities to do at home. Discuss ways to tie in what efforts are being made at school with activities that can be done at home.
• Be reassuring. Families are not usually aware that there is a range of mastery when is pertains to developmental milestones.
• Be professional. You must always use professional verbal and written communication skills when dealing with families
• Be sensitive. When dealing with children who have special needs, put the person before the disability. Make sure family members are familiar with any important terms and that they understand questions or statements about their child’s abilities. Have resources available.
• Focus on strengths and what the child can do. Families appreciate looking at their children from a strength-based lens. That perspective builds trust with families to enable them to hear everything that they need to know about their child in an early learning environment.
• Schedule a follow-up if needed. Schedule a follow-up meeting as needed if the family has concerns or to check in on the child’s progress. This is also best practices with all families as a follow-up could be merely an informal check-in when dropping off or picking up.
• End the conference on a positive note. Thank all family members for coming to the conference. Stress collaboration and continued open communication. Let families know their support is needed and appreciated. Express confidence in the child’s abilities to continue to learn and develop. Share at least one encouraging anecdote or positive comment about the child to end the conference. [121]
Figure \(3\): A family conference in action. [122]
8.16: In Closing
As early childhood professionals, we need to include families at the center of the work we do with their children. Valuing their input creates a sense of belonging that promotes success in school and home. Understanding the unique systems, styles, and stages of each of the family members we welcome into our program enables us to collaborate more fully with each of them, providing the type of collaborative expertise that enhances each partner beyond their individual capacity.
Quotable
“Children thrive when they have the skills they need to succeed and when families are meaningfully involved in their development and learning.”
– Bierman, Morris, & Abenavoli [123] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/08%3A_Partnering_with_Families/8.15%3A_Communicating_with_Families.txt |
On the next page of this Appendix you will find the Child Development Permit Matrix as references in Chapter 3
9.02: New Page
Here are descriptions of the types of families listed in Chapter 8.
Dual parent family
We often thing about this as a mother and father raising children. However, in thinking about the the diversity of families this could include same sex parents as they are also raising children together.
Single parent family (either by choice or through divorce)
This could be a male or female parent who either wants to be a parent and does not have a partner to create a child with or is raising children on their own due to divorce. Often, we think of single parents as female, but today as we continue to form acceptance of family structures, they are males who are also choosing to form a family on their own or raise their children (from divorce) on their own.
Grandparents or other relatives raising children (relatives can also be non-related family members who are close to the children)
Children whose parents are not able to care for them (for whatever reason), may be raised by their maternal or paternal grandparents or may be raised by extended family members including those family members that are not related biologically.
Teen parents
Today it is more acceptable for teens who become pregnant to raise a child. Sometimes they may do this together or separate. Sometimes they may do this with the help of their families. Teens who become pregnant while still in high school are often able to return to school and there are programs on high school campuses where teens may bring their child. They may receive parenting classes in addition to their high school curriculum.
Adoptive families (including transracial adoption)
Families who are not able to conceive a child or carry a child to term may choose adoption as a way to form a family. While this tends to be most common, there are families who consciously choose adoption over procreation as well as decide to add to their family through adoption. In any case, forming a family through adoption is a choice not taken lightly. There are many options in forming your family through adoption. You can choose to have an open or closed adoption. Open adoption refers to having a continued relationship with the birth parent(s) to just knowing who the birthparents are and everything in between. Closed adoption means that the family does not have access to birthparent(s) information. In addition, families may choose to adopt a child of the same race or of another race.
Foster families
Children placed in temporary care due to extenuating circumstances involving their family of origin may be placed in homes that are licensed to care for children. The adults who foster these children must go through strict protocols in order to care for these vulnerable children. The most common name for this arrangement is fostering, but you may also hear them described as resource families. In these cases, it is the intent to reunite the children with their family of origin whenever possible. When this is not possible, the children are placed in the system for adoption. The foster family may decide to adopt the children or adopted by another family. It is always the intent to find a permanent arrangement for children whenever possible, as we know that stability has better outcomes for children.
Families with Same-sex parents
Same sex couples, whether two men or two women, may choose to form a family and raise the children together. There are many options available when deciding to form their family. They may adopt, they may use reproductive technology, and they may use egg or sperm donors. In the case where two women are choosing to form a family, one of them may become pregnant and give birth to their child. According to recent research into children raised by same sex parents, there is evidence to suggest that since these children are planned, they often have better outcomes than originally was believed.
Bi-racial/Multi-racial families
These include families with children raised by parents from two different races, including parents who may be bi-racial themselves. This also includes multi-racial families. Society is becoming more acceptable of diversity within families, which provides children with better outcomes.
Families with multi-religious/faith beliefs
This includes families with children raised by parents who have different religious faith/beliefs. They may choose to raise their children with neither religion, either religion, or both.
Children with an incarcerated parent(s)
This includes families where one or both parents are incarcerated. This can be complicated for the family as the parent may spend some time away and then return home. While the parent who is incarcerated is away, the family structure changes. Each time the parent goes away and comes back adds to this confusion. Sometimes, children whose parent(s) are incarcerated may live in foster care while their parent is away and be returned to the parent upon their release, if it is safe for the child to do so.
Unmarried parents who are raising children
Today, many parents are deciding not to marry and raise children. The only difference is that they do not have a legal marriage license; however, their family structure is the same as dual parent families whether opposite sex or same sex.
Transgender parents raising children
This refers to two ways in which children may be raised by a transgender parent or parents. A parent may transition after already having children with someone of the opposite sex or they may transition prior to having a child and decide they want to parent.
Blended families
A blended family can be two different parents that come together each bringing their children from a previous relationship with them. Sometimes the parents that come together with children from a previous relationship may also decide to have a child together.
Multigenerational Families
These are families where multiple generations either live together in the same household or nearby. In America, this was a familiar practice during our agricultural boom. In other countries, this is an accepted practice, especially in Native cultures.
Families formed through reproductive technology
Today we have sophisticated medical advances to help parents who are infertile to become pregnant and give birth to their biological child as well as to use the biological material from someone else and carry that fertilized embryo to term. The variety of reproductive technology available to families is quite expansive. This is often at a huge financial cost to the families, as most medical insurance companies do not cover the medical expenses of infertility.
First time older parents
Today it is becoming more common for men and women to have children in their 30’s, 40’s, and even older.
Families who are homeless
We know that some children are raised without a stable home. The family may be living in their car, living in a hotel, a homeless shelter, or living in multiple dwellings also known as couch surfing. Families experiencing homelessness may be due to the loss of a job/steady income, being employed by making minimal wages that do not provide the means necessary to sustain housing (and other basic necessities), or other issues that may complicate the family’s ability to sustain a stable place to live. Families do not always share their homeless status as there is often shame and embarrassment that society places on these families.
Families with children who have developmental delays and disabilities
This refers to families who have a child or children with developmental delays and/or disabilities. These delays/disabilities are varied. There also may be typically developing children in the family as well. This often places a burden on families, not only because of the time needed to care for a child who is not typically developing, but because society often misinterprets children who display behaviors that may be viewed as challenging.
Families raising their children in a culture not their own and in which English is not the primary language
This refers to families who may have immigrated here and whose children were either born in their country of origin or born in the United States. This duality of cultures can create challenges for the child and their family if societal expectations are that the family enculturate to the dominant culture. This results in children feeling shame about their family when they should feel pride in their family of origin.
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[60] Image by Ian Joslin is licensed under CC BY 4.0 from "Introduction to Curriculum" by Kristin Beeve and Jennifer Paris, College of the Canyons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work
[61] Image by Ian Joslin is licensed under CC BY 4.0 from "Introduction to Curriculum" by Kristin Beeve and Jennifer Paris, College of the Canyons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work
[62] Image by Ian Joslin is licensed under CC BY 4.0 from "Introduction to Curriculum" by Kristin Beeve and Jennifer Paris, College of the Canyons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work
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• 1.1: Can We Learn?
Socrates has been challenging Meno to provide a definition of Virtue. Meno has been unable to provide a whole or complete definition of virtue without breaking the definition into parts or merely providing a good example of virtue. Socrates and Meno are now discussing whether or not it is possible for anybody to learn what virtue is. Their conversation applies well beyond the scope of whether or not it is possible to learn about virtue, but whether or not it is possible to learn something at all
• 1.2: Why, How, and When Should We Learn?
The following section includes comments from three of Aristotle’s books. The sections are ordered from the most abstract to the most concrete. 1) Why do men desire to know? 2) How do we know that we know? 3) What obligations do societies have to educate?
• 2.3: What is the Appropriate Use of Curiosity
In this section, you will find two passages. The first is from Augustine's Confessions. He frames his version of what it means to be curious. In the second passage, you will find a passage from Aquinas' Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle. In that passage, he lays out his competing vision of what it means to be curious.
01: On Knowledge and Wanting to Know
Selections from Meno
Plato
Up to this point, Socrates has been challenging Meno to provide a definition of Virtue. Meno has been unable to provide a whole or complete definition of virtue without breaking the definition into parts or merely providing a good example of virtue. Socrates and Meno are now discussing whether or not it is possible for anybody to learn what virtue is. Their conversation applies well beyond the scope of whether or not it is possible to learn about virtue, but whether or not it is possible to learn something at all.
Soc. will be used for Socrates, and Men. will be used for Meno.
Soc. Then begin again, and answer me, What, according to you and your friend Gorgias, is the definition of virtue?
Men. O Socrates, I used to be told, before I knew you, that you were always doubting yourself and making others doubt; and now you are casting your spells over me, and I am simply getting bewitched and enchanted, and am at my wits' end. And if I may venture to make a jest upon you, you seem to me both in your appearance and in your power over others to be very like the flat torpedo fish, who torpifies those who come near him and touch him, as you have now torpified me, I think. For my soul and my tongue are really torpid, and I do not know how to answer you; and though I have been delivered of an infinite variety of speeches about virtue before now, and to many persons-and very good ones they were, as I thought-at this moment I cannot even say what virtue is. And I think that. you are very wise in not voyaging and going away from home, for if you did in other places as do in Athens, you would be cast into prison as a magician.
Soc. You are a rogue, Meno, and had all but caught me.
Men. What do you mean, Socrates?
Soc. I can tell why you made a simile about me.
Men. Why?
Soc. In order that I might make another simile about you. For I know that all pretty young gentlemen like to have pretty similes made about them-as well they may-but I shall not return the compliment. As to my being a torpedo, if the torpedo is torpid as well as the cause of torpidity in others, then indeed I am a torpedo, but not otherwise; for I perplex others, not because I am clear, but because I am utterly perplexed myself. And now I know not what virtue is, and you seem to be in the same case, although you did once perhaps know before you touched me. However, I have no objection to join with you in the enquiry.
Reflection Question
Here Meno accuses Socrates of doubting himself and making others doubt. Socrates doesn't seem to mind. What is the relationship between learning and doubting?
Men. And how will you enquire, Socrates, into that which you do not know? What will you put forth as the subject of enquiry? And if you find what you want, how will you ever know that this is the thing which you did not know?
Soc. I know, Meno, what you mean; but just see what a tiresome dispute you are introducing. You argue that man cannot enquire either about that which he knows, or about that which he does not know; for if he knows, he has no need to enquire; and if not, he cannot; for he does not know the, very subject about which he is to enquire.
Men. Well, Socrates, and is not the argument sound?
Soc. I think not.
Men. Why not?
Soc. I will tell you why: I have heard from certain wise men and women who spoke of things divine that-
Men. What did they say?
Soc. They spoke of a glorious truth, as I conceive.
Men. What was it? and who were they?
Soc. Some of them were priests and priestesses, who had studied how they might be able to give a reason of their profession: there, have been poets also, who spoke of these things by inspiration, like Pindar, and many others who were inspired. And they say-mark, now, and see whether their words are true-they say that the soul of man is immortal, and at one time has an end, which is termed dying, and at another time is born again, but is never destroyed. And the moral is, that a man ought to live always in perfect holiness. "For in the ninth year Persephone sends the souls of those from whom she has received the penalty of ancient crime back again from beneath into the light of the sun above, and these are they who become noble kings and mighty men and great in wisdom and are called saintly heroes in after ages." The soul, then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, rand having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all; and it is no wonder that she should be able to call to remembrance all that she ever knew about virtue, and about everything; for as all nature is akin, and the soul has learned all things; there is no difficulty in her eliciting or as men say learning, out of a single recollection -all the rest, if a man is strenuous and does not faint; for all enquiry and all learning is but recollection. And therefore we ought not to listen to this sophistical argument about the impossibility of enquiry: for it will make us idle; and is sweet only to the sluggard; but the other saying will make us active and inquisitive. In that confiding, I will gladly enquire with you into the nature of virtue.
Reflection Question
If Socrates is right and all learning is but recollection, how might that change the way that you approach teaching a class?
Men. Yes, Socrates; but what do you mean by saying that we do not learn, and that what we call learning is only a process of recollection? Can you teach me how this is?
Soc. I told you, Meno, just now that you were a rogue, and now you ask whether I can teach you, when I am saying that there is no teaching, but only recollection; and thus you imagine that you will involve me in a contradiction.
Reflection Question
Do you think that Meno asked legitimate questions? Why or why not?
Men. Indeed, Socrates, I protest that I had no such intention. I only asked the question from habit; but if you can prove to me that what you say is true, I wish that you would.
Soc. It will be no easy matter, but I will try to please you to the utmost of my power. Suppose that you call one of your numerous attendants, that I may demonstrate on him.
Men. Certainly. Come hither, boy.
Soc. He is Greek, and speaks Greek, does he not?
Men. Yes, indeed; he was born in the house.
Soc. Attend now to the questions which I ask him, and observe whether he learns of me or only remembers.
Men. I will.
After this point Socrates calls over a slave boy and proceeds to question the boy about mathematical principles. Socrates is able to ask the questions in such a way that the boy is able to explain the pythagorean theorem without any direct instruction. Socrates then argues that the fact that this boy is able to explain complex math without "teaching" is strong evidence that all learning is recollection.
Attributions
• To find the full length Meno translated by Benjamin Jowett visit The Internet Classics Archive.
• A special thanks to A. Legrand Richards for his help in selecting the text for this abridgment. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/01%3A_On_Knowledge_and_Wanting_to_Know/1.01%3A_Can_We_Learn.txt |
Selections from Metaphysics, Posterior Analytics, and Politics
Aristotle
The following section includes comments from three of Aristotle’s books. The sections are ordered from the most abstract to the most concrete. 1) Why do men desire to know? 2) How do we know that we know? 3) What obligations do societies have to educate?
Metaphysics
Book 1
In this section of the Metaphysics, Aristotle argues for several conclusions 1) humans have a natural desire to want to know. 2) we must be more sure of the premises of an argument than its conclusion. 3) all scientific knowledge is the result of demonstration (logical proof).
Part 1
"ALL men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing (one might say) to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things.
"By nature animals are born with the faculty of sensation, and from sensation memory is produced in some of them, though not in others. And therefore the former are more intelligent and apt at learning than those which cannot remember; those which are incapable of hearing sounds are intelligent though they cannot be taught, e.g. the bee, and any other race of animals that may be like it; and those which besides memory have this sense of hearing can be taught.
"The animals other than man live by appearances and memories, and have but little of connected experience; but the human race lives also by art and reasonings. Now from memory experience is produced in men; for the several memories of the same thing produce finally the capacity for a single experience. And experience seems pretty much like science and art, but really science and art come to men through experience; for 'experience made art', as Polus says, 'but inexperience luck.' Now art arises when from many notions gained by experience one universal judgement about a class of objects is produced. For to have a judgement that when Callias was ill of this disease this did him good, and similarly in the case of Socrates and in many individual cases, is a matter of experience; but to judge that it has done good to all persons of a certain constitution, marked off in one class, when they were ill of this disease, e.g. to phlegmatic or bilious people when burning with fevers-this is a matter of art.
"With a view to action experience seems in no respect inferior to art, and men of experience succeed even better than those who have theory without experience. (The reason is that experience is knowledge of individuals, art of universals, and actions and productions are all concerned with the individual; for the physician does not cure man, except in an incidental way, but Callias or Socrates or some other called by some such individual name, who happens to be a man. If, then, a man has the theory without the experience, and recognizes the universal but does not know the individual included in this, he will often fail to cure; for it is the individual that is to be cured.) But yet we think that knowledge and understanding belong to art rather than to experience, and we suppose artists to be wiser than men of experience (which implies that Wisdom depends in all cases rather on knowledge); and this because the former know the cause, but the latter do not. For men of experience know that the thing is so, but do not know why, while the others know the 'why' and the cause. Hence we think also that the masterworkers in each craft are more honourable and know in a truer sense and are wiser than the manual workers, because they know the causes of the things that are done (we think the manual workers are like certain lifeless things which act indeed, but act without knowing what they do, as fire burns,-but while the lifeless things perform each of their functions by a natural tendency, the labourers perform them through habit); thus we view them as being wiser not in virtue of being able to act, but of having the theory for themselves and knowing the causes. And in general it is a sign of the man who knows and of the man who does not know, that the former can teach, and therefore we think art more truly knowledge than experience is; for artists can teach, and men of mere experience cannot.
"Again, we do not regard any of the senses as Wisdom; yet surely these give the most authoritative knowledge of particulars. But they do not tell us the 'why' of anything-e.g. why fire is hot; they only say that it is hot.
"At first he who invented any art whatever that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered, and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure.
"We have said in the Ethics what the difference is between art and science and the other kindred faculties; but the point of our present discussion is this, that all men suppose what is called Wisdom to deal with the first causes and the principles of things; so that, as has been said before, the man of experience is thought to be wiser than the possessors of any sense-perception whatever, the artist wiser than the men of experience, the masterworker than the mechanic, and the theoretical kinds of knowledge to be more of the nature of Wisdom than the productive. Clearly then Wisdom is knowledge about certain principles and causes.
Part 2
"Since we are seeking this knowledge, we must inquire of what kind are the causes and the principles, the knowledge of which is Wisdom. If one were to take the notions we have about the wise man, this might perhaps make the answer more evident. We suppose first, then, that the wise man knows all things, as far as possible, although he has not knowledge of each of them in detail; secondly, that he who can learn things that are difficult, and not easy for man to know, is wise (sense-perception is common to all, and therefore easy and no mark of Wisdom); again, that he who is more exact and more capable of teaching the causes is wiser, in every branch of knowledge; and that of the sciences, also, that which is desirable on its own account and for the sake of knowing it is more of the nature of Wisdom than that which is desirable on account of its results, and the superior science is more of the nature of Wisdom than the ancillary; for the wise man must not be ordered but must order, and he must not obey another, but the less wise must obey him.
"Such and so many are the notions, then, which we have about Wisdom and the wise. Now of these characteristics that of knowing all things must belong to him who has in the highest degree universal knowledge; for he knows in a sense all the instances that fall under the universal. And these things, the most universal, are on the whole the hardest for men to know; for they are farthest from the senses. And the most exact of the sciences are those which deal most with first principles; for those which involve fewer principles are more exact than those which involve additional principles, e.g. arithmetic than geometry. But the science which investigates causes is also instructive, in a higher degree, for the people who instruct us are those who tell the causes of each thing. And understanding and knowledge pursued for their own sake are found most in the knowledge of that which is most knowable (for he who chooses to know for the sake of knowing will choose most readily that which is most truly knowledge, and such is the knowledge of that which is most knowable); and the first principles and the causes are most knowable; for by reason of these, and from these, all other things come to be known, and not these by means of the things subordinate to them. And the science which knows to what end each thing must be done is the most authoritative of the sciences, and more authoritative than any ancillary science; and this end is the good of that thing, and in general the supreme good in the whole of nature. Judged by all the tests we have mentioned, then, the name in question falls to the same science; this must be a science that investigates the first principles and causes; for the good, i.e. the end, is one of the causes.
"That it is not a science of production is clear even from the history of the earliest philosophers. For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize; they wondered originally at the obvious difficulties, then advanced little by little and stated difficulties about the greater matters, e.g. about the phenomena of the moon and those of the sun and of the stars, and about the genesis of the universe. And a man who is puzzled and wonders thinks himself ignorant (whence even the lover of myth is in a sense a lover of Wisdom, for the myth is composed of wonders); therefore since they philosophized order to escape from ignorance, evidently they were pursuing science in order to know, and not for any utilitarian end. And this is confirmed by the facts; for it was when almost all the necessities of life and the things that make for comfort and recreation had been secured, that such knowledge began to be sought. Evidently then we do not seek it for the sake of any other advantage; but as the man is free, we say, who exists for his own sake and not for another's, so we pursue this as the only free science, for it alone exists for its own sake...
Posterior Analytics
Book 1
This second section is from Aristotles work that focuses heavily on categorizing the kinds of things that can be known and how we know them. This passage begins with his opening comments on Scientific knowledge. He proceeds into defining a host of terms that will become central to philosophy especially medevial and 20th century analytic Philosophy.
Part 2
We suppose ourselves to possess unqualified scientific knowledge of a thing, as opposed to knowing it in the accidental way in which the sophist knows, when we think that we know the cause on which the fact depends, as the cause of that fact and of no other, and, further, that the fact could not be other than it is. Now that scientific knowing is something of this sort is evident—witness both those who falsely claim it and those who actually possess it, since the former merely imagine themselves to be, while the latter are also actually, in the condition described. Consequently the proper object of unqualified scientific knowledge is something which cannot be other than it is. There may be another manner of knowing as well—that will be discussed later. What I now assert is that at all events we do know by demonstration. By demonstration I mean a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, a syllogism, that is, the grasp of which is eo ipso such knowledge. Assuming then that my thesis as to the nature of scientific knowing is correct, the premises of demonstrated knowledge must be true, primary, immediate, better known than and prior to the conclusion, which is further related to them as effect to cause. Unless these conditions are satisfied, the basic truths will not be ‘appropriate’ to the conclusion. Syllogism there may indeed be without these conditions, but such syllogism, not being productive of scientific knowledge, will not be demonstration. The premises must be true: for that which is non-existent cannot be known—we cannot know, e.g. that the diagonal of a square is commensurate with its side. The premises must be primary and indemonstrable; otherwise they will require demonstration in order to be known, since to have knowledge, if it be not accidental knowledge, of things which are demonstrable, means precisely to have a demonstration of them. The premises must be the causes of the conclusion, better known than it, and prior to it; its causes, since we possess scientific knowledge of a thing only when we know its cause; prior, in order to be causes; antecedently known, this antecedent knowledge being not our mere understanding of the meaning, but knowledge of the fact as well. Now ‘prior’ and ‘better known’ are ambiguous terms, for there is a difference between what is prior and better known in the order of being and what is prior and better known to man. I mean that objects nearer to sense are prior and better known to man; objects without qualification prior and better known are those further from sense. Now the most universal causes are furthest from sense and particular causes are nearest to sense, and they are thus exactly opposed to one another. In saying that the premises of demonstrated knowledge must be primary, I mean that they must be the ‘appropriate’ basic truths, for I identify primary premise and basic truth. A ‘basic truth’ in a demonstration is an immediate proposition. An immediate proposition is one which has no other proposition prior to it. A proposition is either part of an enunciation, i.e. it predicates a single attribute of a single subject. If a proposition is dialectical, it assumes either part indifferently; if it is demonstrative, it lays down one part to the definite exclusion of the other because that part is true. The term ‘enunciation’ denotes either part of a contradiction indifferently. A contradiction is an opposition which of its own nature excludes a middle. The part of a contradiction which conjoins a predicate with a subject is an affirmation; the part disjoining them is a negation. I call an immediate basic truth of syllogism a ‘thesis’ when, though it is not susceptible of proof by the teacher, yet ignorance of it does not constitute a total bar to progress on the part of the pupil: one which the pupil must know if he is to learn anything whatever is an axiom. I call it an axiom because there are such truths and we give them the name of axioms par excellence. If a thesis assumes one part or the other of an enunciation, i.e. asserts either the existence or the non-existence of a subject, it is a hypothesis; if it does not so assert, it is a definition. Definition is a ‘thesis’ or a ‘laying something down’, since the arithmetician lays it down that to be a unit is to be quantitatively indivisible; but it is not a hypothesis, for to define what a unit is, is not the same as to affirm its existence. Now since the required ground of our knowledge—i.e. of our conviction—of a fact is the possession of such a syllogism as we call demonstration, and the ground of the syllogism is the facts constituting its premises, we must not only know the primary premises—some if not all of them—beforehand, but know them better than the conclusion: for the cause of an attribute’s inherence in a subject always itself inheres in the subject more firmly than that attribute; e.g. the cause of our loving anything is dearer to us than the object of our love. So since the primary premises are the cause of our knowledge—i.e. of our conviction—it follows that we know them better—that is, are more convinced of them—than their consequences, precisely because of our knowledge of the latter is the effect of our knowledge of the premises. Now a man cannot believe in anything more than in the things he knows, unless he has either actual knowledge of it or something better than actual knowledge. But we are faced with this paradox if a student whose belief rests on demonstration has not prior knowledge; a man must believe in some, if not in all, of the basic truths more than in the conclusion. Moreover, if a man sets out to acquire the scientific knowledge that comes through demonstration, he must not only have a better knowledge of the basic truths and a firmer conviction of them than of the conation which is being demonstrated: more than this, nothing must be more certain or better known to him than these basic truths in their character as contradicting the fundamental premises which lead to the opposed and erroneous conclusion. For indeed the conviction of pure science must be unshakable.
Politics
Book 8
In this section of the politics Aristotle turns his attention to the topic of why a society should institute a public education system. His arguments hinge on the idea that the society is prior to the individual in the sense that if you were to destroy the society you would destroy the individual. Therefore, no individual belongs to himself and his thriving is important to the state.
Part 1
None will doubt that the legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth; for the neglect of education does harm to the constitution The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives. For each government has a peculiar character which originally formed and which continues to preserve it. The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy; and always the better the character, the better the government.
Again, for the exercise of any faculty or art a previous training and habituation are required; clearly therefore for the practice of virtue. And since the whole city has one end, it is manifest that education should be one and the same for all, and that it should be public, and not private- not as at present, when every one looks after his own children separately, and gives them separate instruction of the sort which he thinks best; the training in things which are of common interest should be the same for all. Neither must we suppose that any one of the citizens belongs to himself, for they all belong to the state, and are each of them a part of the state, and the care of each part is inseparable from the care of the whole. In this particular as in some others the Lacedaemonians are to be praised, for they take the greatest pains about their children, and make education the business of the state.
Part II
That education should be regulated by law and should be an affair of state is not to be denied, but what should be the character of this public education, and how young persons should be educated, are questions which remain to be considered. As things are, there is disagreement about the subjects. For mankind are by no means agreed about the things to be taught, whether we look to virtue or the best life. Neither is it clear whether education is more concerned with intellectual or with moral virtue. The existing practice is perplexing; no one knows on what principle we should proceed- should the useful in life, or should virtue, or should the higher knowledge, be the aim of our training; all three opinions have been entertained. Again, about the means there is no agreement; for different persons, starting with different ideas about the nature of virtue, naturally disagree about the practice of it. There can be no doubt that children should be taught those useful things which are really necessary, but not all useful things; for occupations are divided into liberal and illiberal; and to young children should be imparted only such kinds of knowledge as will be useful to them without vulgarizing them. And any occupation, art, or science, which makes the body or soul or mind of the freeman less fit for the practice or exercise of virtue, is vulgar; wherefore we call those arts vulgar which tend to deform the body, and likewise all paid employments, for they absorb and degrade the mind. There are also some liberal arts quite proper for a freeman to acquire, but only in a certain degree, and if he attend to them too closely, in order to attain perfection in them, the same evil effects will follow. The object also which a man sets before him makes a great difference; if he does or learns anything for his own sake or for the sake of his friends, or with a view to excellence the action will not appear illiberal; but if done for the sake of others, the very same action will be thought menial and servile. The received subjects of instruction, as I have already remarked, are partly of a liberal and party of an illiberal character.
Part III
The customary branches of education are in number four; they are- (1) reading and writing, (2) gymnastic exercises, (3) music, to which is sometimes added (4) drawing. Of these, reading and writing and drawing are regarded as useful for the purposes of life in a variety of ways, and gymnastic exercises are thought to infuse courage. concerning music a doubt may be raised- in our own day most men cultivate it for the sake of pleasure, but originally it was included in education, because nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well; for, as I must repeat once again, the first principle of all action is leisure. Both are required, but leisure is better than occupation and is its end; and therefore the question must be asked, what ought we to do when at leisure? Clearly we ought not to be amusing ourselves, for then amusement would be the end of life. But if this is inconceivable, and amusement is needed more amid serious occupations than at other times (for he who is hard at work has need of relaxation, and amusement gives relaxation, whereas occupation is always accompanied with exertion and effort), we should introduce amusements only at suitable times, and they should be our medicines, for the emotion which they create in the soul is a relaxation, and from the pleasure we obtain rest. But leisure of itself gives pleasure and happiness and enjoyment of life, which are experienced, not by the busy man, but by those who have leisure. For he who is occupied has in view some end which he has not attained; but happiness is an end, since all men deem it to be accompanied with pleasure and not with pain. This pleasure, however, is regarded differently by different persons, and varies according to the habit of individuals; the pleasure of the best man is the best, and springs from the noblest sources. It is clear then that there are branches of learning and education which we must study merely with a view to leisure spent in intellectual activity, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things. And therefore our fathers admitted music into education, not on the ground either of its necessity or utility, for it is not necessary, nor indeed useful in the same manner as reading and writing, which are useful in money-making, in the management of a household, in the acquisition of knowledge and in political life, nor like drawing, useful for a more correct judgment of the works of artists, nor again like gymnastic, which gives health and strength; for neither of these is to be gained from music. There remains, then, the use of music for intellectual enjoyment in leisure; which is in fact evidently the reason of its introduction, this being one of the ways in which it is thought that a freeman should pass his leisure; as Homer says,
"But he who alone should be called to the pleasant feast, " and afterwards he speaks of others whom he describes as inviting
"The bard who would delight them all. " And in another place Odysseus says there is no better way of passing life than when men's hearts are merry and The banqueters in the hall, sitting in order, hear the voice of the minstrel.
It is evident, then, that there is a sort of education in which parents should train their sons, not as being useful or necessary, but because it is liberal or noble. Whether this is of one kind only, or of more than one, and if so, what they are, and how they are to be imparted, must hereafter be determined. Thus much we are now in a position to say, that the ancients witness to us; for their opinion may be gathered from the fact that music is one of the received and traditional branches of education. Further, it is clear that children should be instructed in some useful things- for example, in reading and writing- not only for their usefulness, but also because many other sorts of knowledge are acquired through them. With a like view they may be taught drawing, not to prevent their making mistakes in their own purchases, or in order that they may not be imposed upon in the buying or selling of articles, but perhaps rather because it makes them judges of the beauty of the human form. To be always seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls. Now it is clear that in education practice must be used before theory, and the body be trained before the mind; and therefore boys should be handed over to the trainer, who creates in them the roper habit of body, and to the wrestling-master, who teaches them their exercises.
Attributions
• You can find complete copies of all three of Aristotle's works Translated by Benjamin Jowett at The Internet Classics Archive.
• A special thanks to Michael Arts for his assistance in selecting the texts for this abridgement. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/01%3A_On_Knowledge_and_Wanting_to_Know/1.02%3A_Why_How_and_When_Should_We_Learn.txt |
Selections from Confessions and Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle
Augustine & Thomas Aquinas
In this section, you will find two passages. The first is from Augustine's Confessions. He frames his version of what it means to be curious. In the second passage, you will find a passage from Aquinas' Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle. In that passage, he lays out his competing vision of what it means to be curious.
Augstine
St. Augustine, Confessiones, X, 35 (54-55)
54. At this point I mention another form of temptation, more various and dangerous. For over and above that lust of the flesh which lies in the delight of all our senses and pleasures—whoso slaves are wasted unto destruction as they go from You—there can also be in the mind itself, through those same bodily senses, a certain vain desire and curiosity, not of taking delight in the body, but of making experiments with the body’s aid, and cloaked under the name of learning and knowledge. Because this is in the appetite to know, and the eyes are the chief of the senses we use for attaining knowledge, it is called in Scripture the lust of the eyes. For “to see” belongs as a property to the eyes; yet we apply the word also to the other senses, when we use them for gaining knowledge. Thus we do not say: “Hear how it flashes,” or “Smell how bright it is,” or “Taste how it shines,” or “Touch how it glows”: because all these things are said to be seen. Yet we do not say only “See how it shines,” something that only the eye can perceive; but also “See how it sounds,” “See how it smells,” “See how it tastes,” “See how hot it is.” Thus the experience of the senses as a whole, as has been said, is called the lust of the eyes, yet we apply it to the other senses by analogy when they are in pursuit of the truth about anything.
55. In this it is easy to distinguish between the way in which the senses serve pleasure and the way in which they serve curiosity. Pleasure goes after objects that are beautiful to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, but curiosity for the sake of experiment can go after quite contrary things, not in order to experience their unpleasantness, but through the mere itch to experience and find out. What pleasure can there be in seeing a mangled corpse, which is only horrible? yet if there happens to be one anywhere about, people flock to it to be saddened and sickened: indeed they are in terror that they may dream about it. So that you would think that when they are awake they would not go to see it unless either they were dragged there by force, or some false report that the sight was beautiful had drawn them. It is the same with the other senses which it would be long to follow up. Because of this disease of curiosity you have the various freaks shown in the theatres. Thus men proceed to investigate the phenomena of nature—the part of nature external to us—though the knowledge is of no value to them: for they wish to know simply for the sake of knowing. We have a similar thing when for the sake of the same perverted learning inquiry is made by way of magic. And the same happens even in religion: God is tempted when signs and wonders are demanded, not for any purpose of salvation, but solely for the experience of seeing them.
Reflection Question
Few today would frame "experiment" in such a negative light, but Augustine raises an interesting question. What is the limit to the type of things that you can justify learning just because you wanted to know them? Can I find out your social security number just because I want to know?
Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, Lesson 1
1. [Aristotle] says, first, that the desire to know belongs by nature to all men.
2. Three reasons can be given for this. The first is that each thing naturally desires its own perfection. Hence matter is also said to desire form as any imperfect thing desires its perfection. Therefore, since the intellect, by which man is what he is, considered in itself is all things potentially, and becomes them actually only through knowledge, because the intellect is none of the things that exist before it understands them, as is stated in Book III of The Soul; so each man naturally desires knowledge just as matter desires form.
3. The second reason is that each thing has a natural inclination to perform its proper operation, as something hot is naturally inclined to heat, and something heavy to be moved downwards. Now the proper operation of man as man is to understand, for by reason of this he differs from all other things. Hence the desire of man is naturally inclined to understand, and therefore to possess scientific knowledge.
4. The third reason is that it is desirable for each thing to be united to its source, since it is in this that the perfection of each thing consists. This is also the reason why circular motion is the most perfect motion, as is proved in Book VIII of the Physics, because its terminus is united to its starting-point. Now it is only by means of his intellect that man is united to the separate substances, which are the source of the human intellect and that to which the human intellect is related as something imperfect to something perfect. It is for this reason, too, that the ultimate happiness of man consists in this union. Therefore man naturally desires to know.
Reflection Question
What do you see as the main points of contrast between Augustine and Aquinas?
Attributions
• The full book of Augustine's Confessions Translated by Rev. Dr. E.B. Pusey can be found online with Google books. The entirety of Aquinas' Commentary translated by John P. Rowan can be found in the Priory archives. A special thanks to Michael Arts for his assistance in compiling this abridgment. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/01%3A_On_Knowledge_and_Wanting_to_Know/2.3%3A_What_is_the_Appropriate_Use_of_Curiosity.txt |
• 2.1: What is a Classical Education?
In this essay, Montaigne begins by saying that he does not know how to educate children but then goes on to give a series of practical recommendations based on his philosophical positions on the nature of knowledge and teaching. His philosophical system is not entirely clear throughout the essay, but the reflection questions will ask you to investigate what might have been his underlying philosophical positions in traditional realms such as epistemology, ontology, and ethics.
• 2.2: What Kind of Subjects are Worth Investigating?
In this text, Descartes outlines several of his rules for rigorous thinking. The two principal questions that he seeks to answer are 1) what kind of things deserve the attention of rigorous and extended thinking and 2) on what topics can we obtain certainty? Descartes’ claims about what objects are worthy of attention and why they are worthy of attention stand in fairly stark contrast to the underlying mindset behind exploration-based curricula of the 21st century.
• 2.3: How to Educate a Gentleman?
In this section Locke lays out several of his thoughts on the best way to edcuate a young gentleman. He speaks primarily of how a tutor should act toward a young puil. Much of his attention is focused on how avoiding physical punishment and helping students develope their own motivation.
• 2.4: How is the Desire to Learn Cultivated?
In this text, Rousseau vigorously attempts to make the case for allowing nature to educate a child by working to help the child keep their curiosity. He also disagrees with Locke directly and indirectly. If you have not read the essay by Locke, it may be best to read it first.
• 2.5: How Can Girls Receive an Equal Education?
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), written Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who believed that women should not receive a rational education.
02: The Handbooks from Philosophers
Selections from Of the Education of Children
Michel de Montaigne
In this essay, Montaigne responds to a Madame Diane de Foix who asked him how to educate a child. Montaigne begins by saying that he does not know how to educate children but then goes on to give a series of practical recommendations based on his philosophical positions on the nature of knowledge and teaching. His philosophical system is not entirely clear throughout the essay, but the reflection questions will ask you to investigate what might have been his underlying philosophical positions in traditional realms such as epistemology, ontology, and ethics.
It may also be important to note that in the orignial version each of the quotes that I have bolded is preceded by the Latin translation. I have not included the Latin here for the sake of brevity.
TO MADAME DIANE DE FOIX, Comtesse de Gurson
I never yet saw that father, but let his son be never so decrepit or deformed, would not, notwithstanding, own him: not, nevertheless, if he were not totally besotted, and blinded with his paternal affection, that he did not well enough discern his defects; but that with all defaults he was still his. Just so, I see better than any other, that all I write here are but the idle reveries of a man that has only nibbled upon the outward crust of sciences in his nonage, and only retained a general and formless image of them; who has got a little snatch of everything and nothing of the whole, ’a la Francoise’. For I know, in general, that there is such a thing as physic, as jurisprudence: four parts in mathematics, and, roughly, what all these aim and point at; and, peradventure, I yet know farther, what sciences in general pretend unto, in order to the service of our life: but to dive farther than that, and to have cudgelled my brains in the study of Aristotle, the monarch of all modern learning, or particularly addicted myself to any one science, I have never done it; neither is there any one art of which I am able to draw the first lineaments and dead colour; insomuch that there is not a boy of the lowest form in a school, that may not pretend to be wiser than I, who am not able to examine him in his first lesson, which, if I am at any time forced upon, I am necessitated in my own defence, to ask him, unaptly enough, some universal questions, such as may serve to try his natural understanding; a lesson as strange and unknown to him, as his is to me...
Some one, then, having seen the preceding chapter, the other day told me at my house, that I should a little farther have extended my discourse on the education of children.—[“Which, how fit I am to do, let my friends flatter me if they please, I have in the meantime no such opinion of my own talent, as to promise myself any very good success from my endeavour.” This passage would appear to be an interpolation by Cotton. At all events, I do not find it in the original editions before me, or in Coste.]—
Now, madam, if I had any sufficiency in this subject, I could not possibly better employ it, than to present my best instructions to the little man that threatens you shortly with a happy birth (for you are too generous to begin otherwise than with a male); for, having had so great a hand in the treaty of your marriage, I have a certain particular right and interest in the greatness and prosperity of the issue that shall spring from it; beside that, your having had the best of my services so long in possession, sufficiently obliges me to desire the honour and advantage of all wherein you shall be concerned. But, in truth, all I understand as to that particular is only this, that the greatest and most important difficulty of human science is the education of children.
Reflection Question
What might Montaigne mean by science? Whatever his notion of science, why would this be the hardest science?
For as in agriculture, the husbandry that is to precede planting, as also planting itself, is certain, plain, and well known; but after that which is planted comes to life, there is a great deal more to be done, more art to be used, more care to be taken, and much more difficulty to cultivate and bring it to perfection so it is with men; it is no hard matter to get children; but after they are born, then begins the trouble, solicitude, and care rightly to train, principle, and bring them up. The symptoms of their inclinations in that tender age are so obscure, and the promises so uncertain and fallacious, that it is very hard to establish any solid judgment or conjecture upon them. Look at Cimon, for example, and Themistocles, and a thousand others, who very much deceived the expectation men had of them. Cubs of bears and puppies readily discover their natural inclination; but men, so soon as ever they are grown up, applying themselves to certain habits, engaging themselves in certain opinions, and conforming themselves to particular laws and customs, easily alter, or at least disguise, their true and real disposition; and yet it is hard to force the propension of nature. Whence it comes to pass, that for not having chosen the right course, we often take very great pains, and consume a good part of our time in training up children to things, for which, by their natural constitution, they are totally unfit. In this difficulty, nevertheless, I am clearly of opinion, that they ought to be elemented in the best and most advantageous studies, without taking too much notice of, or being too superstitious in those light prognostics they give of themselves in their tender years, and to which Plato, in his Republic, gives, methinks, too much authority.
Madam, science is a very great ornament, and a thing of marvellous use, especially in persons raised to that degree of fortune in which you are. And, in truth, in persons of mean and low condition, it cannot perform its true and genuine office, being naturally more prompt to assist in the conduct of war, in the government of peoples, in negotiating the leagues and friendships of princes and foreign nations, than in forming a syllogism in logic, in pleading a process in law, or in prescribing a dose of pills in physic. Wherefore, madam, believing you will not omit this so necessary feature in the education of your children, who yourself have tasted its sweetness, and are of a learned extraction (for we yet have the writings of the ancient Counts of Foix, from whom my lord, your husband, and yourself, are both of you descended, and Monsieur de Candale, your uncle, every day obliges the world with others, which will extend the knowledge of this quality in your family for so many succeeding ages), I will, upon this occasion, presume to acquaint your ladyship with one particular fancy of my own, contrary to the common method, which is all I am able to contribute to your service in this affair.
Reflection Question
What kind of obligation does an individual have to pass on the knowledge he or she has gained?
The charge of the tutor you shall provide for your son, upon the choice of whom depends the whole success of his education, has several other great and considerable parts and duties required in so important a trust, besides that of which I am about to speak: these, however, I shall not mention, as being unable to add anything of moment to the common rules: and in this, wherein I take upon me to advise, he may follow it so far only as it shall appear advisable.
Reflection Question
Montaigne is articulating his vision for the education of children based on the framework of one mentor to one child, does this limit the way his insights can be applied to public education. If so, how?
For a, boy of quality then, who pretends to letters not upon the account of profit (for so mean an object is unworthy of the grace and favour of the Muses, and moreover, in it a man directs his service to and depends upon others), nor so much for outward ornament, as for his own proper and peculiar use, and to furnish and enrich himself within, having rather a desire to come out an accomplished cavalier than a mere scholar or learned man; for such a one, I say, I would, also, have his friends solicitous to find him out a tutor, who has rather a well-made than a well-filled head...seeking, indeed, both the one and the other, but rather of the two to prefer manners and judgment to mere learning, and that this man should exercise his charge after a new method.
’Tis the custom of pedagogues to be eternally thundering in their pupil’s ears, as they were pouring into a funnel, whilst the business of the pupil is only to repeat what the others have said: now I would have a tutor to correct this error, and, that at the very first, he should according to the capacity he has to deal with, put it to the test, permitting his pupil himself to taste things, and of himself to discern and choose them, sometimes opening the way to him, and sometimes leaving him to open it for himself; that is, I would not have him alone to invent and speak, but that he should also hear his pupil speak in turn. Socrates, and since him Arcesilaus, made first their scholars speak, and then they spoke to them—Diogenes Laertius, iv. 36.
“The authority of those who teach, is very often an impediment to those who desire to learn.”
—Cicero, De Natura Deor., i. 5.
Reflection Question
How does the authority of a teacher shape the possibility of collaboration between teachers and students?
It is good to make him, like a young horse, trot before him, that he may judge of his going, and how much he is to abate of his own speed, to accommodate himself to the vigour and capacity of the other. For want of which due proportion we spoil all; which also to know how to adjust, and to keep within an exact and due measure, is one of the hardest things I know, and ’tis the effect of a high and well-tempered soul, to know how to condescend to such puerile motions and to govern and direct them. I walk firmer and more secure uphill than down.
Such as, according to our common way of teaching, undertake, with one and the same lesson, and the same measure of direction, to instruct several boys of differing and unequal capacities, are infinitely mistaken; and ’tis no wonder, if in a whole multitude of scholars, there are not found above two or three who bring away any good account of their time and discipline. Let the master not only examine him about the grammatical construction of the bare words of his lesson, but about the sense and let him judge of the profit he has made, not by the testimony of his memory, but by that of his life. Let him make him put what he has learned into a hundred several forms, and accommodate it to so many several subjects, to see if he yet rightly comprehends it, and has made it his own, taking instruction of his progress by the pedagogic institutions of Plato. ’Tis a sign of crudity and indigestion to disgorge what we eat in the same condition it was swallowed; the stomach has not performed its office unless it have altered the form and condition of what was committed to it to concoct. Our minds work only upon trust, when bound and compelled to follow the appetite of another’s fancy, enslaved and captivated under the authority of another’s instruction; we have been so subjected to the trammel, that we have no free, nor natural pace of our own; our own vigour and liberty are extinct and gone:
“They are ever in wardship.”
—Seneca, Ep., 33.
I was privately carried at Pisa to see a very honest man, but so great an Aristotelian, that his most usual thesis was: “That the touchstone and square of all solid imagination, and of all truth, was an absolute conformity to Aristotle’s doctrine; and that all besides was nothing but inanity and chimera; for that he had seen all, and said all.” A position, that for having been a little too injuriously and broadly interpreted, brought him once and long kept him in great danger of the Inquisition at Rome.
Let him make him examine and thoroughly sift everything he reads, and lodge nothing in his fancy upon simple authority and upon trust. Aristotle’s principles will then be no more principles to him, than those of Epicurus and the Stoics: let this diversity of opinions be propounded to, and laid before him; he will himself choose, if he be able; if not, he will remain in doubt.
“I love to doubt, as well as to know.”
—Dante, Inferno, xi. 93
Reflection Question
What kind of epistemic value should students assign to the instruction in class?
...For, if he embrace the opinions of Xenophon and Plato, by his own reason, they will no more be theirs, but become his own. Who follows another, follows nothing, finds nothing, nay, is inquisitive after nothing.
Let him, at least, know that he knows. It will be necessary that he imbibe their knowledge, not that he be corrupted with their precepts; and no matter if he forget where he had his learning, provided he know how to apply it to his own use. Truth and reason are common to every one, and are no more his who spake them first, than his who speaks them after: ’tis no more according to Plato, than according to me, since both he and I equally see and understand them. Bees cull their several sweets from this flower and that blossom, here and there where they find them, but themselves afterwards make the honey, which is all and purely their own, and no more thyme and marjoram: so the several fragments he borrows from others, he will transform and shuffle together to compile a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment: his instruction, labour and study, tend to nothing else but to form that. He is not obliged to discover whence he got the materials that have assisted him, but only to produce what he has himself done with them... ’Tis, says Epicharmus, the understanding that sees and hears, ’tis the understanding that improves everything, that orders everything, and that acts, rules, and reigns: all other faculties are blind, and deaf, and without soul. And certainly we render it timorous and servile, in not allowing it the liberty and privilege to do anything of itself. Whoever asked his pupil what he thought of grammar and rhetoric, or of such and such a sentence of Cicero? Our masters stick them, full feathered, in our memories, and there establish them like oracles, of which the letters and syllables are of the substance of the thing. To know by rote, is no knowledge, and signifies no more but only to retain what one has entrusted to our memory. That which a man rightly knows and understands, he is the free disposer of at his own full liberty, without any regard to the author from whence he had it, or fumbling over the leaves of his book. A mere bookish learning is a poor, paltry learning; it may serve for ornament, but there is yet no foundation for any superstructure to be built upon it, according to the opinion of Plato, who says, that constancy, faith, and sincerity, are the true philosophy, and the other sciences, that are directed to other ends; mere adulterate paint…
Reflection Question
Based on the previous paragraph, what kind of factors influence Montaigne's hierarchy of knowledge?
I would that a boy should be sent abroad very young, and first, so as to kill two birds with one stone, into those neighbouring nations whose language is most differing from our own, and to which, if it be not formed betimes, the tongue will grow too stiff to bend.
And also ’tis the general opinion of all, that a child should not be brought up in his mother’s lap. Mothers are too tender, and their natural affection is apt to make the most discreet of them all so overfond, that they can neither find in their hearts to give them due correction for the faults they may commit, nor suffer them to be inured to hardships and hazards, as they ought to be. They will not endure to see them return all dust and sweat from their exercise, to drink cold drink when they are hot, nor see them mount an unruly horse, nor take a foil in hand against a rude fencer, or so much as to discharge a carbine. And yet there is no remedy; whoever will breed a boy to be good for anything when he comes to be a man, must by no means spare him when young, and must very often transgress the rules of physic:
“Let him live in open air, and ever in movement about something.”
—Horace, Od. ii., 3, 5.
It is not enough to fortify his soul; you are also to make his sinews strong; for the soul will be oppressed if not assisted by the members, and would have too hard a task to discharge two offices alone…
“Labour hardens us against pain.”
—Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 15.
A boy is to be broken in to the toil and roughness of exercise, so as to be trained up to the pain and suffering of dislocations, cholics, cauteries, and even imprisonment and the rack itself; for he may come by misfortune to be reduced to the worst of these, which (as this world goes) is sometimes inflicted on the good as well as the bad. As for proof, in our present civil war whoever draws his sword against the laws, threatens the honestest men with the whip and the halter...
If his governor be of my humour, he will form his will to be a very good and loyal subject to his prince, very affectionate to his person, and very stout in his quarrel; but withal he will cool in him the desire of having any other tie to his service than public duty. Besides several other inconveniences that are inconsistent with the liberty every honest man ought to have, a man’s judgment, being bribed and prepossessed by these particular obligations, is either blinded and less free to exercise its function, or is blemished with ingratitude and indiscretion. A man that is purely a courtier, can neither have power nor will to speak or think otherwise than favourably and well of a master, who, amongst so many millions of other subjects, has picked out him with his own hand to nourish and advance; this favour, and the profit flowing from it, must needs, and not without some show of reason, corrupt his freedom and dazzle him; and we commonly see these people speak in another kind of phrase than is ordinarily spoken by others of the same nation, though what they say in that courtly language is not much to be believed...Let him examine every man’s talent; a peasant, a bricklayer, a passenger: one may learn something from every one of these in their several capacities, and something will be picked out of their discourse whereof some use may be made at one time or another; nay, even the folly and impertinence of others will contribute to his instruction. By observing the graces and manners of all he sees, he will create to himself an emulation of the good, and a contempt of the bad…
In this conversing with men, I mean also, and principally, those who only live in the records of history; he shall, by reading those books, converse with the great and heroic souls of the best ages. ’Tis an idle and vain study to those who make it so by doing it after a negligent manner, but to those who do it with care and observation, ’tis a study of inestimable fruit and value; and the only study, as Plato reports, that the Lacedaemonians reserved to themselves. What profit shall he not reap as to the business of men, by reading the Lives of Plutarch? But, withal, let my governor remember to what end his instructions are principally directed, and that he do not so much imprint in his pupil’s memory the date of the ruin of Carthage, as the manners of Hannibal and Scipio; nor so much where Marcellus died, as why it was unworthy of his duty that he died there. Let him not teach him so much the narrative parts of history as to judge them; the reading of them, in my opinion, is a thing that of all others we apply ourselves unto with the most differing measure. I have read a hundred things in Livy that another has not, or not taken notice of at least; and Plutarch has read a hundred more there than ever I could find, or than, peradventure, that author ever wrote; to some it is merely a grammar study, to others the very anatomy of philosophy, by which the most abstruse parts of our human nature penetrate...
Human understanding is marvellously enlightened by daily conversation with men, for we are, otherwise, compressed and heaped up in ourselves, and have our sight limited to the length of our own noses. One asking Socrates of what country he was, he did not make answer, of Athens, but of the world;—Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., v. 37; Plutarch, On Exile, c. 4.— he whose imagination was fuller and wider, embraced the whole world for his country, and extended his society and friendship to all mankind; not as we do, who look no further than our feet...
Reflection Question
Montaigne speaks several times about the importance of the classics and history. What kind of knowledge do humans gain from reading stories and histories?
This great world which some do yet multiply as several species under one genus, is the mirror wherein we are to behold ourselves, to be able to know ourselves as we ought to do in the true bias. In short, I would have this to be the book my young gentleman should study with the most attention. So many humours, so many sects, so many judgments, opinions, laws, and customs, teach us to judge aright of our own, and inform our understanding to discover its imperfection and natural infirmity, which is no trivial speculation…
To examples may fitly be applied all the profitable discourses of philosophy, to which all human actions, as to their best rule, ought to be especially directed: a scholar shall be taught to know—
“Learn what it is right to wish; what is the true use of coined money; how much it becomes us to give in liberality to our country and our dear relations; whom and what the Deity commanded thee to be; and in what part of the human system thou art placed; what we are and to what purpose engendered.”
—Persius, iii. 69
what it is to know, and what to be ignorant; what ought to be the end and design of study; what valour, temperance, and justice are; the difference betwixt ambition and avarice, servitude and subjection, licence and liberty; by what token a man may know true and solid contentment; how far death, affliction, and disgrace are to be apprehended;
“And how you may shun or sustain every hardship.”
—Virgil, AEneid, iii. 459.
by what secret springs we move, and the reason of our various agitations and irresolutions: for, methinks the first doctrine with which one should season his understanding, ought to be that which regulates his manners and his sense; that teaches him to know himself, and how both well to dig and well to live. Amongst the liberal sciences, let us begin with that which makes us free; not that they do not all serve in some measure to the instruction and use of life, as all other things in some sort also do; but let us make choice of that which directly and professedly serves to that end. If we are once able to restrain the offices of human life within their just and natural limits, we shall find that most of the sciences in use are of no great use to us, and even in those that are, that there are many very unnecessary cavities and dilatations which we had better let alone, and, following Socrates’ direction, limit the course of our studies to those things only where is a true and real utility...
Anaximenes writing to Pythagoras, “To what purpose,” said he, “should I trouble myself in searching out the secrets of the stars, having death or slavery continually before my eyes?” for the kings of Persia were at that time preparing to invade his country. Every one ought to say thus, “Being assaulted, as I am by ambition, avarice, temerity, superstition, and having within so many other enemies of life, shall I go ponder over the world’s changes?”
After having taught him what will make him more wise and good, you may then entertain him with the elements of logic, physics, geometry, rhetoric, and the science which he shall then himself most incline to, his judgment being beforehand formed and fit to choose, he will quickly make his own. The way of instructing him ought to be sometimes by discourse, and sometimes by reading; sometimes his governor shall put the author himself, which he shall think most proper for him, into his hands, and sometimes only the marrow and substance of it; and if himself be not conversant enough in books to turn to all the fine discourses the books contain for his purpose, there may some man of learning be joined to him, that upon every occasion shall supply him with what he stands in need of, to furnish it to his pupil. And who can doubt but that this way of teaching is much more easy and natural than that of Gaza,—Theodore Gaza, rector of the Academy of Ferrara.—in which the precepts are so intricate, and so harsh, and the words so vain, lean; and insignificant, that there is no hold to be taken of them, nothing that quickens and elevates the wit and fancy, whereas here the mind has what to feed upon and to digest. This fruit, therefore, is not only without comparison, much more fair and beautiful; but will also be much more early ripe…
Since philosophy is that which instructs us to live, and that infancy has there its lessons as well as other ages, why is it not communicated to children betimes?
“The clay is moist and soft: now, now make haste, and form the pitcher on the rapid wheel.”
—Persius, iii. 23.
They begin to teach us to live when we have almost done living. A hundred students have got the pox before they have come to read Aristotle’s lecture on temperance. Cicero said, that though he should live two men’s ages, he should never find leisure to study the lyric poets; and I find these sophisters yet more deplorably unprofitable. The boy we would breed has a great deal less time to spare; he owes but the first fifteen or sixteen years of his life to education; the remainder is due to action. Let us, therefore, employ that short time in necessary instruction. Away with the thorny subtleties of dialectics; they are abuses, things by which our lives can never be amended: take the plain philosophical discourses, learn how rightly to choose, and then rightly to apply them; they are more easy to be understood than one of Boccaccio’s novels; a child from nurse is much more capable of them, than of learning to read or to write. Philosophy has discourses proper for childhood, as well as for the decrepit age of men.
I am of Plutarch’s mind, that Aristotle did not so much trouble his great disciple with the knack of forming syllogisms, or with the elements of geometry; as with infusing into him good precepts concerning valour, prowess, magnanimity, temperance, and the contempt of fear; and with this ammunition, sent him, whilst yet a boy, with no more than thirty thousand foot, four thousand horse, and but forty-two thousand crowns, to subjugate the empire of the whole earth. For the other acts and sciences, he says, Alexander highly indeed commended their excellence and charm, and had them in very great honour and esteem, but not ravished with them to that degree as to be tempted to affect the practice of them In his own person:
“Young men and old men, derive hence a certain end to the mind, and stores for miserable grey hairs.”
—Persius, v. 64.
Epicurus, in the beginning of his letter to Meniceus,—Diogenes Laertius, x. 122.—says, “That neither the youngest should refuse to philosophise, nor the oldest grow weary of it.” Who does otherwise, seems tacitly to imply, that either the time of living happily is not yet come, or that it is already past. And yet, a for all that, I would not have this pupil of ours imprisoned and made a slave to his book; nor would I have him given up to the morosity and melancholic humour of a sour ill-natured pedant.
I would not have his spirit cowed and subdued, by applying him to the rack, and tormenting him, as some do, fourteen or fifteen hours a day, and so make a pack-horse of him. Neither should I think it good, when, by reason of a solitary and melancholic complexion, he is discovered to be overmuch addicted to his book, to nourish that humour in him; for that renders him unfit for civil conversation, and diverts him from better employments. And how many have I seen in my time totally brutified by an immoderate thirst after knowledge? Carneades was so besotted with it, that he would not find time so much as to comb his head or to pare his nails. Neither would I have his generous manners spoiled and corrupted by the incivility and barbarism of those of another...
As to the rest, this method of education ought to be carried on with a severe sweetness, quite contrary to the practice of our pedants, who, instead of tempting and alluring children to letters by apt and gentle ways, do in truth present nothing before them but rods and ferules, horror and cruelty. Away with this violence! away with this compulsion! than which, I certainly believe nothing more dulls and degenerates a well-descended nature. If you would have him apprehend shame and chastisement, do not harden him to them: inure him to heat and cold, to wind and sun, and to dangers that he ought to despise; wean him from all effeminacy and delicacy in clothes and lodging, eating and drinking; accustom him to everything, that he may not be a Sir Paris, a carpet-knight, but a sinewy, hardy, and vigorous young man. I have ever from a child to the age wherein I now am, been of this opinion, and am still constant to it. But amongst other things, the strict government of most of our colleges has evermore displeased me; peradventure, they might have erred less perniciously on the indulgent side. ’Tis a real house of correction of imprisoned youth. They are made debauched by being punished before they are so. Do but come in when they are about their lesson, and you shall hear nothing but the outcries of boys under execution, with the thundering noise of their pedagogues drunk with fury. A very pretty way this, to tempt these tender and timorous souls to love their book, with a furious countenance, and a rod in hand! A cursed and pernicious way of proceeding! Besides what Quintilian has very well observed, that this imperious authority is often attended by very dangerous consequences, and particularly our way of chastising. How much more decent would it be to see their classes strewed with green leaves and fine flowers, than with the bloody stumps of birch and willows?...
To return to my subject, there is nothing like alluring the appetite and affections; otherwise you make nothing but so many asses laden with books; by dint of the lash, you give them their pocketful of learning to keep; whereas, to do well you should not only lodge it with them, but make them espouse it.
Reflection Question
After reviewing Montaigne's comments on education, what do you think is his vision for the ends of education? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/02%3A_The_Handbooks_from_Philosophers/2.01%3A_What_is_a_Classical_Education.txt |
Selections from Rules for the Direction of the Mind
Rene Descartes
In this text, Descartes outlines several of his rules for rigorous thinking. The two principal questions that he seeks to answer are 1) what kind of things deserve the attention of rigorous and extended thinking and 2) on what topics can we obtain certainty? Descartes’ claims about what objects are worthy of attention and why they are worthy of attention stand in fairly stark contrast to the underlying mindset behind exploration-based curricula of the 21st century.
Rule I
The aim of our studies should be to direct the mind with a view to forming true and sound judgments about whatever comes before it.
Whenever men notice some similarity between two things, they are wont to ascribe to each, even in those respects in which the two differ, what they have found to be true of the other. Thus they erroneously compare the sciences, which entirely consists in the cognitive exercise of the mind, with the arts, which depend upon an exercise and disposition of the body. They see that not all the arts can be acquired by the same man, but that he who restricts himself to one, most readily becomes the best executant, since it is not so easy for the same hand to adapt itself both to agricultural operations and to harp-playing, or to the performance of several such tasks as to one alone.
Reflection Question
Does this distinction hold based on your understanding of the sciences and the arts?
Rule II
We should attend only to those objects of which our minds seem capable of having certain and indubitable cognition.
Reflection Question
Descartes has yet to define his two central terms "certain" and "indubitable" what do you think he might mean by both of these terms?
Science in its entirety is true and evident cognition. He is no more learned who has doubts on many matters than the man who has never thought of them; nay he appears to be less learned if he has formed wrong opinions on any particulars. Hence it were better not to study at all than to occupy one's self with objects of such difficulty, that, owing to our inability to distinguish true from false, we are forced to regard the doubtful as certain; for in those matters, any hope of augmenting our knowledge is exceeded by the risk of diminishing it. Thus in accordance with the above maxim we reject all such merely probable knowledge and make it a rule to trust only what is completely known and incapable of being doubted. No doubt men of education may persuade themselves that there is but little of such certain knowledge, because, forsooth, a common failing of human nature has made them deem it too easy and open to everyone, and so led them to neglect to think upon such truths; but I nevertheless announce that there are more of these than they think --truths which suffice to give a rigorous demonstration of innumerable propositions, the discussion of which they have hitherto been unable to free from the element of probability. Further, because they have believed that it was unbecoming for a man of education to confess ignorance on any point, they have so accustomed themselves to trick out their fabricated explanations, that they have ended by gradually imposing on themselves and thus have issued them to the public as genuine.
But if we adhere closely to this rule we shall find left but few objects of legitimate study. For there is scarce any question occurring in the sciences about which talented men have not disagreed. But whenever two men come to opposite decisions about the same matter one of them at least must certainly be in the wrong, and apparently there is not even one of them who knows; for if the reasoning of the second were sound and clear he would be able so to lay it before the other to succeed in convincing his understanding also. Hence apparently we cannot attain to a perfect knowledge in any such case of probable opinion, for it would be rashness to hope for more than others have attained to. Consequently if we reckon correctly, of the sciences already discovered, Arithmetic and Geometry alone are left, to which the observance of this rule reduces us.
Reflection question
Descartes' reasoning has guided him to two objects that are worth studying. Does his reasoning seem sound or not and why?
Yet we do not therefore condemn that method of philosophizing which others have already discovered, and those weapons of the schoolmen, probable syllogisms, which are so well suited for polemics. They indeed give practice to the wits of youth and, producing emulation among them, act as a stimulus; and it is much better for their minds to be moulded by opinions of this sort, uncertain though they appear, as being objects of controversy amongst the learned, than to be left entirely to their own devices. For thus through lack of guidance they might stray into some abyss, but as long as they follow in their masters' footsteps, though they may diverge at times from the truth, they will yet certainly find a path which is at least in this respect safer, that it has been approved by more prudent people. We ourselves rejoice that we in earlier years experienced this scholastic training; but now, being released from that oath of allegiance which bound us to our old masters and since, as become our riper years, we are no longer subject to the ferule, if we wish in earnest to establish for ourselves those rules which shall aid us in scaling the heights of human knowledge, we must admit assuredly among the primary members of our catalogue that maxim which forbids us to abuse our leisure as many do, who neglect all easy quests and take up their time only with difficult matters; for they, though certainly making all sorts of subtle conjectures and elaborating most plausible arguments with great ingenuity, frequently find too late that after all their labours they have only increased the multitude of their doubts, without acquiring any knowledge whatsoever.
But now let us proceed to explain more carefully our reason for saying, as we did a little while ago, that of all the sciences known as yet, Arithmetic and Geometry alone are free from any taint of falsity or uncertainty. We must note then that there are two ways by which we arrive at the knowledge of facts, viz. by experience and by deduction. We must further observe that while our inferences from experience are frequently fallacious, deduction, or the pure illation of one thing from another, though it may be passed over, if it is not seen through, cannot be erroneous when performed by an understanding that is in the least degree rational. And it seems to me that the operation is profited but little by those constraining bonds by means of which the Dialecticians claim to control human reason, though I do not deny that that discipline may be serviceable for other purposes. My reason for saying so is that none of the mistakes which men can make (men, I say, not beasts) are due to faulty inference; they are caused merely by the fact that we found upon a basis of poorly comprehended experiences, or that propositions are posited which are hasty and groundless.
Reflection Question
Is it true that reason cannot lead to error?
This furnishes us with an evident explanation of the great superiority in certitude of arithmetic and Geometry to other sciences. The former alone deal with an object so pure and uncomplicated, that they need make no assumptions at all which experience renders uncertain, but wholly consist in the rational deduction of consequences. They are on that account much the easiest and clearest of all, and possess an object such as we require, for in them it is scarce humanly possible for anyone to err except by inadvertence. And yet we should not be surprised to find that plenty of people of their own accord prefer to apply their intelligence to other studies, or to Philosophy. The reason for this is that every person permits himself the liberty of making guesses in the matter of an obscure subject with more confidence than in one which is clear, and that it is much easier to have some vague notion about any subject, no matter what, than to arrive at the real truth about a single question however simple that may be.
But one conclusion now emerges out of these considerations, viz. not, indeed, that Arithmetic and Geometry are the sole sciences to be studied, but only that in our search for the direct road towards truth we should busy ourselves with no object about which we cannot attain a certitude equal to that of the demonstrations of Arithmetic and Geometry.
Rule III
Concerning objects proposed for study, we ought to investigate what we can clearly and evidently intuit or deduce with certainty, and not what other people have thought or what we ourselves conjecture. For knowledge can be attained in no other way.
We must read the works of the ancients; for it is an extraordinary advantage to have available the labors of so many men, both in order to recognize what true discoveries have already long since been made and -also to become aware of what scope is still left for invention in the various disciplines. There is, however; at the same time a great danger that perhaps some contagion of error, contracted from a too attentive reading of them, may stick to us against our will, in spite of all precautions. For authors are ordinarily so disposed that whenever their heedless credulity has led them to a decision on some controverted opinion, they always try to bring us over to the same side, with the subtlest arguments; if on the other hand they have been fortunate enough to discover something certain and evident, they never set it forth without wrapping it up in all sorts of complications. (I suppose they are afraid that a simple account may lessen the importance they gain by the discovery; or perhaps they begrudge us the plain truth.)\
Reflection Question
Descartes and Montaigne raise similar questions with respect to the works of the ancients. What kind of authority should time-honored wisdom be given? Does it have an epistemic value of its own?
But in fact, even if all writers were honest and plain; even if they never passed off matters of doubt upon us as if they were truths, but set forth everything in good faith; nevertheless, since there is hardly anything that one of them says but someone else asserts the contrary, we should be continually uncertain which side to believe. It would be no good to count heads, and then follow the opinion that has most authorities for it; for if the question that arises is a difficult one, it is more credible that the truth of the matter may have been discovered by few men than by many. But even if all agreed together, it would not be enough to have their teachings. For we shall never be mathematicians, say, even if we retain in memory all the proofs others have given, unless we ourselves have the mental aptitude of solving any given problem; we shall never be philosophers, if we have read all the arguments of Plato and Aristotle but cannot form a solid judgment on matters set before us; this sort of learning would appear historical rather than scientific. Further, this Rule counsels us against ever mixing up any conjectures with our judgments as to the truth of things. It is of no small importance to observe this; for the chief reason why in the common philosophy there is nothing to be found whose certitude is so apparent as to be beyond controversy is that those who practice it have not begun by contenting themselves with the recognition of what is clear and certain, but have ventured on the further assertion of what was obscure and unknown and was arrived at only through probable conjectures. These assertions they have later on themselves gradually come to hold with complete confidence, and have mixed them up indiscriminately with evident truths; and the final result was their inability to draw any conclusion that did not seem to depend on some such proposition, and consequently to draw any that was not uncertain.
In order to avoid our subsequently falling into the same error, the Rule enumerates all the intellectual activities by means of which we can attain to knowledge of things without any fear of deception; it allows of only two such intuition and induction. By intuition I mean, not the wavering assurance of the senses, or the deceitful judgment of a misconstructed imagination, but a conception, formed by unclouded mental attention, so easy and distinct as to leave no room for doubt in regard to the thing we are understanding. It comes to the same thing if we say: It is an indubitable conception formed by an unclouded mental mind; one that originates solely from the light of reason, and is more certain even than deduction, because it is simpler (though, as we have previously noted, deduction, too, cannot go wrong if it is a human being that performs it). Thus, anybody can see by mental intuition that he himself exists, that he thinks, that a triangle is bounded by just three lines, and a globe by a single surface, and so on; there are far more of such truths than most people observe, because they disdain to turn their mind to such easy topics.
Some people may perhaps be troubled by this new use of the word intuition, and of other words that I shall later on be obliged to shift away from their common meaning. So I give at this point the general warning that I am not in the least thinking of the usage of particular words that has prevailed in the Schools in modern times, since it would be most difficult to use the same terms while holding quite different views; I take into account only what a given word means in Latin, in order that, whenever there are no proper words for what I mean, I may transfer to that meaning the words that seem to me most suitable. The evidentness and certainty of intuition is, moreover, necessary not only in forming propositions but also for any inferences. For example, take the inference that 2 and 2 come to the same as 3 and 1; intuition must show us not only that 2 and 2 make 4, and that 3 and 1 also make 4, but furthermore that the above third proposition is a necessary conclusion from these two.
This may raise a doubt as to our reason for having added another mode of knowledge, besides intuition, in this Rule -namely, knowledge by deduction. (By this term I mean any necessary conclusion from other things known with certainty.) We had to do this because many things are known although not self-evident, so long as they are deduced from principles known to be true by a continuous and uninterrupted movement of thought, with clear intuition of each point. It is in the same way that we know the last link of a long chain is connected with the first, even though we do not view in a single glance (Intuitu) all the intermediate links on which the connexion depends; we need only to have gone through the links in succession and to remember that from the first to the last each is joined to the next. Thus we distinguish at this point between intuition and certain deduction'; because the latter, unlike the former, is conceived as involving a movement or succession; and is again unlike intuition in not requiring something evident at the moment, but rather, so to say, borrowing its certainty from memory. From this we may gather that when propositions are direct conclusions from first principles, they may be said to be known by intuition or by deduction, according to different ways of looking at them; but first principles themselves may be said to be known only by intuition; and remote conclusions, on the other hand, only by deduction.
Reflection Question
Does the advent of new fields of study like non-euclidian geometry undermine any of Descrates' claims in this piece?
These are the two most certain ways to knowledge; and on the side of the mind no more must be admitted; all others must be rejected as suspect and liable to mislead.
Reflection Question
In the end, did Descartes provide good evidence for his claims about what objects are worthy of study? Why or why not?
Attribution
• A complete version of this essay can be found on this Wikisource page.
• A special thanks to Michael Arts for his assistance in selecting the text for this abridgement. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/02%3A_The_Handbooks_from_Philosophers/2.02%3A_What_Kind_of_Subjects_are_Worth_Investigating.txt |
Selections from How to Educate a Gentleman?
John Locke
In this section Locke lays out several of his thoughts on the best way to educate a young gentleman. He speaks primarily of how a tutor should act toward a young pupil. Much of his attention is focused on how avoiding physical punishment and helping students develop their own motivation.
A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this world: He that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be but little better for anything else. Men’s happiness or misery is most part of their own making. He, whose mind directs not wisely, will never take the right way; and he, whose body is crazy and feeble, will never be able to advance in it. I confess, there are some men’s constitutions of body and mind so vigorous, and well framed by nature, that they need not much assistance from others, but by the strength of their natural genius, they are from their cradles carried towards what is excellent; and by the privilege of their happy constitutions are able to do wonders: but examples of this kind are but few, and I think I may say, that of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education. ‘Tis that which makes the great difference in mankind: the little, and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies, have very important and lasting consequences: and there ‘tis, as in the fountains of some rivers, where a gentle application of the hand turns the flexible waters into channels, that make them quite contrary courses, and by this little direction given them at first in the source, they receive different tendencies and arrive at last, at very remote and distant places.
Reflection Question
Locke seems to be committing himself to societal determinism. Is this consistent with his other philosophical works?
1.[Physcial] punishment contributes not at all to the mastery of our natural propensity to indulge corporal and present pleasure, and to avoid pain at any rate, but rather encourages it; and so strengthens that in us, which is the root of all vicious and wrong actions. For what motives, I pray, does a child act by, but of such pleasure and pain, that drudges at his book against his inclination, or abstains from eating unwholesome fruit, that he takes pleasure in, only out of fear of whipping? He in this only prefers the greater corporal pleasure, or avoids the greater corporal pain; and what is it, to govern his actions, and direct his conduct, by such motives as these? What is it, I say, but to cherish that principle in him, which it is our business to root out and destroy? And therefore I cannot think any correction useful to a child, where the shame of suffering for having, done amiss does not work more upon him than the pain.
33. As the strength of the body lies chiefly able to endure hardships, so also does that of the mind. And the great principle and foundation of all virtue and worth is placed in this, that a man is able to deny himself his own desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean the other way.
Reflection Question
What kind of ethical framework undergirds Locke's views of value and worth?
49. This sort of correction naturally breeds an aversion to that which it is the tutor's business to create a liking to. How obvious is it to observe, that children come to hate things liked at first, as soon as they come to be whipped, or chid, and teased about them? And it is not to be wondered at in them, when grown men would not be able to be reconciled to any thing by such ways. Who is there that would not be disgusted with any innocent recreation in itself indifferent to him, if he I should with blows, or ill language, be haled to it, when he had no mind? Or be constantly so treated, for some circumstance in his application to it? This is natural to be so. Offensive circumstances ordinarily infect innocent things which they are joined with: and the very sight of a cup, wherein any one uses to take nauseous physic, turns his stomach, so that nothing will relish well out of it, though the cup be never so clean and well-shaped, and of the richest materials.
50. Such a sort of slavish discipline makes a slavish temper. The child submits, and dissembles obedience, whilst the fear of the rod hangs over him; but when that is removed, and, by being out of sight, he can promise himself impunity, he gives the greater scope to his natural inclination, which by this way is. not at all altered, but on the contrary heightened and increased in him; and after such restraint, breaks out usually with the more violence. or,
51 4. If severity carried to the highest pitch does prevail, and works a cure upon the present unruly distemper, it is often bringing in the room of it a worse and more dangerous disease, by breaking the mind; and then, in the place of disorderly young fellow, you have a low-spirited, moped creature: who, however with his unnatural sobriety he may please silly people, who commend tame, unactive children because they make no noise, nor give them any trouble; yet, at last, will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his friends, as he will be, all his life, an useless thing to himself and others.
52 Beating them, and all other sorts o slavish and corporal punishments, are not the discipline fit to be used in the education of those we would have wise, good, and ingenuous men; and therefore very rarely to be applied, and that only in great occasions, and cases of extremity. On the other side, to flatter children by rewards of things that are pleasant to them, is as carefully to be avoided. He that will give to his son apples, or sugar-plums, or what else of this kind he is most delighted with, to make him learn his book, does but authorize his love of pleasure, and cocker up that dangerous propensity, which he ought by all means to subdue and stifle in him. You can never hope to teach him to master it whilst you compound for the check you give his inclination in one place, by the satisfaction you propose to it in another
Reflection Question
What about this course of action is wrong for Locke? Is it inconsistency, inefficiency, or something else entirely?
To make a good, a wise, and a virtuous man, it is fit he should learn to cross his appetite, and deny his inclination to riches, finery, or pleasing his palate, etc., whenever his reason advises the contrary, and his duty requires it. But when you draw him to do anything that is fit, by the offer of money or reward the pains of learning his book, by the pleasure of a luscious morsel; when you promise him a lace-cravat, or a fine new suit, upon performance of some of his little tasks; what do you, by proposing these as rewards, but allow them to be the good things he should aim at, and thereby encourage his longing for them, and accustom him to place his happiness in them? Thus people, to prevail with children to be industrious about their grammar, dancing, or some other such matter of no great moment to the happiness or usefulness of their lives by misapplied rewards and punishments, sacrifice their virtue, invert the order of their education, and teach them luxury, pride, or covetousness, etc. For in this way, flattering those wrong inclinations, which they should restrain and suppress, they lay the foundations of those future vices, which cannot be avoided, but by curbing our desires, and accustoming them early to submit to reason.
53. I say, not this, that I would have children kept from the conveniences or pleasures of life, that are not injurious to their health or virtue. On the contrary, I would have their lives made as pleasant, and as agreeable to them as may be, in a plentiful enjoyment of whatsoever might innocently delight them: provided it be with this caution, that they have those enjoyments only as the consequences of the state of esteem and acceptation they are in with their parents and governors; but they should never be offered or bestowed on them, as the reward of this or that particularly performance, that they show anaversion to, or to which they would not have applied themselves without that temptation.
54. But if you take away the rod on one hand, and these little encouragements, which they are taken with, on the other, How then (will you say) shall children be governed? Remove hope and fear, and there is an end of all discipline. I grant, that good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature; these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work and guided, and therefore they are to be made use of to children too. For I advise their parents and governors always to carry this in their minds, that they are to be treated as rational creatures.
55. I grant, and punishments must be proposed to children, if we intend to work upon them. The mistake, I imagine, is that those that are generally made use of, are ill chosen. The pains and pleasures of the body are, I think, of ill consequence, when made the rewards and punishments, whereby men would prevail on their children: for they serve but to increase and strengthen those appetites which 'tis our business to subdue and master. What principle of virtue do you lay in a child, if you will redeem his desires of one pleasure by the proposal of another? This is but to enlarge his appetite, and instruct it to wander. If a child cries for an unwholesome and dangerous fruit, you purchase his quiet by giving him a less hurtful sweetmeat; this perhaps may preserve his health, but spoils his mind, and sets that farther out of order. For here you only change the object, but flatter still his appetite, and allow that must be satisfied: wherein, as I have showed, lies the root of the mischief: and till you bring him to be able to bear a denial of that satisfaction, the child may at present be quiet and orderly, but the disease is not cured. By this way of proceeding you foment and cherish in him, that which is the spring from whence all the evil flows, which will be sure on the next occasion to break out again with more violence, give him stronger longings, and you more trouble.
65. ...Let therefore your rules to your son be as few as is possible, and rather fewer than more than seem absolutely necessary. For if you burden him with many rules, one of these two things must necessarily follow; that either he must be very often punished, which will be of ill consequence, by making punishment too frequent and familiar; or else you must let the transgressions of some of your rules go unpunished, whereby they will of course grow contemptible, and your authority become cheap to him. Make but few laws, but see they be well observed, when once made. Few years require but few laws; and as his age increases when one rule is by practice well established, you may add another.
70 ...What shall I do with my son? If I keep him always at home, he will be in danger to be my young master; and if I send him abroad, how is it possible to keep him from the contagion of rudeness and vice, which is so every where in fashion? In my house, he will perhaps be more innocent, but more ignorant, too, of the world, and being used constantly to the same faces, and little company will, when he comes abroad, be a sheepish or conceited creature... Virtue is harder to be got than a knowledge of the world; and if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered... A young man, before he leaves the shelter of his father's house, and the guard of a tutor, should be fortified with resolution, and made acquainted with men, to secure his virtue; lest he should be led into some ruinous course, or fatal precipice, before he is sufficiently acquainted with the dangers of conversation, and has steadiness enough not to yield to every temptation... But how any one's being put into a mixed herd of unruly boys, and then learning to wrangle at trap, or rook at span-farthing, fits him for civil conversation or business I do not see... I am sure, he who is able to be at the charge of a tutor at home, may there give his son a more genteel carriage, more manly thoughts, and a sense of what is worthy and becoming, with a greater proficiency in learning into the bargain, and ripen him up sooner into a man, than any at school can do... And if a young gentleman, bred at home, be not taught more of them than he could learn at school, his father has made a very ill choice of a tutor. Take a boy from the top of a grammar-school, and one of the same age, bred as he should be in his father's family, and bring them into good company together; and then see which of the two will have the more manly carriage, and address himself with the more becoming assurance to strangers....Vice, if we may believe the general complaint, ripens so fast now-a-days, and runs up to seed so early in young people, that it is impossible to keep a lad from the spreading contagion, if you will venture him abroad in the herd, and trust to chance, or his own inclination, for the choice of his company at school… It is virtue then, direct virtue, which is the hard and valuable part to be aimed at in education... And therefore I cannot but prefer breeding of a young gentleman at home in his father's sight, under a good governor, as much the best and safest way to this great and main end of education, when it can be had, and is ordered as it should be… This I am sure, a father that breeds his son at home, has the opportunity to have him more in his own company, and there give him what encouragement he thinks fit; and can keep him better from the taint of servants, and the meaner sort of people, than is possible to be done abroad. But what shall be resolved in the case, must in great measure be left to the parents…
73. None of the things they are to learn should ever be made a burden to them, or imposed on them as a task. Whatever is so proposed, presently becomes irksome: the mind takes an aversion to it, though before it were a thing of delight or indifferency. Let a child be but ordered to whip his top at a certain time every day, whether he has, or has not a mind to it; let this be but required of him as a duty, wherein he must spend so many hours morning and afternoon, and see whether he will not soon be weary of any play at this rate. Is it not so with grown men? What they do cheerfully of themselves, do they not presently grow sick of, and can no more endure, as soon as they find it is expected of them as a duty? Children have as much a mind to show that they are free, that their own good actions come front themselves, that they are absolute and independent, as any of the proudest of you grown men, think of them as you please.
Reflection Question
Is Locke right about the nature of tasks? If so, what implications would it have for the kinds of demands humans can make on each other?
102. Begin therefore betimes nicely to observe your son's temper, and that, when he is under least restraint. See what are his predominant passions and prevailing inclinations; whether he be fierce or mild, bold or bashful, compassionate or cruel, open or reserved, etc. For as these are different in him, so are your methods to be different, and your authority must hence take measures to apply it self [in] different ways to him. These native propensities, these prevalences of constitution, are not to be cured by rules, or a direct contest, especially those of them that are the humbler and meaner sort, which proceed from fear and lowness of spirit; though with art they may be much mended, and turned to good purposes. But of this be sure, after all is done, the bias will always hang on that side that nature first placed it: and, if you carefully observe the characters of his mind now in the first scenes of his life, you will ever after be able to judge which way his thoughts lean, and what he aims at even hereafter, when, as he grows up, the plot thickens, and he puts on several shapes to act it.
118 Curiosity in children (which I had occasion just to mention, section 108) is but an appetite after knowledge, and therefore ought to be encouraged in them, not only as a good sign, but as the great instrument nature has provided to remove that ignorance they were born with, and which, without this busy inquisitiveness, will make them dull and useless creatures. The ways to encourage it, and keep it active and vigorous, are, I suppose, these following: 1. Not to check or discountenance any inquiries he shall make, nor suffer them to be laughed at; but to answer all his questions, and explain the matters he desires to know, so as to make them as much intelligible to him. as suits the capacity of his age and knowledge... Mark what 'tis his mind aims at in the question, and not what words he expresses it in... For knowledge to the understanding is acceptable as light to the eyes: and children are please and delighted with it exceedingly, especially if they see that their inquiries are regarded, and that their desire of knowing is encouraged and commended. And I doubt not, but one great reason why many children abandon themselves wholly to silly sports; and trifle away all their time in trifling, is, because they have found their curiosity balked, and their inquiries neglected…
167. ...In teaching of children this too, I think, it is to be observed, that in most cases, where they stick, they are apt to be farther puzzled, by putting them upon finding it out themselves… Therefore, wherever they are at a stand, and are willing to go forward, help them presently over the difficulty, without any rebuke or chiding; remembering, that where harsher ways are taken, they are the effect only of pride and peevishness in the teacher, who expects children should instantly be masters of as much as he knows: whereas he should rather consider that his business is to settle in them habits, not angrily to inculcate rules, which serve for little in the conduct of our lives; at least are of no use to children, who forget them as soon as given. ...The great use and skill of a teacher is to make all as easy as he can....Passionate words or blows from the tutor, fill the child's mind with terror and affrightment, which immediately takes it wholly up, and leaves no room for other impressions....
180. ...But in this, as in all other parts of instruction, great care must be taken with children, to begin with that which is plain and simple, and to teach them as little as can be at once, and settle that well in their heads, before you proceed to the next, or anything new in that science.
Give them first one simple idea, and see that they take it right, and perfectly comprehend it, before you go any farther; and then add some other simple idea, which lies next in your way to what you aim it; and so proceeding by gentle and insensible steps, children, without confusion and amazement, will have their understandings opened, and their thoughts extended, farther than could have been expected. And when any one has learned any thing himself, there is no such way to fix it in his memory, and to encourage him to go on as to set him to teach it others.
Reflection Question
What are Locke's principal views about the ends and means of education?
Attributions
• You can find a complete version of this book on its WikiSource page.
• A special thanks to A. Legrand Richards for his assistance in selecting the texts for this abridgment. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/02%3A_The_Handbooks_from_Philosophers/2.03%3A_How_to_Educate_a_Gentleman.txt |
Selections from Emile Jean-Jacques Rousseau
In this text, Rousseau vigorously attempts to make the case for allowing nature to educate a child by working to help the child keep their curiosity. He also disagrees with Locke directly and indirectly. If you have not read the essay by Locke, it may be best to read it first.
GOD MAKES ALL THINGS GOOD; man meddles with them and they become evil. He forces one soil to yield the products of another, one tree to bear another’s fruit. He confuses and confounds time, place, and natural conditions. He mutilates his dog, his horse, and his slave. He destroys and defaces all things; he loves all that is disformed and monstrous; he will have nothing as nature made it, not even man himself, who must learn his paces like a saddle-horse, and be shaped to his master’s taste like the trees in his garden...
A father has done but a third of his task when he begets children and provides a living for them. He owes men to humanity, citizens to the state. A man who can pay this threefold debt and neglects to do so is guilty, more guilty, perhaps, if he pays it in part than when he neglects it entirely. He has no right to be a father if he cannot fulfill a father’s duties. Poverty, pressure of business, mistaken social prejudices, none of these can excuse a man from his duty, which is to support and educate his own children. If a man of any natural feeling neglects these sacred duties he will repent it with bitter tears and will never be comforted...
The children’s first tears are prayers, beware lest they become commands; he begins by asking for aid, he ends by demanding service. Thus from his own weakness, the source of his first consciousness of dependence, springs the later idea of rule and tyranny; but as this idea is aroused rather by his needs than by our services, we begin to see moral results whose causes are not in nature; thus we see how important it is, even at the earliest age, to discern the secret meaning of the gesture or cry...
Reflection Question
What kind of responsibility do we have to work to understand others?
Whatever you do, your actual authority can never extend beyond your own powers. As soon as you are obliged to see with another’s eyes you must will what he wills. You say with pride, “My people are my subjects.” Granted, but what are you? The subject of your ministers. And your ministers, what are they? The subjects of their clerks, their mistresses, the servants of their servants. Grasp all, usurp all, and then pour out your silver with both hands; set up your batteries, raise the gallows and the wheel; make laws, issue proclamations, multiply your spies, your soldiers, your hangmen, your prisons, and your chains. Poor little men, what good does it do you? You will be no better served, you will be none the less robbed and deceived, you will be no nearer absolute power. You will say continually, “It is our will,” and you will continually do the will of others.
There is only one man who gets his own way--he who can get it single-handed; therefore freedom, not power, is the greatest good. That man is truly free who desires what he is able to perform, and does what he desires. This is my fundamental maxim. Apply it to childhood, and all the rules of education spring from it...
Reflection Question
Is this fundamental axiom consistent with your vision of the best means of providing an education?
These are weighty considerations, and they provide a solution for all the conflicting problems of our social system. There are two kinds of dependence: dependence on things, which is the work of nature; and dependence on men, which is the work of society. Dependence on things, being non-moral, does no injury to liberty ad begets no vices; dependence on men, being out of order, gives rise to every kind of vice, and through this master and slave become mutually depraved...
Give him, not what he wants, but what he needs. Let there be no question of obedience for him or tyranny for you. Supply the strength he lacks just so far as is required for freedom, not for power, so that he may receive your services with a sort of shame, and look forward to the time when he may dispense with them and may achieve the honor of self-help...
If his words were prompted by a real need you should recognize it and satisfy it at once; but to yield to his tears is to encourage him to cry, to teach him to doubt your kindness, and to think that you are influenced more by his importunity than your own good-will. If he does not think you kind he will soon think you unkind; if he thinks you weak he will soon become obstinate; what you mean to give must be given at once. Be chary of refusing, but, having refused, do not change your mind...
Man naturally considers all that he can get as his own. In this sense Hobbes’ theory is true to a certain extent: Multiply both our wishes and the means of satisfying them, and each will be master of all. Each child, who has only to ask and have, thinks himself the master of the universe; he considers all men as his slaves; and when you are at last compelled to refuse, he takes your refusal as act of rebellion, for he thinks he has only to command...
If children are not to be required to do anything as a matter of obedience, it follows that they will only learn what they perceive to be real and present value, either for use or enjoyment; what other motive could they have for learning?...
People make a great fuss about discovering the best way to teach children to read. They invent “bureaux” [a case containing letters] and cards, they turn the nursery into a printer’s shop. Locke would have them taught to read by means of dice. What a fine idea! And the pity of it! There is a better way than any of these, and one which is generally overlooked-- it consists in the desire to learn. Arouse this desire to your scholar and have done with your “bureaux” and your dice-- any method will serve...
Not till his strength is in excess of what is needed for self-preservation, is the speculative faculty developed...
You will make him stupid if you are always giving him directions, always saying come here, go there, stop, do this, don’t do that. If your head always guides his hands, his own mind will become useless...
Your scholar is subject to a power which is continually giving him instruction; he acts only at the word of command; he dare not eat when he is hungry, nor laugh when he is merry, nor weep when he is sad, nor offer one hand rather than the other, nor stir a foot unless he is told to do it; before long he will not venture to breathe without orders. What would you have him think about, when you do all the thinking for him? He rests securely on your foresight, why should he think for himself? He knows you have undertaken to take care of him, to secure his welfare, and he feels himself freed from this responsibility. His judgment relies on yours...
As for my pupil, or rather Nature’s pupil, he has been trained from the outset to be as self-reliant as possible, he has not formed the habit of constantly seeking help from others, still less of displaying his stores of learning. On the other hand, he exercises discrimination and forethought, he reasons about everything that concerns himself. He does not chatter, he acts. Not a word does he know of what is going on in the world at large, but he knows very thoroughly what affects himself. As he is always stirring he is compelled to notice many things, to recognize many effects; he soon acquires a good deal of experience. Nature, not man, is his schoolmaster, and he learns all the quicker because he is not aware that he has any lesson to learn...
Reflection Question
Rousseau uses the previous paragraphs to set several priorities? What might be the consequences of selecting these priorities?
Young teacher, I am setting before you a difficult task, the art of controlling without precepts, and doing everything without doing anything at all...
When education is most carefully attended to, the teacher issues his orders and thinks himself master, but it is the child who is real master. He uses the tasks you set him to obtain what he wants from you, and he can always make you pay for an hour’s industry by a week’s complaisance. You must always be making bargains with him... The child is usually much quicker to read the master’s thoughts than the master to read the child’s feelings...
Our first teachers in natural philosophy are our feet, hands, and eyes. to substitute books for them does not teach us to reason, it teaches us to use the reason of others rather than our own; it teaches us to believe much and know little. Before you can practice an art you must first get your tools; and if you are to make good use of those tools, they must be fashioned sufficiently strong to stand use. To learn to think we must therefore exercise our limbs, our senses, and our bodily organs, which are the tools of the intellect; and to get the best use out of these tools, the body which supplies us with them must be strong and healthy....
Work or play are all one to him, his games are his work; he knows no difference. He brings to everything the cheerfulness of interest, the charm of freedom, and he shows the bent of his own mind and the extent of his knowledge...
Let the senses be the only guide for the first workings of reason. No book but the world, no teaching but that of fact. The child who reads ceases to think, he only reads. He is acquiring words not knowledge.
Reflection Question
Is there any way of creating a hierarchy of knowledge gained from different sources?
Teach your scholar to observe the phenomena of nature; you will soon rouse his curiosity, but if you would have it grow, do not be in too great a hurry to satisfy this curiosity. Put the problems before him and let him solve them himself. Let him know nothing because you have told him, but because he has learnt it for himself. Let him not be taught science, let him discover it. If ever you substitute authority for reason he will cease to reason; he will be a plaything of other people’s thoughts...
I dislike that array of instruments and apparatus. The scientific atmosphere destroys science. Either the child is frightened by these instruments or his attention, which should be fixed on their effects, is distracted by their appearance. We shall make all our apparatus ourselves, and I would not make it beforehand, but having caught a glimpse of the experiment by chance we mean to invent step by step an instrument for its verification. I would rather our apparatus was somewhat clumsy and imperfect, but our ideas clear as to what the apparatus ought to be, and the results to be obtained by means of it... Too much apparatus, designed to guide us in our experiments and to supplement the exactness of our senses, makes us neglect to use those senses... T
he more ingenious our apparatus, the coarser and more unskillful are our senses. We surround ourselves with tools and fail to use those with which nature has provided every one of us...
I do not like verbal explanations. Young people pay little heed to them, nor do they remember them. Things! Things! I cannot repeat it too often. We lay too much stress upon words; we teachers babble, and our scholars follow our example...
He finds it pays best to pretend to listen to what he is forced to hear. This is the practical result of our fine systems of education...
For once more I repeat the risk is not in what he does not know, but in what he thinks he knows...
I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about...
Since we must have books, there is one book which, to my thinking, supplies the best treatise on an education according to nature. This is the first book Emile will read; for a long time it will form his whole library...What is this wonderful book? Is it Aristotle? Pliny? Buffon? No; it is Robinson Crusoe...
Let him think he is Robinson himself; let him see himself clad in skins, wearing a tall cap, a great cutlass, all the grotesque get-up of Robinson Crusoe, even to the umbrella which he will scarcely need. He should anxiously consider what steps to take; will this or that be wanting.
The man who eats in idleness what he has not himself earned, is a thief, and in my eyes, the man who lives on an income paid him by the state for doing nothing, differs little from a highwayman who lives on those who travel his way...
Man in society is bound to work; rich or poor, weak or strong, every idler is a thief. Now of all the pursuits by which a man may earn his living, the nearest to a state of nature is manual labor; of all stations that of the artisan is least dependent on Fortune...
“Learn a trade.” “A trade for my son! My son a working man! What are you thinking of, sir?”
Madam, my thoughts are wiser than yours; you want to make him fit for nothing but a lord, a marquis, or a prince; and some day he may be less than nothing. I want to give him a rank which he cannot lose, a rank which will always do him honor; I want to raise him to the status of a man, and, whatever you may say, he will have fewer equals in that rank than in your own...
Learning a trade matters less than overcoming the prejudices he despises...
Work for honor, not for need; stoop to the position of a working man, to rise above your own. to conquer Fortune and everything else, begin by independence. To rule through public opinion, begin by ruling over it....
He must work like a peasant and think like a philosopher, if he is not to be as idle as a savage...
Self-love, which concerns itself only with ourselves, is content to satisfy our own needs; but selfishness, which is always comparing self with others, is never satisfied and never can be; for this feeling which prefers ourselves to others, requires that they should prefer us to themselves, which is impossible. Thus the tender and gentle passion spring from self-love, while the hateful and angry passions spring selfishness. Have respect then for your species; remember that it consists essentially of the people, that if all the kings and all the philosophers were removed they would scarcely be missed, and things would go on none the worse. In a word, teach your pupil to love all men, even those who fail to appreciate him; act in such a way that he is not a member of any class, but takes his place in all alike: speak in his hearing of the human race with tenderness, and even with pity, but never with scorn. You are a man; do not dishonor mankind...
Reflection Question
Is it possible to hold these kinds of feelings towards "all men"?
Above all, no vanity, no emulation, no boasting, none of those sentiments which force us to compare ourselves with others; for such comparisons are never made without arousing some measure of hatred against those who dispute our claim to the first place, were it only in our own estimation...
Reflection Question
What are the principle elements of Rousseau's philosophy about the ends and means of education? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/02%3A_The_Handbooks_from_Philosophers/2.04%3A_How_is_the_Desire_to_Learn_Cultivated.txt |
Selection from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
by Mary Wollstonecraft
The good effects resulting from attention to private education will ever be very confined, and the parent who really puts his own hand to the plow, will always, in some degree be disappointed, till education becomes a grand national concern. A man cannot retire into a desert with his child, and if he did, he could not bring himself back to childhood, and become the proper friend and play-fellow of an infant or youth. And when children are confined to the society of men and women, they very soon acquire that kind of premature manhood which stops the growth of every vigorous power of mind or body. In order to open their faculties they should be excited to think for themselves; and this can only be done by mixing a number of children together, and making them jointly pursue the same objects.
A child very soon contracts a benumbing indolence of mind, which he has seldom sufficient vigour to shake off, when he only asks a question instead of seeking for information, and then relies implicitly on the answer he receives. With his equals in age this could never be the case, and the subjects of inquiry, though they might be influenced, would not be entirely under the direction of men, who frequently damp, if not destroy abilities, by bringing them forward too hastily: and too hastily they will infallibly be brought forward, if the child could be confined to the society of a man, however sagacious that man may be.
Besides, in youth the seeds of every affection should be sown, and the respectful regard, which is felt for a parent, is very different from the social affections that are to constitute the happiness of life as it advances. Of these, equality is the basis, and an intercourse of sentiments unclogged by that observant seriousness which prevents disputation, though it may not inforce submission. Let a child have ever such an affection for his parent, he will always languish to play and chat with children; and the very respect he entertains, for filial esteem always has a dash of fear mixed with it, will, if it do not teach him cunning, at least prevent him from pouring out the little secrets which first open the heart to friendship and confidence, gradually leading to more expansive benevolence. Added to this, he will never acquire that frank ingenuousness of behaviour, which young people can only attain by being frequently in society, where they dare to speak what they think; neither afraid of being reproved for their presumption, nor laughed at for their folly.
Forcibly impressed by the reflections which the sight of schools, as they are at present conducted, naturally suggested, I have formerly delivered my opinion rather warmly in favour of a private education; but further experience has led me to view the subject in a different light. I still, however, think schools, as they are now regulated, the hot-beds of vice and folly, and the knowledge of human nature, supposed to be attained there, merely cunning selfishness.
At school, boys become gluttons and slovens, and, instead of cultivating domestic affections, very early rush into the libertinism which destroys the constitution before it is formed; hardening the heart as it weakens the understanding.
I should, in fact, be averse to boarding-schools, if it were for no other reason than the unsettled state of mind which the expectation of the vacations produce. On these the children's thoughts are fixed with eager anticipating hopes, for, at least, to speak with moderation, half of the time, and when they arrive they are spent in total dissipation and beastly indulgence.
But, on the contrary, when they are brought up at home, though they may pursue a plan of study in a more orderly manner than can be adopted, when near a fourth part of the year is actually spent in idleness, and as much more in regret and anticipation; yet they there acquire too high an opinion of their own importance, from being allowed to tyrannize over servants, and from the anxiety expressed by most mothers, on the score of manners, who, eager to teach the accomplishments of a gentleman, stifle, in their birth, the virtues of a man. Thus brought into company when they ought to be seriously employed, and treated like men when they are still boys, they become vain and effeminate.
The only way to avoid two extremes equally injurious to morality, would be to contrive some way of combining a public and private education. Thus to make men citizens, two natural steps might be taken, which seem directly to lead to the desired point; for the domestic affections, that first open the heart to the various modifications of humanity would be cultivated, whilst the children were nevertheless allowed to spend great part of their time, on terms of equality, with other children...
In public schools, however, religion, confounded with irksome ceremonies and unreasonable restraints, assumes the most ungracious aspect: not the sober austere one that commands respect whilst it inspires fear; but a ludicrous cast, that serves to point a pun. For, in fact, most of the good stories and smart things which enliven the spirits that have been concentrated at whist, are manufactured out of the incidents to which the very men labour to give a droll turn who countenance the abuse to live on the spoil.
There is not, perhaps, in the kingdom, a more dogmatical or luxurious set of men, than the pedantic tyrants who reside in colleges and preside at public schools. The vacations are equally injurious to the morals of the masters and pupils, and the intercourse, which the former keep up with the nobility, introduces the same vanity and extravagance into their families, which banish domestic duties and comforts from the lordly mansion, whose state is awkwardly aped on a smaller scale. The boys, who live at a great expence with the masters and assistants, are never domesticated, though placed there for that purpose; for, after a silent dinner, they swallow a hasty glass of wine, and retire to plan some mischievous trick, or to ridicule the person or manners of the very people they have just been cringing to, and whom they ought to consider as the representatives of their parents.
Can it then be a matter of surprise, that boys become selfish and vicious who are thus shut out from social converse? or that a mitre often graces the brow of one of these diligent pastors? The desire of living in the same style, as the rank just above them, infects each individual and every class of people, and meanness is the concomitant of this ignoble ambition; but those professions are most debasing whose ladder is patronage; yet out of one of these professions the tutors of youth are in general chosen. But, can they be expected to inspire independent sentiments, whose conduct must be regulated by the cautious prudence that is ever on the watch for preferment?
So far, however, from thinking of the morals of boys, I have heard several masters of schools argue, that they only undertook to teach Latin and Greek; and that they had fulfilled their duty, by sending some good scholars to college. A few good scholars, I grant, may have been formed by emulation and discipline; but, to bring forward these clever boys, the health and morals of a number have been sacrificed.
The sons of our gentry and wealthy commoners are mostly educated at these seminaries, and will any one pretend to assert, that the majority, making every allowance, come under the description of tolerable scholars?
It is not for the benefit of society that a few brilliant men should be brought forward at the expence of the multitude. It is true, that great men seem to start up, as great revolutions occur, at proper intervals, to restore order, and to blow aside the clouds that thicken over the face of truth; but let more reason and virtue prevail in society, and these strong winds would not be necessary. Public education, of every denomination, should be directed to form citizens; but if you wish to make good citizens, you must first exercise the affections of a son and a brother. This is the only way to expand the heart; for public affections, as well as public virtues, must ever grow out of the private character, or they are merely meteors that shoot athwart a dark sky, and disappear as they are gazed at and admired.
Few, I believe, have had much affection for mankind, who did not first love their parents, their brothers, sisters, and even the domestic brutes, whom they first played with. The exercise of youthful sympathies forms the moral temperature; and it is the recollection of these first affections and pursuits, that gives life to those that are afterwards more under the direction of reason. In youth, the fondest friendships are formed, the genial juices mounting at the same time, kindly mix; or, rather the heart, tempered for the reception of friendship, is accustomed to seek for pleasure in something more noble than the churlish gratification of appetite.
In order then to inspire a love of home and domestic pleasures, children ought to be educated at home, for riotous holidays only make them fond of home for their own sakes. Yet, the vacations, which do not foster domestic affections, continually disturb the course of study, and render any plan of improvement abortive which includes temperance; still, were they abolished, children would be entirely separated from their parents, and I question whether they would become better citizens by sacrificing the preparatory affections, by destroying the force of relationships that render the marriage state as necessary as respectable. But, if a private education produce self-importance, or insulates a man in his family, the evil is only shifted, not remedied.
This train of reasoning brings me back to a subject, on which I mean to dwell, the necessity of establishing proper day-schools. But these should be national establishments, for whilst school-masters are dependent on the caprice of parents, little exertion can be expected from them, more than is necessary to please ignorant people. Indeed, the necessity of a master's giving the parents some sample of the boy's abilities, which during the vacation, is shown to every visiter, is productive of more mischief than would at first be supposed. For they are seldom done entirely, to speak with moderation, by the child itself; thus the master countenances falsehoods, or winds the poor machine up to some extraordinary exertion, that injures the wheels, and stops the progress of gradual improvement. The memory is loaded with unintelligible words, to make a show of, without the understanding's acquiring any distinct ideas: but only that education deserves emphatically to be termed cultivation of mind, which teaches young people how to begin to think. The imagination should not be allowed to debauch the understanding before it gained strength, or vanity will become the forerunner of vice: for every way of exhibiting the acquirements of a child is injurious to its moral character.
How much time is lost in teaching them to recite what they do not understand! whilst, seated on benches, all in their best array, the mammas listen with astonishment to the parrot-like prattle, uttered in solemn cadences, with all the pomp of ignorance and folly. Such exhibitions only serve to strike the spreading fibres of vanity through the whole mind; for they neither teach children to speak fluently, nor behave gracefully. So far from it, that these frivolous pursuits might comprehensively be termed the study of affectation: for we now rarely see a simple, bashful boy, though few people of taste were ever disgusted by that awkward sheepishness so natural to the age, which schools and an early introduction into society, have changed into impudence and apish grimace.
Yet, how can these things be remedied whilst schoolmasters depend entirely on parents for a subsistence; and when so many rival schools hang out their lures to catch the attention of vain fathers and mothers, whose parental affection only leads them to wish, that their children should outshine those of their neighbours?
Without great good luck, a sensible, conscientious man, would starve before he could raise a school, if he disdained to bubble weak parents, by practising the secret tricks of the craft.
In the best regulated schools, however, where swarms are not crammed together many bad habits must be acquired; but, at common schools, the body, heart, and understanding, are equally stunted, for parents are often only in quest of the cheapest school, and the master could not live, if he did not take a much greater number than he could manage himself; nor will the scanty pittance, allowed for each child, permit him to hire ushers sufficient to assist in the discharge of the mechanical part of the business. Besides, whatever appearance the house and garden may make, the children do not enjoy the comforts of either, for they are continually reminded, by irksome restrictions, that they are not at home, and the state-rooms, garden, etc. must be kept in order for the recreation of the parents; who, of a Sunday, visit the school, and
are impressed by the very parade that renders the situation of their children uncomfortable.
With what disgust have I heard sensible women, for girls are more restrained and cowed than boys, speak of the wearisome confinement which they endured at school. Not allowed, perhaps, to step out of one broad walk in a superb garden, and obliged to pace with steady deportment stupidly backwards and forwards, holding up their heads, and turning out their toes, with shoulders braced back, instead of bounding, as nature directs to complete her own design, in the various attitudes so conducive to health. The pure animal spirits, which make both mind and body shoot out, and unfold the tender blossoms of hope are turned sour, and vented in vain wishes, or pert repinings, that contract the faculties and spoil the temper; else they mount to the brain and sharpening the understanding before it gains proportionable strength, produce that pitiful cunning which disgracefully characterizes the female mind--and I fear will ever characterize it whilst women remain the slaves of power!
The little respect which the male world pay to chastity is, I am persuaded, the grand source of many of the physical and moral evils that torment mankind, as well as of the vices and follies that degrade and destroy women; yet at school, boys infallibly lose that decent bashfulness, which might have ripened into modesty at home.
I have already animadverted on the bad habits which females acquire when they are shut up together; and I think that the observation may fairly be extended to the other sex, till the natural inference is drawn which I have had in view throughout--that to improve both sexes they ought, not only in private families, but in public schools, to be educated together. If marriage be the cement of society, mankind should all be educated after the same model, or the intercourse of the sexes will never deserve the name of fellowship, nor will women ever fulfil the peculiar duties of their sex, till they become enlightened citizens, till they become free, by being enabled to earn their own subsistence, independent of men; in the same manner, I mean, to prevent misconstruction, as one man is independent of another. Nay, marriage will never be held sacred till women by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions, rather than their mistresses; for the mean doublings of cunning will ever render them contemptible, whilst oppression renders them timid. So convinced am I of this truth, that I will venture to predict, that virtue will never prevail in society till the virtues of both sexes are founded on reason; and, till the affection common to both are allowed to gain their due strength by the discharge of mutual duties.
Were boys and girls permitted to pursue the same studies together, those graceful decencies might early be inculcated which produce modesty, without those sexual distinctions that taint the mind. Lessons of politeness, and that formulary of decorum, which treads on the heels of falsehood, would be rendered useless by habitual propriety of behaviour. Not, indeed put on for visiters like the courtly robe of politeness, but the sober effect of cleanliness of mind. Would not this simple elegance of sincerity be a chaste homage paid to domestic affections, far surpassing the meretricious compliments that shine with false lustre in the heartless intercourse of fashionable life? But, till more understanding preponderate in society, there will ever be a want of heart and taste, and the harlot's rouge will supply the place of that celestial suffusion which only virtuous affections can give to the face. Gallantry, and what is called love, may subsist without simplicity of character; but the main pillars of friendship, are respect and confidence--esteem is never founded on it cannot tell what.
A taste for the fine arts requires great cultivation; but not more than a taste for the virtuous affections: and both suppose that enlargement of mind which opens so many sources of mental pleasure. Why do people hurry to noisy scenes and crowded circles? I should answer, because they want activity of mind, because they have not cherished the virtues of the heart. They only, therefore, see and feel in the gross, and continually pine after variety, finding every thing that is simple, insipid.
This argument may be carried further than philosophers are aware of, for if nature destined woman, in particular, for the discharge of domestic duties, she made her susceptible of the attached affections in a great degree. Now women are notoriously fond of pleasure; and naturally must be so, according to my definition, because they cannot enter into the minutiae of domestic taste; lacking judgment the foundation of all taste. For the understanding, in spite of sensual cavillers, reserves to itself the privilege of conveying pure joy to the heart.
With what a languid yawn have I seen an admirable poem thrown down, that a man of true taste returns to, again and again with rapture; and, whilst melody has almost suspended respiration, a lady has asked me where I bought my gown. I have seen also an eye glanced coldly over a most exquisite picture, rest, sparkling with pleasure, on a caricature rudely sketched; and whilst some terrific feature in nature has spread a sublime stillness through my soul, I have been desired to observe the pretty tricks of a lap-dog, that my perverse fate forced me to travel with. Is it surprising, that such a tasteless being should rather caress this dog than her children? Or, that she should prefer the rant of flattery to the simple accents of sincerity?
To illustrate this remark I must be allowed to observe, that men of the first genius, and most cultivated minds, have appeared to have the highest relish for the simple beauties of nature; and they must have forcibly felt, what they have so well described, the charm, which natural affections, and unsophisticated feelings spread round the human character. It is this power of looking into the heart, and responsively vibrating with each emotion, that enables the poet to personify each passion, and the painter to sketch with a pencil of fire.
True taste is ever the work of the understanding employed in observing natural effects; and till women have more understanding, it is vain to expect them to possess domestic taste. Their lively senses will ever be at work to harden their hearts, and the emotions struck out of them will continue to be vivid and transitory, unless a proper education stores their minds with knowledge.
It is the want of domestic taste, and not the acquirement of knowledge, that takes women out of their families, and tears the smiling babe from the breast that ought to afford it nourishment.
Women have been allowed to remain in ignorance, and slavish dependence, many, very many years, and still we hear of nothing but their fondness of pleasure and sway, their preference of rakes and soldiers, their childish attachment to toys, and the vanity that makes them value accomplishments more than virtues.
History brings forward a fearful catalogue of the crimes which their cunning has produced, when the weak slaves have had sufficient address to over-reach their masters. In France, and in how many other countries have men been the luxurious despots, and women the crafty ministers? Does this prove that ignorance and dependence domesticate them? Is not their folly the by-word of the libertines, who relax in their society; and do not men of sense continually lament, that an immoderate fondness for dress and dissipation carries the mother of a family for ever from home? Their hearts have not been debauched by knowledge, nor their minds led astray by scientific pursuits; yet, they do not fulfil the peculiar duties, which as women they are called upon by nature to fulfil. On the contrary, the state of warfare which subsists between the sexes, makes them employ those wiles, that frustrate the more open designs of force.
When, therefore, I call women slaves, I mean in a political and civil sense; for, indirectly they obtain too much power, and are debased by their exertions to obtain illicit sway.
Let an enlightened nation then try what effect reason would have to bring them back to nature, and their duty; and allowing them to share the advantages of education and government with man, see whether they will become better, as they grow wiser and become free. They cannot be injured by the experiment; for it is not in the power of man to render them more insignificant than they are at present...
In this plan of education, the constitution of boys would not be ruined by the early debaucheries, which now make men so selfish, nor girls rendered weak and vain, by indolence and frivolous pursuits. But, I presuppose, that such a degree of equality should be established between the sexes as would shut out gallantry and coquetry, yet allow friendship and love to temper the heart for the discharge of higher duties.
These would be schools of morality--and the happiness of man, allowed to flow from the pure springs of duty and affection, what advances might not the human mind make? Society can only be happy and free in proportion as it is virtuous; but the present distinctions, established in society, corrode all private, and blast all public virtue.
I have already inveighed against the custom of confining girls to their needle, and shutting them out from all political and civil employments; for by thus narrowing their minds they are rendered unfit to fulfil the peculiar duties which nature has assigned them.
Only employed about the little incidents of the day, they necessarily grow up cunning. My very soul has often sickened at observing the sly tricks practised by women to gain some foolish thing on which their silly hearts were set. Not allowed to dispose of money, or call any thing their own, they learn to turn the market penny; or, should a husband offend, by staying from home, or give rise to some emotions of jealousy--a new gown, or any pretty bauble, smooths Juno's angry brow.
But these LITTLENESSES would not degrade their character, if women were led to respect themselves, if political and moral subjects were opened to them; and I will venture to affirm, that this is the only way to make them properly attentive to their domestic duties. An active mind embraces the whole circle of its duties, and finds time enough for all. It is not, I assert, a bold attempt to emulate masculine virtues; it is not the enchantment of literary pursuits, or the steady investigation of scientific subjects, that lead women astray from duty. No, it is indolence and vanity --the love of pleasure and the love of sway, that will reign paramount in an empty mind. I say empty, emphatically, because the education which women now receive scarcely deserves the name. For the little knowledge they are led to acquire during the important years of youth, is merely relative to accomplishments; and accomplishments without a bottom, for unless the understanding be cultivated, superficial and monotonous is every grace. Like the charms of a made-up face, they only strike the senses in a crowd; but at home, wanting mind, they want variety. The consequence is obvious; in gay scenes of dissipation we meet the artificial mind and face, for those who fly from solitude dread next to solitude, the domestic circle; not having it in their power to amuse or interest, they feel their own insignificance, or find nothing to amuse or interest themselves.
Besides, what can be more indelicate than a girl's coming out in the fashionable world? Which, in other words, is to bring to market a marriageable miss, whose person is taken from one public place to another, richly caparisoned. Yet, mixing in the giddy circle under restraint, these butterflies long to flutter at large, for the first affection of their souls is their own persons, to which their attention has been called with the most sedulous care, whilst they were preparing for the period that decides their fate for life. Instead of pursuing this idle routine, sighing for tasteless show, and heartless state, with what dignity would the youths of both sexes form attachments in the schools that I have cursorily pointed out; in which, as life advanced, dancing, music, and drawing, might be admitted as relaxations, for at these schools young people of fortune ought to remain, more or less, till they were of age. Those, who were designed for particular professions, might attend, three or four mornings in the week, the schools appropriated for their immediate instruction.
I only drop these observations at present, as hints; rather, indeed as an outline of the plan I mean, than a digested one; but I must add, that I highly approve of one regulation mentioned in the pamphlet already alluded to (The Bishop of Autun), that of making the children and youths independent of the masters respecting punishments. They should be tried by their peers, which would be an admirable method of fixing sound principles of justice in the mind, and might have the happiest effect on the temper, which is very early soured or irritated by tyranny, till it becomes peevishly cunning, or ferociously overbearing.
My imagination darts forward with benevolent fervour to greet these amiable and respectable groups, in spite of the sneering of cold hearts, who are at liberty to utter, with frigid self-importance, the damning epithet-- romantic; the force of which I shall endeavour to blunt by repeating the words of an eloquent moralist. "I know not whether the allusions of a truly humane heart, whose zeal renders everything easy, is not preferable to that rough and repulsing reason, which always finds in indifference for the public good, the first obstacle to whatever would promote it."
I know that libertines will also exclaim, that woman would be unsexed by acquiring strength of body and mind, and that beauty, soft bewitching beauty! would no longer adorn the daughters of men. I am of a very different opinion, for I think, that, on the contrary, we should then see dignified beauty, and true grace; to produce which, many powerful physical and moral causes would concur. Not relaxed beauty, it is true, nor the graces of helplessness; but such as appears to make us respect the human body as a majestic pile, fit to receive a noble inhabitant, in the relics of antiquity...
Humanity to animals should be particularly inculcated as a part of national education, for it is not at present one of our national virtues. Tenderness for their humble dumb domestics, amongst the lower class, is oftener to be found in a savage than a civilized state. For civilization prevents that intercourse which creates affection in the rude hut, or mud cabin, and leads uncultivated minds who are only depraved by the refinements which prevail in the society, where they are trodden under foot by the rich, to domineer over them to revenge the insults that they are obliged to bear from their superiours.
This habitual cruelty is first caught at school, where it is one of the rare sports of the boys to torment the miserable brutes that fall in their way. The transition, as they grow up, from barbarity to brutes to domestic tyranny over wives, children, and servants, is very easy. Justice, or even benevolence, will not be a powerful spring of action, unless it extend to the whole creation; nay, I believe that it may be delivered as an axiom, that those who can see pain, unmoved, will soon learn to inflict it...
My observations on national education are obviously hints; but I principally wish to enforce the necessity of educating the sexes together to perfect both, and of making children sleep at home, that they may learn to love home; yet to make private support instead of smothering public affections, they should be sent to school to mix with a number of equals, for only by the jostlings of equality can we form a just opinion of ourselves.
To render mankind more virtuous, and happier of course, both sexes must act from the same principle; but how can that be expected when only one is allowed to see the reasonableness of it? To render also the social compact truly equitable, and in order to spread those enlightening principles, which alone can meliorate the fate of man, women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men. For they are now made so inferior by ignorance and low desires, as not to deserve to be ranked with them; or, by the serpentine wrigglings of cunning they mount the tree of knowledge and only acquire sufficient to lead men astray.
It is plain from the history of all nations, that women cannot be confined to merely domestic pursuits, for they will not fulfil family duties, unless their minds take a wider range, and whilst they are kept in ignorance, they become in the same proportion, the slaves of pleasure as they are the slaves of man. Nor can they be shut out of great enterprises, though the narrowness of their minds often make them mar what they are unable to comprehend.
The libertinism, and even the virtues of superior men, will always give women, of some description, great power over them; and these weak women, under the influence of childish passions and selfish vanity, will throw a false light over the objects which the very men view with their eyes, who ought to enlighten their judgment. Men of fancy, and those sanguine characters who mostly hold the helm of human affairs, in general, relax in the society of women; and surely I need not cite to the most superficial reader of history, the numerous examples of vice and oppression which the private intrigues of female favourites have produced; not to dwell on the mischief that naturally arises from the blundering interposition of well-meaning folly. For in the transactions of business it is much better to have to deal with a knave than a fool, because a knave adheres to some plan; and any plan of reason may be seen through much sooner than a sudden flight of folly. The power which vile and foolish women have had over wise men, who possessed sensibility, is notorious; I shall only mention one instance.
Whoever drew a more exalted female character than Rousseau? Though in the lump he constantly endeavoured to degrade the sex. And why was he thus anxious? Truly to justify to himself the affection which weakness and virtue had made him cherish for that fool Theresa. He could not raise her to the common level of her sex; and therefore he laboured to bring woman down to her's. He found her a convenient humble companion, and pride made him determine to find some superior virtues in the being whom he chose to live with; but did not her conduct during his life, and after his death, clearly show how grossly he was mistaken who called her a celestial innocent. Nay, in the bitterness of his heart, he himself laments, that when his bodily infirmities made him no longer treat her like a woman, she ceased to have an affection for him. And it was very natural that she should, for having so few sentiments in common, when the sexual tie was broken, what was to hold her? To hold her affection whose sensibility was confined to one sex, nay, to one man, it requires sense to turn sensibility into the broad channel of humanity: many women have not mind enough to have an affection for a woman, or a friendship for a man. But the sexual weakness that makes woman depend on man for a subsistence, produces a kind of cattish affection, which leads a wife to purr about her husband, as she would about any man who fed and caressed her.
Men, are however, often gratified by this kind of fondness which is confined in a beastly manner to themselves, but should they ever become more virtuous, they will wish to converse at their fire-side with a friend, after they cease to play with a mistress. Besides, understanding is necessary to give variety and interest to sensual enjoyments, for low, indeed, in the intellectual scale, is the mind that can continue to love when neither virtue nor sense give a human appearance to an animal appetite. But sense will always preponderate; and if women are not, in general, brought more on a level with men, some superior women, like the Greek courtezans will assemble the men of abilities around them, and draw from their families many citizens, who would have stayed at home, had their wives had more sense, or the graces which result from the exercise of the understanding and fancy, the legitimate parents of taste. A woman of talents, if she be not absolutely ugly, will always obtain great power, raised by the weakness of her sex; and in proportion as men acquire virtue and delicacy: by the exertion of reason, they will look for both in women, but they can only acquire them in the same way that men do.
In France or Italy have the women confined themselves to domestic life? though they have not hitherto had a political existence, yet, have they not illicitly had great sway? Corrupting themselves and the men with whose passions they played? In short, in whatever light I view the subject, reason and experience convince me, that the only method of leading women to fulfil their peculiar duties, is to free them from all restraint by allowing them to participate the inherent rights of mankind.
Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous, as men become more so; for the improvement must be mutual, or the justice which one half of the human race are obliged to submit to, retorting on their oppressors, the virtue of man will be worm-eaten by the insect whom he keeps under his feet.
Let men take their choice, man and woman were made for each other, though not to become one being; and if they will not improve women, they will deprave them!
I speak of the improvement and emancipation of the whole sex, for I know that the behaviour of a few women, who by accident, or following a strong bent of nature, have acquired a portion of knowledge superior to that of the rest of their sex, has often been over-bearing; but there have been instances of women who, attaining knowledge, have not discarded modesty, nor have they always pedantically appeared to despise the ignorance which they laboured to disperse in their own minds. The exclamations then which any advice respecting female learning, commonly produces, especially from pretty women, often arise from envy. When they chance to see that even the lustre of their eyes, and the flippant sportiveness of refined coquetry will not always secure them attention, during a whole evening, should a woman of a more cultivated understanding endeavour to give a rational turn to the conversation, the common source of consolation is, that such women seldom get husbands. What arts have I not seen silly women use to interrupt by FLIRTATION, (a very significant word to describe such a manoeuvre) a rational conversation, which made the men forget that they were pretty women.
But, allowing what is very natural to man--that the possession of rare abilities is really calculated to excite over-weening pride, disgusting in both men and women--in what a state of inferiority must the female faculties have rusted when such a small portion of knowledge as those women attained, who have sneeringly been termed learned women, could be singular? Sufficiently so to puff up the possessor, and excite envy in her contemporaries, and some of the other sex. Nay, has not a little rationality exposed many women to the severest censure? I advert to well known-facts, for I have frequently heard women ridiculed, and every little weakness exposed, only because they adopted the advice of some medical men, and deviated from the beaten track in their mode of treating their infants. I have actually heard this barbarous aversion to innovation carried still further, and a sensible woman stigmatized as an unnatural mother, who has thus been wisely solicitous to preserve the health of her children, when in the midst of her care she has lost one by some of the casualties of infancy which no prudence can ward off. Her acquaintance have observed, that this was the consequence of new-fangled notions--the new-fangled notions of ease and cleanliness. And those who, pretending to experience, though they have long adhered to prejudices that have, according to the opinion of the most sagacious physicians, thinned the human race, almost rejoiced at the disaster that gave a kind of sanction to prescription.
Indeed, if it were only on this account, the national education of women is of the utmost consequence; for what a number of human sacrifices are made to that moloch, prejudice! And in how many ways are children destroyed by the lasciviousness of man? The want of natural affection in many women, who are drawn from their duty by the admiration of men, and the ignorance of others, render the infancy of man a much more perilous state than that of brutes; yet men are unwilling to place women in situations proper to enable them to acquire sufficient understanding to know how even to nurse their babes.
So forcibly does this truth strike me, that I would rest the whole tendency of my reasoning upon it; for whatever tends to incapacitate the maternal character, takes woman out of her sphere.
But it is vain to expect the present race of weak mothers either to take that reasonable care of a child's body, which is necessary to lay the foundation of a good constitution, supposing that it do not suffer for the sins of its fathers; or to manage its temper so judiciously that the child will not have, as it grows up, to throw off all that its mother, its first instructor, directly or indirectly taught, and unless the mind have uncommon vigour, womanish follies will stick to the character throughout life. The weakness of the mother will be visited on the children! And whilst women are educated to rely on their husbands for judgment, this must ever be the consequence, for there is no improving an understanding by halves, nor can any being act wisely from imitation, because in every circumstance of life there is a kind of individuality, which requires an exertion of judgment to modify general rules. The being who can think justly in one track, will soon extend its intellectual empire; and she who has sufficient judgment to manage her children, will not submit right or wrong, to her husband, or patiently to the social laws which makes a nonentity of a wife.
In public schools women, to guard against the errors of ignorance, should be taught the elements of anatomy and medicine, not only to enable them to take proper care of their own health, but to make them rational nurses of their infants, parents, and husbands; for the bills of mortality are swelled by the blunders of self-willed old women, who give nostrums of their own, without knowing any thing of the human frame. It is likewise proper, only in a domestic view, to make women, acquainted with the anatomy of the mind, by allowing the sexes to associate together in every pursuit; and by leading them to observe the progress of the human understanding in the improvement of the sciences and arts; never forgetting the science of morality, nor the study of the political history of mankind.
A man has been termed a microcosm; and every family might also be called a state. States, it is true, have mostly been governed by arts that disgrace the character of man; and the want of a just constitution, and equal laws, have so perplexed the notions of the worldly wise, that they more than question the reasonableness of contending for the rights of humanity. Thus morality, polluted in the national reservoir, sends off streams of vice to corrupt the constituent parts of the body politic; but should more noble, or rather more just principles regulate the laws, which ought to be the government of society, and not those who execute them, duty might become the rule of private conduct.
Besides, by the exercise of their bodies and minds, women would acquire that mental activity so necessary in the maternal character, united with the fortitude that distinguishes steadiness of conduct from the obstinate perverseness of weakness. For it is dangerous to advise the indolent to be steady, because they instantly become rigorous, and to save themselves trouble, punish with severity faults that the patient fortitude of reason might have prevented.
But fortitude presupposes strength of mind, and is strength of mind to be acquired by indolent acquiescence? By asking advice instead of exerting the judgment? By obeying through fear, instead of practising the forbearance, which we all stand in need of ourselves? The conclusion which I wish to draw is obvious; make women rational creatures and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives, and mothers; that is--if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
Discussing the advantages which a public and private education combined, as I have sketched, might rationally be expected to produce, I have dwelt most on such as are particularly relative to the female world, because I think the female world oppressed; yet the gangrene which the vices, engendered by oppression have produced, is not confined to the morbid part, but pervades society at large; so that when I wish to see my sex become more like moral agents, my heart bounds with the anticipation of the general diffusion of that sublime contentment which only morality can diffuse. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/02%3A_The_Handbooks_from_Philosophers/2.05%3A_How_Can_Girls_Receive_an_Equal_Education.txt |
• 3.1: Does Psychology Matter More Than Sociology?
Dewey's primary objective in this article is to elucidate the way that humans are influenced by both social and psychological factors. While he believes that both are extremely influential, he claims and defends the idea that education necessarily includes both factors, and schools are primarily social.
• 3.2: What does Psychology Demand?
In this introductory chapter, Thorndike explains the ways that psychology can inform the practice of education. Specifically, he talks about the way that stimulus and response can be used to produce the desired changes in pupils.
03: The Battle for 20th Century Education
Selections from My Pedagogic Creed
by John Dewey
Dewey's primary objective in this article is to elucidate the way that humans are influenced by both social and psychological factors. While he believes that both are extremely influential, he claims and defends the idea that education necessarily includes both factors, and schools are primarily social.
I believe that all education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race. This process begins unconsciously almost at birth, and is continually shaping the individuals powers, saturating his consciousness, forming his habits, training his ideas, and arousing his feelings and emotions. Through this unconscious education the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together. He becomes an inheritor of the funded capital of civilization. The most formal and technical education in the world cannot safely depart from this general process. It can only organize it; or differentiate it in some particular direction.
I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action and feeling, and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare of the group to which he belongs. Through the responses which others make to his own activities he comes to know what these mean in social terms. The value which they have is reflected back into them. For instance, through the response which is made to the child's instinctive babblings the child comes to know what those babblings mean; they are transformed into articulate language, and thus the child is introduced into the consolidated wealth of ideas and emotions which are now summed up in language.
I believe that this educational process has two sides—one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil results following.
Reflection Question
Is this possible If sociology and psychology en up being inconsistent with each other?
Of these two sides, the psychological is the basis. The child's own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting-point for all education. Save as the efforts of the educator connect with some activity which the child is carrying on of his own initiative independent of the educator, education becomes reduced to a pressure from without. It may, indeed, give certain external results, but cannot truly be called educative. Without insight into the psychological structure and activities of the individual, the educative process will, therefore, he haphazard and arbitrary. If it chances to coincide with the child's activity it will get a leverage; if it does not, it will result in friction, or disintegration, or arrest of the child nature.
I believe that knowledge of social conditions, of the present state of civilization, is necessary in order properly to interpret the child's powers. The child has his own instincts and tendencies, but we do not know what these mean until we can translate them into their social equivalents. We must be able to carry them back into a social past and see them as the inheritance of previous race activities. We must also be able to project them into the future to see what their outcome and end will be. In the illustration just used, it is the ability to see in the child's babblings the promise and potency of a future social intercourse and conversation which enables one to deal in the proper way with that instinct.
I believe that the psychological and social sides are organically related, and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise between the two, or a superimposition of one upon the other. We are told that the psychological definition of education is barren and, formal—that it gives us only the idea of a development of all the mental powers without giving us any idea of the use to which these powers are put. On the other hand, it is urged that the social definition of education, as getting adjusted to civilization, makes of it a forced and external process, and results in subordinating the freedom of the individual to a preconceived social and political status.
I believe each of these objections is true when urged against one side isolated from the other.
Reflection Question
What might Dewey mean by the previous sentence?
In order to know what a power really is we must know what its end, use, or function is; and this we cannot know save as we conceive of the individual as active in social relationships. But, on the other hand, the only possible adjustment which we can give to the child under existing conditions, is that which arises through putting him in complete possession of all his powers. With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for any precise set of conditions. To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and really use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently. It is impossible to reach this sort of adjustment save as constant regard is had to the individual's own powers, tastes, and interests—say, that is, as education is continually converted into psychological terms.
In sum, I believe that the individual who is to be educated is a social individual, and that society is an organic union of individuals. If we eliminate the social factor from the child we are left only with an abstraction; if we eliminate the individual factor from society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass. Education, therefore, must begin with a psychological insight into the child's capacities, interests, and habits. It must be controlled at every point by reference to these same considerations. These powers, interests, and habits must be continually interpreted—we must know what they mean. They must be translated into terms of their social equivalents—into terms of what they are capable of in the way of social service.
ARTICLE II. WHAT THE SCHOOL IS
I believe that the school is primarily a social institution. Education being a social process, the school is simply that form of community life in which all those agencies are concentrated that will be most effective in bringing the child to share in the inherited resources of the race, and to use his own powers for social ends.
I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.
I believe that the school must represent present life—life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the playground.
I believe that education which does not occur through forms of life, forms that are worth living for their own sake, is always a poor substitute for the genuine reality, and tends to cramp and to deaden.
I believe that the school, as an institution, should simplify existing social life; should reduce it, as it were, to an embryonic form. Existing life is so complex that the child cannot be brought into contact with it without either confusion or distraction; he is either overwhelmed by the multiplicity of activities which are going on, so that he loses his own power of orderly reaction, or he is so stimulated by these various activities that his powers are prematurely called into play and he becomes either unduly specialized or else disintegrated.
I believe that, as such simplified social life, the school life should grow gradually out of the home life; that it should take up and continue the activities with which the child is already familiar in the home.
I believe that it should exhibit these activities to the child, and reproduce them in such ways that the child will gradually learn the meaning of them, and be capable of playing his own part in relation to them.
I believe that this is a psychological necessity, because it is the only way of securing continuity in the child's growth, the only way of giving a background of past experience to the new ideas given in school.
I believe it is also a social necessity because the home is the form of social life in which the child has been nurtured and in connection with which he has had his moral training. It is the business of the school to deepen and extend his sense of the values bound up in his home life.
Reflection Question
Can social and psychological necessities also be moral necessities?
I believe that much of present education fails because it neglects this fundamental principle of the school as a form of community life. It conceives the school as a place where certain information is to be given, where certain lessons are to be learned, or where certain habits are to be formed. The value of these is conceived as lying largely in the remote future; the child must do these things for the sake of something else he is to do; they are mere preparations. As a result they do not become a part of the life experience of the child and so are not truly educative.
I believe that the moral education centers upon this conception of the school as a mode of social life, that the best and deepest moral training is precisely that which one gets through having to enter into proper relations with others in a unity of work and thought. The present educational systems, so far as they destroy or neglect this unity, render it difficult or impossible to get any genuine, regular moral training.
I believe that the child should be stimulated and controlled in his work through the life of the community.
I believe that under existing conditions far too much of the stimulus and control proceeds from the teacher, because of neglect of the idea of the school as a form of social life.
I believe that the teacher's place and work in the school is to be interpreted from this same basis. The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences.
I believe that the discipline of the school should proceed from the life of the school as a whole and not directly from the teacher.
I believe that the teacher's business is simply to determine, on the basis of larger experience and riper wisdom, how the discipline of life shall come to the child.
I believe that all questions of the grading of the child and his promotion should be determined by reference to the same standard. Examinations are of use only so far as they test the child's fitness for social life and reveal the place in which he can be of the most service and where he can receive the most help.
ARTICLE III. THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF EDUCATION
I believe that the social life of the child is the basis of concentration, or correlation, in all his training or growth. The social life gives the unconscious unity and the background of all his efforts and of all his attainments.
I believe that the subject-matter of the school curriculum should mark a gradual differentiation out of the primitive unconscious unity of social life.
I believe that we violate the child's nature and render difficult the best ethical results by introducing the child too abruptly to a number of special studies, of reading, writing, geography, etc., out of relation to this social life.
I believe, therefore, that the true center of correlation on the school subjects is not science, nor literature, nor history, nor geography, but the child's own social activities.
I believe that education cannot be unified in the study of science, or so-called nature study, because apart from human activity, nature itself is not a unity; nature in itself is a number of diverse objects in space and time, and to attempt to make it the center of work by itself is to introduce a principle of radiation rather than one of concentration.
Reflection Question
Are Dewey's assumptions about science and nature sound?
I believe that literature is the reflex expression and interpretation of social experience; that hence it must follow upon and not precede such experience. It, therefore, cannot be made the basis, although it may be made the summary of unification.
I believe once more that history is of educative value in so far as it presents phases of social life and growth. It must be controlled by reference to social life. When taken simply as history it is thrown into the distant past and becomes dead and inert. Taken as the record of man's social life and progress it becomes full of meaning. I believe, however, that it cannot be so taken excepting as the child is also introduced directly into social life.
I believe accordingly that the primary basis of education is in the child's powers at work along the same general constructive lines as those which have brought civilization into being.
I believe that the only way to make the child conscious of his social heritage is to enable him to perform those fundamental types of activity which make civilization what it is.
I believe, therefore, in the so-called expressive or constructive activities as the center of correlation.
I believe that this gives the standard for the place of cooking, sewing, manual training, etc., in the school.
I believe that they are not special studies which are to be introduced over and above a lot of others in the way of relaxation or relief, or as additional accomplishments. I believe rather that they represent, as types, fundamental forms of social activity; and that it is possilble and desirable that the child's introduction into the more formal subjects of the curriculum be through the medium of these activities.
I believe that the study of science is educational in so far as it brings out the materials and processes which make social life what it is.
I believe that one of the greatest difficulties in the present teaching of science is that the material is presented in purely objective fornn, or is treated as a new peculiar kind of experience which the child can add to that which he has already had. In reality, science is of value because it gives the ability to interpret and control the experience already had. It should be introduced, not as so much new subject-matter, but as showing the factors already involved in previous experience and as furnishing tools by which that experience can be more easily and effectively regulated.
I believe that at present we lose much of the value of literature and language studies because of our elimination of the social element. Language is almost always treated in the books of pedagogy simply as the expression of thought. It is true that language is a logical instrument, but it is fundamentally and primarily a social instrument. Language is the device for communication; it is the tool through which one individual comes to share the ideas and feelings of others. When treated simply as a way of getting individual information, or as a means of showing off what one has learned, it loses its social motive and end.
I believe that there is, therefore, no succession of studies in the ideal school curriculum. If education is life, all life has, from the outset, a scientific aspect; an aspect of art and culture and an aspect of communication. It cannot, therefore, be true that the proper stndies for one grade are mere reading and writing, and that at a later grade, reading, or literature, or science, may be introduced. The progress is not in the succession of studies, but in the development of new attitudes towards, and new interests in, experience.
I believe, finally, that education must be conceived aa a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.
Reflection Question
How would those who claim that the ends of education are more than the process object to this claim?
I believe that to set up any end outside of education, as furnishing its goal and standard, is to deprive the educational process of much of its meaning, and tends to make us rely upon false and external stimuli in dealing with the child.
ARTICLE IV. THE NATURE OF METHOD
I believe that the question of method is ultimately reducible to the question of the order of development of the child's powers and interests. The law for presenting and treating material is the law implicit within the child's own nature. Because this is so I believe the following statements are of supreme importance as determining the spirit in which education is carried on:
1. I believe that the active side precedes the passive in the development of the child-nature; that expression comes before conscious impression; that the muscular development precedes the sensory; that movements come before conscious sensations; I believe that consciousness is essentially motor or impulsive; that conscious states tend to project themselves in action.
I believe that the neglect of this principle is the cause of a large part of the waste of time and strength in school work. The child is thrown into a passive, receptive, or absorbing attitiide. The conditions are such that he ia not permitted to follow the law of his nature; the result is friction and waste.
I believe that ideas (intellectual and rational processes) also result from action and devolve for the sake of the better control of action. What we term reason is primarily the law of orderly or effective action. To attempt to develop the reasoning powers, the powers of judgment, without reference to the selection and arrangement of means in action, is the fundamental fallacy in our present methods of dealing with this matter. As a result we present the child with arbitrary symbols. Symbols are a necessity in mental development, but they have their place as tools for economizing effort; presented by themselves they are a mass of meaningless and arbitrary ideas imposed from without.
1. I believe that the image is the great instrument of instruction. What a child gets out of any subject presented to him is simply the images which he himself forms with regard to it.
I believe that if nine-tenths of the energy at present directed towards making the child learn certain things were spent in seeing to it that the child was forming proper images, the work of instruction would be indefinitely facilitated.
I believe that much of the time and attention now given to the preparation and presentation of lessons might be more wisely and profitably expended in training the child's power of imagery and in seeing to it that he was continually forming definite, vivid, and growing images of the various subjects with which he comes in contact in his experience.
1. I believe that interests are the signs and symptoms of growiug power. I believe that they represent dawning capacities. Accordingly the constant and careful observation of interests is of the utmost importance for the educator.
I believe that these interests are to be observed as showing the state of development which the child has reached.
I believe that they prophesy the stage upon which he is about to enter.
I believe that only through the continual and sympathetic observation of childhood's interests can the adult enter into the child's life and see what it is ready for, and upon what material it could work most readily and fruitfully.
I believe that these interests are neither to be humored nor repressed. To repress interest is to substitute the adult for the child, and so to weaken intellectual curiosity and alertness, to suppress initiative, and to deaden interest. To humor the interests is to substitute the transient for the permanent. The interest is always the sign of some power below; the important thing is to discover this power. To humor the interest is to fail to penetrate below the surface, and its sure result is to substitute caprice and whim for genuine interest.
1. I believe that the emotions are the reflex of actions.
I believe that to endeavor to stimulate or arouse the emotions apart from their corresponding activities is to introduce an unhealthy and morbid state of mind.
I believe that if we can only secure right habits of action and thought, with reference to the good, the true, and the beautiful, the emotions will for the most part take care of themselves.
I believe that next to deadness and dullness, formalism and routine, our education is threatened with no greater evil than sentimentalism.
I believe that this sentimentalism is the necessary result of the attempt to divorce feeling from action.
ARTICLE V. THE SCHOOL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS
I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.
I believe that all reforms which rest simply upon the enactment of law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile.
I believe that education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction.
I believe that this conception has due regard for both the individualistic and socialistic ideals. It is duly individual because it recognizes the formation of a certain character as the only genuine basis of right living. It is socialistic because it recognizes that this right character is not to be formed by merely individual precept, example, or exhortation, but rather by the influence of a certain form of institutional or community life upon the individual, and that the social organism through the school, as its organ, may determine ethical results.
Reflection Question
What implications does the previous paragraph have on the idea of having responsibility for your own character?
I believe that in the ideal school we have the reconciliation of the individualistic and the institutional ideals.
I believe that the community's duty to education is, therefore, its paramount moral duty. By law and punishment, by social agitation and discussion, society can regulate and form itself in a more or less haphazard and chance way. But through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move.
I believe that when society once recognizes the possibilities in this direction, and the obligations which these possibilities impose, it is impossible to conceive of the resources of time, attention, and money which will be put at the disposal of the educator.
I believe it is the business of every one interested in education to insist upon the school as the primary and most effective interest of social progress and reform in order that society may be awakened to realize what the school stands for, and aroused to the necessity of endowing the educator with sufficient equipment properly to perform his task.
I believe that education thus conceived marks the most perfect and intimate union of science and art conceivable in human experience.
Reflection Question
What would it mean to unify art and science?
I believe that the art of thus giving shape to human powers and adapting them to social service is the supreme art; one calling into its service the best of artists; that no insight, sympathy, tact, executive power is too great for such service.
I believe that with the growth of psychological service, giving added insight into individual structure and laws of growth; and with growth of social science, adding to our knowledge of the right organization of iudividuais, all scientific resources can be utilized for the purposes of education.
I believe that when science and art thus join hands the most commanding motive for human action will be reached; the most genuine springs of human conduct aroused, and the best service that human nature is capable of guaranteed.
I believe, finally, that the teacher is engaged, not simply in the training of individuals, but in the formation of the proper social life.
I believe that every teacher should realize the dignity of his calling; that he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of proper social order and the securing of the right social growth.
I believe that in this way the teacher always is the prophet of the true God and the usherer in of the true kingdom of God.
Reflection Question
What are the principal elements of Dewey's philosophy of the ends and means of education?
Attributions
• You can find a complete version of this essay here.
• A special thanks to A. Legrand Richards for his help in finding this text. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/03%3A_The_Battle_for_20th_Century_Education/3.01%3A_Does_Psychology_Matter_More_Than_Sociology.txt |
Selections from The principles of teaching: based on psychology
by Edward Thorndike
In this introductory chapter, Thorndike explains the ways that psychology can inform the practice of education. Specifically, he talks about the way that stimulus and response can be used to produce the desired changes in pupils.
The Teacher's Problem: The Aims, Materials and Methods of Education.
The word Education is used with many meanings, but in all its usages it refers to changes. No one is educated who stays just as he was. We do not educate anybody if we do nothing that makes any difference or change in any-body. The need of education arises from the fact that what is is not what ought to be. Because we wish our-selves and others to become different from what we and they now are, we try to educate ourselves and them. In studying education, then, one studies always the existence, nature, causation or value of changes of some sort. The teacher confronts two questions: ‘What changes to make?' and 'How to make them?'
Reflection Question
is there good reason to remove the first question from the domain of the educator?
The first question is commonly answered for the teacher by the higher school authorities for whom he or she works. The opinions of the educational leaders in the community decide what the schools shaII try to do for their pupils. The program of studies is planned and the work which is to be done grade by grade is carefuly outlined. The grammar-school teacher may think that changes in knowledge represented by the ability to read a modern language ought to be made in boys and girls before the high-school, but the decision is rarely his ; the primary teacher may be obliged to teach arithmetic although her own judgment would postpone giving the knowledge of numbers until the fifth or sixth grade.
What changes should be made in human nature by primary, grammar and high schools and why these and not other changes should be the aim of the schools, are questions usually answered under the heading 'Principles of Education.' How most efficiently to make such changes as educational aims recommend, is a question usually answered under the headings 'Principles of Teaching,' or 'Methods of Teaching,' or 'Theory and Practice of Teaching,' or 'Educational Psychology.' This book will try to answer this latter question, —to give a scientific basis for the art of actual teaching rather than for the selection of aims for the schools as a whole or of the subjects to be taught or of the general result to be gained from any subject. Not the What or the Why but the How is its topic.
It is not wise however to study the How of teaching without any reference to the What or the Why. If a teacher does not appreciate, at least crudely, the general aims of education, he will not fully appreciate the general aims of school education; if he does not appreciate the general aims of school education, he will not fully appreciate the aims of his special grade or of any one special subject; if he does not have fairly clear ideas of what the year's work as a whole or of what each subject as a whole ought to accomplish for the scholars, he will not know exactly what he is about in any particular day's work. The teacher must be something more than the carpenter who follows without reflection the architect's plan, or the nurse who merely administers the physician's prescriptions. His relation to the administration of the school system and the program of studies is more like that of the builder who is told to make the best house he can at a cost of ten thousand dollars, using three laborers, a derrick and such and such tools and providing especially for light, ventilation and protection against fire. Superior authorities say, 'Make the best boys and girls you can, using arithmetic, geography, school regulations and so on, providing especially for knowledge, good habits of thought, worthy interests, bodily health, noble feelings and honest, unselfish conduct.' The builder must often study how to dig a foundation, how to erect a frame, how to lay a floor and the like with reference to what is to be built; the teacher should often study how to utilize inborn tendencies, how to form habits, how to develop interests and the like with reference to what changes in intellect and character are to be made.
Reflection Question
Is this construction metaphor accurate or is teaching more accurately described by another metaphor?
The teacher should know about educational aims and values as well as about such principles of teaching as directly concern his own activities in the classroom. The next three pages will accordingly outline the essential facts concerning the ideals which, in the opinion of the best qualified thinkers, should be followed in American education, and throughout the book due attention will be given to such facts about the ends the teacher should seek as he needs to know to improve his teaching.
The Aims of Education.— Education as a whole should make human beings wish each other well, should increase the sum of human energy and happiness and decrease the sum of discomfort of the human beings that are or will be, and should foster the higher, impersonal pleasures.
Reflection Question
What kind of ethical framework can underly these aims?
These aims of education in general—good-will to men, usefuI and happy lives, and noble enjoyment—are the ultimate aims of school education in particular. Its proximate aims are to give boys and girls health in body and mind, information about the world of nature and men, worthy interests in knowledge and action, a multitude of habits of thought, feeling and behavior and ideals of efficiency, honor, duty, love and service. The special proximate aims of the first six years of school life are commonly taken to be to give physical training and protection against disease; knowledge of the simple facts 'of nature and human life; the ability to gain knowledge and pleasure through reading and to express ideas and, feelings through spoken and written language, music 'and other arts; interests in the concrete life of the world; habits of intelligent curiosity, purposive thinking, modesty, obedience, honesty, helpfulness, affection, courage\and justice; and the ideals proper to childhood.
The special proximate aims of school life from twelve to eighteen are commonly taken to be physical health and skill; knowledge of the simpler general laws of nature and human life and of the opinions of the wisest and best; more effective use of the expressive arts; interests in the arts and sciences, and in human life both as directly experienced and as portrayed in literature; powers of self-control, accuracy, steadiness and logical thought, technical and executive abilities, cooperation and leadership; habits of self-restraint, honor, courage, justice, sympathy and reverence; and the ideals proper to youth.
With respect to the amount of emphasis upon different features of these general ideals, the best judgment of the present rates of practical ability somewhat higher and culture of the semi-selfish sort somewhat lower than has been the case in the past. No sensible thinker about education now regards the ability to support oneself as a mean thing. Every one must gain power at school as well as at home to pull his own weight in the boat, to repay in useful labor what the world gives him in food and shelter. The cultured idler is as one-sided as the ignorant and clownish worker and may be even more of a danger to the world. The schools must prepare for efficiency in the serious business of life as well as for the refined enjoyment of its leisure.
The best judgment of the present gives much more weight than has been the case previously to health, to bodily skill and to the technical and industrial arts. The ideal of the scholar has given way to the ideal of the capable man—capable in scholarship still, but also capable in physique and in the power to manipulate things.
Very recently thinkers about education have dwelt more and more upon the importance of aiming not only to prepare children for adult life and work but also to adapt them to the life of childhood itself. Aim more to make children succeed with the problems and duties of childhood and less to fit them for the problems and duties of twenty years after; let education adapt the child to his own environment as well as to some supposed work of his later years—such are the recommendations of present-day theories of education.
In actual practice aims often conflict. A gain in knowledge may mean a loss in health; to arouse ideals may mean less time for drill in correct habits; in zeal for the development of love of the beautiful the interest in the dry, cold facts of science may have to be neglected. The energy of any teacher, and of scholars as well, is limited. All that can be expected is that none of the aims of school education shall be wilfully violated and that energy should be distributed among them all in some reasonable way.
The degrees of emphasis on the different proximate aims vary (1) with the nature of the individual to be educated and ( 2) with the nature of the educational forces besides the school which are at work. Thus (I) the emphasis in a school for the feeble-minded is not the same as in an ordinary school; the emphasis in a high school representing a selection of the more . ambitious, intellectual and energetic is not the same as in a school where the selection is simply on the basis of the ability of the parents to pay tuition. (2) The emphasis in a primary school attended by the children of recent immigrants will differ from that in a school in a suburb inhabited by American professional and business families. A high school in a farming community in the Southwest should not pattern its ideals after those proper to a school in New York City.
Reflection Question
Is the previous paragraph a justification for oppression?
The Special Problem of the Teacher.— It is the problem of the higher authorities of the schools to decide what the schools shall try to achieve and to arrange plans for school work which will attain the desired ends. Having decided what changes are to be made they entrust to the teachers the work of making them. The special problem of the teacher is to make these changes as economically and as surely as is possible under the conditions of school life. His is the task of giving certain information, forming certain habits, increasing certain powers, arousing certain interests and inspiring certain ideals.
The study of the best methods of doing so may be carried to almost any degree of detail. The principles of teaching may mean the general principles applicable to the formation of all habits or the highly specialized rules of procedure for forming the habit of correct use of shall and will; they include the laws valid for the acquisition of any knowledge and the discussion of the particular difficulties in teaching the spelling of to, two and too. But the problem is always fundamentally the same:—Given these children to be changed and this change to be made, how shall I proceed? Given this material for education and this aim of education, what means and methods shall I use?
Psychology and the Art of Teaching
The Scientific Basis of Teaching.—The work of teaching is to produce and to prevent changes in human beings; to preserve and increase the desirable qualities of body, intellect and character and to get rid of the undesirable. To thus control human nature, the teacher needs to know it. To change what is into what ought to be, we need to know the laws by which the changes occur. Just as to make a plant grow well the gardener must act in accordance with the laws of botany which concern the growth of plants, or as to make a bridge well the architect must act in accordance with the facts of mechanics concerning stresses and strains, or as to change disease into health the physician must act in accordance with the laws of physiology and pathology, so to make human beings intelligent and useful and noble the teacher must act in accordance with the laws of the sciences of human nature.
The sciences of biology, especially human physiology and hygiene, give the laws of changes in bodily nature. The science of psychology gives the laws of changes in intellect and character. The teacher studies and learns to apply psychology to teaching for the same reason that the progressive farmer studies and learns to apply botany; the architect, mechanics; or the physician, physiology and pathology.
Stimulus and Response.—Using psychological terms, the art of teaching may be defined as the art of giving and withholding stimuli with the result of producing or preventing certain responses. In this definition the term stimulus is used widely for any event which influences a person,—for a word spoken to him, a look, a sentence which he reads, the air he breathes, etc., etc. The term response is used for any reaction made by him. -a new thought, a feeling of interest, a bodily act, an; mental or bodily condition resulting from the stimulus. The aim of the teacher is to produce desirable and prevent undesirable changes in human beings by producing and preventing certain responses. The means at the disposal of the teacher are the stimuli which can be brought to bear upon the pupil,-the teacher's words, gestures and appearance, the condition and appliances of the school room, the books to be used and objects to be seen, and so on through a long list of the things and events which the teacher can control. The responses of the pupil are all the infinite variety of thoughts and feelings and bodily movements occurring in all their possible connections. The stimuli given by the teacher to arouse and guide the pupil's responses may be classified as:—
1. Stimuli under direct control.
1. The teacher's movements,—speech, gestures, facial expression, etc.
2. Stimuli under indirect control.
1. The physical conditions of the school,-air, light, heat, etc.
2. The material equipment of the school,-books, apparatus, _specimens, etc.
3. The social conditions of the school,- the acts (including spoken words) of the pupils and the spirit which these acts represent.
4. The general environment,-acts of parents, laws, libraries, etc.
The responses may be classified as:—
1. Physiological responses, such as deeper breathing, sounder sleep, vigorous exercise and the like.
2. Responses of knowledge, such as connecting a sense stimulus with an appropriate percept, abstracting one element from a complex fact or making associations of ideas.
3. Responses of attitude, such as the connection of attention, interest, preference and belief with certain situations.
4. Responses of feeling, such as connecting sympathy, love, hate, etc., with certain situations.
5. Responses of action or of conduct and skill, connecting certain ·acts or movements with certain mental states.
The Value of Psychology.—If there existed a perfect and complete knowledge of human nature,—a complete science of psychology,—it would teII the effect of every possible stimulus and the cause of every possible response in every possible human being. A teacher could then know just what the result of any act of his would be, could prophesy just what the effect of such and such a page read or punishment given or dress worn would be,—just how to get any particular response, of attention to this object, memory of this fact or comprehension of that principle.
Of course present knowledge of psychology is nearer to zero than to complete perfection, and its applications to teaching must therefore be often incomplete, indefinite and insecure.
Reflection Question
If Thorndike's characterization of psychology is accurate, can psychology have first principles?
The application of psychology to teaching is more like that of botany and chemistry to farming than like that of physiology and pathology to medicine. Anyone of good sense can farm fairly well without science, and anyone of good sense can teach without knowing and applying psychology. Still, as the farmer with the knowledge of the applications of botany and chemistry to farming is, other things being equal more successful than the farmer without it, so the teacher will, other things being equal, be the more successful who can apply psychology, the science of human nature, to the problems of the school.
Reflection Question
What are the principle elements of Thorndike's philosophy of the ends and means of education?
Attributions
• A complete copy of Thorndike's book can be found here
• A special thanks to A. Legrand Richards for his assistance in selecting this text. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Ends_and_Means_of_Education_(Johnstun)/03%3A_The_Battle_for_20th_Century_Education/3.02%3A_What_does_Psychology_Demand.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Examine the importance of diversity.
• Distinguish the difference between equity and equality.
• Explain what inclusion means.
• Discuss some ways programs should be inclusive.
01: Looking at Diversity Equity and Inclusion
Diversity
Let’s begin by defining diversity and exploring its significance to working with children. The concept of diversity means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.
Diversity is a reality created by individuals and groups from a broad spectrum of demographic and philosophical differences. It is extremely important to support and protect diversity, to value individuals and groups without prejudice, and foster a climate where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic.
According to Queensborough Community College, “‘Diversity’ means more than just acknowledging and/or tolerating difference. Diversity is a set of conscious practices that involve:
• Understanding and appreciating interdependence of humanity, cultures, and the natural environment.
• Practicing mutual respect for qualities and experiences that are different from our own.
• Understanding that diversity includes not only ways of being but also ways of knowing;
• Recognizing that personal, cultural and institutionalized discrimination creates and sustains privileges for some while creating and sustaining disadvantages for others;
• Building alliances across differences so that we can work together to eradicate all forms of discrimination.
Diversity includes, therefore, knowing how to relate to those qualities and conditions that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet are present in other individuals and groups. These include but are not limited to age, ethnicity, class, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, as well as religious status, gender expression, educational background, geographical location, income, marital status, parental status, and work experiences. Finally, we acknowledge that categories of difference are not always fixed but also can be fluid, we respect individual rights to self-identification, and we recognize that no one culture is intrinsically superior to another”. [4]
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in the U.S. and California
There is a rich array of ethnic and social groups found in many early childhood programs in California. Much of this cultural diversity is due to high levels of immigration. Foreign-born persons represented 12 percent (32.5 million) of the U.S. population in 2002, with almost 50 percent of that group coming from Latin America, 25 percent from Asia, and 20 percent from Europe (Schmidley 2003). In 2010, of the more than 2.5 million children under the age of five living in California, about half of these children were Latino (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). It is important to note that Latinos may be of any race, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. White non-Latino children make up 30 percent of children under five in California, Asian-Pacific Islanders make up 10 percent, Black or African Americans make up 6 percent, and the remaining 4 percent represent a wide range of ethnic groups (Whitebook, Kipnis, and Bellm 2008). [5]
Significance of Diversity
A growing body of research shows that diversity in schools and communities can be a powerful lever leading to positive outcomes in school and in life. Racial and socioeconomic diversity benefits communities, schools, and children from all backgrounds. Today's students need to be prepared to succeed with a more diverse and more global workforce than ever before. Research has shown that more diverse organizations make better decisions with better results. The effects of socioeconomic diversity can be especially powerful for students from low-income families, who, historically, often have not had equal access to the resources they need to succeed. [6] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/01%3A_Looking_at_Diversity_Equity_and_Inclusion/1.01%3A_Diversity.txt |
In education, the term equity refers to the principle of fairness . While it is often used interchangeably with the related principle of equality , equity encompasses a wide variety of educational models, programs, and strategies that may be considered fair, but not necessarily equal. [8] In other words, equity means making sure every student has the support they need to be successful.
Equity in education “requires putting systems in place to ensure that every child has an equal chance for success. That requires understanding the unique challenges and barriers faced by individual students or by populations of students and providing additional supports to help them overcome those barriers. While this in itself may not ensure equal outcomes , we all should strive to ensure that every child has equal opportunity for success.” [9] Unlike equity, equality ignores the fact that different people begin with different resources and barriers, and therefore will need more or less support as a result. [10]
Figure 1.3 is a simplified visual of difference between equality (giving everyone the same thing) and equity (giving each person what they need).
Other images have been created that show that equity isn’t quite that simple and often what is creating the inequity is not characteristics of the person (such as height as shown in the image), but in the system. Systemic oppression and unearned privilege are addressed in later chapters of the book
Why Does Educational Equity Matter?
When we think of a fair and just society one of the defining characteristics is likely to be that all individuals have equal opportunity to realize their potential, irrespective of the circumstances into which they are born. Education plays a critical role in determining whether or not individuals are given this opportunity. There are a range of reasons why good educational outcomes matter, from the individual; better health and longer life, to the societal; greater social cohesion, inclusion and trust; to the economic, productivity, economic growth, innovation, social wealth and reduced welfare costs. For a society or nation committed to ‘creating a fair and egalitarian place in which opportunities exist for all’, education is a key lever or vehicle through which this can occur. [12]
1.03: Inclusion
When we talk about inclusive early childhood education, we are talking about programs that are designed for children and families from a wide range of backgrounds. A program can serve diverse families, but not be truly inclusive; you can have families from different backgrounds in your program, but do they feel welcome? Are you forcing them to adapt to a program that isn’t designed for them or that doesn’t take into consideration their social, cultural, and/or racial contexts? Designing an inclusive program translates to everything from physical space to how you interact with children and families. [14]
Inclusion as it Relates to Children with Disabilities
Inclusion embodies the values, policies, and practices that support the right of every child and their family, regardless of ability, to participate in a broad range of activities and contexts as full members of families, communities, and society. The desired results of inclusive experiences for children with and without disabilities and their families include a sense of belonging and membership, positive social relationships and friendships, and development and learning to reach their full potential. The defining features of inclusion that can be used to identify high quality early childhood programs and services are:
• Access - providing access to a wide range of learning opportunities, activities, settings, and environments
• Participation - even if environments and programs are designed to facilitate access, some children will need additional individualized accommodations and supports to participate fully in play and learning activities with peers and adults.
• Supports - an infrastructure of systems-level supports must be afforded to those providing inclusive services to children and families. [15]
Children with disabilities and their families continue to face significant barriers to accessing inclusive high-quality early childhood programs and too many preschool children with disabilities are only offered the option of receiving special education services in settings separate from their peers without disabilities. [17]
Think About It…
Describe your understanding of how diversity, equity, and inclusion are related.
1.04: Summary
Early childhood programs serve a diverse array of children and families. Recognizing the value of this diversity and creating relationships with families that provide the context of their culture, will allow early childhood education programs to be inclusive in a variety of different ways and provide educational equity for the children for whom they provide care and education. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/01%3A_Looking_at_Diversity_Equity_and_Inclusion/1.02%3A_Equity.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Discuss what culture is and how it has been defined or described
• Describe how culture is passed
• Identify myths about culture
• Relate how culture affects development
• Explain the importance of being responsive to children and families’ culture
02: The Importance of Culture
Culture is a broad concept that refers to the customs, values, beliefs, and practices of a group of people. It incorporates family roles, rituals, communication styles, emotional expression, social interactions, and learned behavior. Culture also refers to a shared way of life that includes social norms, rules, beliefs, and values that are transmitted across generations (Hill, McBride-Murry, and Anderson 2005, 23). Although cultural groups often share ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, these are not what define culture. Culture has been described as arising from “a dynamic system of social values, cognitive codes, of behavioral standards, worldviews, and beliefs used to give order and meaning to our lives” (Gay 2000, 8).
Culture infuses and is reflected in routines of daily living. Culture is a primary source of beliefs, attitudes, language, and personal efficacy (belief that one has control over and is responsible for one’s life), sense of time (whether time is thought of in large chunks such as hours and days rather than precisely in terms of minutes and seconds), and perceptions of personal space. Culture is the source of the symbols used to capture aspects of life such as important life transitions, relationships, status and power, achievement, group identity, and the meaning of life and death. Culture conveys a set of beliefs about how social relationships should be ordered and how the world operates. [18]
A variety of definitions of culture are provided in the table below. The purpose of providing these definitions is to invite us to review and discuss the various definitions of the term as a framework for further discussions. [19]
Table 2.1: Definitions of Culture [20]
Culture is…
• The organized and common practices of particular communities.
• A shared organization of ideas that includes the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic standards prevalent in a community and the meaning of communicative actions.
• The complex processes of human social interaction and symbolic communication.
• A set of activities by which different groups produce collective memories, knowledge, social relationships, and values within historically controlled relations of power.
• An instrument people use as they struggle to survive in a social group.
• A framework that guides and bounds life practices.
• All that is done by people.
• The ways and manners people use to see, perceive, represent, interpret, and assign value and meaning to the reality they live or experience.
• The complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
• Shared understanding, as well as the public customs and artifacts that embody these understandings.
• Patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts.
• Not so much a matter of inert system in which people operate, but rather a historical construction by people that is always changing.
Culture is complex and is something we are exposed to from the day we are born. It is a process detailed in the following deep structures:
1. Culture is a set of rules for behavior . Culture cannot be “seen” because the rules are invisible; one can see only the products of culture: the behaviors produced by the rules. Nevertheless, cultural rules do not cause behavior; they influence people to behave similarly, in ways that help them to understand each other. It is by understanding a culture’s rules that one knows how to greet a person younger than oneself, older than oneself, a friend, or a stranger. Cultural rules help people to know how to hold a baby. Cultural rules shape food preferences and celebrations—determine whether the sun or the moon is celebrated; whether to wear a dress or pants, or nothing at all. These rules give meaning to all the events and experiences of life. The essence of culture is not these behaviors themselves, but the rules that produce the behaviors.
2. Culture is characteristic of groups. The rules of a culture are shared by the group, not invented by the individual. The rules of the group, which are passed on from one generation to the next, form the core of the culture. Although one most remember that in addition to group cultural differences, there are individual differences. Each person develops a unique personality as a result of his or her personal history and, at the same time, develops in a cultural context with some behavioral characteristics that are shared by other members of the group.
1. Culture is learned. No one is born acculturated; rather, each person is born with a biological capacity to learn. What each person learns depends upon the cultural rules of the people who raised them. Some rules are taught with words: “hold your fork in your right hand, and your knife in your left.” Other rules are demonstrated by actions—when to smile, how close to stand when talking to someone, and so on. Because culture is learned, it is a mistake to assume a person’s culture by the way she or he looks. Someone may be racially black and culturally Irish. A person can also become bicultural or mulitcultural by learning the rules of cultures other than his or her own primary group.
2. Individuals are embedded, to different degrees, within a culture. Culture is learned and as children are acculturated, they usually learn the core rules of their culture, yet they may not always learn each cultural rule equally well. Some families are more bound to tradition, others less so. Further, even though families and individuals learn the cultural rules, they may not always behave according to what they have learned—some people are conformists; others are nonconformists. Consequently, the behavior of members of a cultural group will vary, depending on how deeply embedded their experiences are within the core of a culture. Thinking about behavioral variations in this way helps those who work with individual families to understand why those from a similar culture do not share all culturally based behaviors.
3. Cultural groups borrow and share rules. Each cultural group has its own set of core behavioral rules and is therefore unique; yet some of the rules of Culture A may be the same as the rules of Culture B. This happens because cultural rules evolve and change over time, and sometimes when two groups have extensive contact with one another, they influence each other in some areas. Thus, two groups of people may speak the same language, yet have different rules about roles for women. Understanding of this concept helps to avoid confusion when a person from another culture is so much like the teacher in some ways, yet so different in other ways.
4. Members of a cultural group may be proficient at cultural behavior but unable to describe the rules. Acculturation is a natural process; as people become acculturated, they are not conscious that their ideas and behavior are being shaped by a unique set of rules. Just as a four-year-old who is proficient with language cannot diagram a sentence or explain the rules of grammar if asked to do so, so also people may become thoroughly proficient with cultural behavior without consciously knowing that they behave according to rules. In the same way, understanding acculturation explains why one cannot walk up to a person and ask him or her to explain their culture.
Cultivating openness about culture and development promotes a curiosity for the early childhood educator that helps with curtailing the two common assumptions that exist in society today. The first assumption is that there is one set of “best practices” and one set of universal developmental goals for all children and families. By avoiding this static view and looking instead at culture as a fluid set of practices organized to accomplish specific goals, one sees that each cultural community may have a unique set of "best practices" to promote socialization and developmental goals for its children. These practices and goals are situated within the broader community context that includes political, social, and economic history.
The second assumption is that culture is equivalent to one’s ethnic or linguistic background. Looking at culture as a set of practices rather than as a person’s background provides a more powerful way to understand variations within ethnic and linguistic groups than simply comparing attributes across groups. As teachers, early care providers, and researchers often note, it is typical for more differences than similarities to appear among children from the same ethnic or linguistic backgrounds. Families from similar ethnic or linguistic backgrounds do not necessarily have the same routines, goals, or practices. Routines, goals, and practices are developed in the context of a family’s history, including cultural and linguistic heritage, but they vary across regions and from country to country and are usually associated with the immediate and recent social, political, and economic goals of the community. The cultural practices, or routine ways of doing things, define the cultural context in which humans develop. Using this approach, practitioners and researchers can explore how culturally based practices with children drive developmental outcomes rather than focus exclusively on how developmental outcomes differ across ethnic and linguistic groups. The following vignette illustrates this concept. [22]
Naptime Struggles
José is a 17-month-old child whose family lives in an apartment in a large city located close to the Mexican border. His family has recently moved to the United States and has been living with his aunt and her four children. José has been attending a local infant/toddler program for almost two months. His teachers report that naptime is particularly difficult for José. Although obviously very tired, José struggles to transition to his cot and often lies on the floor and cries, which disturbs the other children and often wakes them.
José’s primary care teacher has tried carrying José to his cot and giving him a book or favorite toy to help him calm down; however, José rolls off the cot and onto the floor and continues to cry. When José finally does fall asleep, it is usually time for the children to get up and have a snack. The lead teacher, Carla, decides to bring up this issue to her supervisor during her next reflective supervision meeting.
When asked to describe how José’s behavior during naptime makes her feel, Carla shares that she feels sad for José because he is so obviously distressed and that she wishes she could do something to help him. She also feels that since José has been in the program for almost two months, he should be able to make the transition to naptime more easily. When asked how José’s behavior makes her feel in her role as lead teacher, Carla shares that she feels ineffective as a teacher and worries about the effect that José’s behavior has on the other children. She also worries about how she and her assistant will get their lunch breaks since all children need to be asleep in order for one of them to leave the classroom.
Carla’s supervisor suggests that she do a home visit to get to know the family better and learn more about the family’s caregiving routines. During the home visit, Carla learns that José has slept with his mother since birth and that in José’s country of origin, children typically sleep with a parent until another sibling is born, at which time they generally move to an older sibling’s bed. When discussing this with her supervisor, Carla comes to understand that co-sleeping reflects a goal of José’s cultural community, which is to foster interdependence. [24]
As this vignette illustrates, the interdependence valued in José’s home is dramatically different from the emphasis on self-reliance and autonomy found in his early care program. Researchers have reported that environments where sleep patterns are different from those of the home setting can lead to uncertainty for children (Provence, Naylor, and Patterson 1977) and that sleep patterns are often among the final practices to change when a family moves to a new country (Farooqui, Perry, and Beevers 1991). José experiences very different practices in the early care program, which are based on the goal of independence, from those he experiences at home. By making a home visit to learn more about family practices, Carla has taken an important first step toward understanding José’s behavior and creating a sensitive and responsive classroom. [25] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/02%3A_The_Importance_of_Culture/2.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Although the early childhood field has a long history of commitment to developing culturally appropriate approaches to educating young children (“multicultural education”), it still struggles with understanding the role of culture in the development of our youngest children (Maschinot 2008; Derman-Sparks and Olsen Edwards 2010). To develop a culturally responsive approach, it is essential to understand that what children learn from families and teachers is an idea system that extends deep into the values of a group of people. Learning goes far beyond the things generally associated with culture, such as art, music, styles of dress, or holidays. As a child acquires cultural ways of being, these cultural rules for behavior impact identity by giving children the tools to understand their family/community and be understood in it.
Acquiring the idea system of the group is so powerful that it gives children the ability to interact with the group. For example, babies are born with the capability to make sounds; however, those sounds become meaningful only as they communicate with their families. Through communication the sounds are shaped and organized into the words and sentences the babies’ families use to share meaning. Thus, as children come to know the ideas that govern speech and language in their community, they gain the power to communicate and to represent themselves in the world.
So, when teachers treat culture with an almost exclusive emphasis on the celebrations, styles of dress, art, music, and food habits, they fail to appreciate the depth of cultural impact and the idea system at work in the process of development. Although a child’s identity is impacted by participation in family cultural rituals, the focus neither starts nor ends there. Surrounding children with artifacts and customs that are a part of their history, homes, and communities is important. However, when that approach becomes the sole emphasis in attempts to embrace culture, it diverts attention from the more fundamental role that culture plays in the development of children’s social, emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being. The challenge for teachers of young children is to understand the importance of culture to human development and to move beyond mere cultural appreciation and enrichment to cultural empowerment. [26]
2.03: Myths About Culture
Myth 1, Essentialism : It is possible to learn all there is to know about a culture by studying its traditions, beliefs, practices, and attitudes.
Truth : It is nearly impossible to reduce the essential and distinguishing features of any culture or cultural group to descriptive statements or lists of characteristics
Myth 2, Overgeneralization : Cultural practices and beliefs apply in the same way to all members of a cultural group.
Truth : Cultures are dynamic and constantly evolving in response to such factors as environmental conditions, new challenges, technology, and acculturative pressures resulting from close encounters with other cultural groups. Cultures that are in proximity borrow from and are influenced by one another.
Myth 3, Assumption of stability : Cultures are static, constant, and stable.
Truth : The shared system of beliefs, morals, values, attitudes, practices, roles, artifacts, symbols, and language that make up a culture are adaptive, dynamic, and in constant flux in response to changes in the social context. Cultures change in response to strains, opportunities, and altered social landscapes. Learning and relearning must take place continually.
Myth 4, Single-culture assumption : Within a home and family, a single culture predominates.
Truth : Within in a single family there may be blending of several distinct cultures and ethnic identities. This means that individuals living with a single family may reflect not one, but several cultural traditions. [28]
2.04: Responsiveness to Culture and Language Supports Children
Responsive environments create a climate of respect for each child’s culture and language when teachers and other program staff partner and regularly communicate with family members. They work to get to know the cultural strengths each child brings to their early childhood education program. An essential part of being culturally and linguistically responsive is to value and support each child’s use of home language, for continued use and development of the child’s home language is beneficial, as is becoming multilingual (learning English in addition to any home languages).
Equally important are nurturing interactions with children and their families in which “. . . teachers attempt, as much as possible, to learn about the history, beliefs, and practices of the children & families they serve. . . .” In addition to being responsive to the cultural history, beliefs, values, ways of communicating, and practices of children and families, teachers create learning environments that include resources such as pictures, displays, and books that are culturally rich and supportive of a diverse population, particularly the cultures and languages of the children and families in their preschool setting. Community members add to the cultural richness of a preschool setting by sharing their art, music, dance, traditions, and stories. [29]
2.05: Summary
Culture can be defined in many ways, is complex, and is continually developing. It affects the way children and their families behave, what they value, and their identities. It is critical that early childhood educators partner with families to understand, value, respect, and honor the individual cultures of the children in your early childhood education classroom. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/02%3A_The_Importance_of_Culture/2.02%3A_The_Role_of_Culture_in_Development.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the role of peers in the development of children’s identity
• Explain the importance of play for identity
• Discuss the role of culture in identity development
03: The Development of Identity in Children
Social identity is a complex but natural occurrence in all humans. The main questions we will be discussing in this chapter include: What is social identity? How do we help children in early childhood education with their social identity? Why does it matter?
3.02: How Children Develop Identity
During infancy we begin to recognize that we are a separate being. Then we begin to realize that this self is stable. Once this sense of self develops, we can formulate a categorical self. We become aware that even though we're separate and distinct objects or entities or beings, we also exist in the world. We exist with other objects and beings and entities, in that, each of these objects has properties, including ourselves. In early childhood, these categories that children apply themselves to are very concrete. They include our developmental age, our gender, our size, and the skills we have. [31]
The Role of Early Childhood Education and Play
Where we truly start seeing social identities begin is within families and their culture. Where we see social identities cultivated, especially in the classroom is through play. Children develop self-identity, who they believe themselves to be, and begin to form relationships through play and peer relations which contribute to their emotional, social and cognitive development. Theories of self generally agree that an early childhood program can foster children’s self- esteem and build the foundation for future relationships with others.
Early childhood is a significant period for the children’s development including the emergence of their abilities and skills in areas such as language, physical development, psychosocial development, and cognitive development. This can be greatly influenced by the nature of the educational environment that the child is exposed to in the first years of life (Bowman, Donovan and Burns, 2001). Young children’s earliest years are the foundation for their physical and mental health, emotional security, cultural and personal identity, and developing competencies (United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2005, paragraph 6 (e)).
Another dynamic surrounds ‘personal’ versus ‘social’ identity. Personal identity refers to children’s subjective feelings about their distinctiveness from others, their sense of uniqueness, of individuality. Social identity refers, on the other hand, to the ways in which they feel they are (or would like to be) the same as others, typically through identification with family and/or peer culture (Schaffer, 2006). Factors like age, gender, religious background, ethnic background, interests, role models, talents, and hobbies play a part in a child’s emerging concept of self.
Relationships with Peers
As children develop their identity they are influenced by interactions and relationships with others. Woodhead (2008, p.6) highlights that identity has two distinct aspects –“ that of the unique individual person and that of the shared social person”. In addition, identity is expressed through children’s subjective feelings about themselves and about others.
Warin (2010) notes that identity does not exist outside the social context in which it is constructed and is something that the person carries about with them through time and through the range of social situations they participate in. This illustrates the educational importance of self-awareness and awareness of others.
Friendship is of value to children as they help each other understand the world in which they live. According to Dunn (2004), the quality of children’s friendships affects their development of a sense of personal and social identity. Children with friends have better social skills and fewer adjustment problems as friends provide social support and can protect against the difficulties of starting school, victimization and bullying (Dunn, 2004). Having friends is an important resource for developing identities.
Studies (George, 2007; Weller, 2007).have discussed the importance of friendship groups in relation to identity formation As Currie, D., Kelly, D. and Pomeramtz, S. (2007) note, membership of a group (or exclusion from it) can greatly inform the construction of ‘who you are’ in terms of identity- both in relation to one’s own self-identity and how others see you and how you see others. Children’s peer cultures work to influence and constrain the ways in which children construct meanings and values, act and communicate with each other; conduct aspects of identity in relation to themselves and their peers (Adler, P. Kless, S. and Adler, P., 1992).
Play
Play is crucial in Early Child Education (ECE) and families, caretakers, preschool teachers play a vital role in the early years of a child’s education. (Wood 2004). Children try to gain a sense of self and identity of their own when they associate with other people around them. During the early years of childhood (first 8 years) major development of brain occurs and lack of play activity based education can negatively impact on the child’s cognitive development during a crucial stage for identity development. Children develop self-identity and begin to form relationships. Play contributes to children’s emotional development and since play requires use of multiple motor and mental functions, children develop various skills as well. Play-based learning aids children in developing moral and social skills. [34]
There is accumulating scientific evidence of the potential of play and playfulness to enhance human capacity to respond to adversity and cope with the stressors of everyday life. In play, we build a repertoire of adaptive, flexible responses to unexpected events, in an environment separated from the real consequences of those events. Playfulness helps us maintain social and emotional equilibrium in times of rapid change and stress. Through play, we experience flow—A feeling of being taken to another place, out of time, where we have control of the environment.
Neuroscientific evidence of the significance of early experience not just to individual health, but also to the long term social and economic prosperity of society as a whole is driving a new public policy agenda in early childhood development. The evidence highlights the interconnectedness of physical, intellectual, social and emotional development, and of physical and mental health. There is powerful evidence about the impact of excessive stress and adversity in the early years on the incidence of a range of chronic diseases in adulthood , creating a new emphasis on the importance of social and emotional health in early childhood and growing public policy interest in early intervention with children living in families coping with the stresses of poverty, violence, mental illness, and substance abuse. Early childhood is on the public policy agenda, and the environments where children spend time in their pre-school years are under intense scrutiny.
For the child, play and playing is fundamentally about agency, power, and control. In play, children actively explore their own social and physical power, in relationship to the world, and to other children. As each child participates with other children in the social contexts of play, exploring and testing and making decisions at the edges of their own possibility, they come to understand what it means to be in control, and what it means to be out of control. When left to control their own play, they explore what it means to exert their own power over others, and take chances and physical risks. The risks that they take, are calculated risks that can be supported by early childhood professionals, who understand the need for risk-taking. It is worthy of note that the notions of participation and control are deeply embedded in the language of health promotion. Active participation in community and in particular in the decisions that affect us contributes to a sense of control over the multiple factors that influence not just our physical and mental health, but also our subjective sense of well-being and belonging.
Play has the potential to contribute to social and emotional health in early childhood, which supports the idea that the power of play to make us resilient, flexible, and strong—emotionally, socially, physically, intellectually, and perhaps spiritually—may lie in its propensity to invert and subvert the order of things. Spontaneous play may provide critical opportunities for children to experience a sense of social belonging, well-being and participation in the culture of childhood, as well as to develop social and emotional awareness, control and resilience. Play helps children learn to “roll with the punches” of everyday life, and to experience the ongoing social and emotional balancing of self that is fundamental to successful participation in social life. [36]
Think About It…
How are resilience, social belonging, and social and emotional awareness related to diversity and equity? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/03%3A_The_Development_of_Identity_in_Children/3.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Culture is a major factor in the constitution of the ability to develop one’s identity. As mentioned throughout this text, culture means the way in which individuals or groups of people handle the raw material of their social and material existence in order to develop their own specific ways of life with their own distinct forms of expression as a network of meaning. Successful identity is the result of having been enabled and empowered to pursue one’s own meaning in life in a process of constant exchange with others who are also endeavoring to build a meaningful existence for themselves. [37]
Cultural identity is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, region, or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. In this way, cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally identical group of members sharing the same cultural identity or upbringing.
A range of cultural complexities structure the way individuals operate with the cultural realities in their lives. Cultural identities are influenced by several different factors such as ones religion, ancestry, skin color, language, class, education, profession, skill, family and political attitudes. These factors contribute to the development of one's identity.
Some might be able to adjust to the various cultures in the world by committing to two or more cultures. It is not required to stick to one culture. People may socialize and interact with people in one culture in addition to another group of people in another culture, although many people interact with others who share the same social identities. [38]
Education, including early childhood education is an important area of culture. Does school help enable and empower young people to develop their own authentic meaning in life which should also entail becoming aware of one’s social reality and of adopting a critical attitude towards existing structures in society? Or is it more inclined to further the development of those qualifications which are more in line with that which is socially acceptable? Schools may be inherently inequitable when those in power believe their understanding of the world is the only legitimate one. It becomes the dominant culture of the school alienating and excluding those in minority groups, which can lead to loss of self-esteem and challenges in being successful in the educational environment. [39]
Identity is formed through direct relation to the people that we interact with, our physical and temporal environment, and the culture that we are a part of from the beginning. We can examine the social and cultural systems that surround us to see how the various dimensions are involved with our self-identity. In this chapter, we examined how the early childhood environment plays a role in the formation of children's identity development. The chapter also examined the role of the teacher in children's identity development as well as how teachers’ identity development, both personal and professional, contribute to the early childhood environment.
We leave this chapter asking ourselves important questions:
• What are the ways in which we are involved in children's identity formation?
• How can we ensure that this involvement is inclusive and supportive of all children? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/03%3A_The_Development_of_Identity_in_Children/3.03%3A_Culture_and_Self-Identity.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Analyze how teachers’ professional identities are formed
• Discuss how teachers gain knowledge and experience in working with children and families
04: Teachers Professional Identity and Becoming Equity Minded
In addition to examining how children develop their identities, we must also reflect on our own identities and how it effects our teaching. We must also reflect on how our identities were created. Most importantly, how does our identity effect our teaching methods and the children we work with?
4.02: Development of Teachers
As our identity affects so much about the way we respond, it is critical to look at our own identity as individuals and in our professional role of early childhood educators. In addition to developing a personal and social identity, teachers also develop a specific professional identity. This process begins during childhood and continues throughout the lifespan.
The professional identity of teachers includes the following: their personal values and beliefs, their professional values and belief, and their cultural experiences which they learned in their childhood and their cultural experiences that they have accepted into their daily lives. In reflecting on these experiences, it affords teachers opportunities to gain deeper understanding of themselves which helps them to understand others. It provides them opportunities to gain empathy and understanding of others that can only be accomplished when we understand ourselves.
Most early childhood professionals had experiences during their schooling that have shaped their ideas of teaching. [41]
“I do not exactly remember what I, as a child, wanted to be when I grew up. I think it was not a concern of mine. But I recall a certain episode, already in 4th grade, in which I answered I wanted to be “a teacher of children”. By that time, my representation of a teacher was “someone who knows a lot of things”. Later, throughout the years, I wanted to be other things, depending on my interests:… It was only later, when I was already in college, studying to be a teacher, that the desire of the 4th-grade girl intensified. It was the experience in a summer camp, with children aged 4 to 12, which made me want to know more about the world of the child. Now, looking back, I think, humorously, that this profession, at that time, was still “not yet born” and that, somehow, I was expecting its birth [emphasis added].”
Miranda (student teacher) [42]
The teaching profession is a journey of reflection to learn more about ourselves in this role. As we learn more about who we are, we are able to understand our teaching philosophies and our role in promoting equitable learning environments. The journey is one of progress not perfection. As we interact with the children and families we serve, we become more aware of our role.
Learning is inherent to the human condition. Every human has the capacity to learn throughout the lifespan. Education provides opportunities to improve oneself, acquire and/or modify knowledge, gain competency, and construct meaning (which may be the same as acquiring and/or modifying information so may not need to include that or use that instead of the former). We do this through the experiences we have, the interactions with others (development of interpersonal relationships), observing other teachers in action and applying what we have observed and learned in our course of study.
This learning includes:
• Knowledge for practice is the one which derives from academic research (formal knowledge) and from which teachers structure their practice, i.e., it is the application of formal knowledge to practical teaching situations.
• Knowledge in practice is the one acquired during the activity, since teachers’ knowledge is immersed in their practice, in what they perform about practice, in questioning, and in the narrative of this practice. Knowledge comes from action/experience, from the understanding, and from the reflections and decisions which teachers make every day in schools.
• Knowledge of practice is what Formosinho (2009) calls the knowledge built in a collective manner inside local communities, formed by teachers who work in school development, education, or collaborative questioning projects.
It is from the gaining of knowledge and engagement in learning experiences (action) that it becomes possible to articulate theory and practice. The teacher learns how to learn and learns how to teach.
This group culture and the feeling of belonging to a professional family (Tejada Fernández, 2009a, 2009b) constitute a complex, interactive, and multidirectional process between the student and the teacher, in which relationships are based on ethics, respect, and by valuing social differences (Tejada-Fernández, Carvalho, & Bueno, 2014). [44]
In response to increased accountability measures and evaluation systems, schools adopt new approaches and innovations. Such activities often require teachers to adopt new roles and responsibilities, develop new knowledge and skill, and reconfigure their relationships with peers and administrators. As a result, teachers build new professional identities in response to the underlying question—who am I as a teacher? [45]
Becoming Equity Minded
Once the student teacher becomes a teacher in an early childhood classroom, the journey of gaining knowledge and experience continues. This journey includes taking the path towards social equity. This requires teachers reflecting on the underlying reasons for the way they educate and care for children so that they can become equity-minded. One way to define equity-minded.
Think About It…
Based on what you’ve read and learned so far, how would you define equity-minded?
It is important for teachers to act as critical thinkers and not just supposedly neutral performers of what is considered to be effective teaching. Very often teaching young children is seen as just supervising play, managing behaviors, and implementing activities with children. But teaching should be considered to be an important responsibility, in which the teachers use what they know about children and their families to create a developmentally appropriate curriculum and build strong, reciprocal relationships with children and families based on their cultural and social contexts.
This culturally responsive approach, supports children to become participants in a democratic society and work towards equity. This involves taking an active responsibility in asking fundamental questions about what they actually teach, and especially about the broader aims which they wish to achieve, and about their role in developing a democratic and just society. Books, such as this one and the course it was written for will support your journey as an equity minded early childhood educator.
4.03: Summary
As future teachers pursue their education, they build knowledge, skills, and experiences in working with children and families. This process in addition to the personal identities, contributes to their professional identity. It’s important for teachers to be self-aware and self-reflective. That process will support teachers in becoming equity-minded professionals.
05: Developmentally Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Classroom Environments Materials
Learning Objectives
• Discuss developmentally appropriate practices.
• Describe strategies to create culturally responsive early childhood education environments.
• Evaluate the diversity of children’s books.
• Identify how the importance of play relates to developmentally appropriate practices.
• Compare and contrast different methods for teaching children about different cultures.
• Outline practices for effectively working with culturally and linguistically diverse families.
• Discuss perspectives on celebration of holidays in early childhood education programs. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/04%3A_Teachers_Professional_Identity_and_Becoming_Equity_Minded/4.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the practices that teachers use to promote multiculturalism
• Define the anti-bias approach.
• Discuss addressing white privilege and oppression.
• Analyze the importance of reflecting children’s culture in your approach to guiding their behavior.
• Explain how to support children as they work through conflict.
• Identify social justice issues in early childhood education.
• Outline ways to support healthy gender development.
06: Using Anti-Bias Curriculum
Classrooms around the United States are becoming more and more culturally diverse. Early childhood educators need to understand that teaching their new students successfully means learning about new cultures. Moreover, how educators respond to the multicultural makeup and needs of children will determine how well the children fulfill their responsibilities in the years to come.
6.02: Goals
In early childhood classrooms, educators should transmit multiculturalism to children and the following goals need to be accomplished:
1. Recognize the beauty, value, and contribution of each child and their family.
2. Teach children to respect others’ cultures as well as their own.
3. Talk to children about racism and current events regularly.
4. Assist children in functioning successfully in a multicultural society.
5. Increase children’s opportunities to talk and play with diverse people.
6. Encourage children to experience in positive ways both their differences as culturally diverse people and their similarities as human beings.
7. Help children notice and do something about unfair behavior and events.
8. Help children who are affected by racism develop a positive self-esteem. [68]
6.03: The Role of the Early Childhood Educator
By understanding diversity and respecting individuality, educators can better serve culturally diverse students. Moreover, early childhood educators should possess three elements.
1. Personal commitment
There is no short cut or single answer to accomplish educational equality for America’s culturally diverse populations. In addition, working with children and their families with diverse cultures is challenging and can be difficult. In order to make significant progress, educators need to have sincere and wholehearted commitment. Such commitment can be tough but is necessary for educators in dealing with a variety of issues in multicultural classrooms and in meeting the challenge of diverse groups of children.
2. Knowledge of what makes a difference
“Recent research has redefined the nature of our culturally diverse students’ educational vulnerability. It has destroyed both stereotypes and myths and laid a foundation upon which to reconceptualize present educational practices and launch new initiatives. This foundation recognizes the homogeneity/heterogeneity within and between such populations.”(Garcia, 1995). The study findings for early childhood contribute important knowledge to general instructional organization, literacy development, academic achievement in content areas and the perspectives of children, families, and educators. Therefore, educators should recognize that academic development has its roots in sharing knowledge and experiences through communication. Within the knowledge-driven curriculum, skills are tools for acquiring knowledge, not an essential goal of teaching events.
3. Educational leadership
Educators need to move beyond national educational goals. Educational leadership is needed to spread new knowledge, to apply new knowledge to skill development, and to engage in childhood development. [69] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/06%3A_Using_Anti-Bias_Curriculum/6.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Curriculum and activities need to be carefully designed and implemented in the program. An antibias curriculum can help children to learn about their own identity and to respect different gender, ethnicity, races, backgrounds among people.
Teaching to Children’s various Learning Styles
Every child learns in different ways. To be able to meet children’s physical, emotional, social, and academic needs, educators need to know each child’s unique learning style.
Welcoming Family and Community Involvement
Educators should provide families and the community frequent opportunities to be involved in school activities. Some recommendations are personalizing your approach to the family, ensuring communication is nonjudgmental, expressing resolve in maintaining involvement, providing strong leadership and administrative support, and managing community outreach.
Supporting and Valuing Every Child
The concepts of valuing the individual and respect for human diversity have evolved slowly over the ages. Every child needs to be treated as an individual and children need to learn their own identity and background. [71]
Supporting Children’s Understanding of Fairness and Respect for Others
“That’s not fair!” expresses a preschooler’s concern for fairness, and the child’s growing sensitivity to others’ feelings also contributes to this concern. Efforts to act fairly can be manifested in turn-taking, sharing, cooperation, and understanding how preschool program rules help to maintain fairness. During the preschool years, children gradually become more capable of balancing their own interests with those of other children and of respecting others’ desires and goals. Teachers contribute to these achievements as they explain rules (and the reasons for them) that emphasize fair conduct, the need to cooperate with the interests of others, and using words to help children understand another’s emotions, viewpoints, and goals. It is also important to assist children when they think that fair equals the same. Sometimes what is fair is doing what is needed for each child. There are times that a child may need an adult’s help to do something (e.g., hold the jar steady) and another child is asked to do it without an adult’s help.
You can support this with the following interactions and strategies:
• Maintain a culturally inclusive environment; being mindful of the social expectations of children’s home cultures.
• Model respect and care in everyday interaction; listen attentively to children’s ideas and feelings.
• Use language that promotes concern and care for the community (e.g., our class, our room).
• Discuss the “whys” of fairness and respect; talk about the feelings behind situations (such as, not sharing); use situations in which children need adaptations to talk about differences and fairness.
• Teach social skills, such as patience and generosity, by using social stories and role-play experiences; perspective taking activities provide valuable practice for children.
• Coach children during their interactions with peers; build perspective by describing another person’s feelings and needs and offer suggestions for appropriate responses.
• Intervene and address negative interactions immediately to ensure the environment is one in which all children feel safe and secure.
• Use storybooks to enhance children’s understanding of ways to express feelings and build peer relationships. (see Chapter 8 on choosing books as part of your curriculum) | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/06%3A_Using_Anti-Bias_Curriculum/6.04%3A_Practices_to_Promote_a_Multicultural_Classroom.txt |
“Numerous research studies about the early process of identity and attitude development conclude that children learn by observing the differences and similarities among people and by absorbing the spoken and unspoken messages about those differences.”(Hepburn, 2007). In order to teach children to respect and value diversity, educators should include the following elements in the early childhood programs:
Raising Cultural Awareness
Educators need to acknowledge that frequently developing their own multicultural awareness, attitudes toward children and their families, and knowledge and skills is necessary and significant. By doing that, appropriate instructional materials like multicultural literature should be provided in the class. In addition, an antibias and multicultural
Going One Step Further with an Anti-bias Classroom
The anti-bias movement was born out of the multiculturalism movement. Some of the people involved in the multiculturalism movement felt that it did not do enough to address social problems in the education system.
The anti-bias approach urges educators to be aware of biases that perpetuate oppression and create an inequitable environment and to eliminate them. The anti-bias approach is intended to teach children about acceptance, tolerance and respect; to critically analyze what they are taught; and to recognize the connections between ethnicity, gender, religion, and social class, and power, privilege, prestige, and opportunity. [72] Anti-bias curriculum also embraces differences and uniqueness. There is no such thing as "color-blindness." We need to accept and acknowledge differences.
The National Director of the Anti Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman has said, "Children are born into this world without prejudice, but can learn prejudice as easily as the alphabet or tying their shoes; getting to children as early as possible is important when you want to instill them with positive images of themselves and others” (Anti-Defamation League, 2001, How Can We Stop Hate Before it Starts? section, para. 0). Therefore, while it is important to educate adults about bias and discrimination, raising children who will be anti-bias is an essential step towards achieving real change in our society. Incorporating anti-bias curriculum in early childhood education provides children with a foundation to fight for social justice later in their lives.
In the Classroom
A classroom environment rich in possibilities for exploring diversity provides children with opportunities to develop ideas about themselves and others, allows them to initiate conversations about differences in a safe environment, and provides teachers with a setting in which they can introduce activities about diversity (Stern-LaRosa, 2001, Talking to children about diversity: Preschool years section, para. 7). Teachers are an integral part of a child’s development, and can be key figures in shaping children’s perceptions of differences. They are influential role models who have the potential to teach children to be anti-bias.
The formation of children’s attitudes towards difference is a social process in which the family, school, and media all play major roles (Derman-Sparks, 2006, p. 15). Thus, in our society, children are constantly exposed to bias, prejudice, and discrimination, but the school is a place where these views can be challenged (Lee, 2006, p. 4). Because children absorb societal beliefs, it is important to teach them during their development to appreciate differences rather than allowing them to internalize society’s biases.
Children’s experiences in early childhood shape how they will approach differences throughout their life. The preschool years lay the foundation for children’s development of a strong sense of self, empathy, and positive attitudes towards difference and social interaction skills. The bias and discrimination that exist in our society has the ability to sabotage their healthy development in these areas. Through anti-bias activities and the help of educators, children can learn to resist various forms of bias (Derman-Sparks, 2006, p. 193). Even young children have the ability to be anti-bias; what children learn in the classroom can be transferred into action to combat the injustice they encounter in the world around them. [74] Children can be taught to be allies. This means that they are willing to stand up when they see bias occurring.
Curriculum
Anti-bias curriculum strives for the development of a student who will actively promote social justice. Through activities that build a strong sense of self, empathy, a positive attitude towards people different from oneself, and healthy social interaction skills, students may be guided towards the path of social justice.
The Anti-Bias Curriculum, developed by a multi-ethnic group of early childhood educators, promotes the following goals:
1. To nurture each child’s construction of a knowledgeable, confident self-concept and group identity.
2. To promote each child’s comfortable, empathic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.
3. To foster each child’s critical thinking about bias.
4. To cultivate each child’s ability to stand up for her/himself and for others in the face of bias (Derman-Sparks, 2006, p. 193).
These principles should be a topic of discussion and a part of primary activities, but also relevant to students’ role as activists, because, as Kalantzis and Cope point out, “Multicultural education, to be effective, needs to be more active” (Nieto, 2006 p. 26).
An integral part of anti-bias activism among young students involves awareness about the seriousness of the issue. It is therefore necessary to discuss and define principles and ideologies regarding prejudice with children from a young age. Sandra Fitzpatrick emphasizes the importance of starting with concrete examples and working towards the more abstract when working with particularly young students. She suggests role-playing and contextual conversations to help children grasp the concepts of race and prejudice. For example, the Dr. Suess children’s book, “The Sneetches” is particularly useful in explaining that what is on the outside doesn’t matter (Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 24, 2008). Once students have a grasp on what prejudice is, and how it can hurt people, anti-bias activities can begin. Activism can happen right in the classroom, around the community, or in larger society.
One activity Louise Derman-Sparks recommends involves “flesh-colored bandages… a material of considerable interest to young children” (Derman-Sparks, 2006, p. 195). One day, while attending to a minor scrape, she said to the children, “Look at this—it says on the box that these bandages are flesh-colored. That means they are the same color as our skin. Let’s see if it really is true.” Each child then received a bandage on his or her arm, and they noticed that the bandages matched very few of the students’ skin tones. The next day, they invited members of other classrooms to participate in the experiment. Noticing that the bandages were, indeed, not a universal skin color, they opted to write a letter to the company. The children dictated what they wanted to say, Derman-Sparks added a description of their experiment, and the letter was mailed to the company. They also got families involved, sending letters home about what they were doing. A few weeks later the class received a box of bandages with a polite note reading, “Enclosed find some transparent strips which are more flesh-colored” (Derman-Sparks, 2006, p. 196).
Although teacher-led activities are a great way to get students into the habit of speaking out against prejudice, when the students themselves lead, it becomes more than just an activity. It becomes activism. Early childhood educators Tara Karr and Sandra Fitzpatrick have seen remarkable cases of anti-racist activism within their classrooms.
Tara Karr, a pre-school teacher at Gorse Child Study Center, has found that her students are also capable of responding to those precious classroom events we call “teachable moments.” This year she has a set of twins who are particularly vocal in reacting to other students’ comments about the families made of “scary brown people” in stories or the “impossible” family structures that have two moms. Karr has found that when the twins reply with, “What is scary? She is saying only good things to her daughter,” or “There doesn’t always have to be a dad, family is the people that love you,” the entire class jumps in for a student-led discussion about skin color, or what makes a family, etc. (Tara Karr, personal communication, April 25, 2008).
One year in Sandra Fitzpatrick’s career as a kindergarten teacher at the Three Rivers School, the gym classes hosted a “jump-a-thon.” The children were to raise money outside of school, and the students who had raised the most would win prizes. At the end of the competition, it was the students who came from wealthy families who had raised the most money, and therefore won the prizes. Fitzpatrick describes the students in her class who had not won prizes as “devastated,” and those who had won prizes were equally concerned. Having learned about prejudice earlier in the year, the class decided to take a stand against the biased system. They chose to return their prizes, talk to other classes in the school about the event, and make a video explaining why the system was unfair that they then sent to the American Heart Association, who had sponsored the event (Sandra Fitzpatrick, personal communication, May 5, 2008). [75]
Guiding Children’s Behavior in Culturally Appropriate Ways
Children are products of their environment and their families are their first teachers. When children are enrolled in school, they bring with them what they have learned from their home environment. This could be positive or negative and it may fit well into their new learning environment or it may not. [76] “For children whose home language or culture differs substantially from the norm in early childhood classrooms, this transition may expose them to conflicting expectations about how to behave and other potential sources of [cultural difference between home and the early childhood education program].” [77]
According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Culturally Appropriate Positive Guidance with Young Children by Zeynep Isik-Ercan, we have to remember that children have cultural routines that heavily influence their behavior. When caregivers and teachers respond to behavior it is important to consider the cultural scripts that children might be following.
They should consider the issue through a lens of culturally appropriateness that takes into consideration factors such as:
• Family traditions
• Religious beliefs
• Community etiquette
• Social class
• Contextual differences (such as urban, rural, and suburban practices)
• Parenting style
When educators respect a families cultural practices, even if they don’t necessarily agree, they promote children’s social and emotional well-being. One way to accommodate families’ diverse perspectives on guidance is to provide a structure that is flexible to meet individual needs. And when children have conflict that stems from their cultural and linguistic diversity, educators can support children’s developing social abilities by helping understand social norms and mediating their relationships. [78]
Guidance through Peer Culture
“Peer culture—‘the stable sets of routines, artifacts, values, and concerns that children produce and share with each other’ (Corsaro 2012, 489)—is an important component of classroom culture. Teachers may gain valuable insights when they examine various elements of the peer culture in their classrooms and use children’s interactions to establish positive guidance.” Children can monitor and regulate their peers’ behaviors before they can do the same for their own behavior. By interacting with other children, they receive feedback that helps them begin to internalize social expectations about their behavior. [79]
Working through Conflict with the Anti-Bias Approach
In their book Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves , Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards provide guidelines that can be used to help children navigate conflict related to diversity in ways that protect all children’s rights and are culturally responsive.
To support children’s ability to recognize unfairness and the negative impact it has educators can:
• Notice and learn about the sources of children’s misconceptions and stereotypes.
• Plan experiences that allow children to compare accurate representations to their inaccurate understandings
• Support their attempts to make unfair things fair
Educators should remember that biased behaviors are just as serious as physical aggression. To help children act against prejudice and/or discrimination, educators can:
• Notice when unfair practices affect children
• Facilitate dialogue about the feelings and ideas about these situations
• Provide information as needed to help children understand
• Think about the children and families and what their needs are and take into consideration how they handle prejudice and discrimination
• Provide diverse ways to handle discriminatory situations that will accommodate the diversity of families
• Plan and carry out actions to address the problem with children [80]
• If you are unsure how to respond, tell the child or children you will think about it and get back to them (ensuring that you always follow through)
Supporting Children’s Conflict Negotiation
It is important for educators to coach young children, step-by-step, as they learn conflict resolution skills. Model a predictable, effective sequence of steps children can eventually use on their own: acknowledge feelings, gather information about the conflict, restate the problem, ask children to suggest possible solutions, help them choose one to try, and then check back with them soon after as they implement their solution. As they mature and practice, gradually step back and take a less central role in solving problems, prompting children if they “get stuck” on the path to resolution. After they do resolve a conflict, briefly summarize the ways children solved the problem successfully. This reinforces children’s skills for the next time a problem arises.
Developmental Sequence of Conflict Negotiation
As children mature, they are able to better understand the perspectives of other people and can negotiate more constructively with peers to resolve conflicts.
1. Beginning level : Children can express to each other (using words, actions, or facial expressions) their own desires, but adults need to provide ideas for resolving disputes.
2. Next level : Children begin to use appropriate words and actions to express their perspectives and desires to each other and seek adults for help during disputes.
3. Next level : Children not only express their own needs and desires to each other during a conflict but can suggest simple solutions based on their own perspectives.
4. Mature or proficient level : Children can consider each other’s perspectives when there is a disagreement and can suggest and agree on some mutually acceptable solutions. [81] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/06%3A_Using_Anti-Bias_Curriculum/6.05%3A_Going_One_Step_Further_with_an_Anti-bias_Classroom.txt |
Social justice and bias (implicit and explicit) have recently become key terms in the field of early care and education, but have been researched for many years. Dissecting biases can often lead straight to imbalances in social justice which include inequity in education, access to resources including food and healthcare, and in areas early educators see as vital to development such as play.
The Disappearance of Play
In early education, we have been taught that play is a child’s work. Children learn about the world through play, practice social norms including role-playing, learn how to negotiate, use their imagination and release stress, develop fine and gross motor skills and misdirected energy. Yet as we look at early education centers who are located in lower socioeconomic communities, play can be little to none. Often times it can be used as a reward and given, or a punishment and taken away. Schools that serve impoverished communities may mistakenly eliminate play and replace it with more formal, structured instructional time, believing this will help children learn. This ignores the facts that children are fully engaged when playing, developing self -regulation through movement and choice, social-emotional skills by negotiating and building ideas together, and practicing what works in language. (K. Esquivel, 2019)
“Free play should not be seen as a “reward” for young children’s hard work - play is the work of a young child. Early childhood educators must use play as a tool for cognitive and social-emotional growth.” Young children need play in order to develop full, healthy lives. It gives them a unique way to engage with language and build literacy skills. It builds their knowledge as they solve problems, interact with concepts, and test their hypotheses. “Children build resilience, confidence, physical abilities, and relational skills as they engage in play with meaning.”
Play is increasingly being pushed out of children’s daily lives, in spite of the advocacy for play from researchers, psychologists, and early childhood educators. “The issue of missing play in schools is essential for educators to address as children continue to grow in stressful situations, requiring the unique supports that development through play offers. Children who experience a play-based early education are empowered as confident people with tools for healthy development in every area of their lives. Play is a tool that educators must use to honor children’s needs as they learn and grow.” [82]
Inequitable Access to Play as Curriculum
As we discuss the types of curriculums used in more affluent schools, we will see the vast difference on how play is welcomed, nurtured, appreciated and viewed as a necessity. We also know children from more affluent communities tend to have less behavior related challenges, more impulse control, and greater use of language which shows a direct correlation to the increased play that is received and valued.
As the next generation of early care and education educators, there is a need to be cognizant of the social justice issue rooted in play, while also acknowledging the biases which may be linked to children playing. Some of these biases are:
• Play is a waste of time
• “Those” children are already too wild and get more wild when they play
• Children are to be seen and not heard
• “Those” children are already behind and need to be learning not playing
Understanding why a family or school pushes back on children’s play is an important first step towards change and delivering information and moving towards changing imbalances. Diverse cultures place differing value on play. Not all families will understand or agree with the importance of play for young children in early childhood education programs.
A disparity in materials purchased can also be noted and rooted in the feelings of certain groups being less deserving and/or not taking care of nice materials. As professionals, we know fancy materials are not needed, rather the upkeep of an inviting, clean environment and quality interactions using materials that are in good repair and rotated frequently to maintain engagement. Additionally, providing the ‘basics’ are needed such as:
• Various building materials
• Various art materials including writing
• Various books that are culturally relevant to those in the class
• Outdoor space with ways to practice fine and gross motor skills
Appropriate classroom materials including how to design high quality environments can be found in Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R) for preschoolers or Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS-R) for infants and toddlers. Additionally, there are separate tools used for family child care centers, Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition (FCCERS-R) and for programs that serve out-of-school programs, School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale (SACERS).
Differences in Food and Mealtimes
Meal practices vary based not only on family culture, but differences can be seen based on the location of the early education center. Schools located in more affluent areas have a tendency to get more fresh foods and homemade meals by default vs the opposite in other communities who receive packaged or processed foods.
Many programs are understanding the value in children having access to fresh foods including fruits and vegetables and are adjusting their practices and budgets accordingly. Families are also understanding the negative effects on children’s growth and development along with the immediate effects on their child’s behavior due to various dyes found in many foods (K. Esquivel, 2019).
In addition to the food served, meal time practices also vary. Meal times are most beneficial when they are enjoyable, not rushed, and filled with back and forth conversations that allow for children to socialize and practice social norms. Having family style meals (where the food is on the table and children serve themselves) allows for children to practice their fine and gross motor skills and leads to children trying a variety of foods they may not typically be exposed to. Educators must consider the possibility of push back because of family traditions, food scarcity, socializing at the table only being for adults and eating all things given is a must.
As you work with families who exhibit meal time traits that do not align with best practice, strategies discussed in Chapter 14 may be helpful. One strategy is starting a conversation with the family, while encouraging the child to take a more active role in their meals is a useful tool. There is a fine line between respecting the family culture and their wishes, and perpetuating social injustices that can be linked to socioeconomic differences (K. Esquivel, 2019).
It is also important to note that the use of food as a play material is a topic that families and early child educators may have strong feelings about. For some, especially those who have experienced food insecurity (not knowing where their next meal was coming from), it may be considered wasteful to use food for play instead of nourishing people. Programs may choose to implement a policy to respect the views and the values behind them.
Biased Response to Children’s Behavior
Developing a culturally responsive understanding of child development is imperative to ensure child behaviors are not categorized as negative when they are actually rooted in race, ethnicity, and/or gender. Educators must acknowledge that goals and beliefs about children’s development vary across different cultural contexts (the cultural context of the many adults in the child’s life: parents/caregivers, extended family, practitioners, teachers).
The behavior of children of color, particularly Black, Latino and Native American boys, is often mislabeled as challenging and negative. Boys from these groups are singled out more often for displaying the same behaviors as and withheld from more opportunities than their white peers. They are suspended at much higher rates, even from preschool and are more harshly labeled as being aggressive, loud and disrespectful.
Boys of color are seen as much older than their actual age, thereby having expectations being placed on them well beyond their ability. Research has shown that implicit bias, the unconscious beliefs each of us possesses about specific groups, plays a large role in the negative connotation given to typical child behaviors. [83]
In his experimental study, Dr. Gilliam asked early educators to watch a video of children in a classroom and press a button each time they saw a “behavior that may become a potential challenge”. The video included four children- a black boy and girl and a white boy and girl engaged in a small group activity. In reality, the video had no challenging behaviors in it. Using an eye tracking device, the research team measured where teachers were looking on the screen. Findings revealed that teachers spent significantly more time looking at the Black boy in the video, than any other child.
This research may shed some light on the stubborn disparities we see in expulsion and suspension practices. If early educators are scrutinizing black boys more, looking at them more, expecting more challenging behavior from them- we may expect they may find it, or in some cases think they’ve found it, even if objectively it is not there.
When the federal government published its own data on preschool suspensions for the first time, the results were remarkably similar. Though black boys made up 18% of preschool enrollment, they made up 48% of preschoolers who had been suspended. New Federal data released just this year, again, show that the numbers haven’t moved. While black children make up 19% of enrollment, they make up 47% of suspensions. This year’s data also reveal that black girls make up 20% of the female preschool population, but 54% of all preschool girls suspended.
Of course, when we see such pervasive and long lasting disparities, many of us consider the possibility of bias in the system. Dr. Gilliam’s research is important because it provides us with data that explicitly finds implicit bias in the educators and directors who work in our early childhood programs. While it is exceedingly disturbing that bias, which is pervasive across all systems, is also present in our early childhood programs, it is not surprising.
All of us have biases- no matter what our profession, no matter where we live, or where we’re from. We are all exposed to a society that is full of implicit biases—biases of all kinds. In fact, research shows that while explicit bias has decreased in our country over time, implicit bias has remained stable. And it is instilled in us at very early ages. [84]
6.07: Summary
The field is committed to educating professionals and practitioners on implicit bias. Organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) including Head Start, as well as the California Department of Education (CDE) have been working collaboratively to address this need that is rooted in social justice disparities. You may want to explore some of the documents and websites linked throughout this book in the footnote attributions.
Teaching can do many things to help increase equity in classrooms. This includes using an anti-bias curriculum, addressing power and oppression, keeping culture as a context when providing guidance for children and helping them work through conflict.
There are social justice issues in the field of early childhood education that lead in inequity in education. These include the disappearance of and inequitable access to play, meal time practices and access to nutritious food, and biased responses to children’s behavior. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/06%3A_Using_Anti-Bias_Curriculum/6.06%3A_Issues_of_Social_Justice_in_the_Early_Childhood_Classro.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Articulate the importance of celebrating diversity
• Discuss why cultural differences may lead to conflict between families and programs
• Explain how to develop relationships with families that are inclusive and supportive
• Outline how to create practices and policies that respond to differences respectfully
• Describe three steps to deal with cultural differences in early childhood education programs
Working in an early education setting, with children, family and coworkers from varying backgrounds, conflict is inevitable. However, if managed correctly, conflict can be a learning and growing experience for all.
07: Effectively Negotiating and Resolving Conflict Related to Issues of Diversity
Working in an early education setting, with children, family and coworkers from varying backgrounds, conflict is inevitable. However, if managed correctly, conflict can be a learning and growing experience for all.
In her book Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring Differences , Janet Gonzalez-Mena discusses the need to honor, learn about and explore not only other cultures different than ours, but acknowledge how our own beliefs play a role in our professional caretaking roles. She shares her own process, “They say we teach what we need most to learn. I am a good example. I’m working on my dialoguing skills. The problem is that when I have a strong reaction to something that doesn’t fit my system, I usually consider it a problem…..My natural reaction is to become defensive and start arguing.” This is a common response for many because our upbringing has taught us that our way is the ‘right’ way, so anything different simply doesn’t feel right.
As professionals, it is imperative we build relationships with families and create a classroom of inclusiveness that celebrates diversity.
7.02: Prev
Summary
Some conflict can be prevented when we build relationships with families based on a willingness to listen to hear about who they are and what they want for their children. Here are some cultural considerations to keep in mind as you work to understand the experiences and values families have and how you can best meet their needs:
• Many families are most comfortable keeping young children at home with a parent, relative, or friend, especially with families from the same cultural background. So, when they do rely on out-of-home child care, they may experience some discomfort and may not be aware of licensing requirements and restrictions.
• Some cultures may expect that the mother’s primary role is taking care of children and the home. However, both parents may need to find work due to financial need and thus depend on out-of-home child care. This can create guilt, shame, fear, and discomfort.
• Families with limited English skills are likely to have difficulty gathering information about the varied early care and education options and may rely on word of mouth or recommendations from others within their ethnic or religious community.
• Families may seek reassurance that early care and education providers understand and respect their family’s religion and will not inadvertently violate the family’s religious practices (e.g., abstaining from pork products).
• Families of a child with a disability may not be aware of the legal educational requirements, learning possibilities, and school options for children with disabilities.
• Hiring staff from the same culture and language as families and providing opportunities for families from the same cultural or linguistic backgrounds to connect may encourage family engagement and mutual support.
• Some cultures show respect for teachers by not being intrusive and interfering with their job (e.g., not offering suggestions or sharing negative opinions). By American standards, this can look like lack of interest. Families may not know the expectations for family engagement in school.
We can start conversations that will help us understand where families are coming from and how we can effectively and respectfully engage and communicate with them. Questions to ask might include:
• What are some ways staff can learn more about your perspectives and needs?
• How would you like to communicate and partner with staff?
• Describe what school was like in your country of origin (if the family has immigrated or are refugees). [85] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/07%3A_Effectively_Negotiating_and_Resolving_Conflict_Related_to_Issues_of_Diversity/7.01%3A_Diff.txt |
Cultural differences can lead to conflicts. For example, people may disagree on practices for handling a baby, responding to crying, or feeding. Home visit staff may be concerned over how and when to intervene in family arguments. Staff and families in early childhood education programs may differ about how programs should support children’s home or native language. Given the wide range of cultural ideas, it is not surprising that adults can have differences that are rooted in the core of their being.
Gonzalez-Mena (1992, 2001, 2008) indicated that these disagreements may be when adults from different cultural backgrounds may find that their familiar ways of working with children are different or when adults within the same culture can disagree. In both of these situations of conflict between program staff and families, Gonzalez-Mena identified four possible outcomes:
1. All sides gain understanding, negotiate, and/or compromise, leading to resolution of the conflict.
2. Program staff understand the families’ perspective(s) and change their practices.
3. Families take on the perspective of the program staff and change their practices.
4. No resolution is reached (here, the conflict may continue or intensify; or both sides can cope with the differences).
Of course, conflicts can occur over numerous issues. To help program staff make progress, Gonzalez-Mena challenges them to question their own assumptions about child development practices (e.g., “My way of thinking about X is not the only way to think about it. My way of doing Practice Y is not the only way to work with the child.”). Once this commitment to test one’s own assumptions is in place, two goals for a conflict situation are: (1) to minimize (or eliminate) extreme differences in practices; and (2) to resolve the situation for the benefit of the child. Program staff are encouraged to take a child centered look at any situation of conflicting practices. [86]
The process for each varies greatly not only based on cultures, but even within similar cultures. These practices can often times go against program policy and best practice as we have been taught in the field. [87]
Pin it! Differences in Feeding Practices
The following is a scenario from the NAEYC’s publication, Diversity and Infant/Toddler Caregiving :
“Junior, who is new to the center, is excited when he sees a bowl of food. The baby makes happy sounds, kicks his legs, and waves his arms. But when Helen puts Junior in the high chair and places the bowl in front of him, he just sits there and makes no attempt to feed himself. He looks confused and becomes distressed. Finally he slumps over, a glazed look in his eyes.
His mother explains later that she has taught Junior not to touch his food. In fact, her son has never been in a high chair; he has always been fed on his mother’s lap, wrapped up tightly in a blanket to discourage him from interfering with her.” [88]
Gonzalez-Mena and Bhavnagri suggest that when the family and program do not agree about a practice or policy, early childhood educators should ask themselves:
1. What is the family’s cultural perspective on the issue?
2. How do the family’s child care practices relate to their cultural perspective?
3. What are the family’s goals for the child? How has the family’s culture influenced these goals?
4. In review of these goals, is the family’s practice in the child’s best interest?
5. Is there any sound research that shows that the family’s practice is doing actual harm?
6. Is the program’s practice or policy universally applicable, or is it better suited to a particular culture?
7. Did the family choose the program because of its particular philosophy, even if it is based on a different culture from their own?
8. Have program staff members attempted to fully understand the family’s rationale for its practices, the complexity of the issues, and other contributing factors?
9. Have staff members attempted to fully explain the rationale for program practices? Have they looked at how their own culture influences their perspective?
10. What are some creative resolutions that address the concerns of both partners and the program? [89]
The point is to begin and continue to dialogue with families and to exchange information with the goal of resolving the conflict for the benefit of the child. The “bottom line” is really: What is in the best interest of the child? As stated in the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Code of Ethical Conduct , our first and foremost ethical responsibility to children is to do no harm.
By learning more about the goals that families have for their children, and about the types of behaviors or practices that families prioritize and implement as they raise their children, program staff can more easily match the learning experiences of the classroom to those of the home. For example, if a teacher is concerned that a 3-year-old in her class is not skilled with using a fork, she should first find out if this is a goal of the family. Do they scoop their food at home using spoons? Do they use chopsticks? Do they feed the child or allow the child to self-feed? It is best for the teacher to check what the family practices and goals are before they misjudge what this child needs from them in terms of support and understanding.
According to National Association for the Education of Young Children’s developmentally appropriate practice one of the tenets is to be culturally responsive. In preparing an environment that supports children and families, we need to ensure that we have considered the beliefs, values, and needs of the family to deliver curriculum that addresses the child both individually and as a group. [90]
These exercises can be done individually and at a staff/team meeting. It’s important to involve the family and all caregivers as a way to ensure all perspectives are heard. Now that questions have been identified, having the conversation to gather the information is next; however, this comes with challenges. As you enter into the conversation, it’s important to put personal biases and beliefs aside and be ready to actively listen to hear and learn about the family and their point of view. [91] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/07%3A_Effectively_Negotiating_and_Resolving_Conflict_Related_to_Issues_of_Diversity/7.03%3A_Navi.txt |
The Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers (PITC) has outlined three steps in their training Dealing with Differences: Acknowledge, Ask, Adapt that can be used in early childhood programs that serve children of all ages.
Step 1: Acknowledge
How does the caregiver recognize the need for communication with the family? How does the caregiver’s attitude convey sincere interest and response? What can the caregiver say to the family to communicate awareness that there is a problem they need to jointly solve?
• Take time to think about how you feel about this issue and get clarity on the reasons behind your feelings.
• Listen carefully to the other person’s concern. If you bring up the concern, do it respectfully with an attitude of wanting to understand the issues.
Step 2: Ask
What questions can the caregiver ask the families to get information that will help her or him understand more precisely the families’ point of view?
• The next step is about data gathering, trying to get to the real sources of conflict or misunderstanding for the family, the child or you. Ask questions that seek to clarify (and allow families to ask questions to understand the program’s point-of-view).
• Pay attention to verbal and nonverbal responses. Restate what you think is being said, take time to be sure you are meaning the same thing in the language you are using.
Step 3: Adapt
How does the caregiver work with the family to define the issues and boundaries of the problem? Does the caregiver seek “common ground” as the basis for negotiation? How does the caregiver open up a negotiation with the family about what to do?
• Once the issues have been defined, seek out the common ground by stating your areas of greatest importance to each other. Listen carefully for areas of common agreement.
• Negotiate around the areas of important agreement and boundaries. Come to a resolution that addresses the real/major issues. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree. [92]
While using this method is a great start to get the most desired results, there will be instances when it won’t take place. A few outcomes to become familiar and comfortable with are different outcomes that may come during the conversation.
• Sometimes there may be a resolution through mutual understanding and negotiation. Both parties see the other’s perspective which is where both parties give a little or a lot.
• There may be a resolution that takes place through gradual education and understanding of the caregiver and seeing the perspective of the family.
• There can also be a resolution through the process of family education. This happens when the family sees the caregiver’s perspective and decides to change.
• Lastly, and it’s common, there can be no resolution. When this happens, the professional should look at Community Care Licensing Regulations(CCL), as well as internal policies and procedures to ensure no laws or rules are being violated. There are times when internal processes are created, but can be adjusted to meet the individual needs to families. These discussions and determinations should be made with the assistance and input of the site administrators. In some circumstances, the program and family may come to a mutual decision that the program is not a good fit for the family’s needs.
Conflicts related to diversity are inevitable and should not be seen or approached in a negative way but rather with the goal of partnering to create the best environment for the child to thrive while in your care. The process of partnering takes time, mutual understanding and for at least one person to take the first, often uncomfortable step.
A few things to remember:
1. All families want what’s best for their child and are doing what they believe is best
2. Be curious: what are the expectations the family has from you? From the program and for their child? This will help guide any conversations and interactions.
3. Become self-aware: what makes you uncomfortable? What are your personal beliefs?
Think About It…
Think about a time you had conflict related to diversity with a child in your classroom or family member. How could you have used these tools to create an equitable outcome?
7.05: Summ
We know that being respectful of difference is valuable in an early learning setting. As indicated, these differences can lead to conflicts between families, early childhood professionals, and the program their child is enrolled in. With strong relationships, some of that conflict can be prevented. Early childhood educators can be reflective when disagreements over practices and policies occur. And they can use the three steps outlined by PITC’s Dealing with Differences: Acknowledge, Ask, Adapt training to help mitigate the conflict respectfully. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/07%3A_Effectively_Negotiating_and_Resolving_Conflict_Related_to_Issues_of_Diversity/7.04%3A_Deal.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the following laws within the Ideal Gas Law
08: Race Ethnicity and Language
Some of the ways the children and families you will serve are related to race, ethnicity, national origin, and language. This chapter will explore the race and ethnicity and demographics of young children in California, how collectivist and individualistic cultures differ, information about immigration, including refugees and asylees, and children that are dual language learners. Guidance and suggestions are provided to help programs use what they know about these in the children and families they serve to support and include all families effectively.
8.02: Culture Race and Ethnicity
Chapter 8: Race, Ethnicity, and Language
Culture, Race, and Ethnicity
Culture, language, ethnicity, race, and national origin are related concepts by which individuals are assigned to social groups, but they are not one and the same. For example, persons of African descent living in the Caribbean, Latin America, Nigeria, South Africa, or the United States may be classified as falling within the same racial category, but they belong to different cultural groups. Jamaican or Haitian families living in California may be lumped into the same racial or ethnic category as Black or African American families that have lived in the United States for generations. Although language, ethnicity, and national origin may be associated with culture, none of them alone define a specific cultural group. For example, Spanish speakers in Europe, Mexico, Africa, Central or South America, and the United States share a language with common features, but may have divergent cultures and self-identify with different racial groups.
National origin—such as being from China, Sudan, or Peru—does not sufficiently specify a cultural group because within each of these nations exist groups with several distinct cultures. Racial group is sometimes confused with cultural group. Race is a social construct that has no basis in culture, biology, or genetics. Race is a social category that is based either on self-identification or how individuals are seen by others. This means that the traditional ethnic and racial categories such as those used in the U.S. Census are social categories that fail to specify culture even though they continue to be interpreted by many as cultural categories. [93]
In the U.S. Census, there are five categories of race:
• American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
• Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" can be used in addition to "Black or African American."
• Hispanic or Latino. A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term, "Spanish origin," can be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino."
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
• White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Ethnicity comes closer to defining cultural groups than race or national origin, but it is not a perfect match. Ethnicity refers to a group’s identity and denotes a people bound by a common broad past. Members of an ethnic group often share a common ancestry, history, and sometimes language. To the extent that an ethnic group uses a common language, shares practices and beliefs, and has a common history, members of ethnic groups may be said to share a culture. However, ethnicity and culture are not always the same. Individuals may not necessarily identify strongly with the group to which they are assigned (in the minds of others). Nevertheless, ethnicity is a useful concept because it signals a group identity and a sense of connection and belonging. [94]
In the U.S. Census there are only two ethnicity categories : "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino." [95] But the idea that all Latinos are white or nonwhite is inaccurate. The idea that a large subgroup all has one big group identity is superficial and does not represent the reality today in California. [96]
Demographic Information for Young Children in California
In 2010, of the more than 2.5 million children under the age of five living in California, about half of these children were Latino (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). It is important to note that Latinos may be of any race, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. White non-Latino children make up 30 percent of children under five in California, Asian-Pacific Islanders make up 10 percent, Black or African Americans make up 6 percent, and the remaining 4 percent represent a wide range of ethnic groups (Whitebook, Kipnis, and Bellm 2008). [97]
Collectivist Versus Individualist Cultures
A feature that has often been used to distinguish societies and cultural groups is where they fall along a continuum from individualist to collectivist orientations.
In collectivist societies, the self is defined principally in terms of identity with the group (Roland 1988). When what may be good for the whole competes with what may be good for the individual, the good of the whole takes precedence. In societies at the collectivist end of the continuum, children are imbued with the sense that their behavior will reflect for the good or the bad on the rest of the group. They may be instilled with a sense of shame if they behave in a way that reflects badly on the group.
In a family with an individualist cultural orientation, each child has his or her own possessions. In some families with a more collectivistic perspective, private ownership is downplayed and everything is shared. When the family has that perspective, they may require sharing from infancy on; whereas someone with a child development background or a more individualistic orientation might hold the view that the child must understand the concept of ownership before he or she can become a truly sharing person and that understanding usually starts in the second year of life. Sharing of the program’s toys and materials is expected; however, if the child brings something from home, possessiveness is expected and there may be different rules about that in the program.
Individualist versus collectivist orientation should be understood as a tendency in a society rather than an absolute characteristic. Few would claim that pure forms of individualist and collectivist societies exist. Both orientations exist in most cultural groups, to varying degrees. This tendency is especially relevant in the context of teaching and learning, where children whose families emphasize a collectivist orientation may be more familiar with learning settings that focus more on group experiences and learning, while individualist orientations focus on individual work and learning, not in relation to the group. Individualist and collectivist orientations coexist within the same society. [99]
What Programs Can Do
Because of the diversity and dynamism of cultures represented in California’s early childhood programs, efforts to profile cultural groups would be quickly outdated. In addition to the practices in Chapters 3 and 4, programs can also use Culturally Responsive Strength-Based (CRSB) Framework, which is used by Head Start, to address diversity. This framework presents the big picture and identifies the program pieces that support the growth and development of all children.
Figure 8.2: The elements of the CRSB Framework. [100]
Coupled with a culturally responsive approach, the CRSB Framework is a strength-based approach. The focus is on what children know and can do as opposed to what they cannot do or what they do not know. Cultural, family, and individual strengths are emphasized, not just the negative and proposed interventions to “fix the problem” that resides with the children, their families, and/or their communities.
The strengths approach has a contagious quality and it intuitively makes sense to those who reflect a “cup half full” attitude in life. — Hamilton & Zimmerman, 2012
If we ask people to look for deficits, they will usually find them, and their view of the situation will be colored by this. If we ask people to look for successes, they will usually find it, and their view of the situation will be colored by this. — Kral, 1989 (as cited in Hamilton & Zimmerman, 2012) [101]
The CRSB Framework should be used with the understanding that children are influenced by many environments, as represented in a bioecological systems model. A bioecological systems model captures the variety of environments that impact individual development over the course of a lifetime. Young children do not live in a vacuum, but co-exist in many environments that affect their development, starting with the family, extending into the community, and reaching out into the economic and political spheres. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/08%3A_Race_Ethnicity_and_Language/8.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
An immigrant is a person who has been granted permission by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to reside permanently in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR). They are eligible to apply for citizenship after five years. In general, immigrants come to the U.S. voluntarily, while refugees are forced to leave their homeland, often with little time for preparation. Some people entering the U.S. are considered undocumented immigrants (those who enter the country without invitation or application; or who enter legally as a visitor, student, or temporary employee, and stay after their visa expires). In addition, some groups are awarded a temporary status (such as “Temporary Protected Status”) by USCIS due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in designated countries that would threaten personal safety. This type of status can be terminated at any time, and it therefore provides an uncertain future to those it covers.
Refugees are a special class of immigrants who have fled their countries of nationality and have been determined unable or unwilling to return to their countries due to a well-founded fear of persecution. Refugees are screened and approved for resettlement to the United States by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Refugee migration may involve a long and difficult journey, long waits in refugee camps or other countries, extreme deprivation, and/or physical and emotional trauma, including torture. Asylees are approved according to similar criteria, but apply for asylum after they arrive in the United States.
In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than any other country, with 47 million immigrants as of 2015. [103]
What Programs Can Do
For refugee and immigrant children and youth, it is important to help them nurture a strong and positive connection to their ethnic heritage, to maintain their home language, and to develop a positive bicultural identity as Americans. This helps to keep families strong and thereby provides the support that children need to succeed in this country.
Refugee and immigrant families come to the United States with a wealth of parenting strengths, drawing on culture, tradition, and family experience. Like most parents in the U.S. they tend to be responsible and nurturing, and have often sacrificed tremendously to provide their children with an opportunity for safety and success in this new country. At the same time, families that are new to the U.S. have often experienced incredible loss and trauma, including the loss of extended family members, community, and homeland, and they must adapt to new traditions and lifestyles that are often at odds with their own beliefs and practices. Refugee and immigrant families also must overcome cultural, language, and practical barriers to learn about and access the community services that are available to them as having newly arrived to our country.
It is important for early childhood education programs to use family- and community-centered, strengths-based approaches with refugees and immigrants. This helps to maximize family and community input and build upon cultural assets in order to successfully engage and serve families who have newly arrived in the U.S. [104]
All providers can support families in identifying high quality early care and education options that can support a child’s development and strengthen school readiness. Understanding the opportunities, activities, and options for family engagement can help families form meaningful home-school partnerships that benefit the entire family, program and community.
Learning more about families is an important part of creating a relationship and gaining valuable information about a child’s culture. Consider using these or similar conversation starters:
• Describe what school was like in your country of origin.
• Who cared for your child when you needed support in your country of origin?
• How do you currently communicate and partner with staff at your child’s school?
• What are some ways staff can learn more about your perspectives and needs?
Some cultural considerations that you should remember as you help families navigate an unfamiliar system of early childhood education:
• Many families are most comfortable keeping young children at home with a parent, relative, or friend, especially with families from the same cultural background. Some refugee families using in-home childcare providers may not be aware of licensing requirements and restrictions.
• Some cultures may expect that the mother’s primary role is taking care of children and the home. However, both parents may need to find work due to financial need, or due to resettlement program requirements.
• Families with limited English skills are likely to have difficulty gathering information about the varied early care and education options and may rely on word of mouth or recommendations from others within their ethnic or religious community.
• Families may seek reassurance that early care and education providers understand and respect their family’s religion and will not inadvertently violate the family’s religious practices (e.g., Muslim children abstaining from pork products).
• Families of a child with a disability may not be aware of the legal educational requirements, learning possibilities, and school options for children with disabilities.
• Hiring staff from the same culture and language as families and providing opportunities for families from the same cultural or linguistic backgrounds to connect may encourage family engagement and mutual support. However, it is important to identify any areas of discrimination or political conflict that program staff or families from the same region may have experienced.
• Some cultures show respect for teachers by not being intrusive and interfering with their job (e.g., not offering suggestions or sharing negative opinions). Families may not know the expectations for family engagement in school and their respect may look like lack of interest.
• Home-based programs may be an effective service model for some families that are less comfortable with center-based programming, or those who do not drive. Home visits can help to build trust and relationships for future center-based enrollment.
As you support the families, here are some valuable things that you can share with families about family engagement and the central role that families have in early childhood education programs:
• Early care and education plays a vital role in providing the environment and support to prepare children for success in school and in life. The quality of the relationships and experiences provided has long-term effects on their development, capacity to learn, and ability to regulate emotions.
• Family engagement has a positive impact on children’s learning and skill development. Families and staff are encouraged to engage in open communication and develop meaningful relationships.
• To ensure responsive engagement, it is important for staff to build trusting relationships with families over time. Through these relationships, staff can learn about family’s culture, values, and beliefs (e.g., health and nutrition practices, child rearing practices, home language, family composition, cultural celebrations, etc.).
• Families can offer their knowledge, skills, culture, and language by participating in decision-making classroom, and community events, at parent-teacher conferences, and as a volunteer in the program.
• Translation and interpretation services can support family engagement. This includes face-to-face experiences e.g., meetings and events, as well as written communication from the program and are essential to engage families who staff cannot speak or communicate with directly.
• The frequency of family engagement opportunities will vary from program to program. Programs will often meet with families at the time of enrollment to share information, to discuss a family’s interest and ability to participate, and to consider cultural and linguistic needs or preferences.
• In the U.S., all children, including children with disabilities, are required to start attending school when they reach their state’s compulsory school attendance age (generally between 5 and 7 years of age but dependent upon each state’s laws). [105]
When integrating immigrant and refugee families into the community, celebrate cultural diversity. Work to create a welcoming and inclusive learning environment that respects families and engages them in meaningful ways. [106] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/08%3A_Race_Ethnicity_and_Language/8.03%3A_Immigrant_and_Refugee_Populations.txt |
Dual language learner (DLL) means a child who is acquiring two or more languages at the same time, or a child who is learning a second language while continuing to develop their first language. The term "dual language learner" may encompass or overlap substantially with other terms frequently used, such as bilingual or multilingual, English language learner (ELL), Limited English Proficient (LEP), English learner, and children who speak a Language Other Than English (LOTE). To be as inclusive as possible, in this book we have chosen to use dual language learner and multilingual in most contexts.
Language is essential in developing a strong sense of culture and overall learning. It has been noted that children who are dual language learners (DLL) form a substantial and growing segment of the preschool population in California. Sixty percent of all children under five are English learners. [107] For the majority of these children, Spanish is the home language, followed by Vietnamese, Cantonese, Hmong, Tagalog, Korean, and other languages.” [108]
Over 200 languages are known to be spoken and read in California, with Spanish used as the state's "alternative" language. California has more than 100 indigenous languages, making California one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization. [109]
Children who are dual language learners bring a wealth of ability and knowledge as well as varied cultural backgrounds to early childhood settings; they also require curricular adaptations to make the most of their abilities while they progress toward full English proficiency. Current knowledge, based on successful practices and sound research, strongly suggests that specific teaching strategies, individualized interaction approaches, and enhanced environments are critical to the long-term success of young children who are not native speakers of English. [111]
What Programs Can Do
The California Department of Education has developed the following guiding principles to assist practitioners in their work with children who are dual language learners:
• Families matter: T he education of children who are dual language learners is enhanced when preschool programs and families form meaningful relationships. It is through these relationships that teachers will not only learn about home language use but the hopes and aspirations that parents have for their children’s overall development.
• Recognize existing language and literacy strengths in the home language: Engaging in multiple literacy practices, such as reading books, singing songs, and reciting poetry, is part of the daily life of many families. It is important to recognize that dual language learners have a variety of literacy experiences in their home language that range from an emphasis on oral language development to literacy activities involving print.
• Respect cultural values and behaviors reflected in the child’s language and communication: Language and culture are highly integrated, so attention must be paid to cultural values and behaviors, which are embedded in both the language and communication style of the home language and the new language being learned.
Benefits of Maintaining Children’s Home Languages
“All children benefit from the social and cognitive advantages of multilingualism and multiliteracy.” [112] Specific benefits include:
• Individuals who are multilingual switch between different language systems. Their brains are very active and flexible (Zelasko and Antunez, 2000).
• Multilingual people have an easier time understanding math concepts, developing strong thinking skills, using logic, focusing, remember, and making decisions, thinking about language, learning about languages
• Maintaining home languages supports children’s maintenance of strong ties with their entire family, culture, and community.
• Multilingual children are also able to make new friends and create strong relationships in their second language—an important personal skill in our increasingly diverse society
• Children raised in multilingual households show better self-control (Kovács and Mehler, 2009), which is a key indicator of school success.
• People who use more than one language appear better at ignoring irrelevant information
• Thinking in a second language frees people from biases and limited thinking
• What is learned in a home language creates strong foundations that can be transferred when learning additional languages.
• Multilingual adults have more job opportunities around the world than monolingual adults and earn an average of \$7,000 more per year than their monolingual peers.
• Those that are multilingual can participate in the global community in more ways, gain information from more sources, and learn more about people from other cultures.
Multilingualism is an asset to individuals, families, and our entire society. Early childhood educators can share the benefits of bilingualism with families, find ways to support children’s home languages, and encourage families to keep their language strong. It is important to “make sure families of emergent bilinguals understand the academic benefits and the significance of supporting their child’s home language as English is introduced through the early childhood program, to ensure their children develop into fully bilingual and biliterate adults.” [113]
8.05: Summary
The race, ethnicity, national origin, language, and other cultural considerations are important aspects of diversity for early childhood educators to be aware of. Partnering with families will allow you to learn about the unique cultures of the families you serve. Families that are immigrants, refugees, and asylees should be recognized for their strengths and may need support as they navigate unfamiliar systems to access resources. It is important that programs promote bicultural identities. The home language of dual language learning children should be recognized and valued. Teachers should make sure that families understand the value of multilingualism. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/08%3A_Race_Ethnicity_and_Language/8.04%3A_Dual_Language_Learners.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the following laws within the Ideal Gas Law
09: Diverse Family Structures
In this chapter, we will explore diverse family structures and terms that will help build a culture of inclusivity and equity. It is important to consider two overarching premises regarding family structures. The first is that Parents refers to biological, adoptive, and step-parents as well as primary caregivers, such as grandparents, other adult family members, and foster parents. The second is that Families can be biological or non-biological, chosen, or circumstantial. They are connected through cultures, languages, traditions, shared experiences, emotional commitment, and mutual support. [114] You may notice that we have used families, often even when referring to parent/caregiver throughout this book in an attempt to be as inclusive as possible.
A feeling of belonging is critical to every child and family’s well-being. The drive to form relationships with others begins in infancy and continues throughout early childhood. These relationships help children fulfill their potential in all areas of development—physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. Quality early childhood programs can expand children’s experiences of forming relationships when the culture and core curriculum partners with families’ and communities’ central themes.
Many families have multiple identities and might include themselves in multiple family definitions. Most children see the caring adults who love and take care of them as their family and will refer to them in that way. It is important to recognize the complexity and variation amongst all families. It is recommended to connect with families to find out the language that they use to refer to their families to help respectfully answer questions that may arise. [116]
Understanding and conversations are important to gain insight into the structure of each family unit. It also assists in the individualization of the support offered to each child. Families come to an early childhood setting with distinct family structures and cultures that give meaning and direction to their lives. All families are complex and influenced by many factors: family traditions, countries of origin, geographic regions, ethnic identities, cultural groups, community norms, sexual orientation, gender identities, educational and other experiences, personal choices, and home languages.
While every child and family are unique, many of our conversations with families involve common topics. We can anticipate that there will be discussions about learning and language, daily routines (such as sleeping, feeding, toileting), expectations, new skills, behavior, discipline, and relationships with peers and adults. We also know that each family will bring unique perspectives to these discussions. Ultimately, it is understanding the perspectives of families and seeing them as the experts on their children that helps create the best care and learning environment for their child. [118]
Below is a list of terms and definitions, many from the Welcoming Schools organization , intended to be a starting point for important conversations about family diversity. Many families have multiple identities and might include themselves in multiple family definitions.
• ADOPTION: When adults bring children into their families and legally become the parents of those children.
• ADOPTIVE PARENTS: The parents of children who have joined the family through adoption.
• BIRTH PARENT: A biological parent. People may also use the terms birth mother or birth father. Most often used in the context of adoption.
• DONOR OR SURROGATE: People who help other people have children.
• BLENDED FAMILY: Two families who come together to form a new family. This may include step-parents and step-siblings.
• CHOSEN FAMILY: People who you care about and consider family, such as friends or neighbors.
• CONDITIONALLY SEPARATED FAMILY: A family separated for a specific period of time; having a family member in jail, prison, a mental health care facility, the hospital, etc.
• DIVORCE: When people legally separate and end a marriage.
• EXTENDED FAMILY: All of your relatives, including your grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. In some families, this can include neighbors, friends and chosen family.
• FOSTER PARENT: People—other than a child's first family—who take children into their homes and take care of them for as long as their family needs help. Sometimes children will return to their first family, sometimes foster parents go on to become adoptive parents or permanent guardians and sometimes children will be adopted by other families.
• GUARDIAN: A person who has responsibility by law to care for a child; a person other than the biological parent who takes care of a child. The person may be biologically related to the child, such as a grandparent.
• INTERFAITH FAMILY: When people of different religious backgrounds are part of the same family. Some families choose to raise their children primarily in one faith, some choose to teach their children both faiths and others practice multiple faiths.
• HALF-SISTER or HALF-BROTHER: When siblings have one biological parent in common.
• LGBTQ FAMILY: A family in which some people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary or queer. This could include parents, guardians, foster parents, children, chosen family, siblings or grandparents who are LGBTQ.
• LESBIAN: Women who love women.
• GAY: People who love people of the same gender, typically men who love men.
• BISEXUAL: People who love people not exclusively of one particular gender.
• PANSEXUAL: People who love people regardless of their sex or gender.
• TRANSGENDER: When your gender identity (how you feel) is different than what doctors/midwives assigned to you when you were born (girl/boy or sex assigned at birth).
• NON-BINARY: People who do not feel like the words “girl” or “boy” fit. They may feel like both or neither. They sometimes use pronouns such as they, them, theirs.
• QUEER: People use this word as a way to identify with and celebrate people of all gender identities and all the ways people love each other. When used in a mean way, it is a word that hurts.
• MIXED FAMILY: When people of different racial and cultural backgrounds are part of the same family. People of different ethnic, religious or national backgrounds can also form families who are “mixed” in terms of culture, skin color, language and/or religious practices.
• MULTIGENERATIONAL FAMILY: When more than one generation of a family lives together.
• MULTIRACIAL FAMILY: When people of different racial backgrounds are part of the same family.
• MULTILINGUAL FAMILY: When people within a family speak more than one language.
• SIBLING: Children or adults who share a parent whether biologically or not.
• SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY OR SOLO-PARENT FAMILY: A family in which one parent cares for the child or children.
• STEP-SIBLINGS: If a divorced or solo parent forms a family with a new person and that person already has children, those children can become step-siblings to their children.
• STEPPARENT: When a divorced or solo parent forms a family with a new person, the new partner might become a stepparent to their children. [119]
• TRANSNATIONAL FAMILY: A family residing in two different countries.
What Programs Can Do
The family compositions represented in the populations served by early childhood programs are quite diverse. Staff members typically develop strategies for accommodating this diversity. Sometimes problems arise for staff members because the children and families they serve have not yet acclimated to the social changes this diversity represents. The problems can sometimes emerge in the interactions among the children who are puzzled by and react negatively to the differences or the stigmatizing comments made by some parents about others. A situation in one program may be an example: Katie is overheard by staff members saying to Martin: “My mommy says I can’t play with you because you have two mommies living together at your house.” It is unclear whether Katie really understands what she is saying, but the situation represents a teachable moment for the children and the staff.
A series of books may be read in circle time that introduce children to different types of families and point out what is common to all (i.e., adoptive families, foster families, single-parent families, multigenerational families, and families led by a grandparent or a gay or lesbian couple). These families represent different ways that adults come together to take care of and love the children they have the responsibility to raise. For some families and staff members, this may represent a complex issue in which they are caught between creating a safe and supportive environment for children who have two mommies and respecting the concerns of parents who, for religious or other reasons, promote a different view at home. In such cases, staff members may need to check with families and meet with them before circumventing what is said at home.
Two Mommies
This scenario involves an openly lesbian couple who enroll their child in an infant/toddler care program. It focuses on differences of beliefs and attitudes among staff members concerning the definition of a legitimate family unit. It opens up the thorny issue of a teacher judging a family as engaging in “wrong” or unacceptable behavior because that behavior contradicts the teacher’s personal beliefs. What do you think is the responsibility of a culturally responsive professional in such a situation?
The Scenario
For the first time, a family consisting of two female parents—both of whom are open about being lesbians—joins the infant/toddler care center. During the intake session, both women make it clear that they want to be acknowledged as the parents of the infant. They cross out “father” on the admission form and substitute “mother,” so that there is a place for each woman to write down her name. They also ask permission to contribute a poster that shows “two-mommy families” and a few picture books with images of two-mommy and two-daddy families.
The center director consents to their requests. However, when she informs the staff about the family, conflicting responses to having openly lesbian parents in the program necessitates a staff discussion. Christine, the teacher in whose room the infant will be placed, is uncomfortable with the situation. She tells other staff members that she thinks it is wrong to encourage homosexuality, since she believes it is a sin. She wants the director to tell the family that only one parent can be considered the infant’s mother, and that person is the only family member who should interact with the program. She also refuses to use the poster or picture books the family wants to contribute.
Marie, an assistant teacher, agrees with Christine. She even suggests that, to avoid problems, the director not admit the family into the program. She explains that since homosexuals cannot properly raise a child, she does not think the program should encourage homosexuality by accepting the infant.
Rachel explains that she has no problem with a two-mommy family, but she is worried that admitting this family into the program will cause problems with other families. In the interests of keeping the peace, she reluctantly supports Christine’s suggestion to identify only one person as the infant’s mother and that no materials show two-mommy families.
Carrie disagrees with the others. She takes the position that, as professionals, they have a responsibility to support all families equally and to make sure that all the infants and toddlers have their family visible in the program. She reminds her colleagues that the family composition and members’ roles within families vary widely. Carrie further explains that she is not questioning her colleagues’ personal beliefs, but argues that professionals need to act according to professional ethics and not just according to their personal beliefs.
Sarah agrees with Carrie. She reminds her colleagues of the following excerpt from the California Early Childhood Educator Competencies publication: “Cultural perspectives of children, families, staff, and colleagues vary widely on issues such as differences in individual children’s learning, strengths, and abilities; gender identity and gender-specific roles; family composition and member roles” (CDE 2011, 21).
Sarah reminds staff that there was a time when many people considered all single mothers to be immoral and bad parents. Sarah further states that it is equally prejudicial to automatically assume that all two-mommy families are “bad.” Carrie adds to Sarah’s point, declaring that child-rearing problems arise in families of all kinds of cultural backgrounds and configurations. [120]
Think About It…
How is this scenario about cultural responsiveness?
How do you feel each of the staff (Christine, Marie, Rachel, Sarah, and Carrie) on their cultural responsiveness? Why?
9.02: Summary
Educators need to be prepared to serve the diverse array of families they will encounter across their careers. Many types of family structures have been introduced in this chapter. Programs should implement policies that acknowledge and respect different structures of families. And teachers can get to know families and ensure that all children’s families are recognized and authentically included in the classroom.
Think About It…
What experiences do you have with diverse family structures? Do you have a reaction to any of these definitions? How might your experiences and feelings about diverse family structures affect how you care for children and interact with their families? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/09%3A_Diverse_Family_Structures/9.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the following laws within the Ideal Gas Law
10: Socioeconomic Status of Families
Socioeconomic status (SES) is another form of diversity that has an impact on children’s learning. SES is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a family's (or individual’s) economic and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's SES, the household income, earners' education, and occupation are examined, as well as combined income. However, SES is more commonly used to depict an economic difference in society as a whole.
Socioeconomic status is typically broken into three levels (high, middle, and low) to describe the three places a family or an individual may fall into. When placing a family or individual into one of these categories, any or all of the three variables (income, education, and occupation) can be assessed.
Education in higher socioeconomic families is typically stressed as much more important, both within the household as well as the local community. [121] In various cultures, well-educated and higher-income parents have the information, the time, the financial resources, and the social connections to achieve family goals. [122]
In areas that are more impoverished, where food, shelter, and safety are priority, education can take a backseat. Children and youth in families and communities that are impoverished are particularly at risk for many health and social problems in the United States. [123]
Approximately 20 percent of children in California under the age of five live in families whose income is below the poverty level. Compared with other states, California ranks 20th in the nation in the number of children under age eighteen living in poverty. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, younger children (birth to six years) are more likely to live in an economically disadvantaged household. Young children of immigrant parents are 20 percent more likely to live in a household that is economically disadvantaged compared with children with native-born English-speaking parents. Young Black, Latino, and Native American children in California are also more likely to live in families that are impoverished compared with white children. [124]
Although early childhood educators cannot change the conditions of families in poverty, gaining an understanding of the challenges created by poverty makes it possible to take action to mitigate its negative effects. [126] And they should keep in mind that families want the best for their child and family and may be doing the very best they can in that moment. Using a strengths-based approach without negative assumptions or judgment increases the chances of developing a trusting relationship that a family finds helpful and supportive. [127]
Family Strains that Are Often Related to Socio-Economic Status
It is important to note that we are not trying to say that experiencing economic strain (often labeled as poverty or being poor) is bad. The message we are hoping to share is that it is difficult and often creates inequity. And most issues linking poverty and stressors for young children point to noncultural sources such as lack of health insurance and access to health care professionals. [128]
This means inadequate or no prenatal care and then insufficient well-baby care, since poor families often depend on hospital emergency care, sometimes travel long distances from home, and see less-experienced doctors after waiting for hours in crowded emergency rooms. Studies have found that in poor neighborhoods food is often of inferior quality and more expensive. No matter how loving and skilled the family is, the reality of poverty creates sometimes insurmountable barriers to optimum child rearing.
Other factors may interact with poverty to add to these challenges. In the current political climate facing immigrants–especially undocumented immigrants—families may have no access to social services and health institutions that help support the family’s quality of life. Families of all backgrounds, headed by a single mother, are more likely to live in poverty than are all other kinds of families. Poverty in rural areas is also an increasing reality, regardless of racial or ethnic background. [129]
Homelessness
Experiencing homelessness means being unable to acquire and maintain consistent, safe, secure, and adequate housing or lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. [131] People, including families, experiencing homelessness often live in temporary placements, such as hotels, shelters, parks, with family members, and in abandoned buildings. [132]
Pin It! Language Matters
"Homeless" describes a situation; it does not define the people in that situation. We show families respect by speaking of "children and families experiencing homelessness" rather than "homeless children and families." People-first language acknowledges the individual before the situation they may be experiencing. [133]
Homelessness is a circumstance that families may experience when they are faced with such challenges as extreme poverty and lack of affordable housing. It can also occur when a family’s current living situation becomes unsafe or unstable. [134]
Homelessness is a reality for many families with young children in our country. In 2015, a third of all people who stayed in a shelter were in families with children and nearly half of children served by HUD-funded emergency/transitional housing providers in 2015 were age five or younger (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 2016). Furthermore, children under age 1 comprise less than six percent of the overall child population in the United States, but more than 10 percent of the child population served by HUD-funded shelters (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015; HUD, 2016). [135] In 2015, of the 3,007,598 children under age 6 in California, 220,940 experienced homelessness. That is one out of every 14 children.
Homelessness is also a state of vulnerability for children and families. It exposes families to physical, mental, and developmental risks. Families experiencing homelessness often keep their situation and circumstances hidden from friends, professionals, and others because they feel ashamed or embarrassed. [136]
What Programs Can Do to Support Families Experiencing Homelessness
It is important that families experiencing homelessness see your program as a source of support. Programs can partner with families to minimize the daily stress and uncertainty that may be a result of homelessness. Programs can create an environment where families are able to choose how they feel best valued and supported.
Families experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty face challenges beyond the natural stressors associated with raising a family. Families experiencing homelessness may be focused on survival and urgent issues. They need to prioritize what should be addressed first so they can make progress toward a safe and healthy living environment. Families may appear distant. It can be lengthy, demanding, and challenging for families to access supports.
Families may be particularly concerned about the effects of homelessness on their child's wellbeing and learning. Programs can work with parents to create some stability and relief for children experiencing stress. [138]
Understanding Issues Facing Families
A group of teachers in a program providing service to children from low-income families complained about parents. “Some parents just don’t care about their children,” one said. They all agreed. A social worker overheard the conversation and asked them to elaborate on why they thought some parents did not care about their children. They were quick to reply: “They don’t come to open houses.” “They never volunteer in the classroom.” “They don’t volunteer for field trips, either.” “They skip meetings, even when it’s a parent–teacher conference.” The social worker asked, “So why do you think they behave that way?” Their answers were: “They just don’t care” or “they are too lazy.” The social worker asked another question: “How did you get to work today?” It turned out that almost all of them drove their cars except for a couple of them who lived close to each other and took turns driving.
The social worker’s next question was, “How many of those parents that you’re talking about have cars?” The teachers were silent. The social worker knew some facts that they were ignoring—(1) Few of the families owned a car, and the vehicles they owned were subject to frequent breakdowns; (2) the bus system was inadequate. The social worker had more questions. “How many of you can get off work during the day to go to your child’s school?” That started a big discussion among the teachers about the problem with coverage, issues with substitutes, and program policies. The conversation ended with the teachers reconsidering their earlier complaints. They had a greater understanding of some of the issues facing the families in the program. [139]
Think About It…
What other reasons might families have for not being able to volunteer or come to meetings in the middle of the day? What might programs consider to make these opportunities more inclusive of all families?
Other Family Strains May Contribute to Economic Hardship
While not necessarily related to socioeconomic status, families face other strains. Some, such as long-term parental absence, can make it harder for families to maintain economic stability and are stressors for families. It’s important to recognize the stressors have a cumulative effect or snowball effect. The effect of multiple stressors is more than just the sum effect of the individual stressors.
Long-Term Parental/Caregiver Absence
Many families experience the separation of a parent/caregiver from the home for periods long enough to have an impact on the child’s life. These events can have an adverse effect on the parent/caregiver’s meaningful involvement in the child’s life and the parent/caregiver–child relationship and interfere with the parent/caregiver’s connection to the family. The separation may be voluntary or involuntary and due to diverse causes:
• Incarceration
• Military deployment
• Hospitalization
• Migration for the purposes of employment
Children may experience confusion, sadness, loneliness, bereavement, and feelings of abandonment as a result of this separation. The nature of the impact will depend greatly on how the family interprets the separation to the child and the steps taken to maintain the connection to the missing parent. [140]
What Programs Can Do to Support Families Experiencing Long-Term Parental/Caregiver Absence
Child care programs can play a facilitative role in helping families to cope with long-term separation by providing the child with ways to reach out to the distant parent/caregiver. The first goal of such intervention would be to give the child multiple opportunities and venues through which to express feelings and beliefs about the separation. The child may have worries about the safety and well-being of the parent/caregiver and should be allowed to express them. Teachers can provide support in correcting misperceptions and providing reassurance that the child is loved, cherished, and will be protected. Through letters, drawings, or other means, children can be given opportunities to express their love and affection for the parent/caregiver.
The goal is to help the family maintain the child’s connection with the parent and help the parent to remain a part of the child’s life. This connection can be maintained by keeping the parent informed about the child’s activities and newly acquired skills. The child’s artwork and photographs could be sent to the parent along with notes that teachers help the child to “write.” If more sophisticated technology is available (such as digital audiotape and video recordings), the child could record messages, and videos of the child’s activities could be made to keep the absent parent connected. [142]
Partnering with Families to Minimize Stress
To serve a child effectively, program staff members need to be aware of disruptions in the child’s life due to economic conditions and other difficulties the family faces. In these situations, program staff members may need to go beyond the typical methods for reaching the family to make sure they establish contact with families who are difficult to reach. They should reach out to parents when they see changes in the child’s behavior, fatigue level, grooming, and disposition. When the family is in distress, program staff members should do everything possible to keep the child in the program. The program may be the one place in the child’s life that is free of turmoil and may make a significant contribution to the child’s ability to cope with family distress.
Offering material help such as clothing, food, and transportation can be helpful for families experiencing stress related to poverty and homelessness. Demonstrating flexibility and understanding may remove additional stress and help families feel less isolated and overwhelmed. Depending on the availability of resources and the program's structure, professionals can connect families with community partners and help with access to services. [143]
10.02: Summary
The socioeconomic status of families may affect their access to resources to support their families. Families with higher income parents/caregivers may have the resources and connections that help them meet their family goals, while families that are impoverished may need to focus on meeting the basic needs of their family. While poverty can cause inequity that affects access to and involvement within developmentally appropriate early childhood education programs and presents risks to children’s health and safety, experiencing poverty is not bad.
Families may also experience stressors such as homelessness and long-term parental/caregiver absence. As these and other stressors have a cumulative effect on families, it’s important that early childhood education programs offer whatever support they can to help minimize stress, or at least the effects of the stress they may be experiencing. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/10%3A_Socioeconomic_Status_of_Families/10.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the following laws within the Ideal Gas Law
11: Families of Children with Special Needs or Special Health Care Needs
Children with disabilities or other special needs refers to children with a specific diagnosis, as well as children who do not have a diagnosis but whose behavior, development, and/or health affect their family’s ability to maintain child care services. The disability or special need may be as mild as a slight speech delay or as complex as a mixed diagnosis of motor challenges, vision impairment, and cognitive delays. [144] Special health care needs include a variety of conditions such as birth defects, neurological disorders, and chronic illnesses that can be life threatening or impact daily living (e.g., cancer, sickle cell disease [or anemia], cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, AIDS, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis). [145]
Families of children with disabilities or other special needs have the same need for child care as do other families. However, families of children with disabilities or special needs often find the search for quality and affordable child care a greater challenge as they face the reluctance of many child care providers to enroll their children. This situation makes it all the more important that child care providers strive to include all children in their programs so as not to increase the immense challenges that such families already face. [146]
In accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), children ages 3-21 are entitled to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). LRE requires that, to the extent possible, children with disabilities should have access to the general education curriculum, along with learning activities and settings that are available to their peers without disabilities. Corresponding federal legislation applied to infants and toddlers (children birth to 3) and their families specifies that early intervention services and supports must be provided in “natural environments,” generally interpreted to mean a broad range of contexts and activities that generally occur for typically developing infants and toddlers in homes and communities. [147]
It is critical that children with disabilities or other special needs, and their families, are included in quality early childhood education programs that are the natural environments of their peers who are typically developing. Children learn from their interactions with other children and their surroundings while developing a sense of security and self-esteem from caring relationships with program providers and staff. Everyone benefits from quality early childhood education programs that provide inclusive care. Children who have a disability or special need get to know and interact with typically developing peers, while their families benefit from programs and services they need to achieve their parenting goals. Children who are typically developing benefit when they have the opportunity to get to know peers who are atypically developing in the classroom. Everyone has the opportunity to learn about other human beings in regard to their strengths and challenges.
Children and families want to be accepted and included in their community regardless of ability. They want to truly belong. But the kind of belonging they desire goes beyond simply “being together.” They want full, unconditional membership in family and community. As Norman Kunc, a disability rights advocate, said so eloquently, “When inclusive education is fully embraced, we abandon the idea that children have to become ‘normal’ in order to contribute to the world. Instead, we search for and nourish the gifts that are inherent in all people. We begin to look beyond typical ways of becoming valued members of the community and, in doing so, begin to realize the achievable goal of providing all children with an authentic sense of belonging.”
Children with disabilities or other special needs may present unique challenges, but the care they need is very similar to that needed by any child. Children with special needs spend most of their time doing what other children do. They have the same curiosity, desire to play, and need to communicate as their peers do. Childcare providers who are providing developmentally appropriate childcare, which is individualized to meet the needs of each and every child, already have many of the skills needed to serve children with disabilities or other special needs. [149] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/11%3A_Families_of_Children_with_Special_Needs_or_Special_Health_Care_Needs/11.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Most children identified by special education professionals as having a disability have delays in learning and communication (over 70 percent of children from birth to age 14). What is more important is that learning disabilities are often not recognized or identified until children begin formal schooling. Children who learn differently or have delays in language commonly manifest special needs through their behavior in group settings. Early childhood educators can provide a language-rich environment and make accommodations based on knowledge of the individual child.
There are fewer children with more significant disabilities such as intellectual disabilities (formerly referred to as mental retardation), physical and mobility impairments, or multiple disabilities. When children do have significant disabilities, they are likely to be receiving specialized services that may support success in a child care setting. Children who are eligible for and who receive early intervention or special education services have individual plans with goals and strategies for caregivers and providers to use. For children under age three, the plans are called individualized family services plans (IFSPs); for children over age three, the plans are called individualized education programs (IEPs). Early childhood educators can be an important member of an IFSP or IEP team when these plans are being developed.
Learning about Individual Children
Information about a specific disability may give an early childhood educator ideas for how to support a child. When serving an individual child, however, the provider should focus on the child’s needs, not the disability or its label. A child with cerebral palsy, for example, may walk with leg braces, use a wheelchair, have minor physical symptoms, or demonstrate a delay in using language. The possible variations within this one label are tremendous, demonstrating that no single label or diagnosis can provide enough information about a particular child. Early childhood educators need to learn beyond a textbook definition and ask questions with sensitivity and understanding—particularly in talks with parents.
Early childhood educators can go far toward setting a tone of welcome and understanding. When a family member shares a child’s diagnosis, a good follow-up question is often “And how does that affect ____________’s development?” This approach can help assure a family member that the child care provider is sincerely concerned about the success of the child and is interested in providing appropriate, individually tailored care. The response from the parent will help the child care provider determine what accommodations might be needed, what other questions may be appropriate to ask, and whether specialists are involved or needed.
Promoting Inclusive Practices
Even if children with disabilities are not currently enrolled in an early childhood education program, educators can still promote inclusive practices. One way is to have pictures, books, and materials that present children with disabilities in a general setting. How people are alike and different naturally arises in an early childhood education setting; a caregiver can take advantage of these opportunities to discuss them. Language use is also critical in developing an atmosphere of inclusion. The best practice is to use “person-first” language when one is talking about people with disabilities. This practice simply means putting the person before the disability: “a child with autism spectrum disorder” rather than “an autistic child.”
The process of exploring inclusion with families, colleagues, and children will suggest other ways to expand inclusive practices. For example, planning staff discussions on specific changes in philosophy, attitudes, and practices goes far toward including children with special needs in a child care setting. Outside the immediate early childhood education program setting, adults with disabilities in a community might contribute to a care provider’s expanding knowledge of issues related specifically to inclusion and to disabilities in general.
Successful Inclusion of Children with Special Needs
As each child is unique, so is each early childhood education program. There is no magic formula for making inclusion work beyond the creativity, energy, and interest that most early childhood educators already bring to their work. Their uniqueness notwithstanding, every program is able to successfully include children with disabilities. And each makes it work child by child, day by day. A “can-do” attitude among the teachers helps to provide the necessary energy for coming up with solutions to the inevitable challenges. It also helps to have an enthusiastic attitude on how to make inclusion work rather than to simply fulfill a legal obligation.
Some children need small changes to the curriculum or minor supports in order to get the most out of certain activities. These sorts of things may consist of fairly simple accommodations, such as providing a special place or quiet activity for a child who is unable to participate in large-group activities or making available a special snack for a child who needs to eat more frequently than the typical meal or snack schedule.
Other children may require more specific adaptations that might not be readily apparent. A variety of community resources can be helpful in determining what those might be. The family, for example, is always the first and most important guide for what a child might need; after that, an area specialist or a local workshop might be. Beyond the immediate community, a world of literature in books, periodicals, and Web sites devoted to disabilities and inclusion can inform an early childhood educator about appropriate adaptations for a child with a particular condition or need.
Programs that begin with a high-quality, developmentally appropriate foundation; a positive attitude on the part of the care provider; appropriate adult–child ratios; supportive administrators; and adequate training for the provider will be in a good position to creatively solve problems for a child with disabilities or other special needs, exactly as it does for children who are typically developing. If a child already has an established diagnosis, trained intervention personnel may be available to assist in this process. One of the biggest roles for a care provider is to facilitate a sense of belonging and inclusion. Several helpful strategies are as follows:
• Start with the assumption that all children are competent.
• Adapt the environment so that it is developmentally appropriate, challenging, and fits the needs and interests of each child.
• While there may be a need to support a child’s mastery of a specific skill, keep the whole child in mind, particularly the child’s social-emotional experience.
Consider the following questions when adapting an activity for a child with special needs :
• Does the child have an opportunity to be in control of the learning experience?
• Is there a balance between adult-initiated learning and child-initiated learning?
• Can the child make choices while learning the skill?
• Is the child able to initiate his/her own efforts to practice the skill, with support given by the child care provider?
• Is the child gaining self-confidence and showing the joy of accomplishment while learning?
• Is there room in the activity for the child to make discoveries?
Collaborating for Inclusion
To effectively meet the needs of children with differing abilities and learning characteristics, early childhood educators may need to expand the way in which they reach out to families and link with specialists. These two groups of people have important information to share and can serve as resources to support children in a program. Their suggestions invariably enrich efforts at inclusion. Specialists themselves may even be able to visit a care facility and offer some on-site guidance.
Providing inclusive early childhood education does not mean a teacher—or even a group of teachers—has to do the work alone. Everyone has a role to play. The primary role of an early childhood educator is to nurture and support the child’s development in a loving and caring manner. Partnerships formed with other adults who are caring for the child—the parents, health-care providers, or specialists—can complement the efforts of all concerned, especially when everyone concentrates on a particular strength. When the expertise of many are combined, ideas develop and strategies emerge that are better than those any one person could have developed alone. The result is the essence of true collaboration.
For collaboration to be successful, the following elements are essential:
• Respect for family’s knowledge and experience with the child. They are the first and best resource and should be included in planning and implemented care of their child.
• Clear and regular communication, both informal or planned meetings.
• Time reserved for collaboration, recognizing that everyone is likely going to be pressed for time.
• Everyone having an investment and active involvement.
• Collaborative efforts to provide the appropriate assessments and support services for the child.
More information about identifying children with special needs and providing inclusive care can be found in the publication Inclusion Works by the California Department of Education.
11.03: Summary
Teachers will have children in their classrooms with diagnosed and undiagnosed special needs, including those related to their health. Early childhood programs have legal obligations to provide inclusive programs and inclusion benefits for everyone involved (children with special needs, their peers that do not have special needs, families, and teachers).
Having a solid foundation in developmentally appropriate practice, which includes the importance of learning about and meeting the needs of each individual child, goes a long way to providing inclusive early education. Support, accommodations, and collaboration are essential to providing inclusive early childhood education programming. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/11%3A_Families_of_Children_with_Special_Needs_or_Special_Health_Care_Needs/11.02%3A_What_Program.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the following laws within the Ideal Gas Law
12: Gender in Young Children
Sex refers to physical or physiological differences between male, female, and intersex bodies, including both primary sex characteristics (the reproductive system) and secondary sex characteristics (such as breasts and facial hair). Gender is a term that refers to social or cultural distinctions associated with a given sex; it is generally considered to be a socially constructed concept.
12.02: How Children Learn about Gender
As young children develop, they begin to explore gender and what it means to be a boy or a girl. Cultures provide expectations for boys and girls, and children begin learning about gender roles from the norms of their family and cultural background. They also hear messages about gender roles from the larger world around them.
Through their interactions and their play exploration, children begin to define themselves and others in many ways, including gender. Children may ask their parents and teachers questions about gender, take on “boy” and “girl” roles in dramatic play and notice differences between the boys and girls they know. They may choose certain toys based on what they think is right for boys or girls. They may also make statements about toys and activities that they think are only for girls or only for boys (Langlois, & Downs, 1980; O’Brien, Huston, & Risley, 1983; Egan, Perry, & Dannemiller, 2001).
The ability to recognize when things are the same or different is an important skill that children develop over time. It’s only natural that they start asking questions to help them sort out the differences between boys and girls. It’s easy to see how they may think that being a boy means doing some things and liking some things, and being a girl means doing and liking other things.
Many things that may have traditionally been limited to one gender or another are not inherently male or female. We can help children develop an understanding of categories that can include both boys and girls by such simple, straightforward responses as “toys are toys” and “clothes are clothes.” These messages can help children learn that any child can, for example, play with any toy or dress up in any kind of clothing.
12.03: Gender as a Social Justice Issue
The social impacts of imposing gender roles on children become evident very early in life and usually follow the child as they continue their development. It is most observable when they interact with other members of their age group. A child's peers serve as both an archetype and a sounding board for the proper way to express themselves.
Children are especially apt at noticing when one of their peers violates their established gender role. As Fagot (1990) found, children had a pronounced response when one of their peers violated their established gender role. Same-sex peers acted as the distributors of both rewards for proper gender role behavior and punishments for improper gender role behavior. Boys who preferred to play with dolls rather than trucks were five to six times more likely to be harassed by their peers than those who conformed to the norm. Girls who preferred to play firefighter rather than nurse were ignored rather than criticized. Most importantly, Fagot's study shows the effect of gender segregation on children; boys tended to respond more readily to feedback from other boys while girls likewise responded to feedback from other girls. By surrounding themselves with members of the same sex, children are placing themselves in a situation where they more readily accept and conform to accepted gender roles. A study by Bandura and Bussey shows that kids want to be like others of their sex. They begin labeling objects as "for girls" or "for boys" and conform to what is expected of them. [153]
The attitudes and expectations surrounding gender roles are not typically based on any inherent or natural gender differences, but on gender stereotypes, or oversimplified notions about the attitudes, traits, and behavior patterns of males and females. Gender stereotypes form the basis of sexism, or the prejudiced beliefs that value males over females. [154] This is problematic for all children, but especially those that do not conform to gender roles and/or who are gender diverse.
Let’s look a bit more at gender roles and learn how programs can promote equity based on gender and acceptance of all children’s gender identity.
What Can Programs Do
Children need a safe and nurturing environment to explore gender and gender expression. It’s important for all children to feel good about who they are and what they can do.
Sometimes we unintentionally expect and encourage particular behaviors and traits based on a child’s gender. For example, adults tend to comment on a girl’s appearance, saying things like “Aren’t you adorable?” or “What a pretty dress!”
On the other hand, comments about boys tend to center on their performance with a focus on abilities, such as “You’re such a good climber!” or “You’re so smart.” As an adult supporting healthy development, you can develop a habit of commenting on who they are as individuals.
You can foster self-esteem in children of any gender by giving all children positive feedback about their unique skills and qualities. For example, you might say to a child, “I noticed how kind you were to your friend when she fell down” or “You were very helpful with clean-up today—you are such a great helper” or “You were such a strong runner on the playground today.” [155]
Bias against Boys in Early Childhood Education Programs
There is an overall goodness-of-fit between girls and early childhood education programs. The early childhood education field reflects a female cultural orientation as “almost all early childhood teachers are women [and] most women seem to prefer behaviors and activities more often attributed to girls than boys.” [156] They also respond to the behavior of boys and girls differently. With girls, teachers tend to overlook behavior that is not appropriate, but with boys they tend to overlook behavior that is appropriate. The results in girls are seemingly more “good” than they may really be. By the same token, the teacher’s patterns of response imply that boys are more “bad” than they may really be. [157]
There is research that shows that early childhood education programs are not serving boys as well as they are girls. Here are some data showing less favorable outcomes for boys:
• While they represent 54% of the preschool population, boys make up 79% of those suspended once, and 82% of those suspended more than once
• Boys are almost five times more likely to be expelled from preschool
• 61% of kindergartners held back are boys [158]
There are differences from gender, both cultural and physical (such as hormonal influences on brain development) that result in boys and girls having different needs. This includes:
• In general, boys’ brains and overall nervous systems develop more slowly than girls’.
• Boys being more physically active, engaging in more rough-and-tumble play, and showing more aggression than girls
• Boys tend to take up more space during both indoor and outdoor activities
• Boys tend to learn well through movement and hands-on activities, while struggling more than girls with memory and language (which results in more challenges with verbal instructions, literacy activities, and tore learning that many early childhood classrooms feature heavily) [159]
What Programs Can Do to Better Serve Boys
Programs can:
• Focus on true developmentally appropriate practices for each and every child; treat each child differently and recognize that developmental variability is natural.
• Have an environment and a curriculum that is play-based, hands-on, and whole-body that addresses the whole child.
• Don’t use threats of withholding something a child enjoys as an incentive to complete a task that they do not enjoy or struggle with.
• Provide many opportunities for children to be successful.
• Destigmatize men in caregiving roles and increase the number of men in early childhood programs.
• Make programs more boy-friendly, including
• Provide a woodworking center
• Rework the dramatic play center to include props to support the common themes of boys’ play (construction, community service workers, sports, etc)
• Make sure books that feature heroes, monsters, vehicles, messy activities, etc. are included in the classroom
• Have large blocks of time for outdoor activities every day [160]
Train staff on the unique needs of boys and how to meet these needs. This should include “instruction in woodwork, math and science projects, and typically ‘male’ experiences, since many women are uncomfortable or unfamiliar engaging in these activities.” [161]
Create a Learning Environment that Encourages Healthy Gender Development
Children make sense of the world through imagination and play, by observing, imitating, asking questions, and relating to other children and adults (Vygotsky & Cole, 1978). Here are a few ways you can support these ways of learning:
• Offer a wide range of toys, books, and games that expose children to diverse gender roles. For example, choose activities that show males as caregivers or nurturers or females in traditionally masculine roles, such as firefighters or construction workers.
• Provide dramatic play props that give children the freedom to explore and develop their own sense of gender and gender roles. Recognize that this may feel uncomfortable for some providers, teachers, home visitors, and families. Be ready to have conversations to address the value of this kind of play.
• Avoid assumptions that girls or boys are not interested in an activity that may be typically associated with one gender or the other. For example, invite girls to use dump trucks in the sand table and boys to take care of baby dolls.
• Use inclusive phrases to address your class as a whole, like “Good morning, everyone” instead of “Good morning, boys and girls.” Avoid dividing the class into “boys vs. girls” or “boys on one side, girls on the other” or any other actions that force a child to self-identify as one gender or another. This gives children a sense that they are valued as humans, regardless of their gender. It also helps all children feel included, regardless of whether they identify with a particular gender.
• Develop classroom messages that emphasize gender-neutral language, like “All children can . . .” rather than “Boys don’t . . .” or “Girls don’t . . .” Home visitors can encourage families to use similar messages.
• Help children expand their possibilities—academically, artistically, and emotionally. Use books that celebrate diversity and a variety of choices so that children can see that there are many ways to be a child or an adult. Display images around the room that show people in a wide variety of roles to inspire children to be who they want to be. [162]
Demonstrate Support for Children’s Gender Expression
Almost all children show interest in a wide range of activities, including those that some would associate with one gender or the other. Children’s choices of toys, games, and activities may involve exploration of male and female genders. They may express their own emerging gender identity through their appearance, choice of name or nickname, social relationships, and imitation of adults. Show support for each child’s gender expressions by encouraging all children to make their own choices about how to express themselves.
Regardless of whether they are boys or girls, children may act in ways that others categorize as feminine or masculine: they may be assertive, aggressive, dependent, sensitive, demonstrative, or gentle (Giles & Heyman, 2005).
Research has shown that when girls and boys act assertively, girls tend to be criticized as “bossy,” while boys are more likely to be praised for being leaders (Martin & Halverson, 1981; Theimer, Killen, & Stangorm, 2001; Martin & Ruble, 2004, 2009). To avoid this kind of unintentional gender stereotyping, try to describe rather than label behavior. “I see you have a strong idea, and you need your friends to help with it. Could you let them choose what they want to do?” [164]
What Programs Can Do to Support Gender-Diverse Children
From the available research, gender is something we are born with. When children identify with a specific gender that is different from the gender assigned at birth (based on physical biology) or who do not identify with either gender, it’s important that they receive gender affirmative care. [165] Some of the American Academy of Pediatrics tips for families can be adapted for early childhood educators:
• Respond in an affirming, supportive way to how children disclose their gender identity to you.
• Accept and love the child as they are.
• Stand up for the child when they are mistreated and ensure that their gender identity or sexual orientation are not made fun of.
• Include books and materials in your classroom that represent gender diverse people.
• Be supportive of the ways the child expresses themself.
• Be on the lookout for danger signs that may indicate a need for mental health support.
• Educate yourself about this form of diversity, just like you do other forms.
It is important to recognize that families will also go through a process of understanding and (hopefully) accepting the child’s identity, thoughts, and feelings. [166]
Engage in Discussions about Healthy Gender Development
Different perceptions among adults, whether staff or families, of gender development can be used as a basis for discussion. Some staff and families may feel uncomfortable with a child’s play when it explores a gender role the adult does not associate with that child’s biological sex. It can be helpful to remember that play is the way that children explore and make meaning of their world. Be prepared to have conversations that honor a range of feelings, make space for questions, address concerns, discuss varied points of view, and offer resources.
You can also offer a developmental perspective on why it’s important to let children explore different gender roles—once you have a sense that families seem open to this. For example, you could start by saying, “I understand that seeing Isaac playing house and wearing an apron in the kitchen makes you feel uncomfortable. Can you tell me a little more about that?”
After you’ve listened, you may decide that it would be helpful to offer some developmental information by saying, for example, “We see this kind of play as a way for Isaac to explore the world around him, try on different ideas, and mirror what he sees family members, community members, or media characters doing.” [167]
Understand Developmentally Appropriate Curiosity about Bodies
Curiosity about people’s bodies is natural for children as they begin to notice differences and think of themselves as a boy or girl. Yet some exploration is not appropriate in an early childhood development program. If questions come up in the bathroom or if children want to learn about their friends’ bodies, let them know that most children have questions about their bodies and the differences between girls’ and boys’ bodies. That way they won’t feel ashamed when you remind them that their bodies are private.
If children demonstrate this kind of natural curiosity in your setting, you can share your observations with the children’s families and ask them if they want to talk more about it. Families may react differently, depending on their comfort level with you and this topic, and on what they’ve discussed with their children at home.
When your relationship with a family is strong and trusting, you might say, “I know this can be uncomfortable to talk about, but I wanted to share an observation I made today. I noticed your child and a friend were talking about their different body parts on the way to the bathroom. I’m wondering if you’ve seen the same kind of curiosity at home and if you’ve talked about it?” If they haven’t, ask if they’d like some ideas about how to answer their children’s questions when they do come up. Offer resources if they are interested in learning more. [168]
Note: if a teacher is ever suspicious of any type of abuse, they should always speak with a supervisor and parents.
Understanding Differences Between Gender and Sexual Orientation
Gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Gender identity is about who you feel you are as a person. Sexual orientation is about the gender of the people you are sexually attracted to. A young child’s expression of gender-related preferences (in friends, activities, clothing choices, hairstyle, etc.) does not necessarily predict what their gender identity or sexual orientation will be later in life (American Psychological Association, 2015).
The age at which gender identity becomes established varies. Gender identity for some children may be fairly firm when they are as young as two or three years old (AAP, 2015; Balwin & Moses, 1996; Gender Spectrum, 2012; Zosuls et al., 2009). For others it may be fluid until adolescence and occasionally later.
The age at which an individual becomes aware of their sexual orientation, that is, their feelings of attraction for one gender or the other or both, also varies. Such feelings may emerge during childhood, adolescence, or later in life (Campo-Arias, 2010; Gender Spectrum, 2012). At present, child development experts say there is no way to predict what a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity will be as an adult (Bryan, 2012).
If families or staff members have questions or are concerned about a child’s gender expression, assure them that you and your program are available for ongoing discussions. Family acceptance of a child’s gender identity is a critical factor in the child’s development (AAP, 2015; Gender Spectrum, 2012; Ryan et al, 2010). Whatever a child’s emerging gender identity, one very important message that caring adults can give to young children is that they are healthy, good human beings. Be prepared to share resources that can help family members learn more about gender in young children. [169]
Handling Gender Bias in the Classroom
Since young children learn by observing our words and actions, consider these strategies when dealing with children’s feelings about their own and each other’s gender expression:
• Share ideas with other providers about how to stop hurtful, gender-related teasing and redirect children to positive activities.
• Practice what you want to say and do. See the examples following this list for interacting with children and adults.
• Know your educational goals and how they are connected to social-emotional well-being in children.
• Help children choose kindness.
• Use instances of teasing as opportunities to help all the children understand other’s feelings and their own.
• Help them understand how their words might make their friends feel.
• Help them to learn to say “I’m sorry” and to show that they really mean it.
• Talk one-on-one with children who have teased another child. They are often confused about the hurt they cause and may be frightened by their own actions. They need to understand that hurting other children is not allowed. But they also need to know that you have confidence that they can learn to control themselves. Be sure to let them know that you are ready to forgive them once they have made a sincere apology.
• Help children to become resilient. Help those who are hurt by teasing to find simple responses to put a stop to it and affirm their positive feelings about themselves.
When you hear children making comments similar to the following ones (in italics), you might consider these responses:
“You can’t play in the kitchen area. You’re a boy!”
• “We can all learn together how to make a recipe and clean up the kitchen.”
• “I’m going to play in the kitchen with any of the children who like to play there.”
“Why does Diego always want to dress like a girl?”
• “There are lots of different ways that boys can dress and lots of different ways that girls can dress.”
• “Clothes are clothes. He likes to wear the clothes that he feels comfortable in.”
“Why does she always play with the boys?”
• “Those are the games that she likes to play, just as there are different games that you like to play.”
• “She can play with whoever she wants to, just like you.”
“You’re a girl!” (said in an insulting tone to a child who identifies as a boy).
• “It’s not okay to call someone a ‘girl’ to make them feel bad.”
“Boys are better at sports than girls.”
• “Some boys and girls are good at sports, and some are not. All children have different things that they are good at.”
When an early childhood educator shares questions similar to the ones below (in italics), you might consider these responses:
“Mercedes uses a boy’s name when they play pretend. Her grandmother said not to let her do that. I can’t go against the grandmother.”
• “Let’s talk this over with her grandmother and learn more about her views on this, why this is important to her, and what she would suggest. We can share our observation that Mercedes seems to know she disapproves, yet still really seems intent on using a boy’s name right now in her pretend play. Maybe then we could share with her our view of this kind of play as a way to use creativity to learn about one’s self and other people. She may still disagree, but getting this dialogue going would be a good start.”
“Zach’s dad makes fun of him when he sees him playing with girls. Zach now gets nervous whenever his father comes to pick him up. What can I say to the dad?”
• “Zach enjoys playing with the other children in our program. We encourage the boys and girls to play together to learn from each other.”
“One of the other teachers punishes Taylor when she acts like a boy. What should I do?”
• “I noticed that you scolded Taylor when she acted like a boy. Can we talk more about why you did that? You might remember that our educational approach encourages all children to play pretend. We believe creativity is a part of learning and development.”
Sometimes families ask about other children. For example, a family member might say, ‘I heard that Diego calls himself Isabella now, and he wears dresses every day. Why would his family let him do that?’” How can I answer this question and discourage gossip?
• “Well, normally I would not discuss details about another child, but in this case I have talked with Diego’s dad about this and how he would like us to address these types of questions as they come up. Isabella identifies as a girl and uses female pronouns, such as “she” and “her.” As early educators, we know some children are very clear at young ages that their gender expression is not the one they were assigned at birth based on their biology. Isabella’s family loves her, and they are trying to do what is best for her— just as you are doing for your child.”
When an early childhood educator wants to talk with a child’s family about gender-related teasing, similar to the example below (in italics), you might consider this response:
“A child called a boy a ‘“girl”’ at school today. It seemed intended as an insult. What can I say?”
• “Your child usually gets along so well with the other children. So when your child called a boy a ‘girl,’ as if that were a bad thing, we wanted to be sure to talk this over with you. Your son is such a leader, and we know he can be a positive one. We want to make sure that the children know that the words ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ aren’t insults, and that this is a safe and secure environment for all of them. Do you have some ideas about how we can work with your son as we work with all the children on this?” [170]
Simple Messages You Can Share with All Children
An essential part of children’s school readiness is developing self-confidence and resilience. Research shows that, even in early learning settings, boys and girls perform less well when they have negative concepts about their gender. Comments like “Girls can’t throw!” or “Boys always get into trouble!” can make them doubt their natural abilities (Hartley & Sutton, 2013; Del Rio & Strasser, 2013; Wolter, Braun, & Hannover, 2015).
Early learning environments are important places to teach children language and behavior that helps them all feel good about who they are and how to recover from the hurts they may cause each other.
Look for opportunities to help children practice positive language they can use with each other. Here are some examples that you can use to create your own:
• “Boys and girls can be good at sports/ writing/sitting still.”
• “Girls and boys can be friends with each other.”
• “Everybody can play in the kitchen/tool area/swing set.”
• “Running games are for everyone.”
• “Hair is hair. That is how she/he likes it.”
• “Boys and girls can wear what they like at our school.”
• “Colors are colors. There aren’t boy colors or girl colors. All children like different colors.” [171]
12.04: Summary
As children develop an understanding of gender, gender biased behavior may appear. Early childhood educators can create a physical and emotional environment that support healthy gender development that is not prejudiced and help children explore gender as a social justice issue (children are very aware of things that aren’t fair).
Teachers must also be aware of their own gender-related biases. They must be reflective in what experiences and materials they provide for all children and respond in ways that are equitable for children regardless of their gender and gender expression. Gender affirming care is especially critical for gender-diverse children. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/12%3A_Gender_in_Young_Children/12.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the following laws within the Ideal Gas Law
Children in early childhood classrooms will come from families with a variety of religious beliefs. This chapter will introduce major religions in the U.S. First let’s look at the religious make-up of the United States based on a 2016 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
13: Religion in Families
Children in early childhood classrooms will come from families with a variety of religious beliefs. This chapter will introduce major religions in the U.S. First let’s look at the religious make-up of the United States based on a 2016 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
Table 13.1 – Religious Affiliation in the U.S. [172]
Religious Affiliation
Percent of U.S. Population
Christian
70.6
Protestant
46.5
Evangelical Protestant*
25.4
Mainline Protestant**
14.7
Black church
6.5
Catholic
20.8
Mormon
1.6
Jehovah’s Witnesses
0.8
Eastern Orthodox
0.5
Other Christian
0.4
Unaffiliated
22.8
Nothing in particular
15.8
Agnostic
4.0
Atheist
3.1
Non-Christian
5.9
Jewish (Judiasm)
1.9
Muslim (Islam)
.9
Buddhist
0.7
Hindu
0.7
Other non-Christian
1.8
Didn’t know/Didn’t answer
0.6
* Evangelic Protestants are found across many Protestant denominations. The main movements are Baptist churches, Pentecostalism, and Evangelicalism
**Mainline Protestant includes: Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, American Baptist, United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Quakers, Reformed Church of America, and others [173]
Religion in California
In 2019, California had the following representations of religious beliefs:
• Protestant (Christian) - 32%
• Catholics (Christian) - 28%
• Non-Religious (atheist, non-affiliated theists, and agnostics) - 27%
• Jewish - 3.2%
• Muslim - 1%
• Other (Buddism, Shinto, Sikhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Mormon, and others) [174]
Unaffiliated/Non-Religious
As shown in being the second most identified religious practice/belief in both the in the U.S. in general and specifically in California, it is important to note that every society also has nonbelievers, such as atheists, who do not believe in a divine being or entity, and agnostics, who hold that ultimate reality (such as God) is unknowable. While typically not an organized group, atheists and agnostics represent a significant portion of the population. It is important to recognize that being a nonbeliever in a divine entity does not mean the individual subscribes to no morality. [175]
A Quick Look at the Most Practiced Religions in the U.S.
Religions have emerged and developed across the world. Some have been short-lived, while others have persisted and grown. In this section, we will very briefly introduce the five most praticed religions in the U.S. This is not intended to be a replacement for learning more about world religions or about the specific religious views and practices of each of the families in your program.
Christianity
Today the largest religion in the world, Christianity began 2,000 years ago in Palestine, with Jesus of Nazareth, a charismatic leader who taught his followers about caritas (charity) or treating others as you would like to be treated yourself.
The sacred text for Christians is the Bible. Different Christian groups have variations among their sacred texts. For instance, Mormons, an established Christian sect, also use the Book of Mormon, which they believe details other parts of Christian doctrine and Jesus’ life that aren’t included in the Bible. Similarly, the Catholic Bible includes the Apocrypha, a collection that, while part of the 1611 King James translation, is no longer included in Protestant versions of the Bible. Although monotheistic (worshipping a single god), Christians often describe their god through three manifestations that they call the Holy Trinity: the father (God), the son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a term Christians often use to describe religious experience, or how they feel the presence of the sacred in their lives. One foundation of Christian doctrine is the Ten Commandments, which decry acts considered sinful, including theft, murder, and adultery. [176]
Judaism
After their Exodus from Egypt in the thirteenth century B.C.E., Jews, a nomadic society, became monotheistic, worshipping only one God. The Jews’ covenant, or promise of a special relationship with Yahweh (God), is an important element of Judaism, and their sacred text is the Torah, which Christians also follow as the first five books of the Bible. Talmud refers to a collection of sacred Jewish oral interpretation of the Torah. Jews emphasize moral behavior and action in this world as opposed to beliefs or personal salvation in the next world. [177]
Identifying Jewish is not necessarily indicative of religious beliefs or practices. Many people identify themselves as American Jews on ethnic and cultural grounds, rather than religious ones. [178]
Islam
Islam is monotheistic religion and it follows the teaching of the prophet Muhammad, born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in 570 C.E. Muhammad is seen only as a prophet, not as a divine being, and he is believed to be the messenger of Allah (God), who is divine. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. [179]
Islam means “peace” and “submission.” The sacred text for Muslims is the Qur’an (or Koran). As with Christianity’s Old Testament, many of the Qur’an stories are shared with the Jewish faith. Divisions exist within Islam, but all Muslims are guided by five beliefs or practices, often called “pillars”: 1) Allah is the only god, and Muhammad is his prophet, 2) daily prayer, 3) helping those in poverty, 4) fasting as a spiritual practice, and 5) pilgrimage to the holy center of Mecca.
In example of how different cultural identities may intersect, Muslims are the most likely to be born outside of the U.S. and are the most diverse religious community. They are also the most likely religious group to report discrimination (which is referred to as Islamophobia). [180]
Buddhism
Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama around 500 B.C.E. Siddhartha was said to have given up a comfortable, upper-class life to follow one of poverty and spiritual devotion. At the age of thirty-five, he famously meditated under a sacred fig tree and vowed not to rise before he achieved enlightenment ( bodhi ). After this experience, he became known as Buddha, or “enlightened one.” Followers were drawn to Buddha’s teachings and the practice of meditation, and he later established a monastic order.
Buddha’s teachings encourage Buddhists to lead a moral life by accepting the four Noble Truths: 1) life is suffering, 2) suffering arises from attachment to desires, 3) suffering ceases when attachment to desires ceases, and 4) freedom from suffering is possible by following the “middle way.” The concept of the “middle way” is central to Buddhist thinking, which encourages people to live in the present and to practice acceptance of others (Smith 1991). Buddhism also tends to deemphasize the role of a godhead, instead stressing the importance of personal responsibility (Craig 2002). [182]
Hinduism
The oldest religion in the world, Hinduism originated in the Indus River Valley about 4,500 years ago in what is now modern-day northwest India and Pakistan. It arose contemporaneously with ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. With roughly one billion followers, Hinduism is the third-largest of the world’s religions. Hindus believe in a divine power that can manifest as different entities. Three main incarnations—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—are sometimes compared to the manifestations of the divine in the Christian Trinity.
Multiple sacred texts, collectively called the Vedas, contain hymns and rituals from ancient India and are mostly written in Sanskrit. Hindus generally believe in a set of principles called dharma, which refer to one’s duty in the world that corresponds with “right” actions. Hindus also believe in karma, or the notion that spiritual ramifications of one’s actions are balanced cyclically in this life or a future life (reincarnation). [183] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/13%3A_Religion_in_Families/13.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Early childhood education programs are often the first context in which children are confronted with different religions and religious attitudes than those experienced in their family environment, and it is very important that they learn to treat each other with respect and to be sensitive to differences. Taking children’s opinions and interests into account and exploring how early childhood educational institutions deal with religious differences contributes to both childhood research and raising awareness of aspects of dealing with religious differences in educational institutions, which has not often been researched.
Young children notice religious differences, even when they don’t quite understand it or may not have the language to fully explain it. Even though it is noticeable, religious differences are often overlooked in early childhood education. “Many teachers are uncomfortable talking about religion in their classrooms, yet many schools continue to celebrate the traditional Christian holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, which further marginalizes non-Christian students.” [184]
The Importance of Communication
Communication plays a key role in dealing with religious difference. Religious difference increases the need for communication about religion and religions. People get to know each other in two-way conversations. “Otherness is not threatening, but awakens the desire for communication. It is precisely because one or the other is different that we need communication.”
Early childhood education is a place for discussions between teachers, with administrators, and with children and families. If the staff and/or families in an early childhood program have different religious affiliations, communication about their different religious traditions makes sense in the kindergarten.
Questions early childhood education programs should ask themselves, include:
Values
• What is the value base of the program?
• Who defines and promotes these values?
• How do these values encourage and promote dialogue and respect? • How do the values reflect the religious difference of the families served by the program?
• Are these values publicized and agreed upon with the families and community the program serves?
Policy
• How is religious difference taken into account and addressed in the admission of children to kindergarten?
• How far do policies promote values of religious difference and respect?
Program Recognition
• How does the program take religious differences into account?
• To what extent does the calendar reflect religious difference?
• To what extent do holidays reflect the diversity of religious holy days?
• To what extent is the religious difference in the range of meals offered in kindergarten considered?
• How is the wearing of certain clothing or religious symbols dealt with?
• How are conflicts and challenges arising from religious differences addressed?
Curriculum
• How does the curriculum address religious differences and how are they received by children?
• How far is the program’s tradition based on the dominant religion of the program and/or larger community?
• When and in which areas is religious difference discussed?
Professional Development of Teachers
• How are teachers prepared to address religious difference?
• What opportunities are there for educators to educate themselves in relation to religious difference, and how are these opportunities taken advantage of?
Communication about religious difference
• How do programs connect with families to learn their desires for dealing with religious differences?
• How and when do team meetings take place in the program in which questions of religious difference are discussed?
• When do children address religious difference and how are children’s curiosities about religion addressed?
Communication about religious difference can bring challenges. But when programs create trusting, reciprocal relationships with families, dealing with conflicts, including dealing with religious conflicts, offers the opportunities for programs to become more culturally responsive. [185]
Recognition of Minority Religions
In education, including early childhood education, there is a tendency to focus exclusively on the major religion, but not on the minor religions and religious differences. Research has found that children of the minor religions often do not feel comfortable expressing themselves about their religion or their religious expressions and that their religion is given little attention by early childhood education programs in general or in the behavior of the teachers. Inclusion and integration of all religions, both major and minor. Children should be not be expected to assimilate to the major religion. Religious students should have the opportunity to address their religious perspective and not hide it. When children of different world religions live together in the group, the children have a right to be heard and told about their respective traditions. [186]
Remembering Individual Differences in Religiousness
Children and adults belonging to a religion are also different in their religiousness, which can be seen in different forms of expression. It is important for early childhood educators to remember that how families observe and express their religion will vary, even within the same religion. [187]
Creating a Safe Place for Exploration
Even if complete equity cannot be achieved in early childhood education, it is important to strive for it and to develop a safe space in which children are recognized in their individuality and their difference and in which they can address topics that concern them. While most early childhood settings appear to be calm and friendly places on the surface, there may be a great deal of underlying inequity in practice, as both adults and children inevitably bring with them their own perceptions and prejudices to the setting and in their interactions with one another. [188]
If the children’s religion and the resulting religious difference have no place in the kindergarten – if it is important to them – a part of them has no place. [189]
Child-Centered Exploration of Religion
The naturalness and curiosity with which children encounter religious difference is a good foundation or learning processes about religious difference. The children’s conversations or questions that suddenly arise during the program day can, provided that they are perceived and sensitively taken up by the educators, be opportunities for learning, in which an examination of religious difference can take place. [190] “For young children, sharing their stories can be a vehicle to open conversations about religion and diversity.” [191]
Religious Differences Surrounding Food
Early childhood education programs should provide food that can be enjoyed by all children. Mealtimes offer a chance to make religious differences visible in the different eating habits of the children. It is critical that cultural (and religious) differences in food and meals be understood and respected by the program. How religious eating habits are dealt with in meals can therefore be an important indication of how religious differences are dealt with by the program in general. [192]
Clothing, Hairstyle, and Head Coverings
Some families may have religious practices that prescribe specific clothing, hairstyle, or head coverings. Early childhood education programs must learn about these practices from the families and help children follow these practices while the child is in the care of the program. [193]
Celebrations
“Holidays and celebrations are important topics in schools because they offer interesting and relevant opportunities for students to learn about cultures different than their own and to develop awareness of how religion influences cultures.” [195] Early childhood education programs should be careful that the celebrations they observe are authentic and reflect the values and beliefs of the families, they serve. The unique celebration of a festival of another religion without other consideration of religious difference in the program seems to miss the desired intentions despite the positive intentions. When festivals are celebrated, the question arises how this is done so that the celebration is not perceived as an “exotic activity” but is based on the recognition of religious difference in the program. [196]
Using Children’s Literature
Multicultural children‘s literature can be used to help children become more aware of the many religions and religious traditions. “Reading and discussing multicultural literature fosters opportunities for students to not only learn about world religions, but to explore commonalities and differences amongst people from a variety of places and religious practices (Dever, Whitaker, & Byrnes, 2001).” [197]
Factual Information
Children need explanations from adults in order to understand religious differences they notice. Children are often not given an explanation on the religious background of some children who observe different religious traditions. If the children do not know the reason for the difference, they may unintentionally find an explanation that is hurtful or irritating for the children concerned.
Due to the importance of teachers in early childhood institutions and the teacher’s diverse tasks in dealing with religious differences, teachers require interreligious competence. [198]
Professional Development
Early childhood educators often experience insecurity and fear of dealing with conflict or challenging situations, including those surrounding religious differences. Training of awareness of religious difference and the expansion of knowledge about different religions can take place to help build knowledge. Through support and professional development opportunities, the fears and concerns of the teachers and administrators can be addressed. This can lead to increased comfort surrounding addressing religious differences.
Staff meetings in which opportunities and challenges are discussed together make it clear that religious difference is not the concern of a single person in the program, but rather a common concern. Further training dedicated to the desires of the staff can be context-sensitive to the specific program and its situation.
One area that deserves further attention and training is that examination of one’s own prejudices, as is implemented in an anti-bias approach. [199]
Dealing with One’s Own Religiousness
In addition to knowledge, it is important for educators to examine their own values and attitudes in order to develop a sensitivity to different religions and world views. Dealing with one’s own religion and religiousness is important to
• avoid confusing their own feelings with statements or actions of children.
• be able to receive children’s opinions as impartially as possible.
• recognize the significance that religion could have for children.
• be able to recognize that in addition to the challenges that religious difference can bring, it also brings opportunities. [200]
Think About It…
How might it feel if you are caring for a child with different religious beliefs than your own (maybe even contradictory)? What would you need to do to ensure the child and family’s beliefs are respected and honored in your classroom?
13.03: Summary
A families’ spirituality and religion may affect the values and beliefs children have, the way they understand, note, and celebrate life transitions, their concepts of good and evil, and how they relate to, respect, and honor religious figures and the natural world. Children may have particular clothing, hairstyles/head covering, and food/eating practices that are important to their families’ religious beliefs. It is important for early childhood education programs to know, understand, respect, and honor the religious and spiritual beliefs of the families and children they serve.
13.04: Section Summary
The content within this section is intended to share information about the diverse populations within our communities and children that may be in early childhood education programs. It would be impossible to represent every aspect of all forms of diversity. And ultimately each family is an expert of their background and family history. As early childhood educators it behooves us to create a learning environment of inclusivity while honoring individuality. This should be done by creating a relationships with families that allows you to learn about who they are.
Understanding a family’s cultures and dynamics takes curiosity, patience, commitment, and a willingness to feel uncomfortable at times. It also takes courage and humility to reflect on our own experiences and understand how they affect our attitudes toward families. And it requires a readiness to recognize when we have misunderstood or made a mistake. Our interactions are always a result of cultural influences—ours and those of the families in our programs. Program expectations, routines, and policies also influence our interactions with families. It is our responsibility to be open to understand and appreciate the meaning of a family’s choices, even if they do not align with our own preferences or the policies of our program. The process of understanding the cultural beliefs, values, and perspectives of others – as well as those of our own – is essential to effective family engagement. [201] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/13%3A_Religion_in_Families/13.02%3A_What_Programs_Can_Do_to_Support_Children_with_Religious_Diff.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define stereotype threat
• List characteristics of implicit bias
• Explain how people learn about and categorize others
• Describe how stereotypes develop and why they persist
• Discuss the effects of stereotypes
• Investigate ways to uncover the stereotypes that we hold and apply that to practices that will reduce discrimination with children and families
14: The Relationship Between Ones Experience and the Development of Personal Bias
Think About It…
Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures. –Cesar Chavez
What does this quote mean to you? How many times have you felt that you are on the defense with your culture, traditions , etc.? Why is it that you have experienced this? This chapter addresses how one’s own experiences create personal bias.
It is important to note that everyone has personal biases. Being biased is often unconscious and occurs because of the messages we have been exposed to from a very young age. Working towards an awareness of those biases, affords us opportunities to reflect and not react when we are faced with our biases. It is often helpful to do this with someone we can be honest with and who can be honest with us.
How Biases Are Formed
Let's take a look at how we form our biases. It is natural to have biases. We react to the messages we receive in our environment. Those messages often lie beneath the surface in our unconscious which makes it difficult to address as often we are unaware of them. This is often referred to as "implicit bias". They have an effect on how we make decisions in regards to our biases/stereotypes about race, class, sexual orientation, family structure, religion, etc.
Racialization
Race is often a source of discrimination and oppression in societies; as such, it can have a tremendous impact on childhood development. The United States is a very racialized society (divided by race), and children—especially children of color—often become aware of the dynamics of racism at a very young age. Children are taught the stereotypes that go along with their particular race(s), as well as the races of others, and these stereotypes can have a strong influence on their development. [203]
Stereotype Threat
Stereotypes and racialized expectations often contribute to stereotype threat , in which a child experiences anxiety or concern in a situation that has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about his or her social group. For example, if a Black child is given the message that Black people are not as “smart” as white people, she may worry if she is not doing well in school because it will, she fears, confirm the negative stereotype. Importantly, stereotype threat has been shown to be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy—not because the negative stereotype is accurate, but because fear of fulfilling that stereotype can lead to additional anxiety, which in turn can reduce performance. For example, stereotype threat can lower the intellectual performance of Black students taking the SAT, due to the stereotype that they are less intelligent than other groups, which may cause them to feel additional pressure and anxiety.
Intersecting Identities
Our social categories, such as gender, race, or social class affect each other. The concept of intersectionality means that we cannot look these categories in isolation. [204] For example, the experience of growing up as a Black girl in the United States cannot be understood only in terms of being Black or of being female; instead, the ways in which these identities interact and frequently reinforce each other must be examined.
Race is also closely linked to class, and people of color are still statistically much more likely to lack access to basic resources and experience economic hardship. These resources include everything from proper nutrition and healthcare to good education systems and neighborhood parks. All of these societal factors intersect and interact to influence a child’s development, so much so that a child from a middle-class white family has many more opportunities than a child from a lower-income family of color. [205]
Bias
Think About It…
How do you define bias? Take a moment to critically think about what biases you can surface at this moment. Write them down and after you have read the entire chapter, take a moment to reflect and add to what you wrote.
Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. Key characteristics of implicit bias include:
• Implicit biases are pervasive. Everyone possesses them, even people with commitments to impartiality such as judges.
• Implicit and explicit biases are related but distinct mental constructs. They are not mutually exclusive and may even reinforce each other.
• The implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse.
• We generally tend to hold implicit biases that favor our own in-group, though research has shown that we can still hold implicit biases against our in-group.
• Implicit biases are malleable. Our brains are incredibly complex, and the implicit associations that we have formed can be gradually unlearned through a variety of debiasing techniques. [206]
Now that we know these key terms, how, in terms of brain development and natural humanistic functioning, does implicit bias start? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/14%3A_The_Relationship_Between_Ones_Experience_and_the_Development_of_Personal_Bias/14.01%3A_How.txt |
People are often very skilled at person perception—the process of learning about other people—and our brains are designed to help us judge others. Infants prefer to look at faces of people more than they do other visual patterns, and children quickly learn to identify people and their emotional expressions. As adults, we are able to identify and remember a potentially unlimited number of people as we navigate our social, and we form impressions of those others quickly and without much effort. Furthermore, our first impressions are, at least in some cases, remarkably accurate.
Learning about people is a lot like learning about any other object in our environment, with one major exception. With an object, there is no interaction: we learn about the characteristics of a car or a cell phone, for example, without any concern that the car or the phone is learning about us. It is a one-way process. With people, in contrast, there is a two-way social process: just as we are learning about another person, that person is learning about us, or potentially attempting to keep us from accurately perceiving him or her. For instance, research has found that when other people are looking directly at us, we process their features more fully and faster, and we remember them better than when the same people are not looking at us.
In the social dynamic with others, then, we have two goals: first, we need to learn about them, and second, we want them to learn about us (and, we hope, like and respect us). Our focus here is on the former process—how we make sense of other people. But remember that just as you are judging them, they are judging you.
We have seen that when people are asked to describe themselves, they generally do so in terms of their physical features (“I am really tall”), social category memberships (“I am a woman”), and traits (“I am friendly”). These characteristics well reflect the dimensions we use when we try to form impressions of others. [208]
We can also use nonverbal communication to interpret different scenarios, which in turn helps shape ourselves, both consciously and unconsciously.
Nonverbal Behavior
Nonverbal behavior is any type of communication that does not involve speaking, including facial expressions, body language, touching, voice patterns, and interpersonal distance. Nonverbal behaviors are used to reinforce spoken words (Hostetter, 2011) but also include such things as interpersonal distance (how far away from you the other person stands), tone of voice, eye gaze, and hand gestures and body positions (DePaulo et al., 2003). Nonverbal behavior affects how people interpret different scenarios, both consciously
The ability to decode nonverbal behavior is learned early, even before the development of language (Walker-Andrews, 2008). We tend to like people who have a pleasant tone of voice and open posture, who stand an appropriate distance away from us, and who look at and touch us for the “right” amount of time—not too much or too little. And, of course, behavior matters; people who walk faster are perceived as happier and more powerful than those who walk more slowly (Montepare & Zebrowitz-McArthur, 1988).
Although they may be pretty good at it in some cases, people are often not aware of their ability to make accurate judgments. Rule, Ambady, Adams, and Macrae (2008) found that even though the participants in their research were quite accurate in their perceptions, they could not articulate how they made their judgments. They claimed that they were “just guessing” and could hardly believe that they were getting the judgments right. These results suggest that they were made without any conscious awareness on the part of the judgers. Furthermore, the participants’ judgments of their own accuracy were not generally correlated with their actual accurate judgments.
The particular nonverbal behaviors that we use, as well as their meanings, are determined by social norms, and these norms may vary across cultures. For example, people who live in warm climates nearer the equator use more nonverbal communication (e.g., talking with their hands or showing strong facial expressions) and are more likely to touch each other during conversations than people who live in colder climates nearer Earth’s poles (Manstead, 1991; Pennebaker, Rime, & Blankenship, 1996). And the appropriate amount of personal space to keep between ourselves and others also varies across cultures. In some cultures—for instance, those of South American countries—it is appropriate to stand very close to another person while talking to him or her; in other cultures—for example, in the United States and Western Europe—more interpersonal space is the norm (Knapp & Hall, 2006). The appropriate amount of eye contact with others is also determined by culture. In some parts of Latin America, it is appropriate to lock eyes with another person, whereas in Japan, people more often try to avoid eye contact.
Social Categorization
Thinking about others in terms of their group memberships is known as social categorization—the natural cognitive process by which we place individuals into social group s. Social categorization occurs when we think of someone as a man (versus a woman), an old person (versus a young person), a Black person (versus an Asian or white person), and so on (Allport, 1954/1979). Just as we categorize objects into different types, so do we categorize people according to their social group memberships. Once we do so, we begin to respond to those people more as members of a social group than as individuals. [210]
Here is an example in which we see both social categorization and stereotyping in an adult setting:
Imagine for a moment that two college students, Farhad and Sarah, are talking at a table in the student union at your college or university. At this point, we would probably not consider them to be acting as group members, but rather as two individuals. Farhad is expressing his opinions, and Sarah is expressing hers. Imagine, however, that as the conversation continues, Sarah brings up an assignment that she is completing for her women’s studies class. It turns out that Farhad does not think there should be a women’s studies program at the college, and he tells Sarah so. He argues that if there is a women’s studies program, then there should be a men’s studies program too. Furthermore, he argues that women are getting too many breaks in job hiring and that qualified men are the targets of discrimination. Sarah feels quite the contrary—arguing that women have been the targets of sexism for many, many years and even now do not have the same access to high-paying jobs that men do.
You can see that an interaction that began at individual level, as two individuals conversing, has now turned to the group level, in which Farhad has begun to consider himself as a man, and Sarah has begun to consider herself as a woman. In short, Sarah is now arguing her points not so much for herself as she is as a representative of one of her ingroups—namely, women—and Farhad is acting as a representative of one of his ingroups—namely, men. Sarah feels that her positions are correct, and she believes they are true not only for her but for women in general. And the same is true of Farhad. You can see that these social categorizations may create some potential for misperception, and perhaps even hostility. And Farhad and Sarah may even change their opinions about each other, forgetting that they really like each other as individuals, because they are now responding more as group members with opposing views.
Imagine now that while Farhad and Sarah are still talking, some students from another college, each wearing the hats and jackets of that school, show up in the student union. The presence of these outsiders might change the direction of social categorization entirely, leading both Farhad and Sarah to think of themselves as students at their own college. And this social categorization might lead them to become more aware of the positive characteristics of their college (the excellent rugby team, lovely campus, and intelligent students) in comparison with the characteristics of the other school. Now, rather than perceiving themselves as members of two different groups (men versus women), Farhad and Sarah might suddenly perceive themselves as members of the same social category (students at their college).
Perhaps this example will help you see the flexibility of social categorization. We sometimes think of our relationships with others at the individual level and sometimes at the group level. And which groups we use in social categorization can change over time and in different situations. You are more likely to categorize yourself as a member of your college or university when your rugby or football team has just won a really important game, or at your graduation ceremony, than you would on a normal evening out with your family. In these cases, your membership as a university student is simply more salient and important than it is every day, and you are more likely to categorize yourself accordingly.
Similar effects occur when we categorize other people. We tend to see people who belong to the same social group as more similar than they actually are, and we tend to judge people from different social groups as more different than they actually are.
Development of Stereotypes
O ur stereotypes and prejudices are learned through many different processes. This multiplicity of causes is unfortunate because it makes stereotypes and prejudices even more likely to form and harder to change. For one, we learn our stereotypes in part through our communications with families and peers (Aboud & Doyle, 1996) and from the behaviors we see portrayed in the media (Brown, 1995). Even five-year-old children have learned cultural norms about the appropriate activities and behaviors for boys and girls and also have developed stereotypes about age, race, and physical attractiveness (Bigler & Liben, 2006). And there is often good agreement about the stereotypes of social categories among the individuals within a given culture. In one study assessing stereotypes, Stephanie Madon and her colleagues (Madon et al., 2001) presented U.S. college students with a list of 84 trait terms and asked them to indicate for which groups each trait seemed appropriate ( Figure 14.4, “Current Stereotypes Held by College Students” ) . The participants tended to agree about what traits were true of which groups, and this was true even for groups of which the respondents were likely to never have met a single member (Arabs and Russians). Even today, there is good agreement about the stereotypes of members of many social groups, including men and women and a variety of ethnic groups. [212]
Once they become established, stereotypes (like any other cognitive representation) tend to persevere. We begin to respond to members of stereotyped categories as if we already knew what they were like. Yaacov Trope and Eric Thompson (1997) found that individuals addressed fewer questions to members of categories about which they had strong stereotypes (as if they already knew what these people were like) and that the questions they did ask were likely to confirm the stereotypes they already had.
In other cases, stereotypes are maintained because information that confirms our stereotypes is better remembered than information that disconfirms them. When we see members of social groups perform behaviors, we tend to better remember information that confirms our stereotypes than we remember information that disconfirms our stereotypes (Fyock & Stangor, 1994). If we believe that women are bad drivers and we see a woman driving poorly, then we tend to remember it, but when we see a woman who drives particularly well, we tend to forget it. This illusory correlation is another example of the general principle of assimilation—we tend to perceive the world in ways that make it fit our existing beliefs more easily than we change our beliefs to fit the reality around us.
And stereotypes become difficult to change because they are so important to us—they become an integral and important part of our everyday lives in our culture. Stereotypes are frequently expressed on TV, in movies, and in social media, and we learn a lot of our beliefs from these sources. Our friends also tend to hold beliefs similar to ours, and we talk about these beliefs when we get together with them (Schaller & Conway, 1999). In short, stereotypes and prejudice are powerful largely because they are important social norms that are part of our culture (Guimond, 2000).
Because they are so highly cognitively accessible, and because they seem so “right,” our stereotypes easily influence our judgments of and responses to those we have categorized. The social psychologist John Bargh once described stereotypes as “cognitive monsters” because their activation was so powerful and because the activated beliefs had such insidious influences on social judgment (Bargh, 1999). Making things even more difficult, stereotypes are strongest for the people who are in most need of change—the people who are most prejudiced (Lepore & Brown, 1997).
Because stereotypes and prejudice often operate out of our awareness, and also because people are frequently unwilling to admit that they hold them, social psychologists have developed methods for assessing them indirectly. In the Research Focus box following, we will consider two of these approaches—the bogus pipeline procedure and the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
Research Focus: Measuring Stereotypes Indirectly
One difficulty in measuring stereotypes and prejudice is that people may not tell the truth about their beliefs. Most people do not want to admit—either to themselves or to others—that they hold stereotypes or that they are prejudiced toward some social groups. To get around this problem, social psychologists make use of a number of techniques that help them measure these beliefs more subtly and indirectly.
One indirect approach to assessing prejudice is called the bogus pipeline procedure (Jones & Sigall, 1971). In this procedure, the experimenter first convinces the participants that he or she has access to their “true” beliefs, for instance, by getting access to a questionnaire that they completed at a prior experimental session. Once the participants are convinced that the researcher is able to assess their “true” attitudes, it is expected that they will be more honest in answering the rest of the questions they are asked because they want to be sure that the researcher does not catch them lying. Interestingly, people express more prejudice when they are in the bogus pipeline than they do when they are asked the same questions more directly, which suggests that we may frequently mask our negative beliefs in public.
Other indirect measures of prejudice are also frequently used in social psychological research; for instance, assessing nonverbal behaviors such as speech errors or physical closeness. One common measure involves asking participants to take a seat on a chair near a person from a different racial or ethnic group and measuring how far away the person sits (Sechrist & Stangor, 2001; Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1974). People who sit farther away are assumed to be more prejudiced toward the members of the group.
Because our stereotypes are activated spontaneously when we think about members of different social groups, it is possible to use reaction-time measures to assess this activation and thus to learn about people’s stereotypes and prejudices. In these procedures, participants are asked to make a series of judgments about pictures or descriptions of social groups and then to answer questions as quickly as they can, but without making mistakes. The speed of these responses is used to determine an individual’s stereotypes or prejudice.
The most popular reaction-time implicit measure of prejudice—the Implicit Association Test (IAT)—is frequently used to assess stereotypes and prejudice (Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2007). In the IAT, participants are asked to classify stimuli that they view on a computer screen into one of two categories by pressing one of two computer keys, one with their left hand and one with their right hand. Furthermore, the categories are arranged so that the responses to be answered with the left and right buttons either “fit with” (match) the stereotype or do not “fit with” (mismatch) the stereotype. For instance, in one version of the IAT, participants are shown pictures of men and women and are also shown words related to academic disciplines (e.g., History , French , or Linguistics for the Arts, or Chemistry , Physics , or Math for the Sciences). Then the participants categorize the photos (“Is this picture a picture of a man or a woman?”) and answer questions about the disciplines (“Is this discipline a science ?) by pressing either the Yes button or the No button using either their left hand or their right hand.
When the responses are arranged on the screen in a way that matches a stereotype, such that the male category and the “science” category are on the same side of the screen (e.g., on the right side), participants can do the task very quickly and they make few mistakes. It’s just easier, because the stereotypes are matched or associated with the pictures in a way that makes sense or is familiar. But when the images are arranged such that the female category and the “science” category are on the same side, whereas the men and the weak categories are on the other side, most participants make more errors and respond more slowly. The basic assumption is that if two concepts are associated or linked, they will be responded to more quickly if they are classified using the same, rather than different, keys.
Implicit association procedures such as the IAT show that even participants who claim that they are not prejudiced do seem to hold cultural stereotypes about social groups. Even Black people themselves respond more quickly to positive words that are associated with White rather than Black faces on the IAT, suggesting that they have subtle racial prejudice toward their own racial group.
Because they hold these beliefs, it is possible—although not guaranteed—that they may use them when responding to other people, creating a subtle and unconscious type of discrimination. Although the meaning of the IAT has been debated (Tetlock & Mitchell, 2008), research using implicit measures does suggest that—whether we know it or not, and even though we may try to control them when we can—our stereotypes and prejudices are easily activated when we see members of different social categories (Barden, Maddux, Petty, & Brewer, 2004). [214]
Think About It…
Do you hold implicit prejudices? Try the Implicit Association Test yourself, here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit
What did you discover? How did this make you feel?
Implicit Stereotypes
Over the last 30 years there has been growing research into the concept of implicit stereotypes. Particularly using the Implicit Associations Test, it has been demonstrated that experimental participants show a response bias in support of a stereotypical association, such as “young” and “good” (and “old” and “bad”) indicating evidence of an implicit age stereotype. This has been found even for people who consciously reject the use of such stereotypes, and seek to be fair in their judgement of other people. This finding has been interpreted as a “cognitive bias”, implying an implicit prejudice within the individual. But implicit stereotypical associations (like any other implicit associations) can develop through the ordinary working of “the predictive brain”. The predictive brain is assumed to develop associations through experience of their prevalence in the social world of the perceiver. If the predictive brain were to sample randomly or comprehensively then stereotypical associations would not be picked up if they did not represent the state of the world. However, people are born into culture, and communicate within social networks. Thus, the implicit stereotypical associations picked up by an individual do not reflect a cognitive bias but the associations prevalent within their culture—evidence of “culture in mind”. Therefore to understand implicit stereotypes, research should examine more closely the way associations are communicated within social networks rather than focusing exclusively on an implied cognitive bias of the individual. [215]
Effects of Stereotyping
Traditionally a stereotype has been defined as overgeneralized attributes associated with the members of a social group (such as the reserved English or the geeky engineer), with the implication that it applies to all group members ( Hinton, 2000 ). A large body of research, particularly in the United States of America (USA), has focused on the (negative) stereotypes of women and Blacks, which are linked to prejudice and discrimination in society ( Nelson, 2009 , Steele, 2010 ). Psychological researchers have sought to identify why certain people employed stereotypes and, in much of the twentieth century, they were viewed as due to a mental fallacy or misconception of a social group, an individual’s “biased” cognition, resulting from proposed factors such as “simplicity” of thought ( Koenig and King, 1964 ) and arising from upbringing and social motivation (particularly “authoritarianism”, Adorno et al., 1950 ).
A considerable amount of effort has been made subsequently to persuade people to avoid stereotype use, by highlighting its inaccuracy and unfairness (for example, Brown, 1965 ). However, since the 1960s, cognitive researchers, such as Tajfel (1969) , have argued that stereotyping is a general feature of human social categorization. Despite this, it has been argued that individuals can consciously seek to avoid using negative stereotypes and maintain a non-prejudiced view of others ( Devine, 1989 ; Schneider, 2004 ). Indeed, Fiske and Taylor (2013) claim that now only ten percent of the population (in Western democracies) employ overt stereotypes. Unfortunately, recent work, specifically using techniques such as the Implicit Associations Test ( Greenwald et al., 1998 ), has shown that stereotypical associations can implicitly influence social judgement, even for people who consciously seek to avoid their use ( Lai et al., 2016 ).
Although in some cases the stereotypes that are used to make judgments might actually be true of the individual being judged, in many other cases they are not. Stereotyping is problematic when the stereotypes we hold about a social group are inaccurate overall, and particularly when they do not apply to the individual who is being judged (Stangor, 1995). Stereotyping others is simply unfair. Even if many women are more emotional than are most men, not all are, and it is not right to judge any one woman as if she is.
In the end, stereotypes become self-fulfilling prophecies, such that our expectations about the group members make the stereotypes come true (Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977; Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1974). Once we believe that men make better leaders than women, we tend to behave toward men in ways that make it easier for them to lead. And we behave toward women in ways that make it more difficult for them to lead. The result? Men find it easier to excel in leadership positions, whereas women have to work hard to overcome the false beliefs about their lack of leadership abilities (Phelan & Rudman, 2010). This is likely why female lawyers with masculine names are more likely to become judges (Coffey & McLaughlin, 2009) and masculine-looking applicants are more likely to be hired as leaders than feminine-looking applicants (von Stockhausen, Koeser, & Sczesny, 2013).
These self-fulfilling prophecies are ubiquitous—even teachers’ expectations about their students’ academic abilities can influence the students’ school performance (Jussim, Robustelli, & Cain, 2009).
Of course, you may think that you personally do not behave in these ways, and you may not. But research has found that stereotypes are often used out of our awareness, which makes it very difficult for us to correct them. Even when we think we are being completely fair, we may nevertheless be using our stereotypes to condone discrimination (Chen & Bargh, 1999). And when we are distracted or under time pressure, these tendencies become even more powerful (Stangor & Duan, 1991).
Furthermore, attempting to prevent our stereotype from coloring our reactions to others takes effort. We experience more negative affect (particularly anxiety) when we are with members of other groups than we do when we are with people from our own groups, and we need to use more cognitive resources to control our behavior because of our anxiety about revealing our stereotypes or prejudices (Butz & Plant, 2006; Richeson & Shelton, 2003). When we know that we need to control our expectations so that we do not unintentionally stereotype the other person, we may try to do so—but doing so takes effort and may frequently fail (Macrae, Bodenhausen, Milne, & Jetten, 1994). [216]
Think About It…
Think back to your results from the implicit bias assessment. If you discovered biases, what stereotypes might have fed into that?
We have seen that social categorization is a basic part of human nature and one that helps us to simplify our social worlds, to draw quick (if potentially inaccurate) conclusions about others, and to feel good about ourselves. In many cases, our preferences for ingroups may be relatively harmless—we may prefer to socialize with people who share our race or ethnicity for instance, but without particularly disliking the others. But categorizing others may also lead to prejudice and discrimination, and it may even do so without our awareness. Because prejudice and discrimination are so harmful to so many people, we must all work to get beyond them.
Discrimination influences the daily life of its victims in areas such as employment, income, financial opportunities, housing and educational opportunities, and medical care. Even with the same level of education and years of experience, ethnic minorities in Canada are 40% less likely to receive callbacks for an interview following a job application (Oreopolous, 2011). Blacks have higher mortality rates than Whites for eight of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States (Williams, 1999) and have less access to and receive poorer-quality health care, even controlling for other variables such as level of health insurance. Suicide rates among lesbians and gays are substantially higher than rates for the general population, and it has been argued that this is in part due to the negative outcomes of prejudice, including negative attitudes and resulting social isolation (Halpert, 2002). And in some rare cases, discrimination even takes the form of hate crimes such as gay bashing.
More commonly, members of minority groups also face a variety of small hassles, such as bad service in restaurants, being stared at, and being the target of jokes (Swim, Hyers, Cohen, Fitzgerald, & Bylsma, 2003). But even these everyday “minor” forms of discrimination can be problematic because they may produce anger and anxiety among stigmatized group members and may lead to stress and other psychological problems (Klonoff, Landrine, & Campbell, 2000; Klonoff, Landrine, & Ullman, 1999). Stigmatized individuals who report experiencing more exposure to discrimination or other forms of unfair treatment also report more depression, anger, and anxiety and lower levels of life satisfaction and happiness (Swim, Hyers, Cohen, & Ferguson, 2001).
Of course, most of us do try to keep our stereotypes and our prejudices out of mind, and we work hard to avoid discriminating (Richeson & Shelton, 2007). But even when we work to keep our negative beliefs under control, this does not mean that they easily disappear. [217]
Getting Past Stereotypes
Now that we are aware of how stereotypes form, both consciously and unconsciously, what do we do? How do we change it? How are we, as educators making it a better world for the students and families we have the privilege to work with?
We can and do get past stereotypes, although doing so may take some effort on our part (Blair, 2002). There are a number of techniques that we can use to try to improve our attitudes toward outgroups, and at least some of them have been found to be effective. Kawakami, Dovidio, Moll, Hermsen, and Russin (2000) found that students who practiced responding in nonstereotypical ways to members of other groups became better able to avoid activating their negative stereotypes on future occasions. And a number of studies have found that we become less prejudiced when we are exposed to and think about group members who have particularly positive or nonstereotypical characteristics. For instance, Blair, Ma, and Lenton (2001) asked their participants to imagine a woman who was “strong” and found that doing so decreased stereotyping of women. Similarly, Bodenhausen, Schwarz, Bless, and Wanke (1995) found that when White American students thought about positive Black role models—such as Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan—they became less prejudiced toward Blacks. [218]
Think About It…
Think about stereotypes you might have (see last Food for Thought feature). What is something you can do to begin moving past these?
Reducing Discrimination by Changing Social Norms
One variable that makes us less prejudiced is education. People who are more educated express fewer stereotypes and prejudice in general. This is true for students who enroll in courses that are related to stereotypes and prejudice, such as a course on gender and ethnic diversity (Rudman, Ashmore, & Gary, 2001), and is also true more generally—education reduces prejudice, regardless of what particular courses you take (Sidanius, Sinclair, & Pratto, 2006).
The effects of education on reducing prejudice are probably due in large part to the new social norms that people are introduced to in school. Social norms define what is appropriate and inappropriate, and we can effectively change stereotypes and prejudice by changing the relevant norms about them.
The influence of social norms is powerful, and long-lasting changes in beliefs about outgroups will occur only if they are supported by changes in social norms. Prejudice and discrimination thrive in environments in which they are perceived to be the norm, but they die when the existing social norms do not allow it. And because social norms are so important, the behavior of individuals can help create or reduce prejudice and discrimination. Discrimination, prejudice, and even hate crimes such as gay bashing will be more likely to continue if people do not respond to or confront them when they occur.
What this means is that if you believe that prejudice is wrong, you must confront it when you see it happening. Taking steps to reduce prejudice is everyone’s duty—having a little courage can go a long way in this regard. [220]
Reducing Prejudice through Intergroup Contact
One of the reasons that people may hold stereotypes and prejudices is that they view the members of outgroups as different from them. We may become concerned that our interactions with people from different racial groups will be unpleasant, and these anxieties may lead us to avoid interacting with people from those groups (Mallett, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2008). What this suggests is that a good way to reduce prejudice is to help people create closer connections with members of different groups. People will be more favorable toward others when they learn to see those other people as more similar to them, as closer to the self, and to be more concerned about them.
The idea that intergroup contact will reduce prejudice, known as the contact hypothesis, is simple: If children from different ethnic groups play together in school, their attitudes toward each other should improve.
One important example of the use of intergroup contact to influence prejudice came about as a result of the important U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, based in large part on the testimony of psychologists, that busing Black children to schools attended primarily by White children, and vice versa, would produce positive outcomes on intergroup attitudes, not only because it would provide Black children with access to better schools, but also because the resulting intergroup contact would reduce prejudice between Black and White children. This strategy seemed particularly appropriate at the time it was implemented because most schools in the United States then were highly segregated by race.
The strategy of busing was initiated after the Supreme Court decision, and it had a profound effect on schools in the United States. For one, the policy was very effective in changing school makeup—the number of segregated schools decreased dramatically during the 1960s after the policy was begun. Busing also improved the educational and occupational achievement of Blacks and increased the desire of Blacks to interact with Whites; for instance, by forming cross-race friendships (Stephan, 1999). Overall, then, the case of desegregating schools in the United States supports the expectation that intergroup contact, at least in the long run, can be successful in changing attitudes. Nevertheless, as a result of several subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the policy of desegregating schools via busing was not continued past the 1990s.
Although student busing to achieve desegregated schools represents one prominent example of intergroup contact, such contact occurs in many other areas as well. Taken together, there is substantial support for the effectiveness of intergroup contact in improving group attitudes in a wide variety of situations, including schools, work organizations, military forces, and public housing. Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis in which they reviewed over 500 studies that had investigated the effects of intergroup contact on group attitudes. They found that attitudes toward groups that were in contact became more positive over time. Furthermore, positive effects of contact were found on both stereotypes and prejudice and for many different types of contacted groups.
The positive effects of intergroup contact may be due in part to increases in other-concern. Galinsky and Moskowitz (2000) found that leading students to take the perspective of another group member—which increased empathy and closeness to the person—also reduced prejudice.
When we get past group memberships and focus more on the individuals in the groups, we begin to see that there is a great deal of variability among the group members and that our global and undifferentiating group stereotypes are actually not that informative (Rothbart & John, 1985). Successful intergroup contact tends to reduce the perception of outgroup homogeneity. Contact also helps us feel more positively about the members of the other group, and this positive affect makes us like them more. [222]
When working with young children, educators and caregivers may need to help scaffold this understanding and be really aware of who is represented (and who is not) in the materials in the classroom. Children bring ideas about “others” they have acquired settings and that may be supported in the materials in their homes, communities, and even the classroom. Consider this example:
Emma, Rakesha, and Annie all choose the dramatic play area as they make their plans for the day. Each of them has noticed the shiny new crowns their teachers have added to the dress-up clothes shelves since yesterday.
“Look at me. I’m a princess,” says Annie as she twirls in front of the mirror with a crown on her head. “Me, too,” adds Rakesha, choosing another of the crowns. “Mine has jewels.”
Emma, who has light skin and light hair and often takes the lead in assigning dramatic play roles, looks at both girls and states emphatically, “No!” She turns to Rakesha, who has darker skin and darker hair, and says, “You can’t be a princess because you don’t look like one. You have to look like the one in the princess book.”
Rakesha protests, “I can, too, be a princess! Everybody can be a princess.” The three girls continue to argue loudly about who can be a princess, and Ms. Denisha comes over to help them work out their disagreement. She sits down on the rug and motions to all three girls to sit down around her. She observes, “You girls look and sound pretty upset. What is the problem? Rakesha, why don’t you tell us first what made you feel so upset?”
Rakesha repeats Emma’s assertion that Rakesha can’t be a princess. Emma and Annie both add details to the story of the argument. Ms. Denisha listens, asks questions, and restates the problem. She then tells them, “It really hurt Rakesha’s feelings when you told her she couldn’t be a princess. Rakesha was right. People with any skin and hair colors can be princesses and other special characters. We can find books about many kinds of princesses. Now, I will stay and help you think of some ideas for your play this morning.” [223]
In classrooms with older children, teachers can use the jigsaw classroom, an approach to learning in which students from different racial or ethnic groups work together, in an interdependent way, to master material. The class is divided into small learning groups, where each group is diverse in ethnic and gender composition. The assigned material to be learned is divided into as many parts as there are students in the group, and members of different groups who are assigned the same task meet together to help develop a strong report. Each student then learns his or her own part of the material and presents this piece of the puzzle to the other members of his or her group. The students in each group are therefore interdependent in learning all the material. A wide variety of techniques, based on principles of the jigsaw classroom, are in use in many schools around the world, and research studying these approaches has found that cooperative, interdependent experiences among students from different social groups are effective in reducing negative stereotyping and prejudice (Stephan, 1999). [224]
14.03: Sum
We all have biases that are part of our life experiences and worldview. If we become aware of our hidden, even unrecognized biases, we can monitor and attempt to amend these hidden attitudes before the y are expressed through behavio r. Research suggests that a change in self-awareness can modify personal beliefs and attitudes and over time, reduce the strength of unconscious biases and lead one to critically think about bias and discrimination and take action to eliminate it. [225] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/14%3A_The_Relationship_Between_Ones_Experience_and_the_Development_of_Personal_Bias/14.02%3A_The.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define what stereotypes are and how to dispel them.
• Articulate how hate can be unlearned.
• Describe and understand the role of culture.
• Explore how to find accurate information and gain essential knowledge of culture.
• Gain and understand the challenges created by poverty regardless of racial and ethnic background.
• Explore messages children see and hear in childcare settings.
• Practice culturally responsive care.
• Address cultural relevance in making curriculum choices and adaptations.
15: The Influences of Stereotypes Prejudice and Discrimination
This chapter begins by describing the effects of stereotypes. Stereotypes lead to misinformation about others especially when we come from a place of judgement. We know that hate is learned. This means that hate can be unlearned. As we explore this topic, we will look at the importance of learning accurate information and gaining knowledge through developing reciprocal relationships with the families we serve. We will look at the importance of learning accurate information and gaining knowledge. The chapter places an emphasis on culture because early development and learning must be viewed within a cultural context and occurs through social contexts, as in families and communities, using language and everyday experiences (California Department of Education 2009a). Culture also “has an influence on the beliefs and behaviors of everyone.” As research shows “culture influences every aspect of human development and is reflected in childrearing beliefs and practices. (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2000, 3). [226]
15.02: Thoughts Become Behavi
What we know becomes what we feel. And what we feel affects our behavior. Let’s look at how stereotypes can lead to discrimination.
Table 15.1: Definitions [228]
Term
Function
Definition
Stereotype
Cognitive; thoughts about people
Overgeneralized beliefs about people may lead to prejudice
Prejudice
Affective; feelings about people, both positive and negative
Feelings may influence treatment of others
Discrimination
Behavior; the treatment of others
Holding stereotypes and harboring prejudice may lead to excluding, avoiding, and biased treatment of group members
Stereotypes
Stereotypes are distorted pictures of reality that broadly label one group as being a certain way. Stereotypes influence our perception, evaluation, judgment, and memory about individuals and events. People tend to learn stereotypes from the people around them—such as peers and family—or from the media and entertainment. Overcoming stereotypes and working to eliminate bias are continuous processes.
It is essential to learn accurate information about different groups of people (e.g., race, religion, gender) through various ways (e.g., attending cultural events). However, this could reinforce stereotypes. Getting to know others who are different from us is very helpful in counteracting stereotypes, when we care about another person who has different experiences, we want to learn more about who they are which helps to dispel the stereotypes we have grown up with. It is important to remember that different does not mean abnormal or deficient.
To counter negative stereotypes, you can acknowledge you have a bias or stereotype, analyze what manifested it, and then seek out positive examples that cancel out or disprove the negative label. Doing this requires time, openness, and sensitivity. In stereotyping, assumptions are made about a person on the basis of his or her group membership without learning whether the individual fits those assumptions. To avoid stereotyping, we should reflect on our own beliefs about all aspects of child rearing and early childhood education. We must acknowledge our own beliefs and biases about specific groups of people that may be unintentionally communicated to children and families. [229]
Prejudice
Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are members of an unfamiliar cultural group. Thus, certain types of education, contact, interactions, and building relationships with members of different cultural groups can reduce the tendency toward prejudice. In fact, simply imagining interacting with members of different cultural groups might affect prejudice. Prejudice often begins in the form of a stereotype. [230]
Discrimination
When people act on their prejudiced attitudes toward and stereotypes about a group of people, this behavior is known as discrimination. Discrimination is negative action toward an individual as a result of one’s membership in a particular group (Allport, 1954; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004). As a result of holding negative beliefs (stereotypes) and negative attitudes (prejudice) about a particular group, people often treat the target of prejudice poorly.
Different Forms for Discrimination: The –isms
Unfortunately there are many forms of discrimination. These are often referred to with the suffix –ism.
Racism
Racism is prejudice and discrimination against an individual based solely on one’s membership in a specific racial group. Racism exists for many racial and ethnic groups. Black, Latinx, Jewish, Arab, Asian, and Native Americans all experience systemic discrimination in the United States. Most people do not show extreme racial bias or other prejudices on measures of their explicit attitudes (as these are conscious and controllable). However, measures of implicit attitudes (which are unconscious and uncontrollable) often show evidence of mild to strong racial bias or other prejudices.
Sexism
Sexism is prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex. Typically, sexism takes the form of men holding biases against women, but either sex can show sexism toward their own or their opposite sex. Like racism, sexism may be subtle and difficult to detect. Common forms of sexism in modern society include gender role expectations, such as expecting women to be the caretakers of the household. Sexism also includes people’s expectations for how members of a gender group should behave. For example, women are expected to be friendly, passive, and nurturing, and when women behave in an unfriendly, assertive, or neglectful manner they often are disliked for violating their gender role (Rudman, 1998). [231]
Table 15.2 – Other –isms
Term
Definition
Ableism
Discrimination against persons with disabilities or in favor of those without [232]
Ageism
Prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age [233]
Classism
Discrimination or prejudice that is based on social class. [234]
Cissexism
Bias or prejudice favoring cisgender people, people whose gender corresponds with their sex at birth (discrimination against transgender people) [235]
Heterosexism
Discrimination against homosexuals, bisexuals and asexuals in favor of heterosexuals. [236]
Religism
Prejudice based on religious affiliation. [237]
Weightism
Prejudice or discrimination based on body weight [238]
Homophobia
Another form of prejudice is homophobia: prejudice and discrimination of individuals based solely on their sexual orientation. Like ageism, homophobia is a widespread prejudice in U.S. society that is tolerated by many people (Herek & McLemore, 2013; Nosek, 2005). Negative feelings often result in discrimination, such as the exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from social groups and the avoidance of LGBT neighbors and co-workers. [239] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/15%3A_The_Influences_of_Stereotypes_Prejudice_and_Discrimination/15.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Prejudice and discrimination persist in society due to social learning and conformity to social norms of the dominant race, which is white. Children learn prejudiced attitudes and beliefs from society: their families, teachers, friends, the media, and other sources of socialization.
It is important to note that hate can begin at an early age. As professionals in the early care field we must work to educate and eradicate the negative ideas and behaviors that stem from it. No child is born with prejudice. They are born wanting to connect with others. Just as love is learned when children are cherished and nurtured, hate is learned by the messages that are both verbal and nonverbal. As hate is learned, so it can be unlearned. According to the Anti-Defamation League, leading experts on child development argue that the problem begins early. [240] Infants and toddlers are keen observers of difference and when those differences are not supported, it can lead to fear, which can lead to hate if not nurtured appropriately. By preschool age, children have already learned stereotypes or acquired negative attitudes toward "others:" The process of countering those negatives with positives must also begin at an early age.
In an article by Caryl Stern, “Talking to Young Children about Bias and Prejudice,” Stern states, “Louise Derman-Sparks, an expert in the field of early care and education, points to three major issues that are important to keep in mind when talking to children about prejudice and discrimination.
1. Children are not colorblind
It is a myth that young children don't notice people's differences, especially skin color. Children are in fact acutely aware of our shadings and gradations, and they need matter-of-fact, simple, and truthful explanations of these differences. At an early age they may ask for explanations. It is important for families to be equipped to respond.
1. Talking about differences does not increase prejudice in children
Being aware of differences is not the same as avoiding, ridiculing, or fearing specific differences. Moreover, awareness does not lead to negative attitudes. Children learn biases from important adults in their lives, from the media, from books and from peers. Families need to talk to their kids-to give them accurate information and to reinforce when their behaviors indicate a value of differences as opposed to a prejudice. Surprisingly, many adults have trouble opening up and broaching the subject. For these adults, it's a good idea to practice the discussion with an adult before taking it up with children. Above all, families should ensure their words of wisdom are in tune with their actions. Sending a contradictory message only reinforces prejudices and stereotypes.
1. It is not enough to talk about similarities among people
While we want our children to understand the things that bind us as human beings, it is equally important that they understand that shared characteristics, language and customs are expressed in different ways. When we continuously tell our children, "See, they do that just like us;' we may be implying that similarities are the only things that make "those" people acceptable.
1. Talking to Children About Diversity: Preschool Years
A child's age is one of the most important factors in considering how to begin a discussion on any subject dealing with prejudice, discrimination or, more simply, the things that make people different. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it is never too early, or too late, to talk to children about respecting diversity.”
We must prepare ourselves to respond to acts of bias, even if they are unintentional. Children will carefully observe how the adults in their lives intervene when someone is the target of hurtful or discriminatory behavior. Silence in the face of injustice conveys the impression that adults condone the behavior or consider it not worthy of attention. We must make it clear to our children that name-calling will not be tolerated and explain the thinking behind "zero tolerance" when it comes to prejudice.” [241]
Learning Accurate Information
Learning accurate information about cultures different from your own requires persistence, dedication, openness, and honesty. Exploring your own values, beliefs, and traditions—and learning how they impact you and the way you engage with the world—are preliminary steps to be taken before understanding others. In taking such steps, you also become more aware of your own stereotypes, assumptions, and biases (Sue 1998). There are many ways to pursue a higher level of self-awareness and reflect on your experiences and the cultural lens through which you view the world.
Gaining Knowledge
Increasing your cultural knowledge is essential. Families are rich sources of information for learning about their cultures. It is important to engage in meaningful conversations with families. Key skills that are important to possess include the ability to listen to others who are culturally different, to actively learn about their experiences, and to respect differences in a nonjudgmental way (Derman Sparks 1995).
There are many ways to learn about different groups of people. Reading information about a cultural group is one way (Phillips 1995), inquiring and learning about the various home practices of families (Gonzalez Mena 1995) is yet another. It is equally important to seek out educational and multicultural training experiences (Derman Sparks 1995). In addition, learning how culture can be integrated into the curriculum and classroom environment is essential (Derman Sparks 1995). [244] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/15%3A_The_Influences_of_Stereotypes_Prejudice_and_Discrimination/15.03%3A_Hate_is_Learned_and_Ca.txt |
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child applies to all children, whatever their race, religion or abilities; whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from. It doesn’t matter where children live, what language they speak, what their families do, whether they are boys or girls, what their culture is, whether they have a disability or whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis. (UNICEF 1990, 1)
On the surface, the need to bring up racism, classism, or sexism would seem to be incongruous in the same breath as talking about childcare for children. Yet, sadly, it is necessary. Prejudice, bias, and societal inequity enter the lives of children in a variety of ways. Whether based on race, culture, gender, economic class, or family structure, these attitudes and realities have a negative, hurtful effect on the quality of life and development.
Although the child’s immediate and extended family provides the primary environment of socialization for children in their early years, bias, prejudice, and societal inequity come from outside of the family. The professionals who provide children and their families with a range of services (e.g., child care providers, medical staff, social workers) are one source of the messages that convey whose way of life matters more and whose matters less. Some of these messages are obvious, some are subtle, and ironically, many are unintended. Some negative messages come from the attitudes and behaviors of the professionals. Many come from structural dynamics of the organizations in which human service professionals, including early childhood educators, work. These negative messages may include unexamined policies, procedures, and beliefs that create advantages for some groups and disadvantages for other groups.
The cumulative effect of messages about who matters (more or less) gradually influences how children begin to understand and feel about themselves and others—even in the first year of life. The messages also impact their quality of life. An understanding of the various forms of bias, prejudice, and inequity and how they influence children is critical to counteract potential damage to healthy development. Understanding grows from awareness, the first step to practicing culturally responsive, non-biased care that nurtures all children and families. [245]
Ethical Responsibilities To Families
In their Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment position statement , the National Association for the Education of Young Children shares the core values underscoring ethical behavior in the field of early childhood care and education. These are:
• “Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle
• Base our work on knowledge of how children develop and learn
• Appreciate and support the bond between the child and family
• Recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society
• Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member, and colleague)
• Respect diversity in children, families, and colleagues
• Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect”
They also detail the ethical responsibilities that early childhood educators have that affirm commitment to the core values. In the section that shares ethical responsibilities to families, the following are included:
• Welcome all family members and encourage their participation in the program
• “Respect the dignity and preferences of each family and make an effort to learn about its structure, culture, language, customs, and beliefs to ensure a culturally consistent environment for all children and families”
• Respect families’ childrearing values and involve them in making decisions for their children
• Make every effort to communicate effectively with families in a language they understand
• Use families input when planning and implementing the program
And in the statement of commitment portion of the position statement, two of the commitments that early childhood educators make include:
• “Respect and support families in their task of nurturing children
• Engage in an ongoing process of self-reflection, realizing that personal characteristics, biases, and beliefs have an impact on children and families.” [247] | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/15%3A_The_Influences_of_Stereotypes_Prejudice_and_Discrimination/15.04%3A_Rights_of_the_Child.txt |
Messages about who matters or does not matter—and who matters more—are significant pathways of bias and inequity. The visual and auditory environment of early childhood education programs communicate many of these kinds of messages. These matter because young children are just beginning to amass and process information about themselves and others. And this awareness starts very early. For example, as young as six months, infants begin to notice differences in skin color (Bronson and Merryman 2009; Katz 1976). Noticing, paying attention to, or being curious about differences and similarities in their environment is not a sign of emerging prejudice, but rather a characteristic of how all children learn.
Inaccurate and stereotypical images of people like themselves are one type of bias that young children may encounter in the early care program. Those images communicate misinformation about their own social identities, which damages their developing sense of self and family. They need accurate, authentic photographs, posters, and pictures of themselves and their families. To begin to develop positive attitudes toward people different from themselves, children also need accurate images about people different from themselves. They do not need misinformation from commercialized, stereotypical, or cartoon looking images of people. Visibility (or the lack thereof) is another powerful pathway of bias and inequity.
When children see images of people who look like them, they receive a positive message for their self-concept. However, seeing only images similar to them conveys a second, negative message: only people like you exist or are important. Conversely, young children who do not see images of people similar to them in the early care and learning environment receive the message that they do not matter as much as the people whose images and languages are visible. Experiencing invisibility in an early childhood education program is especially damaging, since it is one of the first societal institutions that very young children encounter.
The numerical balance of images that reflect diverse racial identities, families, and cultural ways of life also conveys messages about who matters and who matters more. When the majority of the images in an early childhood environment reflect the “way of life defined by the dominant group in society as the “normal or right way to live, the message conveyed is that the dominant group is the most important. When one cultural group’s way of life becomes the standard for everyone else, the seeds of racial and cultural advantage and disadvantage are sown.
In addition to the visual environment, the sounds of a program also convey information about whose family’s way of life matters or not. The language of the program is the most obvious source of sound—and it may or may not be what children hear at home. Hearing a language different from the one at home creates a more complicated adjustment and developmental challenges for young children than that experienced by those whose home language matches the program’s language. Similarly, the sounds of music and song evoke—or do not evoke—the security of home, depending on how similar or different they are from what a child is used to.
A growing body of research also indicates that misinformation and prejudice about social identity harm children’s development (e.g., Derman-Sparks and Ramsey 2004; Tatum 2003). The negative impact is cumulative—coming not just from messages of direct prejudice, but also from the effect of microagressions, brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership, [248] as well as messages of invisibility regarding who they are.
Children receive both overt messages and covert messages, those that are disguised and subtle and often rationalized in ways that lead to societal acceptance [249] in many forms. They also are exposed to prejudices and discriminatory actions in their daily lives. These all build up to become toxic to children’s sense of self, well-being, and competence. A non-biased environment is a necessary condition for nurturing each child’s healthy identity and positive attitudes about diversity. However, the visual and auditory environment is only one component of culturally responsive programs. [250]
15.06: Socialization in Two C
The widespread use of outside-the home group and family care signifies that, for the first time in human history, the family—nuclear and extended—is no longer the only primary child-rearing environment of young children. This means that in the earliest years, hundreds of thousands of children experience two differing cultural contexts every day—that of the family and that of early care and education. Thus, the cultural continuity, the consistency of cultural practices, in child rearing is disrupted.
Paying attention to cultural continuity and cultural discontinuity between home and early childhood education programs is a central issue in a culturally responsive approach. Where a child’s experiences fall on the continuity-discontinuity continuum depends on the degree of similarity or difference between the specific cultural dynamics of their family and those of the early childhood program. These include fundamentals such as furniture, equipment, spatial organization, care procedures, language, and how staff members interact with the children and each other. Some children experience a high degree of continuity, while others experience a high degree of discontinuity. The more discontinuity children face, the more they find that what they are learning in their family about how to be in the world does not work for them in the care and education program.
Discontinuity between very young children’s two primary socialization environments may have negative effects on children. The degree of familiarity or unfamiliarity with a program’s care practices makes it easier or harder for children to adjust, to build strong relationships, to act and feel competent, and to feel secure. It is also known that a primary source of a child’s sense of belonging, security, and empowerment in an early childhood education program comes from as much continuity as possible with what children experience in their home culture.
Young children thrive when an early childhood program respects and integrates their home languages and cultures into all of its operations. In such programs, children can learn and develop because they feel “supported, nurtured, and connected not only to their home communities and families but also to teachers and the educational setting” (NAEYC 1995, 2). In sum, when a child’s home culture (including language) differs significantly from the culture of her/his childcare program, she does not have the opportunity to thrive. [252]
15.07: Summary
The stereotypes that people hold about others can lead to the development of prejudice. That prejudice can become discrimination that excludes others and leads to inequitable treatment. That discrimination includes, racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, classism, cissexism, heterosexism, religism, weightism, and homophobia. But prejudice is learned and thus can be unlearned. We can teach children accurate information about others.
We must also be aware of the impact that early education and care settings have on children and the way they see themselves and their families. For many children, this involves disruption of their cultural continuity. Educators must work to provide a caring community for children and their families. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/15%3A_The_Influences_of_Stereotypes_Prejudice_and_Discrimination/15.05%3A_What_Children_See_and_.txt |
Learning Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
• Differentiate privilege and power
• Provide examples of privilege
• Discuss the Privilege as Practice Framework
• Describe the Culturally Responsive Strength-Based Framework
• Define paradigm and discuss why the deficit-oriented paradigm of diversity needs to be shifted
16: The History and Influence of Systemic Internalized Privilege and Oppression
Everyone is unique. This simple and somewhat obvious statement has significant implications when we consider the challenges associated with working together, creating community, and collaborative decision-making.
Research on group dynamics has shown that greater degrees of difference in social settings correlate with increased resilience (Lozano, 2007) and even creativity (Simonton, 1999). Page (2007) has further shown that groups that display a diverse range of perspectives and approaches to problem solving usually significantly outperform groups of like-minded experts at solving challenging problems. [253]
This is extremely important to remember in the early childhood education field. We need multiple and differing opinions on children and how to problem solve any challenges that will occur within our time with children.
Think About It…
Could you imagine how care for children in early childhood environments might look if we never had different opinions or thought processes? What would it be like if there weren’t multiple options for families to choose from in the curriculum and environment sense?
The same forms of difference that enhance resiliency, creativity, and ability to solve problems can also lead to significant social challenges and conflict. This is the contradiction of diversity. Throughout history, diversity has provided the raw material for evolution of language, philosophy, and social and material innovation. And at the same time, humans have often used difference (e.g., skin color, spiritual belief systems, sex, learning styles, political affiliation, sexual orientation, etc.) as a basis for oppression and violence. Human history and the present day offer countless examples of persecution on the basis of differences. This history and legacy of oppression has led to a pattern where many forms of difference are culturally isolated and oppressed. In the absence of authentic and reciprocal relationships across difference, we miss out on the potential creativity, adaptability, and resilience that diversity can bring. [254]
16.02: Privi
There should be the goal of enhancing our collective ability to engage with difference to strengthen relationships and improve the health of the systems that we inhabit. The following framework outlines an analytical system and a form of practice that we are calling Privilege as Practic e. The specific goals of this framework include:
• Deepening and expanding our capacity for self-awareness
• Furthering our ability to understand our own particular uniqueness to better understand how we each flourish and thrive
• Learning to recognize how systemic structures, norms, and processes preference certain differences over others
• Learning to identify degrees of privilege and recognize how multiple identities interact (intersectionality) in different social systems
• Building capacity to use our privilege and power to benefit the health and well-being of the systems that we inhabit
• Tending to the impacts of historical and present day forms of oppression and trauma
The Systemic Progression
As described throughout this book, diversity is a simple fact-of-life. Difference exists in all systems and has the capacity to be the raw material for adaptation, creativity, and resilience. Yet in many social systems, we find that accrued power is used to oppress, homogenize, and assimilate expressions of difference that do not fit with the dominant perspective or ideology. This pattern causes harm, limits the potential of individuals in the system, and consequently diminishes the wisdom and creativity of the group. Understanding the primary dynamics and processes associated with this pattern can be helpful in building our capacity to engage with difference with well-being in mind. Figure X.X below illustrates the common pattern and progression by which certain differences accrue power in social systems.
This progression can be used to track a variety of differences (internal, external, socially constructed, etc.) as they play out in a variety of different social systems across different scales. Like any conceptual framework, the patterns illuminated by this progression can be helpful in understanding power and privilege dynamics, and it is important to remember that this representation is a simplified interpretation of complex system dynamics. [256]
An example of systemic oppression and privilege can be found among young Black [257] * boys. The following describes information about how oppression and privilege have impacted the lives of children gathered by the Office of Head Start.
Quality programming in early childhood programs incorporates knowledge of and respect for families’ cultures and implementation of best practices including quality learning environments, intentional teaching, and family engagement strategies. When these program pieces are in place, they best support the development and learning of young children.
However, these program pieces are not always in place for ALL children. Evidence has been growing about the educational disparities facing Black boys. Many have not benefited from what is known about the connection between culturally responsive programming and child development. There have been reports on their disproportionately high suspension and expulsion rates from preschool. Educators and policy makers have made negative comments about the school readiness of young Black boys.
Awareness also has been growing about the societal context in which Black males live. News media and government reports have documented the gap between the realities of their daily lives and the American dream. The facts are stunning: in comparison to White Americans, Black males are more likely to live in poverty, live with only one parent, drop out of high school, and be unemployed (My Brothers Keeper Task Force, 2015). Taken together, these facts attest to the persistent challenges Black males face, starting at an early age.
Neither zip code nor skin tone should predetermine the quality of a child’s opportunities; however, too many children from low-income families, and [Black] students in particular, are without access to high-quality early education, which can make them less likely to enter elementary school prepared for success.
— David J. Johns, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans citing research findings (Ackerman & Barnett, 2007) [259]
The research has highlighted an educational opportunity gap. Human potential is realized when strengths are built on, and the job of early childhood education is to do just that. But for many children, their potential is not realized starting at an early age. And the problem is not with them; their potential is untapped because, in the words of many educators and policy makers, there is an “opportunity gap” (Duncan, 2014). Some say the opportunity gap develops as early as 9 months of age, especially for Black males (Aratani, Wight, & Cooper, 2011 as cited in Iruka, 2013), and the gap is well-documented in the preschool years, when these disparities play out in the arena of school readiness.
The term opportunity gap refers to the well-documented disparities in educational opportunity associated with race, ethnicity, class, community wealth, and other factors.
— U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights Data Collection, 2014 [260]
The term “achievement gap” is widely used to refer to disparities in the educational performance of Black or other minority children. It is often cited in regard to test scores in reading and math for older children and in vocabulary knowledge for preschoolers. Often the reasons behind an achievement gap are erroneously cited to be inadequate home environments or children unable to learn basic skills who fall further and further behind. Such reasoning seems to “blame the victim,” and is based on deficit thinking. The term opportunity gap clearly places responsibility on those entities, such as early childhood and school settings that are responsible for providing equal learning opportunities.
Admittedly, there are many populations of children who experience an opportunity gap — often they are referred to in the aggregate as minority children or children of color. Along with increasing public awareness of the negative societal context affecting Black Americans, the project focus was triggered by reports on the disproportionate expulsion and suspension rates of preschool boys, and Black boys in particular.
• Black children were expelled from preschool at twice the rate of whites according to national data from 2005. Boys made up 91% of those expelled, and preschoolers were expelled at three times the rate of children in kindergarten through 12th grade (Gilliam, 2005).
• In 2011, national data indicated that Black children made up 18% of preschool enrollment, but 48% of preschool children were suspended more than once. Boys received more than three out of four out-of-school preschool suspensions (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, 2014).
To say the least, these data were shocking to the public, educators, and policy makers. When preschoolers are expelled or suspended, the consequences are great. They are missing out on learning opportunities that would prepare them for success in school. Also, their self-esteem and self-efficacy are compromised, which affects their learning.
What is behind these statistics? Research (Gilliam, 2005) identified factors that predicted child expulsion, including an extended school day and high teacher-child ratio. Specific classroom factors associated with high expulsion rates are:
• Teacher job stress as reported by staff, such as “This child’s classroom behaviors…
• interfere with my ability to teach effectively.”
• may result in someone getting hurt or property damage.”
• are not likely to improve significantly.”
• Developmentally appropriate practices were infrequent
• Daily use of worksheets and flashcards
• Dramatic play once a month or never
The researcher concluded that teachers needed help managing challenging behaviors and that a mental health consultation intervention would be particularly promising and cost-effective.
Another perspective might be taken to interpret the challenging behaviors from a strength-based perspective — this would be in line with some of the current thinking about developmental research (Cabrera, 2013 a). It is also important that the field of early childhood education recognizes the importance of teachers to being deeply ingrained in understanding how children grow and develop and educated and trained to effectively guide children’s behaviors. One tool teachers can use is the Culturally Responsive Strength-Based (CRSB) Framework, described later in this chapter.
Several questions emerged from the research findings. When Black boys are enrolled in preschool, what are their experiences like? Are they of high quality? The answers were not very encouraging and helped explain the opportunity gap. Although positive outcomes for children are rooted in respect for their culture and in implementation of developmentally appropriate practices, these elements are often missing or diminished in the preschool settings of Black boys (Barnett, Carolan, & Johns, 2013). [261]
Asa Hilliard, Black professor of educational psychology, framed the opportunity gap in a somewhat different way in his work (2003). “There is another gap [besides the achievement gap], one that is rarely acknowledged. It is a gap that has been submerged in the dialogue about intelligence and achievement because of the paradigm of human incapacity, especially pessimistic with respect to African students. This gap is the quality-of-service gap.” [262]
Think About It…
Can you think of other examples of privilege and oppression? If so, what are they? If not, what might that mean? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/16%3A_The_History_and_Influence_of_Systemic_Internalized_Privilege_and_Oppression/16.01%3A_Intro.txt |
As mentioned previously in this book, becoming culturally responsive and equity-minded is not a simple or short journey. Hopefully, this book and the course you are using it for has given you information and opportunities to reflect on the important of early childhood educators engaging in this process with an open heart and open mind.
As you become aware of your own culture, the importance of forming strong partnerships with the families and authentic relationships with the children you serve, and recognize your role as an early childhood educator as advocate for social justice and equity, you can go even a bit deeper into your reflection on the importance of diversity and equity. This chapter introduces the process of reflecting on privilege and power and how those leads to oppression in our society and also how those with privilege and power can use those to make changes towards more equitable systems and environments across society (including early childhood education).
This process is rarely a comfortable or uncomplicated one. Our goal is not to assign blame or guilt, but to encourage respectful and thoughtful engagement and open-minded reflection that is appropriate for where you are at in your personal journey towards equity.
16.04: Pract
Understanding the pattern of why those in power continue to stay in power is critical to our ability to intervene and create something different. While there are many cases of intentional oppression and minimization of differences, there are also many situations where individuals in the mainstream group are unaware of their own privilege and are unconsciously supporting and reinforcing the status quo.
Part of the practice of engaging difference differently, involves honing our tracking and observational skills; learning to recognize the patterns associated with systems that minimize and oppress differences. In addition to improving our awareness and analysis skills, it is also critical that we develop skills, capacity, and courage to interrupt the dominant system archetype; using the privilege and power we have to find places in systems where we can leverage change to make the system healthier. This might involve changing our own behaviors, illuminating and influencing system dynamics, or tending to the impacts of marginalization and oppression.
Pin it! Privilege and Power
Privilege is a system of advantages, opportunities, and choices not available to all.
1. Privilege is contextual . We all move between sub-systems where we have different degrees of privilege (e.g., “at a social gathering my extroverted nature offers more privilege than when I’m in a silent retreat”).
2. Unearned privilege does not result from merit, integrity, or personal choice (e.g., “I have a suite of choices and advantages that are available to me because I was born as a White person in this country”).
3. Privilege rarely exists in a “have” or “have not” state. It is important to remember that we each have degrees of privilege.
Power is the capacity to exert influence or control in a system.
• Power can be accumulated from unearned privilege. It can also be earned – resulting from personal integrity (e.g., a person’s courageous actions can accrue respect and generate opportunities and influence).
• Power can be used to minimize and oppress difference (at individual, group and system levels) and create norms/structures that confer unearned privilege and power to a select few who embody certain characteristics. This is power over .
Power can also be used to create alliances and collaborations to change the ideology of oppression by transforming the norms and structures that would otherwise preference certain differences. This is power with. [263]
In many conversations about diversity, the terms power and privilege have taken on a negative connotation. And while power is often used to reinforce the status quo, minimize and oppress difference, and create norms/structures that confer unearned privilege and power to a select few, it can also be used to interrupt those cycles and create healthier systems.
As an example, we discovered the following story about a white woman who entered a popular women’s clothing store. After wandering around the store, she realized that all of the models in the big glossy photos on the walls were white. After some deliberation, she approached the store manager and pointed out this pattern and suggested that the photos be changed to include women of color. She said that she wouldn’t shop at a store that wasn’t making an effort to break the often unconscious patterns of white privilege. The store manager responded defensively, offering all of the reasons that the photos on the wall were out of her control. The customer pressed on, asking to file a formal complaint with the corporate headquarters. Upon leaving the store, the customer was stopped by an employee of color who told the customer that she had been waiting years for a white person to finally point out that pattern and use her white privilege and power to make a change. She explained that as a woman of color, any critique that she might offer about the racial identities depicted in the photos could too easily be explained away by “oversensitivity” or a “chip-on-the-shoulder.”
This story of solidarity illustrates a different practice for engaging difference, privilege and power. Rather than using the unearned privilege and power associated with her whiteness to reinforce the status quo (or simply ignore the issue completely), the customer in this example used her power to attempt to interrupt the cycle of oppression. [264]
Think About It…
What might this process look like in early care environments? How might early childhood professionals look closely at their environments to ensure that all are equitably represented? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/16%3A_The_History_and_Influence_of_Systemic_Internalized_Privilege_and_Oppression/16.03%3A_The_J.txt |
You can also use the Culturally Responsive Strength-Based (CRSB) Framework, which is used by Head Start, to address diversity. This framework presents the big picture and identifies the program pieces that support the growth and development of all children.
Figure 16.3: The elements of the CRSB Framework. [265]
Coupled with a culturally responsive approach, the CRSB Framework is a strength-based approach. The focus is on what children know and can do as opposed to what they cannot do or what they do not know. Cultural, family, and individual strengths are emphasized, not just the negative and proposed interventions to “fix the problem” that resides with the children, their families, and/or their communities.
The strengths approach has a contagious quality and it intuitively makes sense to those who reflect a “cup half full” attitude in life. — Hamilton & Zimmerman, 2012
If we ask people to look for deficits, they will usually find them, and their view of the situation will be colored by this. If we ask people to look for successes, they will usually find it, and their view of the situation will be colored by this. — Kral, 1989 (as cited in Hamilton & Zimmerman, 2012) [266]
The CRSB Framework should be used with the understanding that children are influenced by many environments, as represented in a bioecological systems model. A bioecological systems model captures the variety of environments that impact individual development over the course of a lifetime. Young children do not live in a vacuum, but co-exist in many environments that affect their development, starting with the family, extending into the community, and reaching out into the economic and political spheres.
Think About It…
There is also privilege surrounding socioeconomic status. How does the following excerpt change your perspective on future and current goals of children with different socioeconomic statuses? How will you as a teacher think about this?
A study done by Dumais (2005) found that:
• Parents from upper class backgrounds feel more comfortable in academic settings and feel education is an important part of their and their children’s lives.
• Parents in the lowest socio-economic status (SES) were most likely to believe that being able to count, draw, be calm, and know their letters before kindergarten are very important or essential
• More parents from the lowest SES (18%), than from the highest SES (7%), reported not being involved in their children’s schooling because they did not find anything interesting there
• 10% of parents from the lowest SES reported not feeling welcome at their child’s school, versus just 3% from the highest SES
56% of parents from the lowest SES expected their children will get a bachelor’s degree, while 95% of those from the highest SES expected the same [267]
16.06: Creat
A paradigm is the assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that influence how people view the world. Paradigms have been shaped over a lifetime by many influences that include families, schools, social and professional experiences, and the media. Each of us constructs our paradigms. Paradigms around diversity are often deficit-oriented, focusing on problems and vulnerabilities in the population being considered. These place emphasis on what people and families in that population are lacking.
Too often, children and their families in minority populations are considered “at risk” by policy makers, educators, and the media rather than “placed at risk” by a system that has historically viewed them from a deficit paradigm (Boykin, 2013). Scientific paradigms influence the ways that researchers in child development, often done by those in privilege and power, think and conduct their work. For example, research on minority children often employs a deficit perspective, and as a result, the knowledge base highlights the adversity and maladaptation of the minority children (Cabrera, 2013 a). Therefore, more is known about the problems than the positive qualities and strengths of the minority groups being studied. And this biased information leads many professionals to conclude that children from minority families are “at risk” and that they have many deficits to overcome in their learning and development.
But paradigms are not set in stone and for sure, the deficit-oriented paradigm needs to be turned on its head. A shift in mindset – a paradigm shift – is often experienced as a revolution or a transformation. It does not just happen, but rather it is driven by agents of change who might be families, community advocates, political leaders, researchers, educators, as well as other professionals. Ideas and activities in this resource also might trigger a paradigm shift in how you view those that are different from yourself.
As the research community shifts its deficit paradigm and redefines its research agenda, the knowledge base will expand to highlight successes and assets of children and their families. And this will lead high-quality program planning and implementation of effective strategies to promote all children’s learning and development. [268]
16.07: Summa
Although research supports the value of diversity, it continues to be used to oppress those that are different. Individuals who possess qualities give preference by social values gain unearned privilege. This privilege can lead to power over those without privilege. Or it can be used to change the structure causing the oppression. The Privilege as a Practice And Culturally Responsive Strengths-Based Frameworks can both be used to create a paradigm shift in how we look at diversity and to mitigate oppression. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/The_Role_of_Equity_and_Diversity_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Esquivel_Elam_Paris_and_Tafoya)/16%3A_The_History_and_Influence_of_Systemic_Internalized_Privilege_and_Oppression/16.05%3A_The_C.txt |
Child maltreatment refers to any non-accidental behaviour by parents, caregivers, other adults or older adolescents that are outside the norms of conduct and entail a substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm to a child or young person. Such behaviours may be intentional or unintentional and can include acts of omission (i.e., neglect) and commission (i.e., abuse) (Bromfield, 2005; Christoffel et al., 1992).
Child maltreatment is commonly divided into five main subtypes:
• physical abuse
• emotional maltreatment
• neglect
• sexual abuse and
• exposure to family violence
Although there is a broad consensus regarding the different subtypes of maltreatment, disagreement exists about exactly how to define these subtypes. In the absence of universal definitions of child abuse and neglect, different professional fields have developed their own definitions. There are medical and clinical definitions, social service definitions, legal and judicial definitions, and research definitions of child maltreatment. Each professional sector tends to emphasise the facets of maltreatment that are most salient to their own field. For example, medical definitions highlight the physical symptoms of a child rather than the abusive or neglectful behaviours of a perpetrator, while legal and judicial definitions focus on those aspects of parental behaviour and mental health symptoms that provide the best evidence for a successful prosecution (Bromfield, 2005; Feerick, Knutson, Trickett, & Flanzer, 2006).
ReMOVED [12 mins 46 secs]
Watch this short video to understand the impact of child maltreatment on children in child welfare. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed.
A number of complex issues need to be considered when trying to define a form of maltreatment. For example:
• Definitions of child maltreatment reflect cultural values and beliefs. Behaviour that is considered abusive in one culture may be considered acceptable in another (e.g., corporal punishment).
• Parental behaviour that is appropriate at one stage in a child’s development may be inappropriate at another stage of development (e.g. the level of supervision needed for toddlers versus adolescents).
• The potential perpetrators of maltreatment need to be defined, so as not to inadvertently exclude particular behaviours and contexts. However, disagreement exists over whom should be included as potential perpetrators in the definitions of certain maltreatment subtypes.
• Researchers often use categorical definitions of child maltreatment (i.e., a child is either maltreated or not maltreated). However, this approach fails to acknowledge that abusive and neglectful behaviours can differ markedly in terms of severity, the frequency and duration of occurrence, and the likelihood that they will cause physical or emotional harm.
• Child maltreatment can be defined either using abusive or neglectful adult behaviours (e.g., the definition of child physical abuse would comprise parental behaviours such as hitting or shaking), or by the harm caused to the child as a result of such behaviours (e.g., child physical abuse would be indicated if the child displayed physical symptoms such as bruising or swelling).
• Although perpetrator intent to maltreat a child is often a useful indicator of child maltreatment, there are a number of instances where abuse or neglect can occur even though the perpetrator did not intend to commit it (e.g., neglectful parents may have had no intention of neglecting their children). (Bromfield, 2005; Feerick et al., 2006; US National Research Council, 1993).
Let’s take a closer look at each if these major types of child maltreatment.
PHYSICAL ABUSE
Generally, child physical abuse refers to the non-accidental use of physical force against a child that results in harm to the child. However, a parent does not have to intend to physically harm their child to have physically abused them (e.g., physical punishment that results in bruising would generally be considered physical abuse). Depending on the age and the nature of the behaviour, physical force that is likely to cause physical harm to the child may also be considered abusive (e.g., a situation in which a baby is shaken but not injured would still be considered physically abusive). Physically abusive behaviours include shoving, hitting, slapping, shaking, throwing, punching, kicking biting, burning, strangling and poisoning. The fabrication or induction of an illness by a parent or carer (previously known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy) is also considered physically abusive behaviour (Bromfield, 2005; World Health Organization, 2006).
EMOTIONAL MALTREATMENT
Emotional maltreatment is also sometimes called ’emotional abuse,’ ‘psychological maltreatment’ or ‘psychological abuse’. Emotional maltreatment refers to a parent or caregiver’s inappropriate verbal or symbolic acts toward a child and/or a pattern of failure over time to provide a child with adequate non-physical nurture and emotional availability. Such acts of commission or omission have a high probability of damaging a child’s self-esteem or social competence (Bromfield, 2005; Garbarino, Guttman, & Seeley, 1986; World Health Organization, 2006). Emotional maltreatment can include when a caregiver or adult rejects or refuses to acknowledge the child’s needs. Some children are isolated from normative social experiences, preventing them from forming friendships (Gabarino et al., 1986). Caregivers can frightened children with verbal abuse, creating a climate of fear at home. Depriving children of opportunities for learning and intellectual development, and encouraging them to engage in antisocial behaviour constitute emotional maltreatment (Gabarino et. al., 1986). It is worth noting that some researchers classify emotionally neglectful behaviours (e.g., rejecting, ignoring) as a form of neglect. This does not pose a problem, as long as researchers explicitly indicate under which maltreatment subtype they record such behaviours. There is certainly common conceptual ground between some types of emotional maltreatment and some types of neglect, which serves to illustrate that the different maltreatment subtypes are not always neatly demarcated.
NEGLECT
Neglect refers to the failure by a parent or caregiver to provide a child (where they are in a position to do so) with the conditions that are culturally accepted in a society as being essential for their physical and emotional development and wellbeing (Broadbent & Bentley, 1997; Bromfield, 2005; Scott, 2014; World Health Organization, 2006). Common forms of child neglect include a consistent lack of appropriate adult supervision and the failure to provide basic physical necessities such as clothing and food. The failure of caregivers to meet the medical needs of children, or by deliberately withholding treatment, can have fatal consequences. Similarly, caregivers can fail to support a child engaging in education or regularly attend school (Scott, 2014). Finally, children left alone for more than a reasonable period and not providing them with appropriate alternate care can have adverse consequences for the child’s development (Scott, 2014).
SEXUAL ABUSE
Defining sexual abuse is a complicated task. Although some behaviours are considered sexually abusive by almost everyone (e.g., the rape of a 10-year-old child by a parent), other behaviours are much more equivocal (e.g., consensual sex between a 19-year-old and a 15- year-old) and judging whether or not they constitute abuse requires a sensitive understanding of a number of definitional issues specific to child sexual abuse. In places such as Australia where there are multiple legal definitions of child sexual abuse, a more general definition may be useful (Quadara, Nagy, Higgins, & Siegel, 2015).
The World Health Organization (WHO, 1999) defines child sexual abuse as the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to … or that violate the laws or social taboos of society. Child sexual abuse is evidenced by this activity between a child and an adult or another child who by age or development is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other person (WHO, 1999). Sexually abusive behaviours can include the fondling of genitals, masturbation, oral sex, vaginal or anal penetration by a penis, finger or any other object, fondling of breasts, voyeurism, exhibitionism and exposing the child to or involving the child in pornography (Bromfield, 2005; US National Research Council, 1993).
However, unlike the other maltreatment types, the definition of child sexual abuse varies depending on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. For example, any sexual behaviour between a child and a member of their family (e.g., parent, uncle) would always be considered abusive, while sexual behaviour between two adolescents may or may not be considered abusive, depending on whether the behaviour was consensual, whether any coercion was present, or whether the relationship between the two young people was equal (Ryan, 1997). Thus, there are different definitions for each class of perpetrator: adults with no familial relationship to the child, adult family members of the child, adults in a position of power or authority over the child (e.g., teacher, doctor), adolescent or child perpetrators, and adolescent or child family members.
According to Smallbone et al. (2013) there are four dimensions of child sexual abuse: relationships, contexts or settings, victim vulnerabilities and grooming strategies. These are not mutually exclusive, but are used to highlight the idea that some forms of child sexual abuse are made possible and are shaped by the relationships between victims and perpetrators, while other forms of child sexual abuse are significantly shaped by the settings and contexts in which victims and perpetrators come together. This is highlighted by the notion that sexual abuse is only possible at the convergence or interaction of two factors: the person (both victim and offender) and the situation (context or setting) (Smallbone et al., 2013). Furthermore, adult perpetrators typically target children who appear vulnerable (due to family dysfunction, social isolation, disability, etc.), and employ a range of grooming strategies to develop trust and intimacy with the child, which enables sexualisation of the relationship to occur (Salter, 1995). Any sexual behaviour between a child under the age of consent and an adult is abusive. The age of consent is 16 years in most Australian states. In Australia, consensual sexual activity between a 20-year-old and a 15-year-old is considered abusive, while in most jurisdictions the same activity between a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old is not considered abusive.
Communication technologies facilitate a range of sexually abusive behaviours and allow perpetrators to have anonymous contact with a large number of children. Forms of perpetration include grooming children in a virtual environment such as through instant messaging, accessing child exploitation material, and producing and distributing exploitation material even where there is no sexual interest in children. Online sexual abuse behaviours are often active with perpetrators seeking out minors online, and perpetrators may move from making connections with children online to making contact offline (Quadara et al., 2015). Any sexual behaviour between a child and an adult family member is abusive. The concepts of consent, equality and coercion are inapplicable in instances of intra-familial abuse.
Sexual abuse occurs when there is any sexual behaviour between a child and an adult in a position of power or authority over them (e.g. a teacher). The age of consent laws is inapplicable in such instances due to the strong imbalance of power that exists between children and authority figures, as well as the breaching of both personal and public trust that occurs when professional boundaries are violated.
Sexual abuse occurs when there is sexual activity between a child and an adolescent or child family member that is non-consensual or coercive, or where there is an inequality of power or development between the two young people. Although consensual and non-coercive sexual behaviour between two developmentally similar family members is not considered child sexual abuse, it is considered incest, and is strongly proscribed both socially and legally in Australia.
EXPOSURE TO FAMILY VIOLENCE
Exposure to family violence has been broadly defined as “a child being present (hearing or seeing) while a parent or sibling is subjected to physical abuse, sexual abuse or psychological maltreatment, or is visually exposed to the damage caused to persons or property by a family member’s violent behaviour” (Higgins, 1998, p. 104). Narrower definitions refer only to children being exposed to domestic violence between intimate partners.
Some researchers classify the witnessing of family violence as a special form of emotional maltreatment. However, a growing number of professionals regard the exposure to family violence as a unique and independent subtype of abuse (Bromfield, 2005; Higgins, 2004; James, 1994). Regardless of the classification used, research has shown that children who are exposed to domestic violence tend to experience significant disruptions in their psychosocial wellbeing, often exhibiting a similar pattern of symptoms to other abused or neglected children (Kitzmann, Gaylord, Holt, & Kenny, 2003; Tomison, 2000).
OTHER FORMS OF CHILD MALTREATMENT
As well as the five main subtypes of child maltreatment, researchers have identified other, including:
• fetal abuse (i.e., behaviours by pregnant mothers that could endanger a fetus, such as the excessive use of tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs)
• bullying, or peer abuse
• sibling abuse
• exposure to community violence
• institutional abuse (i.e., abuse that occurs in institutions such as foster homes, group homes, voluntary organisations such as the Scouts, and child care centres)
• organised exploitation (e.g., child sex rings, child pornography, child prostitution); and
• state-sanctioned abuse (e.g., female genital mutilation in parts of Africa, and the ‘Stolen Generations’ in Australia) (Corby, 2006; Miller-Perrin & Perrin, 2007).
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENT FORMS OF ABUSE
Although it is useful to distinguish between the different subtypes of child maltreatment in order to understand and identify them more thoroughly, it can also be slightly misleading. It is misleading if it creates the impression that there are always strong lines of demarcation between the different abuse subtypes, or that abuse subtypes usually occur in isolation. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that maltreatment subtypes seldom occur in isolation; the majority of individuals with a history of maltreatment report exposure to two or more subtypes (Arata, Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Bowers, & O’Farrill-Swails, 2005; Higgins & McCabe, 2000; Ney, Fung, & Wickett, 1994). Additionally, some acts of violence against children involve multiple maltreatment subtypes. For example, an adult who sexually abuses a child may simultaneously hit them (i.e., physical abuse) and isolate or terrorise them (e.g., emotional abuse). Similarly, when parents subject their children to sexual or physical abuse, the emotional harm and betrayal of trust implicit in these acts need to also be thought of as a form of emotional maltreatment.
PREVALENCE OF CHILD MALTREATMENT
Prevalence refers to the proportion of a population that has experienced a phenomenon, for example the percentage of Australians aged 18 years and over in 2015 who were ever abused or neglected as a child. Incidence refers to the number of new cases occurring over a specified period of time (normally a year), for example the number of Australian children aged 0–17 years who were abused or neglected during 2015 (Matthews et al., 2016).
Australia is one of the only developed countries where there has been no methodologically rigorous, nationwide study of the prevalence or incidence of child abuse and neglect (Mathews et al., 2016) There are, however, a number of recent studies that have either measured one or two maltreatment types in detail or have superficially measured all individual maltreatment types as part of a larger study.
Physical Abuse: Six contemporary Australian studies and one systematic review (encompassing some of the same studies) have measured the prevalence of child physical abuse within relatively large community samples. Prevalence estimates ranged from 5%-18%, with the majority of studies finding rates between 5% and 10%.
Neglect: Three contemporary Australian studies have measured child neglect in community samples. Prevalence estimates of neglect ranged from 1.6% to 4%.
Emotional Maltreatment: Three Australian studies and one Australian systematic review have estimated the prevalence of emotional maltreatment. Although the studies were all conducted with relatively large community samples, their prevalence estimates were quite different, ranging from 6% (Rosenman & Rodgers, 2004) to 17% (Price-Robertson et al., 2010). This large range is likely due to differences in the wording of questions. For example, Rosenman and Rodgers (2004) defined emotional maltreatment using stronger terms (e.g., ‘mental cruelty’) than Price-Robertson and colleagues (e.g., “humiliated”). The best available evidence suggests that the prevalence rate for emotional maltreatment in Australia is between 9% and 14% (Chu et al., 2013; Moore et al., 2015).
Exposure to family violence: Four community-based studies have estimated the extent to which Australian children are exposed to family violence. Prevalence estimates were from self- reported exposure, and ranged from 4% to 23% of children.
Sexual maltreatment: Studies that comprehensively measured the prevalence of child sexual maltreatment found that males had prevalence rates of 1.4-7.5% for penetrative abuse and 5.2- 12% for non-penetrative abuse, while females had prevalence rates of 4.0-12.0% for penetrative abuse and 14-26.8% for non-penetrative abuse (Price-Robertson et al., 2010
ReMOVED Statistics [41 secs]
Watch this to understand some key statistics about children who have been maltreated. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/01%3A_Understand_and_empathise/01.1%3A_Childhood_adversity_and_maltreatment.txt |
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are over-represented in child protection and out-of- home care services compared to non-Indigenous children (Titterton, 2017). The reasons for this are complex and are connected to past policies and the legacy of colonisation. Poverty, assimilation policies, intergenerational trauma and discrimination and forced child removals have all contributed to the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care, as have cultural differences in childrearing practices and family structure (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [HREOC], 1997; SNAICC, 2016; Titterton, 2017).
Child protection authorities are required to intervene if a child has been, is being or is at risk of significant harm. Between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016, the rate of substantiations of abuse, neglect or risk of harm was 43.6% – 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia. This means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were almost seven times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be the subject of substantiated reports of harm or risk of harm (Titterton, 2017).
Child protection data tell us how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children come into contact with child protection services. These data are not a measure of the actual prevalence of child abuse and neglect experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, as there are several problems with these data that result in some children who:
• have been abused or neglected not being included in child protection statistics; and
• have not been abused or neglected being included in child protection statistics
In addition to these known problems with child protection data, there are several issues that contribute to the under-reporting of violence, neglect and child abuse in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. These include:
• Fear, mistrust and loss of confidence in the police, justice system, government agencies and the media, including a belief that perpetrators of sexual or family violence will not be punished (Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, 2006; Anderson & Wild, 2007; Bailey, Powell, & Brubacher, 2017; Prentice, Blair, & O’Mullan, 2017; Willis, 2011).
• Fear of racism (Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, 2013).
• Fear that the child may be removed from the community (Anderson & Wild, 2007; Taylor & Putt, 2007; Titterton, 2017).
• Community silence and denial (Gordon Hallahan, & Henry, 2002).
• Social and cultural pressure from other members of the family or community not to report abuse or violence, the belief that reporting is a betrayal of the culture and community, and the fear of being shunned by the community (Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, 2006; Prentice et al., 2017; Taylor & Putt, 2007).
• A belief in the need to protect the perpetrator because of the high number of Indigenous deaths in custody (Stanley, Tomison, & Pocock, 2003).
• Fear of repercussions or retaliation from the perpetrator or their family (Stanley et al., 2003; Willis, 2011).
• Personal and cultural factors of shame, guilt and fear (Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, 2006; Anderson & Wild, 2007; Prentice et al., 2017; Taylor & Putt, 2007).
• Lack of understanding about what family violence and child abuse and neglect are generally, and lack of understanding about what constitutes family violence and child sexual abuse specifically (Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, 2006; Anderson & Wild, 2007; Prentice et al., 2017).
• High levels of violence and the subsequent normalisation of family violence (Prentice et al., 2017; Willis, 2011).
• Lack of culturally appropriate services (Prentice et al., 2017).
• Language and communication barriers, lack of knowledge about legal rights and the services available, and lack of services for victims of child sexual abuse (Anderson & Wild, 2007).
• Geographical isolation (i.e., nobody to report to, no means of reporting and minimal contact with child welfare professionals) (Gordon et al., 2002; New South Wales Ombudsman, 2012; Stanley et al., 2003). | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/01%3A_Understand_and_empathise/01.2%3A_Welfare_of_Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strai.txt |
Etiology or aetiology refers to a branch of knowledge concerned with causes – typically of social, psychological and medical phenomenon.
There is not any single fact which causes child abuse. Abuse usually occurs in families where there is a combination of risk factors. Any effort to identify definitive causes of child abuse and neglect is complicated by the interrelatedness of factors. One model that has been used to demonstrate how factors at multiple levels intersect to increase the likelihood of child abuse and neglect is Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ‘developmental-ecological’ model (Horton, 2003; Irenyi, Bromfield, Beyer, & Higgins, 2006).
The developmental-ecological model has four levels:
• cultural beliefs and values (macrosystem)
• neighbourhood and community settings (exosystem)
• family environment (microsystem)
• the individual’s own characteristics and developmental stage
International research has identified many risk factors for child abuse and neglect. It is beyond the scope of this book to provide detailed evidence of all of these risk factors or to discuss the extent to which specific risk factors relate to different forms of maltreatment. However, some of the commonly cited risk factors for child maltreatment, divided according to the ecological levels of the developmental-ecological model described above, especially relating to the macrosystem are not included as they are likely to vary significantly between societies and cultures.
Risk and protective factors can be used to develop both universal and targeted approaches to reducing child maltreatment. Universal approaches seek to reduce risk factors and promote protective factors in all families. This could include ensuring that all parents are provided with accessible information about parenting and child development. Identifying social and environmental risk factors such as low socio-economic status or neighbourhood disadvantage can inform systemic responses that seek to address the causes of disadvantage (Bromfield, Lamont, Parker, & Horsfall, 2010).
Identification of risk and protective factors can also be used to develop targeted approaches to reducing child abuse and neglect. Families that display multiple risk factors and minimal protective factors can be identified and provided with additional services and support (Putnam-Hornstein & Needell, 2011; Wu et al., 2004). Strengths-based practice, emphasising the assets and strengths within families, is a common strategy used to build and enhance protective factors and promote quality communication and engagement with families (Bromfield et al., 2012). All children and their families exhibit both risk and protective factors to some extent. The interaction of multiple risk factors in combination with limited protective factors may increase the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. Strong protective factors in families such as supportive social networks and a good parent-child attachment, and engagement with education can build resilience in children and parents.
RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS FOR CHILD MALTREATMENT
The presence of one or more risk factors, alongside a cluster of trauma indicators, may greatly increase the risk to the child’s wellbeing and should flag the need for further child and family assessment.
The following risk factors can impact on children and families and the care-giving environment:
Child and family risk factors include:
• family violence, current or past
• mental health issue or disorder, current or past (including self-harm and suicide attempts)
• alcohol/substance abuse, current or past, addictive behaviours
• disability or complex medical needs eg., intellectual or physical disability, acquired brain injury
• newborn, prematurity, low birth weight, chemically dependent, fetal alcohol syndrome, feeding/sleeping/settling difficulties, prolonged and frequent crying
• parent, partner, close relative or sibling with a history of assault, prostitution or sexual offences
• experience of inter-generational abuse and trauma
• poverty, financial hardship, unemployment
• social isolation (family, extended family, community and cultural isolation)
• lack of stimulation and learning opportunities, disengagement from school, truanting
• inattention to developmental health needs and/or poor diet
• recent refugee experience
Parent risk factors include:
• parent/carer under 20 years or under 20 years at birth of first child
• lack of willingness or ability to prioritise child’s needs above own
• rejection or scapegoating of child
• harsh, inconsistent discipline, neglect or abuse
• inadequate supervision of child or emotional enmeshment
• single parenting or multiple partners
• inadequate antenatal care or alcohol/substance abuse during pregnancy
Wider factors that influence positive outcomes include:
• sense of belonging to home, family, community and a strong cultural identity
• pro-social peer group
• positive parental expectations, home learning environment and opportunities at major life transitions
• access to child and adult focused services e.g. health, mental health, maternal and child health, early intervention, disability, drug and alcohol, family support, family preservation, parenting education, recreational facilities and other child and family support and therapeutic services
• accessible and affordable child care and high-quality preschool programs
• inclusive community neighbourhoods
• service system’s understanding of neglect and abuse
PROTECTIVE FACTORS AND RESILIENCE IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT
So how can we as educators support children with trauma in the school context and build their resilience with our knowledge of protective factors? Taking a strengths-based focus is paramount in helping the traumatised child. This means that we use the strengths and interests of the child to provide opportunities for experiences that promote success and a sense of accomplishment. Trauma informed practice can be viewed from both a deficit perspective and a strengths perspective. If we take a deficit view of the traumatised student our focus is on the difficulties, problems and challenges and the negative impacts on development for that student. If we take a strengths-based perspective we are focussed on the student’s abilities and how we can harness the positives to promote and guide the student with trauma towards successful experiences at school (Brunzell, Stokes & Waters, 2016).
To do this we need to know what the student’s strengths, interests and abilities are. What are their interests? What do they like to do? Who are trusted people in the school? What are their academic strengths? How do we find this information out? Many teachers do this through planned instructional activities and also by seizing opportunities through teachable moments. Strategies may include: classroom games, talking to the previous teacher, talking to parents or significant adults in the student’s life, completing and short survey etc.
Remember that if the family environment (microsystem) of the child with trauma has been one where trauma has significantly impeded secure parental attachment, the development of the child is severely impacted. As Tobin (2016, p. 8) reminds “positive attachment to caregivers and adults acts as a protective factor to help develop self-regulatory capacities after trauma exposure”.
As teachers we should never underestimate the power of establishing strong connections and relationships. Brunzell et al. (2016, p. 67) suggests demonstrating ‘unconditional positive regard’. Ensuring that the classroom is a place where the student with trauma (and all students) feel a strong sense of belonging, value and safety while they are encouraged to take risks and learn. We have discussed some ideas here about protective factors and how these contribute to building resilience. It is ultimately about us providing an experience of safety and success. This is where the focus needs to be. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/01%3A_Understand_and_empathise/01.3%3A_Etiology_of_childhood_adversity_and_ma.txt |
Due to their regular contact with students and families, staff in schools play a vital role in:
• identifying and responding to suspected child abuse and neglect
• helping families to access support services that may build on their strengths and address issues impacting on their parenting
The Child Protection Act 1999 (PDF) requires certain professionals, referred to as ‘mandatory reporters’, to make a report to Child Safety, if they form a reasonable suspicion that a child has suffered, is suffering or is at an unacceptable risk of suffering significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse, and may not have a parent able and willing to protect them.
Mandatory reporters should also report to Child Safety a reasonable suspicion that a child is in need of protection caused by any other form of abuse or neglect. Under the Child Protection Act 1999, mandatory reporters are:
• teachers
• doctors
• registered nurses
• police officers with child protection responsibilities
• a person performing a child advocate function under the Public Guardian Act 2014
• early childhood education and care professionals, from 1 July 2017
Teachers include approved teachers under the Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005, employed at a school. For teachers working in public schools for the Department of Education (DoE), staff actions and decision making in relation to suspected student protection concerns are guided by departmental procedures. For staff working in other schools, departments and agencies, please check the procedures and guidelines for managing student protection concerns.
ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (ACES)
Research Byte: The Story of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES)
Read this case study on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study.
Additional reading
The from the Department of Child Protection in Western Australia provide a detailed list of warning signs and risk factors linked to the impact of trauma on developmental norms.
The ACEs Study [6 min 37 sec]
Watch from the movie ‘Resilience’ from director James Redford – outlining the findings of the ACEs study.
It is important to note that the ACE Study participants were average Americans. 75% were white, 11% Latino, 7.5% Asian and Pacific Islander, and 5% were black. They were middle-class, middle-aged, 36% had attended college and 40% had college degrees or higher. Since they were members of Kaiser Permanente, they all had jobs and great health care. Their average age was 57.
In the last 14 years, Anda, Felitti and other researchers have published more than 60 papers in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Stevens, 2012). Children affected by ACEs appear in all human service systems throughout the lifespan — childhood, adolescence, and adulthood — as clients with behavioural, learning, social, criminal, and chronic health problems. “But our society has tended to treat the abuse, maltreatment, violence and chaotic experiences of our children as an oddity instead of commonplace, as the ACE Study revealed,” notes Anda (Stevens, 2012). “And our society believes that these experiences are adequately dealt with by emergency response systems such as child protective services, criminal justice, foster care, and alternative schools,” (Stevens, 2012).
Trauma informed practices are popping up around the world in schools, prisons, mental clinics and hospitals, a few paediatric practices, crisis nurseries, local public health departments, homeless shelters, at least one hospital emergency room, substance-abuse clinics, child welfare services, youth services, domestic violence shelters, rehab centres for seniors, residential treatment centres for girls and boys, and courtrooms.
Research byte: The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study
Read this two case cases studies:
Additional reading
Moffitt, T. E. & Caspi, A. (1999). The National Institute of Justice.
The Dunedin Study [6 min 37 sec]
Watch this news story on the Dunedin study. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/01%3A_Understand_and_empathise/01.4%3A_Keeping_students_safe%3A_reporting_chi.txt |
WHAT IS TRAUMA?
Experts explain that trauma is not an event itself, but rather a response to a stressful experience in which a person’s ability to cope is dramatically undermined. More than 20 years ago, Lenore Terr (1992) defined childhood trauma as the impact of external forces that “[render] the young person temporarily helpless and [break] past ordinary coping and defensive operation. . . .” Terrasi and de Galarce (2017, p. 36) suggest that complex trauma is “the cumulative effect of traumatic experiences that are repeated or prolonged over time”.
Similarly, de Thierry (2017, p. 14) writes, “Trauma is an event or series of events such as abuse, maltreatment, neglect or tragedy that causes a profound experience of helplessness leading to terror”. As discussed earlier, the range of potentially traumatic events in childhood is quite broad, including not only physical threat and harm but also emotional maltreatment, neglect, abandonment, and devastating loss.
Every traumatic experience is different, and each child’s response depends on their coping skills and resources and on the context and circumstances in which the stressful event occurs. Whether a child develops a trauma reaction that increases in severity, becomes chronic, and is less responsive to intervention or has a reaction that is moderate, manageable, and time limited depends on several factors. These include the nature of the experience, the characteristics of the child, and the way the family, school, and community respond. For example, chronic or repetitive traumatic experiences, especially those perpetrated intentionally by a caregiver, are likely to result in a different set of symptoms than a single shocking traumatic event.
DETERMINANTS OF TRAUMA REACTIONS
Trauma results from an event, series of events, or set circumstances that is experienced by individual as physically emotionally harmful life threatening and has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning mental, physical, social, emotional, spiritual wellbeing. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provide a useful ‘The Three E’ framework to understand how traumatic events impact on individuals (SAMHSA, 2013).
Events: The first ‘E’ of the framework refers to events – this is the circumstances surrounding the actual or extreme threat of physical or psychological harm (i.e., physical violence, natural disasters etc) or severe, life threatening neglect for a child that imperils healthy development. These events and circumstances may occur as a single occurrence or repeatedly over time.
Experience: The individual’s experience of these events or circumstances helps to determine whether it circumstances helps to determine whether it experienced as traumatic for one individual and not for another (e.g., a child removed from an abusive home experiences this differently than their sibling; one refugee may experience fleeing one’s country differently from another refugee). How the individual labels, assigns meaning to, and is disrupted physically and psychologically by an event will contribute to whether or not it is experienced as traumatic. Traumatic events by their very nature set up a power differential where one entity (whether an individual, an event or a force of nature) has power over another. They elicit a profound question of “why me?” The individual’s experience of these events or circumstances is shaped in the context of this powerlessness and questioning.
Feelings of humiliation, guilt, shame, betrayal, or silencing often shape the experience of the event. When someone experiences physical or sexual abuse, it is often accompanied by a sense of humiliation, which can lead the person to feel as though they are bad or dirty, leading to a sense of self-blame, shame and guilt. In cases of war or natural disasters, those who survived the traumatic event may blame themselves for surviving when other did not. Abuse by a trusted caregiver frequently gives rise to feelings of betrayal, shattering a person’s trust and leaving them feeling alone. Often, abuse of children and domestic violence are accompanied by threats that lead to silencing and fear of reaching out for help. How the event is experienced may be linked to a range of factors, including the individual’s cultural beliefs (e.g. the subjugation of women and the experience of domestic violence), availability of social supports (e.g., whether isolated or embedded in a supportive family or community structure) or to the developmental stage of the individual (i.e., an individual may understand and experience events differently at age five, 15 or 50).
Effects: The long-lasting adverse effects of the event are a critical component to trauma. These effects may occur immediately or may have a delayed onset. The duration of the effects can be short to long term. In some situations, the individual may not recognise the connection between the traumatic events and the effects. Examples of adverse effects include an individual’s inability to cope with normal stressors, and strains of daily living; to trust and benefit from relationships; to manage cognitive processes – such as memory, attention, thinking, to regulate behaviour; or to control the expression of emotions. In addition to these visible effects, there may be an altering of one’s neurobiological make-up and ongoing health and wellbeing. Advances in neuroscience and an increased understanding of the interaction of neurobiological and environmental factors have documented the effects of such threatening events.
Traumatic effects, which may range from hyper-vigilance or a constant state of arousal, to numbing or avoidance, can eventually wear a person down, physically, mentally and emotionally. Survivors of trauma also highlight the impact of these events on spiritual beliefs and the capacity to make meaning of these experiences.
Please note that the above information on the Three E’s is reproduced with permission from SAMHSA Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiaitve (2013). SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/sma14-4884.pdf. Additional reproduction of this information is not permitted without prior permission from SAMHSA.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND TRAUMA
REACTIONS
The following points give an essential perspective for using the information about childhood trauma and its impact on development across specific age groups:
• Children, even at birth, are not ‘blank slates’ – they are born with a certain neurological make- up and temperament. As children get older, these individual differences become greater as they are affected by their experiences and environment. This is particularly the case where the child is born either drug dependent or with fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Even young babies differ in temperament eg., activity level, amount and intensity of crying, ability to adapt to changes, general mood, etc.
• From birth on, children play an active role in their own development and impact on others around them.
• Culture, family, home and community play an important role in children’s development, as they impact on a child’s experiences and opportunities. Cultural groups are likely to have particular values, priorities and practices in child rearing that will influence children’s development and learning of particular skills and behaviours. The development of children from some cultural backgrounds will vary from traditional developmental norms, which usually reflect an Anglo-Western perspective.
• As children get older, it becomes increasingly difficult to list specific developmental milestones, as the achievement of many of these depends very much on the opportunities that the child has to practice them, and also, on the experiences available to the child. A child will not be able to ride a bicycle unless they have access to a bicycle.
• Development does not occur in a straight line or evenly. Development progresses in a sequential manner, although it is essential to note that while the path of development is somewhat predictable, there is variation in what is considered normal development. That is to say no two children develop in exactly the same way.
• The pace of development is more rapid in the early years than at any other time in life.
• Every area of development impacts on other areas. Developmental delays in one area will impact on the child’s ability to consolidate skills and progress through to the next developmental stage.
Most experts now agree that both nature and nurture interact to influence almost every significant aspect of a child’s development.
• General health affects development and behaviour. Minor illnesses will have short to medium term effects, while chronic health conditions can have long-term effects. Nutritional deficiencies will also have negative impacts on developmental progression. Specific characteristics and behaviours are indicative only. Many specific developmental characteristics should be seen as ‘flags’ of a child’s behaviour, which may need to be looked at more closely, if a child is not meeting them. Teachers and education staff should refer to relevant specialist assessment guides in undertaking further assessments of child and family.
The indicators of trauma listed in this guide should not become judgements about the particular child or family made in isolation from others who know the child and family well, or from other sources of information. However, they are a useful alert that a more thorough contextual assessment may be required.
There has been an explosion of knowledge in regard to the detrimental impact of neglect and child abuse trauma on the developing child, and particularly on the neurological development of infants. It is critical to have a good working knowledge of this growing evidence base so that we can be more helpful to families and child focused.
The following basic points are useful to keep in mind and to discuss with parents and young people:
• Children need stable, sensitive, loving, stimulating relationships and environments in order to reach their potential. They are particularly vulnerable to witnessing and experiencing violence, abuse and neglectful circumstances. Abuse and neglect at the hands of those who are meant to care is particularly distressing and harmful for infants, children and adolescents.
• Given that the infant’s primary drive is towards attachment to a parent or care-giver, not safety, they will accommodate to the parenting style they experience. They have no choice given their age and vulnerability, and in more chronic and extreme circumstances, they will show a complex trauma response. They can eventually make meaning of their circumstances by believing that the abuse is their fault and that they are inherently bad.
• Infants, children and adults will adapt to frightening and overwhelming circumstances by the body’s survival response, where the autonomic nervous system will become activated and switch on to the freeze/fight/flight response. Immediately the body is flooded with a biochemical response which includes adrenalin and cortisol, and the child feels agitated and hypervigilant. Infants may show a ‘frozen watchfulness’ and children and young people can dissociate and appear to be ‘zoned out’.
• Prolonged exposure to these circumstances can lead to ‘toxic stress’ for a child which changes the child’s brain development, sensitises the child to further stress, leads to heightened activity levels and affects future learning and concentration. Most importantly, it impairs the child’s ability to trust and relate to others. When children are traumatised, they find it very hard to regulate behaviour and soothe or calm themselves. They often attract the description of being ‘hyperactive’.
Babies are particularly attuned to their primary carer and will sense their fear and traumatic stress. This is particularly the case where family violence is present. They will become unsettled and therefore more demanding of an already overwhelmed parent. The first task of any service is to support the non-offending parent and to engage the family in safety.
• Traumatic memories are stored differently in the brain compared to everyday memories. They are encoded in vivid images and sensations and lack a verbal narrative and context. As they are unprocessed and more primitive, they are likely to flood the child or adult when triggers like smells, sights, sounds or internal or external reminders present at a later stage.
• These flashbacks can be affective, i.e., intense feelings, that are often unspeakable; or cognitive, vivid memories or parts of memories, which seem to be actually occurring. Alcohol and drug abuse are the classic and usually most destructive attempts to numb out the pain and avoid these distressing and intrusive experiences.
• Children are particularly vulnerable to flashbacks at quiet times or at bedtimes and will often avoid both, by acting out at school and bedtimes. They can experience severe sleep disruption, intrusive nightmares which add to their ‘dysregulated’ behaviour, and limits their capacity at school the next day. Adolescents will often stay up all night to avoid the nightmares and sleep in the safety of the daylight.
Now that we know about the impact of the risk factors and of childhood trauma, we can begin thinking functionally about the needs of these students we can begin by considering the factors depicted in the triangle, heart and speech bubble shapes in the figure below.
The triangle represents the pyramid of needs (see Snowman et al., 2009 for Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) starting with physiological needs, such as adequate food, hydration, clothing and physical health care. Examples of how this can be supported in the school environment include rest times, snack times built into learning time, water bottles on desks and available at all times throughout the day, and breakfast clubs.
The heart represents the feelings of grief linked to the losses in the child’s life that may impact their academic and social functioning at school. These losses may include the death of loved ones, separation from family and friends, and traumatic grief linked to experiences of abuse. Understanding these losses and their impact on the student can inform our expectations of the student’s functioning, the management of the classroom and school environment to minimise triggers and the support for the student to build trusting relationships that can help them with these complex and painful feelings.
The speech bubble shape represents the student’s behaviour as communicating unmet needs and unprocessed feelings. The deprivation and abuse experienced by these children often leaves them with deficits in their skills to seek out appropriate support. Due to this, the child’s misbehaviour may come across as deliberate defiance and oppositionality, when in fact, it may the result of their inability to appropriately communicate the challenges that they are facing. It is then, the job of the educators to understand the context of the child – both in and out of the school environment – to interpret the function and meaning of the misbehaviours and disengagement.
The next section will look in depth at how we can use our knowledge of childhood trauma in adapting our pedagogical practices. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/01%3A_Understand_and_empathise/01.5%3A_Childhood_trauma.txt |
In the previous sections, we learned that a traumatic experience involves a threat to one’s physical or emotional wellbeing, and elicits intense feelings of helplessness, terror, and lack of control (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Traumatic experiences can significantly alter a person’s perception of themselves, their environment, and the people around them. As traumatic experiences accumulate, responses become more intense and have a greater impact on functioning. Ongoing exposure to traumatic stress can impact all areas of people’s lives, including biological, cognitive, and emotional functioning; social interactions, relationships and identity formation. Because people who have experienced multiple traumas do not relate to the world in the same way as those who have not had these experiences, they require services and responses that are sensitive to their experiences and needs.
Meeting the needs of trauma survivors requires that programs become ‘trauma informed’ (Harris & Fallot, 2001). Harris and Fallot (2001) describe a trauma informed service system as a one who’s mission is altered by knowledge of trauma and the impact it has on the lives of the consumers. This means looking at all aspects of programming through a trauma lens, constantly keeping in mind how traumatic experiences impact consumers. Programs that are informed by an understanding of trauma respond best to consumer needs and avoid engaging in re-traumatising practices.
PRINCIPLES OF TRAUMA INFORMED PRACTICE
The principles of trauma informed care were identified on the basis of knowledge about trauma and its impact, findings of the Co-Occurring Disorders and Violence Project (Moses, Reed, Mazelis, & D’Ambrosio, 2003), literature on therapeutic communities (Campling, 2001), and the work of Maxine Harris and Roger Fallot (Fallot & Harris, 2002; Harris & Fallot, 2001;) and Sandra Bloom (Bloom, 2004). Principles of trauma informed practice include:
• Understanding trauma and its impact: understanding traumatic stress and how it impacts people and recognising that many behaviours and responses that may be seem ineffective and unhealthy in the present, represent adaptive responses to past traumatic experiences.
• Promoting safety: establishing a safe physical and emotional environment where basic needs are met, safety measures are in place, and provider responses are consistent, predictable, and respectful.
• Ensuring cultural competence: understanding how cultural context influences one’s perception of and response to traumatic events and the recovery process; respecting diversity within the program, providing opportunities for students to engage in cultural rituals, and using interventions respectful of and specific to cultural backgrounds.
• Supporting student control, choice and autonomy: helping students regain a sense of control over their daily lives and build competencies that will strengthen their sense of autonomy; keeping consumers well-informed about all aspects of the system, outlining clear expectations, providing opportunities for students to make daily decisions and participate in the creation of personal goals, and maintaining awareness and respect for basic human rights and freedoms.
• Sharing power and responsibility: promoting democracy and equalisation of the power differentials across the program; sharing power and decision-making across all levels of an organisation, whether related to daily decisions or in the review and creation of policies and procedures.
• Integrating care: maintaining a holistic view of consumers and their process of healing and facilitating communication within and among service providers and systems.
• Healing happens in relationships: believing that establishing safe, authentic and positive relationships can be corrective and restorative to survivors of trauma.
• Recovery is possible: understanding that recovery is possible for everyone regardless of how vulnerable they may appear. Instilling hope by providing opportunities for consumer and former consumer involvement at all levels of the system, facilitating peer support, focusing on strength and resiliency, and establishing future-oriented goals.
TRAUMA INFORMED PRACTICE IN SCHOOLS
In summary, the connection between student disengagement and underachievement and trauma underscores the need for specific programming for these students. The following realities highlight the need for trauma informed practice in schools:
Trauma can impact school performance, as evidenced by:
• Lower academic achievement and grades
• Higher rate of school absences
• Increased drop-out
• More suspensions and expulsions
• Decreased reading ability
• Trauma can impair learning
• Single exposure to traumatic events may cause jumpiness, intrusive thoughts, interrupted sleep and nightmares, anger and moodiness, and/or social withdrawal—any of which can interfere with concentration and memory.
• Chronic exposure to traumatic events, especially during a child’s early years, can adversely affect attention, memory, and cognition, reduce a child’s ability to focus, organise, and process information, interfere with effective problem solving and/or planning. This may result in overwhelming feelings of frustration and anxiety.
Traumatised children may experience physical and emotional distress.
• Physical symptoms like headaches and stomach aches
• Poor control of emotions
• Inconsistent academic performance
• Unpredictable and/or impulsive behaviour
• Over or under-reacting to bells, physical contact, doors slamming, sirens, lighting, sudden movements
• Intense reactions to reminders of their traumatic event
• Thinking others are violating their personal space, i.e., “What are you looking at?”
• Blowing up when being corrected or told what to do by an authority figure
• Fighting when criticised or teased by others
• Resisting transition and/or change
Once schools understand the educational impacts of trauma, they can become safe, supportive environments where students make the positive connections with adults and peers they might otherwise push away, calm their emotions so they can focus and behave appropriately, and feel confident enough to advance their learning. In other words, schools can make trauma sensitivity a regular part of how the school is run. Trauma sensitivity will look different at each school. However, a shared definition of what it means to be a trauma-sensitive school can bring educators, parents, and policymakers together around a common vision. We define the core attributes of a trauma informed school to include the following:
• A shared understanding among all staff—educators, administrators, counsellors, school nurses, cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, athletic coaches, advisors to extracurricular activities, and paraprofessionals—that adverse experiences in the lives of children are more common than many of us ever imagined, that trauma can impact learning, behaviour, and relationships at school, and that a ‘whole school’ approach to trauma sensitivity is needed.
• The school supports all children to feel safe physically, socially, emotionally, and academically. Children’s traumatic responses, and the associated difficulties they can face at school, are often rooted in real or perceived threats to their safety that undermine a sense of wellbeing in fundamental ways. Therefore, the first step in helping students succeed in school, despite their traumatic experiences, is to help them feel safe—in the classroom, on the playground, in the hallway, in the cafeteria, on the bus, in the gym, on the walk to and from school. This includes not only physical safety but also social and emotional safety, as well as the sense of academic safety needed in order to take risks to advance one’s learning in the classroom.
• The school addresses students’ need in holistic ways, taking into account their relationships, self-regulation, academic competence, and physical and emotional wellbeing. The impacts of trauma can be pervasive and take many forms, and the way in which a child who has experienced traumatic events presents themselves may mask—rather than reveal—their difficulties. A broader more holistic lens is needed to understand the needs that underlie a child’s presentation. Researchers tell us that if we bolster children in four key domains— relationships with teachers and peers; the ability to self-regulate behaviours, emotions, and attention; success in academic and non-academic areas; and physical and emotional health and well-being—we maximise their opportunities to overcome all kinds of adversity in order to succeed at school. A trauma informed school recognises the inextricable link that exists among these domains and has a structure in place that supports staff to address students’ needs holistically in all four areas.
• The school explicitly connects students to the school community and provides multiple opportunities to practice newly developing skills. The loss of a sense of safety resulting from traumatic events can cause a child to disconnect from those around him or her. Typically, children who have experienced traumatic events are looking to those at school to restore their feeling of security and to help reconnect them with the school community. Schools can meet this need if they foster a culture of acceptance and tolerance where all students are welcomed and taught to respect the needs of others. Individual support services and policies that do not pull children away from their peers and trusted adults, but rather assist children to be full members of the classroom and school community, are also essential.
• The school embraces teamwork and staff share responsibility for all students. Expecting individual educators to address trauma’s challenges alone on a case-by-case basis, or to reinvent the wheel every time a new adversity presents itself, is not only inefficient, but it can cause educators to feel overwhelmed. A trauma informed school moves away from the typical paradigm in which classroom teachers have primary responsibility for their respective students to one based on shared responsibility requiring teamwork and ongoing, effective communication throughout the school. In a trauma-sensitive school, educators make the switch from asking “what can I do to fix this child?” to “what can we do as a community to support all children to help them feel safe and participate fully in our school community?” Trauma informed schools help staff—as well as those outside the school who work with staff—feel part of a strong and supportive professional community.
• Leadership and staff anticipate and adapt to the ever-changing needs of students. In a trauma informed school, educators and administrators take the time to learn about changes in the local community so that they can anticipate new challenges before they arise. They do their best to plan ahead for changes in staffing and policies that are all too common in schools. Trauma informed schools also try to adapt to all of these challenges flexibly and proactively so that the equilibrium of the school is not disrupted by inevitable shifts and changes.
Interview with Erik Gordon on being a trauma-informed teacher [51 min 46 sec]
Listen to with Erik Gordon – a science teacher from Washington, US who works in the Lincoln High School.
How childhood trauma affects health across the lifespan [6 min 37 sec]
Watchby Nadine Burke Harris
Reflection Questions
1. Name the five common types of child maltreatment.
2. How does child trauma impact development and learning?
3. Explain three principles of trauma informed practice. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/01%3A_Understand_and_empathise/01.6%3A_Trauma_informed_practice.txt |
True story
The frantic phone call to the office came requesting immediate assistance in the Year one classroom. Molly was holding the class to ransom (yet again) and the teacher was in the process of evacuation. Molly had taken the box of chalk from the shelf beneath the blackboard, had turned the ceiling fans up to the highest speed, climbed onto the desk and had begun to systematically throw handfuls of chalk into the spinning blades. Chalk ricocheted around the classroom like bullets from a machine gun and chaos reigned supreme.
This year, Molly’s disruptive behaviour had escalated to being serious and unsafe. I (Kay) was Deputy Principal of the junior school (Prep to Year three) at the time of this incident and it was to be one of many, many incidents involving myself and Molly that would span years, schools and behaviour centre contexts. I could never have imagined the profound impact that our long-term relationship was to have, on both of us.
Armstrong (2016) points out that the distinction often made between ‘disruptive’ and ‘challenging behaviour’ is in reference to the severity. Disruptive behaviour can be characterised by minor behaviours such as talking out of turn, calling out, and ignoring adult instruction. While challenging behaviour reflects more major type behaviours that include physical and verbal aggression, unsafe and dangerous behaviours. In this book, we use the term ‘serious, disruptive behaviour’ interchangeably with challenging behaviour to suggest behaviour that goes beyond what is considered ongoing, low-level disruptive behaviours.
How do you view disruptive behaviour?
Where do you lay the blame for a student’s disruptive behaviour? Do you see the cause as being attributed to factors that are internal, external, both or neither? Do you attribute disruptive behaviour to the individual student and their lack of self-control and inability to make the “right choice?” (internal causes) or do you think it is because of poor parenting and other factors outside of the school space? (external causes).What part do you, the teacher, play in sustaining the disruptive behaviour? Stop and think about what it is you believe because what you believe about why disruptive behaviour occurs, determines how you manage it. Do you react in a proactive, supportive manner or in a punitive fashion? If you believe the causes of the misbehaviour are attributed to factors beyond your control (outside of school) for example, you will probably react in a more punitive manner because you believe that there is nothing you can do to change the situation so why bother?
Johansen, Little and Akin-Little (2011) studied New Zealand teachers’ perceptions of the cause of disruptive behaviour at school and concluded that teachers believed the cause was attributed to external impacts such as parenting and home life. In addition, teachers believed that the disruptive student was in control of their behaviour and was making a conscious ‘choice’ to behave badly. Worryingly, many teachers did not believe that they had a significant role to play in influencing student behaviour and most seemed to be unaware that they were highly likely to be a contributing factor to the disruptive behaviour. In contrast, when Tillery, Varjas, Meyers and Collins (2010) conducted a small-scale study of a group of kindergarten and first grade teachers in a US mainstream school to understand their perspectives and approaches to behaviour management they found that “the teachers perceived themselves as strong influences on student behavior development and described the use of positive strategies” (Tillery et al. 2010, p. 86). These strategies included having high expectations, rewarding desirable behaviour and modelling. Keep this and your own beliefs in mind as you read on as we now explore various commonly held beliefs with regards to why some students are disruptive.
Why are some students disruptive?
Westling (2010) studied both mainstream and special education teachers’ views about challenging student behaviour and included the examination of beliefs about the causes of challenging behaviour. 70 teachers participated in the study. 38 were from special education and 32 were mainstream classroom teachers working in public schools in the United States. In response to the impact of challenging student behaviour on teaching and learning, the special education teachers and the mainstream teachers listed time taken, teacher stress, reduced learning time for other students and the students demonstrating the challenging behaviour. Sadly, nearly half of the mainstream teachers also expressed that having to cope with student challenging behaviour had caused them to consider leaving the teaching profession. When responding to causes of challenging behaviour, in general the teachers believed that the challenging behaviour was due to both internal factors (personality, the disability) and to external factors (the home). All teachers felt that student behaviour could be improved. Do you agree that behaviour is learned and can be improved?
What we believe about why challenging student behaviour occurs governs the nature of the interventions we apply. From a functional perspective, Chandler and Dahlquist (2015, p. 12) refer to commonly held beliefs about why challenging behaviour occurs such as the bad child, the disability, the bad parent, bad home situation and previous trauma or bad experiences, as ‘faulty explanations’. Chandler and Dahlquist (2015) note that they are not insinuating that knowledge of original causes such as trauma are not important, but it is the current behaviour that is happening in the current situation that needs to be addressed.While the authors rightly suggest that harbouring these ‘faulty explanations’ does little to help resolve the situation happening in the classroom where disruptive behaviour is hindering the learning and teaching, it is important that we think functionally about difficult behaviour using a trauma lens. Acknowledging that factors such as home life, disability are those that the teacher has little if any capacity to change, they do influence the child’s behaviour in the learning environment. Furthermore, the response of the teacher and the culture of the learning environment, significantly influence student expression of difficult behaviours when “trauma comes to school” (Jennings, 2019, p. 29).
From a behaviourist point of view, it is the environmental conditions (at the time the behaviour is occurring) that are maintaining the behaviour and therefore determining the relationship between the behaviour and what is happening in the environment in which the behaviour is occurring, is the focus. The primary goal is to change the behaviour. While the behaviourist is first and foremost trying to ascertain the functional relationship between behaviour and environment, they also acknowledge the role that physiological difficulties, heredity and development may play in impacting behaviour. Chandler and Dahlquist (2015) argue these types of explanations are unhelpful in assisting teachers to identify strategies to help manage and change the behaviour. Let us look more closely at each of these ‘faulty beliefs’ in turn.
It’s the child: Holding the belief that the child is innately bad and that the behaviour they demonstrate is a personal vendetta to make the teacher’s life miserable is of no benefit to anyone. It probably perpetuates teacher anger and increases the likelihood of punishment being used (Chandler & Dahlquist, 2015). What strategy will be implemented to change the behaviour? Remove the student from the classroom? This strategy will always eliminate the behaviour from the classroom, if only for a short time (or maybe altogether if the student moves to another school). Is it helpful to the child? Has the child been taught an alternative way to behave?
It’s the disability: From the outset, it needs to be clear that it is extremely important for a teacher to know if a child has a disability and for the teacher to learn as much as they can about the disability so that the student can be supported in the best way possible. Knowing about the disability will help us to understand the characteristics of that disability and in some cases the possible triggers for the behaviour but knowing does not tell us how to deal with the actual disruptive behaviour unfolding in front of us in the classroom. Furthermore, all children with a disability are individuals and it is dangerous to assume that all children with the same disability will behave in the same way. Disabilities do not change or go away. The disability cannot be changed so therefore if the belief is that it is the disability that is causing the disruptive behaviour then it follows that nothing can be done because the disability is what it is (Tillery et al., 2010). The behaviour is the problem! The current behaviour in the environment where it is occurring. So, knowing that a child has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) does little to help the teacher resolve the problem. Casey and Carter (2016) suggest that this type of thinking is similar to what came first the chicken or the egg? They give the example of the child with ADHD noting “a diagnosis such as ADHD does not cause a child to behave in any manner; rather, when a child behaves in a certain manner someone may categorise the behavior by placing a diagnosis on the child” ( Casey & Carter, 2016, p. 14).
It’s the parenting: Passing judgement is easy to do. Be careful here! The vast majority of parents do the best they can with the knowledge and resources they have. Teachers will often say that having met the child’s parents explains all and sheds light on why the child is the way they are. And yes, it is possible there is a hint of truth in this. As Alberto and Troutman (2013, p. 3) note “it is possible that certain genetic characteristics may increase the probability of certain behavioral characteristics”. Disrupted parenting in terms of the parent’s ability to respond with caring, nurturing behaviour that supports their child, making them feel safe and secure, negatively impacts on the child’s behaviour. For example, lack of acceptance of the child demonstrated through ongoing conflicts, drug use and criminal behaviour. That said and as critical as it is for teachers to understanding this, can a teacher influence change to this situation? The disruptive behaviour is happening at school, in the classroom or playground (or both) and needs to be dealt with in the context in which it is happening. If the same behaviour is occurring at home, then teachers need to work collaboratively with (willing) family members to help them as best they can.
It’s the home life: Can a teacher change the home situation of a student? Is it helpful to blame the student’s home life as awful as the living situation may be or seem to us? Living in a chaotic home with dysfunctional adults does affect behaviour (Chandler & Dahlquist, 2015). A student’s behaviour is impacted by happenings that occur within the spaces and the relationships in those spaces. If a student’s family life is characterised by chaos and dysfunction, then the student will most likely respond with higher levels of anxiety and negative behaviours demonstrated within the school context. While we cannot change this home situation, we can use the knowledge of it, to inform our support of the student at school. Positive interactions are the key to a student’s ability to adjust their behaviour.
Teachers cannot change or erase the child’s trauma history and we need to remember that not all children with trauma demonstrate ‘acting out’ externalised disruptive behaviours, but some do, and teachers need to know how to cope with disruptive behaviour that is occurring in the here and now of the classroom. Finding out why the child is behaving the way they are within the environment, needs to be the firm focus of observation and intervention if the disruptive behaviour is to be reduced. Teachers have little, if any control over the context beyond the classroom and school grounds, so the energy needs to be directed to factors that are within the teacher’s control – the classroom and school environment and what can be changed there that will decrease the disruptive behaviour. Knowing about possible impacting factors beyond the school and classroom environment is vital and helps teachers to build a deeper understanding of the student demonstrating the disruptive behaviour. Do you need to rethink your view of causes of disruptive behaviour?
It is important to state that there is no magic wand for disruptive student behaviour. No intervention, strategy or program will work for every disruptive student, every time and indeed none are guaranteed to do so. Using quality research to build understanding and knowledge to inform careful planning and skills to implement evidenced-based strategies, is the best place to start.
Chat with Esther, Behaviour Team Leader [52 min]
Listen to this podcast and learn about multi-tiered trauma support as applied in one context in the United States. This is a long coaching session, so just listen for the first 30 minutes. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/02%3A_Observe_and_reflect/02.1%3A_Disruptive_student_behaviour.txt |
The use of behaviourist strategies that tend to be ‘hierarchical’ in nature are successful for most of the students most of the time (Nash, Schlosser & Scarr, 2016, p. 168). Students whose behaviour is serious, disruptive and ongoing require individualised more intensive strategies of intervention. However, there is an additional layer that needs to be considered and that is the child with trauma. For the child with trauma who demonstrates difficult and challenging behaviour (and not all do), a combination of strategies from a behavioural and psychological perspective will help us to better understand them and provide the support they need, the best we can.
From a behavioural perspective, we start with the theoretical foundation of behaviour theory. From behaviour theory arose applied behaviour analysis (ABA) which is behaviour theory applied to the ‘real world’ context. ABA manifested in schools looks like the processes and procedures of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) which when then implemented at a whole school level is called School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) or as is the case in many Australian schools, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL). Our focus is on behaviour theory and the behaviourist strategies associated with managing individuals challenging behaviour at the most intense end of the continuum when we think about challenging behaviour from least disruptive (for example constant pencil tapping) to most disruptive (for example aggressive and unsafe). Used together with the knowledge from the psychological perspective (for example attachment and trauma theory), we will have a deeper, more comprehensive approach to understanding and supporting children with trauma. We will now turn our attention to a detailed exploration of positive behaviour support and its theoretical foundation of behaviourism and applied behaviour analysis.
Behaviourism: A snapshot of history
Pavlov(Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, born in Russia in 1849)
Most people have heard of Pavlov and his dogs. Pavlov observed that when a bell was rung at the same time that the dogs were being fed even if there was no food present, the dogs would salivate. As a result of his experimentation, classical conditioning (sometimes called respondent conditioning) was born. Classical conditioning is when an unconditioned stimulus gets a response. Food is the unconditioned stimulus; the bell is the conditioned stimulus.
While this type of conditioning is not as common as operant conditioning (see Skinner), it is most likely demonstrated by children who have experienced trauma. They react with reflexive behaviour. For example, an unconditioned stimulus (threat of harm) and an unconditioned response (fight, flight or freeze) with a neutral stimulus (such as a person, activity or smell). A child may behave disruptively upon smelling perfume because that perfume was worn by the person who physically harmed the child. It appears to be an extreme reaction to a ‘normal’ situation. This concept (flight, fight or freeze response) will be fully explored throughout the book.
Thorndike (Edward Lee Thorndike born in America 1874)
Thorndike studied cats not dogs as Pavlov did. He is famous for crafting two laws. The first being the Law of Effect (Thorndike, 1905 as cited in Alberto & Troutman, 2013, p. 18) which describes positive reinforcement. That is, when behaviour produces a positive outcome and as a result this behaviour is strengthened and more likely to occur again. The second law was called the Law of Exercise. This was similar to the stimulus/response of Pavlov where a behaviour and the situation are linked.
Watson (John Broadus Watson, born America 1878)
The term behaviourism is attributed to Watson. Watson advocated that the only real data (in psychology because he was a psychologist) was that acquired through direct observation. Watson and his colleague Raynor are well-known for their ‘Little Albert’ experiment where they conditioned baby Albert (11 months old and raised in a hospital) to be fearful of a white rat. It seems that unlike other experiments that baby Albert was never ‘desensitised’ of his fear and it was never known if his fear persisted. He died at age six from hydrocephalus.
Skinner (Burrhus Frederic Skinner, born in America in 1904)
BF Skinner is known for operant conditioning a key concept in applied behaviour analysis and our ability to think about the function or the purpose of behaviour. For students demonstrating challenging behaviour, this means working out “What’s in it for the kid?” Skinner worked with rats and pigeons and he discovered that there was a difference between classical conditioning (Pavlov’s idea that behaviours are a reflex) and operant conditioning (that behaviours are voluntary and concerned with consequences). The notion of the relationship between the behaviour and the consequence of that behaviour and how the consequence affects the likelihood that a behaviour will occur again, Skinner called a contingency. Behaviour can be reinforced was another key concept of Skinner’s. Reinforced means strengthened or increased. Skinner maintained that it was irresponsible not to use scientific control to shape humanbehaviour. He was a major influence behind the adaptation of experimental and clinical behaviour modification techniques to classroom settings. Behaviour modification applied to the classroom settings is known as applied behaviour analysis.
Use a Learning Theory: Behaviourism [3 min 24 sec]
Watch this fun on applying behaviourism to the classroom to help shape student behaviour and reduce disruption.
Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
Up until the 1960s most behavioural research was conducted in laboratories with animals as the subjects of experiments (Landrum & McDuffie, 2008). Recognition of the possibility and value of the application of behavioural theory to problems being experienced by real people in real contexts, led to the emergence of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968; Landrum & McDuffie, 2008; Simonsen & Sugai, 2009). Baer, Wolf and Risley (1968) note that ABA scrutinises behaviour through observation and measurement to determine what environmental factors are maintaining the problem behaviour. The authors identified the key elements of ABA in the inaugural volume of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. These are: applied, behavioural, analytic, technological, conceptually systematic, effective and generality. These seven key elements mean that apart from being applied, behavioural and analytic, an ABA approach to investigating behaviour is focussed upon clear descriptions, procedures, and the importance of behaviour change and the generalisation of behaviour to other settings that is ongoing (Baer, et al., 1968; Martella et al., 2012). The principles of ABA constitute the procedures and strategies used for behaviour intervention. These include direct observation of the behaviour in the setting in which it is occurring, collection and analysis of data, and identification of possible reinforcement subject to the demonstration of socially appropriate behaviour (Baer et al., 1968). ABA is about understanding and improving behaviour (Cooper et al., 2014). | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/02%3A_Observe_and_reflect/02.2%3A_Behaviourism_and_Applied_Behaviour_Analysis.txt |
Key factors and principles
When using a positive behaviour support (PBS) approach to addressing challenging behaviour, key factors and principles are drawn from ABA. The first principle is that behaviour is learned as a result of reinforcement. Reinforcement generally is perceived to originate in the environment rather than within the individual. If behaviour is learned, then problem behaviour can be changed through teaching and learning.
“The environment affects behaviour in predictable ways” (Scott, Anderson & Alter, 2012, p. 17).
Understanding that behaviour is the result of an interaction between it and the environment, is a key principle of a positive behaviour support approach. Within the environment some examples of influence on behaviour could be the space itself, the people in it, the expectations or the task. If a behaviour is followed by a positive or favourable outcome, then it is more likely to keep happening or occur again. Therefore, inappropriate student behaviour occurs because the consequences of the behaviour are reinforcing. To reduce the behaviour, a teacher must identify these consequences and alter them. This leads to the next important principle, behaviour can be changed.
The conditions surrounding the behaviour are changed to reduce or stop the undesirable behaviour and increase appropriate behaviour. The focus is upon determining the antecedents or events that trigger the behaviour, alter the consequences maintaining the behaviour and reinforce the desired behaviours. By scrutinising the environment, looking for patterns and influences on the behaviour, the function or purpose of the behaviour can be determined, and behaviour interventions can be developed to match the function, teach and reinforce new (replacement) behaviours.
Think back to earlier in the chapter when you considered your own beliefs regarding the causes of disruptive student behaviour. Can you see that the belief that the causes of misbehaviour lie within the student are in direct contrast to the underlying ABA belief that observable behaviour is an important source of behaviour change? From a PBS perspective, the blame for the disruptive behaviour is not levelled at the individual, the family, the home life or the disability rather, it is directed at the environment and what is happening there.
Considering disruptive student behaviour from the point of view of its relationship to the environment (a behaviourist view) means that the teacher is more likely to persist in trying to discover the function of the behaviour and how to change the environment to prevent, teach and reinforce the desired student behaviour. So how can teachers do this? Teachers can embrace a positive behaviour support mindset, employing ABA methods and interventions to help reduce disruptive student behaviour. Proactive and preventative, a positive behaviour support framework uses the core principles of applied behaviour analysis to promote student discipline at the whole school, small group and individual levels (Bambara, Janney & Snell, 2015). Kincaid (2016, p. 71) states that “PBS relies on strategies that are respectful of a person’s dignity and overall well-being and that are drawn primarily from behavioral, educational, and social sciences,” in addition to other evidence-based procedures. Kincaid (2016, p. 71) notes that PBS may be applied at an individual level and a larger level (e.g., families, classrooms, schools, social service programs, and facilities).
There is an emphasis on proactive, preventative behaviour of staff and students through altering the environment and explicitly teaching students the behaviour expectations and any skills they may need to effectively participate and achieve their best at school. Using the principles of applied behaviour analysis, PBS expands upon these principles by providing a multi-tiered (tier one, tier two and tier three) structure that caters for all students across different degrees of support for behaviour.
An introduction to PBS [6 min 37 sec]
Watch this which introduces the key elements of positive behaviour support.
Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Explore this to learn more about positive behavioural interventions and supports (PBIS).
Thinking functionally to support positive behaviour
Thinking functionally about disruptive student behaviour is an important objective of positive behaviour support focussed on changing the conditions surrounding the behaviour to reduce or stop the undesirable behaviour and increase appropriate behaviour. Scrutinising the environment is key to determining why the behaviour is happening. Working from this perspective shifts the focus from something being wrong with the student (within the child that is not observable) to the actual behaviour. The focus is upon determining the antecedents or events that trigger the behaviour, altering the consequences maintaining the behaviour and reinforcing the desired behaviours. Determining the function of the disruptive behaviour is at the core of any intervention developed from a behavioural perspective. From this behaviourist perspective, there are only two functions to peoples’ behaviour, to access/get a thing, person or event or sensory stimulation (these are examples of positive reinforcement) to avoid/escape something, a
person or event or sensory stimulation (these are examples of negative reinforcement).
Sensory regulation/sensory stimulation is often outlined in the literature as a third function of behaviour. This is just another way of explaining the functional outcomes of behaviour where sensory stimulation is viewed as a separate category of a possible function. For our purposes here, we will remain focused on the two primary functions of access and escape. “Reinforcement always increases a behaviour, but it does so in two different ways” (Scott et al., 2012, p. 24) – positively and negatively. When a student ‘gets/accesses’ something as a result of their behaviour this is positive reinforcement. For example, during reading time Julie pushes another child and her peers laugh, she gets peer attention. Something is added to the behaviour of pushing – peer attention, so this is positive reinforcement. When the behaviour serves the purpose to escape or avoid something, this is called negative reinforcement. If Julie was sent to ‘buddy class’ when she pushed the other child, and she kept pushing the other child, we would say that the pushing behaviour (that was still happening) was negatively reinforced – Julie escaped/avoided reading groups (she pushed and was sent to buddy class).
When we are thinking functionally about behaviour the process of gathering and analysing the data is to help us to determine and understand the purpose of the challenging behaviour. We want to find out the function or what is in it for the student? Behaviour is communication. It is important to remember that challenging behaviour will often serve different functions for the student depending on the context, so looking closely at the behaviour within the context in which it happens is vital. Think for a minute about your own behaviour and how it changes depending on the context. How do you behave in the context of your own home, in your car when driving, or at a sporting event? Does your ‘teacher behaviour’ look and sound like your ‘socialising’ behaviour? Behaviour is related to the particular environment in which it happens.
Toxic stress: a story [8 min 38 sec]
This provides a snapshot of behaviour management approaches across time. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/02%3A_Observe_and_reflect/02.3%3A_Positive_Behaviour_Support.txt |
Observing Behaviour = ABC
Thinking functionally about disruptive student behaviour assumes that behaviour is maintained by something in the environment where the behaviour is happening. To find out why or the function, we examine the antecedents, the behaviour and the consequences. That is, we watch or observe the behaviour directly and document the A, B and C of that disruptive behaviour.
Antecedent – what happens before the behaviour?
Behaviour – the actual behaviour that was observed
Consequence – what happens after the behaviour?
Even though the sequence says A, B then C – always start with the behaviour which is described in observable and measurable terms. If the behaviour is not described in a manner that tells others exactly what it looks like and sounds like, it is not only difficult to accurately observe and measure but determining the appropriate intervention, is made problematic. The behaviour is the actual behaviour that was demonstrated by the student. What does the behaviour look like in observable and measurable terms? Challenging behaviour needs to be explicitly described so that a visitor to the school would be able to accurately identify the behaviour. How we define behaviour guides how we measure it. Which of the following are observable and measurable?
She knocks her book the floor and tells adults ‘No!” He is anxious She interrupts people when
they are talking by
constantly tapping them
He leaves the
room without
permission
He pushes,
punches and
bites people
She daydreams a lot He hums and calls out
swear words
He lacks
motivation
She is
disrespectful
She hits her peers He has ADHD She rocks on her
chair, taps her
feet
The antecedent is what happened just before the behaviour did. It is sometimes called the fast trigger. While, the antecedent is often described as all the happenings within the context in which the behaviour occurs, it can be more helpful to think of the antecedent as what happens immediately before the behaviour. Other factors which also occur before the behaviour but over which the teacher often has little control, for example tiredness, hunger, fighting at home, removal from the family, are termed setting events. Awareness of these factors is important because while they are not an immediate trigger, they can significantly influence student behaviour. Some behaviourists choose to not single out the setting events from other antecedents (Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, & Lane, 2007) but, we will consider them separately and the antecedent recorded on the ABC form will be what happened immediately before the actual behaviour.
The consequence is what happens after the behaviour does. What is it that the adults say or do? It is the consequence that will make the behaviour more or less likely to occur again. If the consequence encourages the behaviour to be repeated, it is called a reinforcer. If the consequence reduces the likelihood the behaviour will happen again, it is called a punisher. It is unfortunate that the term consequence is often used only in reference to punishment.
The table below shows the observable and measurable behaviours, highlighted in blue.
She knocks her book the floor and tells adults ‘No!” He is anxious She interrupts people when they are talking by constantly tapping them He leaves the
room without
permission
He pushes,
punches and
bites people
She daydreams a lot He hums and calls out
swear words
He lacks
motivation
She is
disrespectful
She hits her peers He has ADHD She rocks on her chair, taps her feet
Now that you understand the principles of a behaviourist approach and the importance of ABC for data collection, put on your trauma glasses and consider carefully the child affected by trauma. How can you apply this functional knowledge with thoughtfulness and caring consideration? You know that the child or young person is not “bad” or deliberately setting out to disrupt the learning and teaching and make your life difficult but is responding in a manner that reflects their current level of ability to cope. Their focus is on survival and they respond accordingly. They have no choice. It is up to the teacher to work out how best to guide and support the child whose trauma-driven behaviour is constantly sabotaging their ability to behave in a prosocial manner and successfully engage in learning.
Armed with knowledge about the impact of trauma on the brain, development, learning and behaviour, planning for the individual child demonstrating trauma-driven behaviour is a collaboration with many significant adults (e.g. family members, community workers, specialist personnel) to ensure all voices are heard and considered. Throughout the information and data collection process, the teacher, other educators and staff will come to know the child well. Taking a strengths-based approach underpins this work where the focus is on the capabilities, interests and unique strengths of the child. How to nurture a sense of safety and stability within the context of a trusting relationship, is the goal.
Identifying ABC
Read the following description and see if you can identify the antecedent, the behaviour and the consequence. Always start with the behaviour first, then the antecedent and then the consequence.
Lucy swears at her teacher, stands up, tips over her chair, knocks her book to the floor and sits outside the classroom at the top of the stairs whenever asked to begin handwriting. Lucy is escorted from the stairs to the office by a member of the administration team.
On a blank piece of paper rule three columns, one each for antecedents, behaviour and consequences. Take a moment to think of a disruptive student you have observed. Write down two of the disruptive behaviours demonstrated by the student in the behaviour column in observable and measurable terms. Now think back, what was the antecedent for each. Write those against each behaviour and what did the adults do after the behaviour happened? In other words, what were the consequences for each behaviour?
Your answer should look something like this:
Here are two more examples of problematic behaviours with the antecedent and consequence. Make an effort to do your own.
Remember Molly?
Here is a reminder from the beginning of the chapter with greater detail:
The frantic phone call to the office came requesting immediate assistance in the Year one classroom. The teacher had instructed Molly to begin her handwriting task. Molly was holding the class to ransom (yet again) and the teacher was in the process of evacuation. Molly had taken the box of chalk from the shelf beneath the blackboard, had turned the ceiling fans up to the highest speed, climbed onto the desk and had begun to systematically throw handfuls of chalk into the spinning blades. Chalk ricocheted around the classroom like bullets from a machine gun and chaos reigned supreme. As a result, Molly is exited from the classroom by the deputy principal and taken to the office. This year, Molly’s disruptive behaviour had escalated to being serious and unsafe.
Draw up three boxes (see below) and write down the ABC of Molly’s behaviour. Start with the behaviour, then the antecedent and then the consequence.
Did you have what is in the example below or something similar?
What could the function of Molly’s behaviour be? Is it to access/get or avoid/get away?
Without data, it is impossible to know what the function of Molly’s disruptive behaviour is. After direct observations to collect ABC data and discussions with the teacher, it was concluded that the function of Molly’s behaviour was most likely to get adult attention and more specifically, get the attention of the deputy principal – and it worked! What better way to have the function met than to behave in an unsafe and dangerous fashion which automatically draws immediate attention from the school administration staff?
Data collection associated with functional thinking results in a hypothesis or behaviour statement which is our ‘best guess’ as to why the behaviour is happening. A behaviour support plan is then written and is the plan of intervention based on the data collected not based on heresay and the ‘I reckon’ opinions of others. This behaviour support plan details the hypothesis statement (what the behaviour looks like and why we think it is happening), behaviour goals, academic goals and strategies to prevent the behaviour from occurring, to teach the replacement behaviours (the appropriate way for the child to get what they want – feeding the function) and to reinforce the appropriate behaviour.
At six years of age Molly had a very clear picture of the function of her behaviour and she articulated it clearly as illustrated in the example incident that follows. In response to the teacher’s call for help, the Deputy Principal had arrived at the classroom door and Molly seeing her there said: “I knew you would come. You have to come and get me if I am dangerous. It’s your job!” So where to now with intervention for Molly? The function of Molly’s behaviour needs to be fed. In other words, she has to be taught how to achieve the same function (to access adult attention) in an acceptable way. How could that be done? How could Molly access the attention she needs from the deputy principal in a manner that is appropriate and acceptable for the context and all people involved?
Here is a small part of a completed ABC example for Molly:
Follow the red arrow in this above example and notice how the consequence becomes the antecedent or trigger for the next behaviour. This is often (not always) the case. Completing an ABC requires that the disruptive behaviour is observed directly, that is that the observer (the teacher, teacher aide, behaviour support teacher or whomever) is watching the student demonstrate the disruptive behaviour within the environment that it is occurring. So, if the behaviour happens during Maths time in the classroom that is when and where the behaviour is observed.
Competing pathways
To this point you have closely observed and reflected on the relationship between the behaviour and the environment using the ABC. What happened immediately before the behaviour (the antecedent- A), the behaviour in observable and measurable terms (the behaviour – B) and carefully assessed what happened immediately after the behaviour by asking what did the adults do? (consequences – C). Remember, the reason the ABC was conducted was because the disruptive behaviour that was occurring needed to be changed because it was not acceptable. Changing behaviour requires a behaviour intervention plan or behaviour support plan that guides the implementation of the intervention strategies documented within it. The behaviour support plan is developed based on the competing pathway (three pathways). The ABC information or data is now used to fill out what is called the competing pathway which is a critical component of any behaviour support plan. A competing pathway looks like this (the questions are prompts for the information that is to go into each box). This helps us to focus our thinking, functionally.
Here is a completed example from the literature, for student Kelly (Loman, Strickland-Cohen, Borgmeier & Horner, 2010):
Note how the replacement behaviour allows Kelly to still achieve the same function. In this case this means an acceptable way for Kelly to access peer attention. So rather than use the problem behaviours of calling out, making noises, pulling faces etc. she is taught to raise her hand and ask permission to work with a peer. New replacement behaviour, same function. Unless the replacement behaviour serves the same function, the child will not use it because there is ‘nothing in it for them’. The disruptive behaviour gets them what they need so they will keep using it therefore the replacement behaviour must be worth their while and to be so, it must fill the same function for them as the disruptive behaviour does.
When deciding on a replacement behaviour we need to think about the following: What is it that (in the short-term) the child should be doing instead of the problem behaviour? What are all the other students doing that is appropriate to the task? What does the child need to do to access or escape and get what they need? We need to teach and reinforce it.
From competing pathways to support planning
With the competing pathway completed, now the behaviour support plan needs to be developed. The behaviour support plan will detail the strategies to prevent the problem behaviour, to teach the replacement behaviour and to reinforce the behaviours (replacement and desired behaviour). The plan also details how the adults involved need to respond. This is the way the behaviour support plan is usually set out with the strategies for each element of the competing pathway listed below each element.
This template is an easy to fill out behaviour support plan template. It clearly shows the alignment between the information in the A (antecedent), B (problem behaviour) and C (consequence) boxes and the intervention strategies corresponding to each. Antecedent strategies prevent, replacement behaviours are taught through the teach strategies and consequence strategies reinforce the replacement and desired behaviour.
Reflective questions
1. Name three commonly held beliefs of causes of disruptive behaviour.
2. Who is famous for operant conditioning?
3. Behaviour is learned, lawful and _________________.
4. Explain the importance of the ABCs of behaviour. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/02%3A_Observe_and_reflect/02.4%3A_Observing_behaviour.txt |
The two functions of challenging student behaviour from a behaviourist perspective are to get something (a person, object, activity or sensory situation) or to escape or to get away (from a person, activity, object or sensory situation). Closely observe and reflect on the relationship between the behaviour and the environment using the ABC. What happened immediately before the behaviour (the antecedent- A), describe the behaviour in observable and measurable terms (the behaviour – B) and carefully assess what happened immediately after the behaviour asking what did the adults do? (consequences – C). This information is then used to inform our best guess (hypothesis) as to what the purpose or function of the behaviour could be. At the same time, the impact that trauma has on the child and their difficulty to learn and behave in an appropriate manner, is clearly understood.
When behaviour is trauma-driven, the child is in survival mode and they do not know “why” they are responding in the way they are. Asking the child affected by trauma, why they did what they did, is unreasonable and most children will not be able to articulate the reason or have any understanding of why. Asking the child “why” serves very little, if any purpose other than to perhaps retraumatise, increasing feelings of shame and unworthiness. What these children need, is for the adults to work out the “why” to guide the child and help them learn how to cope with being in a learning environment and demonstrate prosocial behaviours.
When hypothesising about the possible function of the challenging behaviour, knowledge of attachment, skills deficits and regulation coping are drawn upon to better inform behaviour interventions for those children who may have experienced trauma. The diagram below illustrates the relationship between the key elements of both perspectives (education and psychology) when considering how to give our best effort to help the children with trauma experience success at school.
It is important to remember that all children with trauma are individuals who react in very different ways and many will not demonstrate highly disruptive behaviour. However, many do, and it is critical that teachers look at any challenging behaviour as behaviour that possibly could be trauma-based.
Be mindful of teacher behaviour and strategies that are commonplace for example sending a child to time-out, to consider their behaviour, may trigger retraumatisation for the child affected by trauma. Being ‘sent away’ is likely to stir up feelings of abandonment and isolation and reinforce the child’s view that they are not worthy of adult love and care.
When faced with challenging student behaviour, teachers with an understanding of both a behavioural and psychological perspective, know that functioning in a school situation is an extremely ‘big ask’ for some children with trauma histories. The fact that these children show up to school at all, is testament to their resilience and strength. Tread carefully and considerately and walk beside them. Be there. Be kind.
Interview with Tom Brunzell [41 min]
Listen to the with Tom from Berry Street in Melbourne on positive psychology for traumatised children.
Through Our Eyes: Children, Violence and Trauma [7 mins 53 secs]
This discusses how violence and trauma affect children, including the serious and long-lasting consequences for their physical and mental health; signs that a child may be exposed to violence or trauma; and the staggering cost of child maltreatment to families, communities, and the nation.
Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/02%3A_Observe_and_reflect/02.5%3A_A_dual_perspective.txt |
What we have learned about the process of brain development helps us understand more about the roles of both genetics and the environment play in our development. It appears that genetics predispose us to develop in certain ways, but our experiences, including our interactions with other people, have a significant impact on how our predispositions are expressed. Research now shows that many capacities thought to be fixed at birth are actually dependent on a sequence of experiences combined with heredity. Both factors are essential for optimum development of the human brain (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000).
Early brain development
The raw material of the brain is the nerve cell, called the neuron. During fetal development, neurons are created and migrate to form the various parts of the brain. As neurons migrate, they also differentiate, or specialise, to govern specific functions in the body in response to chemical signals (Perry, 2002). This process of development occurs sequentially from the ‘bottom up,’ that is, from areas of the brain controlling the most primitive functions of the body (e.g., heart rate, breathing) to the most sophisticated functions (e.g., complex thought) (Perry, 2000). The first areas of the brain to fully develop are the brainstem and midbrain; they govern the bodily functions necessary for life, called the autonomic functions. At birth, these lower portions of the nervous system are very well developed, whereas the higher regions (the limbic system and cerebral cortex) are still rather primitive. Higher function brain regions involved in regulating emotions, language, and abstract thought grow rapidly in the first three years of life (Zero to Three, 2012).
Brain development in childhood
Brain development or learning, is actually the process of creating, strengthening, and discarding connections among the neurons. These connections are called synapses. Synapses organise the brain by forming pathways that connect the parts of the brain governing everything we do—from breathing and sleeping to thinking and feeling. This is the essence of postnatal brain development, because at birth, very few synapses have been formed. The synapses present at birth are primarily those that govern our bodily functions such as heart rate, breathing, eating, and sleeping. The development of synapses occurs at an astounding rate during a child’s early years in response to that child’s experiences. At its peak, the cerebral cortex of a healthy toddler may create two million synapses per second (Zero to Three, 2012). By the time children are two years old, their brains have approximately 100 trillion synapses, many more than they will ever need. Based on the child’s experiences, some synapses are strengthened and remain intact, but many are gradually discarded. This process of synapse elimination—or pruning—is a normal part of development (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). By the time children reach adolescence, about half of their synapses have been discarded, leaving the number they will have for most of the rest of their lives.
Another important process that takes place in the developing brain is myelination. Myelin is the white fatty tissue that forms a sheath to insulate mature brain cells, thus ensuring clear transmission of neurotransmitters across synapses. Young children process information slowly because their brain cells lack the myelin necessary for fast, clear nerve impulse transmission (Zero to Three, 2012). Like other neuronal growth processes, myelination begins in the primary motor and sensory areas (the brain-stem and cortex) and gradually progresses to the higher-order regions that control thought, memories, and feelings. Also, like other neuronal growth processes, a child’s experiences affect the rate and growth of myelination, which continues into young adulthood (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). By three years of age, a baby’s brain has reached almost 90% of its adult size. The growth in each region of the brain largely depends on receiving stimulation, which spurs activity in that region. This stimulation provides the foundation for learning.
Brain Development in Adolescence
Brain imaging technologies have provided evidence of the brain continuing to grow and develop into young adulthood – with current research pointing to the brain continuing grow and develop into the thirties (Lebel & Beaulieu, 2011). Right before puberty, adolescent brains experience a growth spurt that occurs mainly in the frontal lobe, which is the area that governs planning, impulse control, and reasoning. During the teenage years, the brain goes through a process of pruning synapses—somewhat like the infant and toddler brain— and also sees an increase in white matter and changes to neurotransmitter systems (Konrad, Firk, & Uhlhaas, 2013).
As the teenager grows into a young adult, the brain develops more myelin to insulate the nerve fibres and speed neural processing, and this myelination occurs last in the frontal lobe. Brain imaging comparisons between the brains of teenagers and the brains of young adults have shown that most of the brain areas were the same—that is, the teenage brain had reached maturity in the areas that govern such abilities as speech and sensory capabilities. The major difference was the immaturity of the teenage brain in the frontal lobe and in the myelination of that area (National Institute of Mental Health, 2001). Normal puberty and adolescence lead to the maturation of a physical body, but the brain lags behind in development, especially in the areas that allow teenagers to reason and think logically. Most teenagers act impulsively at times, using a lower area of their brains—their ‘gut reaction’—because their frontal lobes are not yet mature. Impulsive behaviour, poor decisions, and increased risk-taking are all part of the normal teenage experience. Given the dynamic nature of brain development in the teenage years, decision making during this developmental stage appears to be heavily influenced by heightened emotions, with limitations in the capacity for cognitive processes linked to the prefrontal cortex (Chamberlain, 2009).
Plasticity—The Influence of Environment
Researchers have coined the term ‘plasticity’ to describe the changes in the brain in response to changes in the environment, and its related patterns of activation in the brain (Perry, 2006). The rate and types of changes in neuronal pathways has been found to be different in each stage of development (Perry, 2006). For example, the lower parts of the brain – controlling basic functions such as breathing and heart rate – have been found to be less flexible, or plastic, than the higher functioning cortex, that control higher leel cognitions. While the plasticity of the areas of brain like prefrontal cortex decreases as a child gets older, some degree of plasticity remains in the brain (Perry, 2006). Research continues to inform our understanding of lifelong learning, coping and resilience in the face of adverse events. The developing brain’s ongoing adaptations are the result of both genetics and experience. Our brains prepare us to expect certain experiences by forming the pathways needed to respond to those experiences. For example, our brains are ‘wired’ to respond to the sound of speech; when babies hear people speaking, the neural systems in their brains responsible for speech and language receive the necessary stimulation to organise and function (Perry, 2006).
The activation of appropriate pathways in development has been found to be important. For example, research has found that the more babies are exposed to lanauage in the form of caregivers and adults speaking, the stronger their neural pathways related to speech and language (ref). This principle of neurodevelopment has been referred to as ‘use it or lose it’ (Shore, 2015) – where through processes of creating, strengthening, and discarding synapses that our brains adapt to the challanges and opportunities of their developmental environment. Regardless, all children need stimulation and nurturance for healthy development. When these are lacking in cases of maltreatment or deprivation, the child’s brain development may be impacted. The brain’s plasticity to its environment means that it changes in response to a negative environment just as readily as it will adapt to a positive one.
Regardless of the general environment, though, all children need stimulation and nurturance for healthy development. If these are lacking (e.g., if a child’s caretakers are indifferent, hostile, depressed, or cognitively impaired), the child’s brain development may be impaired. Because the brain adapts to its environment, it will adapt to a negative environment just as readily as it will adapt to a positive one.
Sensitive Periods
Current research on brain development suggests that there are sensitive periods for development of certain capabilities. These are referred to as ‘windows of proximal development’ – a time in the developmental process when certain parts of the brain may be most susceptible to particular experiences (Siegal, 2015). Animal studies have shed light on sensitive periods, showing, for example, that animals that are artificially blinded during the sensitive period for developing vision may never develop the capability to see, even if the blinding mechanism is later removed.
It is more difficult to study human sensitive periods, but we know that, if certain synapses and neuronal pathways are not repeatedly activated, they may be discarded, and their capabilities may diminish. For example, infants have a genetic predisposition to form strong attachments to their primary caregivers, but they may not be able to achieve strong attachments, or trusting, durable bonds if they are in a severely neglectful situation with little one-on-one caregiver contact. Children from Romanian institutions who had been severely neglected had a much better attachment response if they were placed in foster care—and thus received more stable parenting—before they were 24 months old (Smyke, Zeanah, Fox, Nelson, & Guthrie, 2010). This indicates that there is a sensitive period for attachment, but it is likely that there is a general sensitive period rather than a true cut-off point for recovery (Zeanah, Gunnar, McCall, Kreppner, & Fox, 2011).
While sensitive periods exist for development and learning, we also know that the plasticity of the brain often allows children to recover from missing certain experiences. Both children and adults may be able to make up for missed experiences later in life, but it is likely to be more difficult. This is especially true if a young child was deprived of certain stimulation, which resulted in the pruning of synapses (neuronal connections) relevant to that stimulation and the loss of neuronal pathways. As children progress through each developmental stage, they will learn and master each step more easily if their brains have built an efficient network of pathways to support optimal functioning.
Memories
The organising framework for children’s development is based on the creation of memories. When repeated experiences strengthen a neuronal pathway, the pathway becomes encoded, and it eventually becomes a memory. Children learn to put one foot in front of the other to walk. They learn words to express themselves. And they learn that a smile usually brings a smile in return. At
some point, they no longer have to think much about these processes—their brains manage these experiences with little effort because the memories that have been created allow for a smooth, efficient flow of information.
The creation of memories is part of our adaptation to our environment. Our brains attempt to understand the world around us and fashion our interactions with that world in a way that promotes our survival and, hopefully, our growth, but if the early environment is abusive or neglectful, our brains may create memories of these experiences that adversely colour our view of the world throughout our life.
Babies are born with the capacity for implicit memory, which means that they can perceive their environment and recall it in certain unconscious ways (Applegate & Shapiro, 2005). For instance, they recognise their mother’s voice from an unconscious memory. These early implicit memories may have a significant impact on a child’s subsequent attachment relationships. In contrast, explicit memory, which develops around age two, refers to conscious memories and is tied to language development. Explicit memory allows children to talk about themselves in the past and future or in different places or circumstances through the process of conscious recollection
(Applegate & Shapiro, 2005).
Sometimes, children who have been abused or suffered other trauma may not retain or be able to access explicit memories of their experiences. However, they may retain implicit memories of the physical or emotional sensations, and these implicit memories may produce flashbacks, nightmares, or other uncontrollable reactions (Applegate & Shapiro, 2005). This may be the case with young children or infants who suffer abuse or neglect.
Responding to Stress
We all experience different types of stress throughout our lives. The type of stress and the timing of that stress determine whether and how there is an impact on the brain. The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2014) outlines three classifications of stress:
• Positive stress is moderate, brief, and generally a normal part of life (e.g., entering a new child care setting). Learning to adjust to this type of stress is an essential component of healthy development.
• Tolerable stress includes events that have the potential to alter the developing brain negatively, but which occur infrequently and give the brain time to recover (e.g., the death of a loved one).
• Toxic stress includes strong, frequent, and prolonged activation of the body’s stress response system (e.g., chronic neglect).
Healthy responses to typical life stressors (i.e., positive and tolerable stress events) are complex and may change depending on individual and environmental characteristics, such as genetics, the presence of a sensitive and responsive caregiver, and past experiences. A healthy stress response involves a variety of hormone and neurochemical systems throughout the body, including the sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system, which produces adrenaline, and the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, which produces cortisol (National Council on the Developing Child, 2014). Increases in adrenaline help the body engage energy stores and alter blood flow. Increases in cortisol also help the body engage energy stores and also can enhance certain types of memory and activate immune responses. In a healthy stress response, the hormonal levels will return to normal after the stressful experience has passed.
Please note that the above information on the three types of stress is reproduced with permission from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2014). Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain (Working Paper 3). Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/r...rking_papers/w p3/.Additional reproduction of this information is not permitted without prior permission from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/03%3A_Prevent_and_contain/03.1%3A_How_the_brain_develops.txt |
Just as positive experiences can assist with healthy brain development, children’s experiences with childhood trauma or other forms of toxic stress, such as domestic violence or disasters, can negatively affect brain development. This includes changes to the structure and chemical activity of the brain (e.g., decreased size or connectivity in some parts of the brain) and in the emotional and behavioural functioning of the child (e.g., over-sensitivity to stressful situations). For example, healthy brain development includes situations in which babies’ babbles, gestures, or cries bring reliable, appropriate reactions from their caregivers.
These caregiver-child interactions—sometimes referred to as ‘serve and return’— strengthen babies’ neuronal pathways regarding social interactions and how to get their needs met, both physically and emotionally. If children live in a chaotic or threatening world, one in which their caregivers respond with abuse or chronically provide no response, their brains may become hyperalert for danger or not fully develop. These neuronal pathways that are developed and strengthened under negative conditions prepare children to cope in that negative environment, and their ability to respond to nurturing and kindness may be impaired (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). The specific effects of maltreatment may depend on such factors as the age of the child at the time of the maltreatment, whether the maltreatment was a one-time incident or chronic, the identity of the abuser (e.g., parent or other adult), whether the child had a dependable nurturing individual in his or her life, the type and severity of the maltreatment, the intervention, how long the maltreatment lasted, and other individual and environmental characteristics.
Effects of Childhood trauma on Brain Structure and Activity
Toxic stress, including child maltreatment, can have a variety of negative effects on children’s brains:
Hippocampus: Adults who were maltreated may have reduced volume in the hippocampus, which is central to learning and memory (McCrory et al., 2010; Wilson, Hansen, & Li, 2011). Toxic stress also can reduce the hippocampus’s capacity to bring cortisol levels back to normal after a stressful event has occurred (Shonkoff, 2012).
Corpus callosum: The corpus callosum is the part of the brain chiefly responsible for interhemispheric communication and other vital processes, such as arousal, emotion, higher cognitive abilities. Preliminary evidence suggests that maltreated children and adolescents have decreased volume in the corpus callosum compared to non-maltreated counterparts (e.g., (McCrory et al., 2010; Wilson, Hansen, & Li, 2011).
Cerebellum: The cerebellum has been identified as being involved in the coordination of motor movements. Similar to the corpus callosum, the volume of the cerebellum has been found decreased when children have been exposed to maltreatment (McCrory et al., 2010).
Prefrontal cortex: Some studies on adolescents and adults who were severely neglected as children indicate they have a smaller prefrontal cortex, which is critical to behaviour, cognition, and emotion regulation (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2012), but other studies show no differences (McCrory et al., 2010).Physically abused children also may have reduced volume in the orbitofrontal cortex, a part of the prefrontal cortex that is central to emotion and social regulation (Hanson et al., 2010).
Amygdala: Although most studies have found that amygdala volume is not affected by maltreatment, abuse and neglect can cause overactivity in that area of the brain, which helps determine whether a stimulus is threatening and trigger emotional responses (National
Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010; Shonkoff, 2012).
Cortisol levels: Many maltreated children, both in institutional and family settings, and especially those who experienced severe neglect, tend to have lower than normal morning cortisol levels coupled with flatter release levels throughout the day (Bruce, Fisher, Pears, & Levine, 2009; National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2012). Typically, children have a sharp increase in cortisol in the morning followed by a steady decrease throughout the day. On the other hand, children in foster care who experienced severe emotional maltreatment had higher than normal morning cortisol levels. These results may be due to the body reacting differently to different stressors. Abnormal cortisol levels can have many negative effects. Lower cortisol levels can lead to decreased energy resources, which could affect learning and socialisation; externalising disorders; and increased vulnerability to autoimmune disorders (Bruce, Fisher, Pears, & Levine, 2009). Higher cortisol levels could harm cognitive processes, subdue immune and inflammatory reactions, or heighten the risk for affective disorders.
Other: Children who experienced severe neglect early in life while in institutional settings often have decreased electrical activity in their brains, decreased brain metabolism, and poorer connections between areas of the brain that are key to integrating complex information (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2012). These children also may continue to have abnormal patterns of adrenaline activity years after being adopted from institutional settings. Additionally, malnutrition, a form of neglect, can impair both brain development (e.g., slowing the growth of neurons, axons, and synapses) and function (e.g., neurotransmitter syntheses, the maintenance of brain tissue)(Prado & Dewey, 2012).
We also know that some cases of physical abuse can cause immediate direct structural damage to a child’s brain. For example, according to the National Centre on Shaken Baby Syndrome (n.d), shaking a child can destroy brain tissue and tear blood vessels. In the short-term, this can lead to seizures, loss of consciousness, or even death. In the long-term, shaking can damage the fragile brain so that a child develops a range of sensory impairments, as well as cognitive, learning, and behavioural disabilities. Other types of head injuries caused by physical abuse can have similar effects.
First impression of violence [14 min 43 sec]
Watch this to understand the impact of child maltreatment on brain development. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/03%3A_Prevent_and_contain/03.2%3A_Effects_of_childhood_trauma_on_brain_develo.txt |
The changes in brain structure and chemical activity caused by childhood trauma can have a wide variety of effects on children’s behavioural, social, and emotional functioning.
Persistent fear response
Chronic stress or repeated trauma can result in a number of biological reactions, including a persistent fear state (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). Chronic activation of the neuronal pathways involved in the fear response can create permanent memories that shape the child’s perception of and response to the environment. While this adaptation may be necessary for survival in a hostile world, it can become a way of life that is difficult to change, even if the environment improves.
Children with a persistent fear response may lose their ability to differentiate between danger and safety, and they may identify a threat in a non-threatening situation (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). For example, a child who has been maltreated may associate the fear caused by a specific person or place with similar people or places that pose no threat. This generalised fear response may be the foundation of future anxiety disorders, such as PTSD (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010).
Hyperarousal
When children are exposed to chronic, traumatic stress, their brains sensitise the pathways for the fear response and create memories that automatically trigger that response without conscious thought. This is called hyperarousal. These children may be highly sensitive to nonverbal cues, such as eye contact or a touch on the arm, and they may be more likely to misinterpret them (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). Consumed with a need to monitor nonverbal cues for threats, their brains are less able to interpret and respond to verbal cues, even when they are in an environment typically considered non-threatening, like a classroom. While these children are often labelled as learning disabled, the reality is that their brains have developed so that they are constantly on alert and are unable to achieve the relative calm necessary for learning (Child Trauma Academy, n.d.).
Increased Internalising Symptoms
Childhood trauma can lead to structural and chemical changes in the areas of the brain involved in emotion and stress regulation (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). For example, childhood trauma can affect connectivity between the amygdala and hippocampus, which can then initiate the development of anxiety and depression by late adolescence (Herringa et al., 2013). Additionally, early emotional abuse or severe deprivation may permanently alter the brain’s ability to use serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps produce feelings of wellbeing and emotional stability (Healy, 2004).
Diminished Executive Functioning
Executive functioning generally includes three components: working memory (being able to keep and use information over a short period of time), inhibitory control (filtering thoughts and impulses), and cognitive or mental flexibility (adjusting to changed demands, priorities, or perspectives) (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2011). The structural and neurochemical damage caused by maltreatment can create deficits in all areas of executive functioning, even at an early age (Hostinar, Stellern, Schaefer, Carlson, & Gunnar, 2012; National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2011). Executive functioning skills help people achieve academic and career success, bolster social interactions, and assist in everyday activities. The brain alterations caused by a toxic stress response can result in lower academic achievement, intellectual impairment, decreased IQ, and weakened ability to maintain attention (Wilson, 2011).
Delayed Developmental Milestones
Although neglect often is thought of as a failure to meet a child’s physical needs for food, shelter, and safety, neglect also can be a failure to meet a child’s cognitive, emotional, or social needs. For children to master developmental tasks in these areas, they need opportunities and encouragement from their caregivers. If this stimulation is lacking during children’s early years, the weak neuronal pathways that developed in expectation of these experiences may wither and die, and the children may not achieve the usual developmental milestones. For example, babies need to experience face-to-face baby talk and hear countless repetitions of sounds in order to build the brain circuitry that will enable them to start making sounds and eventually say words. If babies’ sounds are ignored repeatedly when they begin to babble at around six months, their language may be delayed. In fact, neglected children often do not show the rapid growth that normally occurs in language development at 18–24 months (Scannapieco, 2008). These types of delays may extend to all types of normal development for neglected children, including their cognitive-behavioural, socio-emotional, and physical development (Scannapieco, 2008).
Weakened Response to Positive Feedback
Children who have experienced trauma may be less responsive to positive stimuli than non-maltreated children. A study of young adults who had been maltreated found that they rated monetary rewards less positively than their peers and demonstrated a weaker response to reward cues in the basal ganglia areas of the brain responsible for reward processing (Dillon et al., 2009).
Complicated Social Interactions
Toxic stress can alter brain development in ways that make interaction with others more difficult. Children or youth with toxic stress may find it more challenging to navigate social situations and adapt to changing social contexts (Hanson et al., 2010). They may perceive threats in safe situations more frequently and react accordingly, and they may have more difficulty interacting with others (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010b). For example, a maltreated child may misinterpret a peer’s neutral facial expression as anger, which may cause the maltreated child to become aggressive or overly defensive toward the peer.
Repair of early trauma [11 min 17 sec]
Watch this video from Beacon House – a child trauma service from the United Kingdom – on how trauma affects the brain. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/03%3A_Prevent_and_contain/03.3%3A_Effects_of_childhood_trauma_on_behavioural_.txt |
The capacity of traumatised children and young people to learn is significantly compromised. Their neurobiology is stressed. Their relationships can feel unstable. Their emotional state is in flux. They find it difficult to stay calm or regain a state of calm if they feel distressed or perturbed. Change is perceived as dangerous. Their memory is under pressure. They are disconnected from themselves and time. Their behaviour rules them. New experiences and new information carry with them elements of threat and uncertainty.
Children and young people who have experienced toxic levels of stress and trauma find the demands of the school environment extremely challenging to navigate and benefit from. This is due to a range of factors. Firstly, toxic stress causes memory systems to degrade and fail. The more complex formed systems of memory are dissolved first. Without memory resources, learning is exceptionally difficult to consolidate.
Secondly, instead of following the natural rhythm which sees stress hormone level peaking in the morning and gradually wearing down during the afternoon and early evening, stress hormones in traumatised children can stay high constantly through the day. This contributes to limited attention span and difficulties with concentration. It also means that these children may experience eating and sleeping difficulties, which further impact on their capacity to engage positively with learning opportunities.
Thirdly, if trauma or stress occurs during the periods of time when the left hemisphere is more dominant in its maturation, then children and young people will experience difficulties with being able to process language, possibly leading to delays in language acquisition and comprehension. They are also more likely to experience difficulties with executing logic and sequences tasks. They will therefore find maths and problem-solving tasks particularly testing. They will find narrative based techniques complex and at times indecipherable. At sport, they will struggle to read the play and flow of a game. They will need additional support to meet these challenges.
Finally, traumatised children and young people find the constant interaction with others at school a source of ongoing stress. School environments are semi-structured. They allow for change without the need for preparation. In these contexts, traumatised children and young people spend their energy just surviving. There is little room left for much else. Through adopting trauma informed approaches that are sensitive and predictable in their implementation, schools can open up a space for traumatised children and young people to learn.
Thinking functionally – regulation coping
Children who are dysregulated and hyper-aroused cope by ‘getting’ access to sensorially soothing stimuli or objects or people who help them calm down. These kids may also ‘get away from’ distressing sensory stimuli within the class (e.g. noise, sound, yelling voices) from people who maybe making them feel angry or anxious e.g., peers or adults or they may be trying to get away from school work that makes them feel anxious or bad about themselves because it is too hard.
Hypoaroused students- underaroused students may misbehave in an effort to cope by ‘getting’ access to sensory stimulating objects (e.g. prohibited items), experiences (e.g., running out of school) environments (shopping centre, oval) or people (e.g. antisocial peers). These students may also ‘get away from’ objects, experiences or people they find boring or underarousing e.g., boring school work, teachers, curricula activities they are not interested in. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/03%3A_Prevent_and_contain/03.4%3A_Effects_of_childhood_trauma_on_academic_ach.txt |
Every individual has what is known as a ‘window of tolerance’. This means that there is a state of physical and emotional arousal that is tolerable and bearable, and when a child is within his or her window of tolerance, she or he can think, learn, love and relax. Most people can identify times when they have been outside the boundaries of their window of tolerance. At these times thinking or behaviour has become disrupted by intensified emotional and physiological arousal. Behaviours during these times are not normally chosen, and a lack of flexibility in responses is common. Either excessive rigidity or chaos are typical during these dysregulated episodes.
For traumatised children, small ‘every day’ things (like a parental request to brush their teeth, or a change of one classroom to the next) spirals them out of their window of tolerance. Traumatised children then swing into being hyper-aroused (overly aroused) or hypo-aroused (under aroused). You can expect traumatised children to be over or under aroused for most of the time and, in either state, their behaviour is out of their hands; they simply cannot control it no matter how hard they try. Their brain is not wired right, and they do not have the ability to switch off behaviour. They are in automatic survival mode and they cannot think, reason or rationalise when feeling under threat.
overshooting the window: Hyperarousal
Many traumatised young people have difficulty finding stillness. You might have noticed their darting eyes and a tendency to fiddle with something in their hands or how easily they startle. You might even notice yourself feeling a little stirred up or ill at ease when around them. You notice this because their internal system that is primed to act to protect itself is communicating with your nervous system. These young people are likely to engage in actions such as fight or flight in the face of threat. We can expect them to move toward or away when they feel unsafe. These protective actions are deeply ingrained in the most primitive part of their brains and they have likely been used successfully in the past by the young person to help keep themselves safe.
Children who are overly-aroused are in fight/flight. They run, hit, scream, shout, bite, spit, say hurtful words, avoid, squirm and disrupt. The brain says, “I’m in danger” and their body responds. Some physical cues suggesting too much arousal and an overshooting of the window of tolerance include:
• dilated pupils (to let light in to see better)
• lack of saliva making the mouth dry
• shallow breathing
• butterflies in the stomach
• faster heart beat
• excessive sweating
• tensed muscles (readied for action)
• agitated movement
• difficulty finding stillness.
Case example – Gary
The bell sounds ending lunchtime. The teacher rushes towards her year nine class having missed lunch to handle a yard duty incident. Distracted and rushed she moves into the classroom and the students flow in behind her. As she sorts out her teaching materials two students begin throwing around a cap that one student has forgotten to remove after lunch. The teacher raises her head to spy her student Gary moving around the room trying to get his cap back. The teacher recognises the cap as Gary’s because he is always wearing it in the yard. She sighs to herself as she recognises Gary as a student that is frequently unsettled and unproductive in her classroom. The class has barely begun, and he is already in the middle of the disruption she thinks to herself. The teacher moves forward and says firmly “I’ll have that cap” and picks it up off the floor before Gary can dive for it. She announces that she will be keeping it until the end of the class as he is not supposed to have his cap in the classroom anyway. Garry squeals “that isn’t fair”. His chest puffs up and his eyes look wildly at her. His left fist tightens and the veins in his reddened neck become prominent. His face shows he is mad and his body seethes with anger as his arm and shoulder muscles tense. Without consciously thinking the teacher takes a step back from him. He yells “I hate this f###ing school” towards her. She replies, frustration tightening in her body “Gary that is not appropriate language”. Gary lunges towards his cap in the teacher’s hand. The teacher drops the cap with a sudden surge of fear. Gary scrapes it up from the floor and takes off out of the classroom.
Undershooting the window: Hypoarousual
Some traumatised young people have endured extremely high levels of trauma. These young people might describe feeling empty and hollow at times of high stress. They might lack a sense of themselves at these times and describe not feeling anything in their body. At these times, they are moving into a state of protection that involves shutting down their system to protect themselves. These young people will not seek interaction with others and instead will retreat into themselves to endure the moment through a fortification of withdrawal.
Under-aroused children experience ‘system shut down’. They go numb, dead inside, feel nothing, zone out, feel empty, cannot connect and cannot think. They are like an empty shell. In both over and under arousal the child’s heart rate is going as fast as a soldier’s in battle. Their appetite is reduced, their tummy hurts, they are in a sweat, they shake, and they are hyper-vigilant to every tiny little detail in their environment. Some physical cues suggesting too little arousal and an undershooting of the window of tolerance include:
It can be helpful to remember that at the core of a trauma experience – is a loss of control. If children could stop their abuse, or the removal from their mother – then they would. Traumatised children become experts at regaining the very control that they lost. Controlling behaviours often cause big challenges for adults. While the child does not know it, they are so often trying to resolve their primal feeling of being helpless in a punishing world.
Case example – Miranda
A teacher pauses as he goes to write Miranda’s “Health and Human Development‟ semester report. For most students reports flowed easily for him but with the lack of submitted work and a large amount of absences he noticed next to Miranda’s name in his attendance book he found himself struggling to find words for her. When he thought about her, the picture in his mind was of a shrunken, head lowered young person, hunched down in her chair at the back of the classroom. He found her really hard to read and he realised he had never seen her really smile like other kids. He recalled a difficult moment that occurred some time ago when he called upon her to answer a question after showing a sex education video to the class and how response-less she had been, just vacantly sitting there, face blank and slumped down in her chair. He had quickly called upon another student as he had felt a sense of disconnect and awkwardness. He felt a bit exasperated when he thought about her and didn’t know what to do with her, how to engage her, nothing seemed to touch her. From what he understood Miranda was involved quite a bit with the school counsellor and he imagined she had a difficult home life. He wasn’t sure about the best way to teach Miranda, but he knew something needed to change as presently not much was getting through to her.
Operating within the window of tolerance
When within their window of tolerance, a young person’s physiological system is not stretched. They won’t feel signs of fight, flight, freeze or collapse as their systems sense that they are safe. In their window of tolerance social engagement is available to them. They are better equipped to listen to others around them, interact cooperatively and learn. Some cues suggesting young people are in their window of tolerance:
• Body feels calm, settled, neutral
• Able to be socially orientated with those around them
• Able to be reflective
• Able think clearly
• Able to set boundaries
• Able to self-regulate
• Able to be mindful
Recognising those that overshoot and undershoot the window of tolerance in the classroom
Effective educational programs work to keep everyone within the window of tolerance optimal arousal zone. It is often easier to recognise those young people in the classroom who overshoot their window of tolerance compared with those who undershoot. These are likely to be the students who show their stress by moving towards or away from you. This movement is highly visible as we are biologically primed as social beings to notice others threatened movements to then gauge our own safety. For overshooting students looking to find safety, this involves an active re-negotiation of relationships, while for those who undershoot their window, seeking safety often involves slipping away from others in a passive attempt to find invisibility for a time. These students do not demand a response from others. In fact, they are working hard to be overlooked and with 24 or so other students in the classroom it is easy to not spot them. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/03%3A_Prevent_and_contain/03.5%3A_The_window_of_tolerance.txt |
Thinking about introducing and implementing the ‘window of tolerance’ into a school context could be something to consider as a broader teaching group. Some questions to think about:
• Where and by whom would it be best introduced? E.g., In Homeroom or English or Math or to year level group gatherings?
• What are some ways it could be consistently supported across teaching contexts and classrooms?
• What are some ways it could be consistently supported and utilised by coordinators and principals? What are some ways students could be involved in its introduction and implementation?
Staying in the window of tolerance
Introduce the window of tolerance model to your students. Talk about examples of when someone might overshoot or undershoot the window paying attention to what that might feel like in the body and normalising that exceeding the window happens for us all at times.
• Represent the window of tolerance concept in a concrete way. For example, it might be drawn on the white board or each student might have an A4 laminated version of the window at their desks.
• Institute window ‘check ins’ throughout class time to gauge views about where the group is at in terms of the window.
• Acknowledge contextual events that may be influencing where everyone is at with regard to their window e.g., approaching exams or social function.
• Model reflecting upon where you are in relation to your window of tolerance. You don’t need to detail underlying reasons.
Managing escalation (Orange zone): working with young people who are frequently outside of their window of tolerance
As a first step in working with young people who frequently find themselves outside of their window of tolerance we should acknowledge the important role their protective response/s have played for them in the past. It is wonderful that when they really needed it their brain and body found a way to survive. We also need to help young people hold on to a sense of safety in their daily life as much as possible. It is only when they don’t sense safety that they will need their protective responses. With this in mind you might like to consider the following questions with the young person in a time of calmness:
• Where is the safest place for you at school?
• Where is the safest place for you in the world?
• Is there any way we can help you bring some of that place with you to school?
• Are there people at school that help you feel safe and okay? If so, who?
• Is there anyone you wish you could bring with you to school to help feel okay? (might be from family or a friend or might be a music or sport hero etc.) How might we help you bring something of this person with you to school?
The responses to these questions could contribute to a plan built with the young person to help them more readily hold on to a sense of safety in their every day. The more a young person feels safe at school the less likely it is they will exceed their window of tolerance. Some other ideas for working with young people outside of their window of tolerance:
• Learn more about the body signs of increasing stress for the young person and for yourself.
• Offer students opportunities that will increase their sense of control and power.
• Recalibrate your expectations for young person’s advancement- it may be that they aren’t able to grasp all of the course material and the focus may need to be a social/regulatory one for a time.
Managing hyperarousal (red zone): working with young people who overshoot their window of tolerance
Children and young people who overshoot their window of tolerance have highly primed nervous systems ready for action. Their systems require calming through activity that allows them to slow down. We need to aim to help these young people find regulating movement. Some ideas for use with these students in the classroom include:
• Intersperse directed group activity breaks- e.g., yawn and stretch breaks, everyone walk once around the room without lifting yourfeet off the floor or like there is no gravity in the room, initiate Mexican waves, stand up turn around and sit down again.
• Incorporate more kinaesthetic learning opportunities.
• Plan movement breaks with young person- e.g., walk around the oval or opportunity to run an errand or to be able to connect with safest place in school (wherever that is for the young person).
• Plan and practice an escape route with the young person should they need it.
• Work with colleagues and young person to create a plan for if they become activated and practice it.
Some traumatised children will have outbursts of extreme anger and aggression. It is always better to defuse such situations before they become extreme, through the use of the teaching practices described above. However, there are times when you as the teacher will have to respond to the child’s extreme affect dysregulation. At times the practices outlined above will not have been enough, or not enacted soon enough, or the child is experiencing such extremes of emotion they cannot manage themselves. For children who are prone to aggressive outbursts it is important to have a prepared plan of action, detailing who is to do what, when and where. The plan may include calling the parents/carers to help with the child. The child should be included in this planning, so that they know what will happen and have some choice if there is an outburst.
Establish safety
The immediate safety of the child, other students, teachers and staff needs to be ensured. When highly aroused and dysregulated, the child is not able to think clearly or to make good decisions. The child will also be terrified by their own lack of control, which heightens their emotions further. They will need help to calm down, and will not be able to respond to logical requests until they are calmer. For further information refer to the behaviour support policies within the department, service or organisation you are working in.
Maintain self-regulation
The best way to help the extremely dysregulated child is to remain calm and regulated yourself. Use a soothing tone to remind the child that you are helping them to keep safe by removing them to a quiet space where they can calm down. If you are frightened of the child, remove yourself and let someone else take action. Stay close to the child; keep talking; use your presence to help them calm. If the child’s outburst did frighten you, reflect on this later, as it may relate to your own experiences of trauma. Talk to someone about this so that you may be able to assist at another time.
Calm the child
The child may need the presence of a parent or carer in order to become fully calm, or may need some quiet time alone. Many children do better if someone is with them during this time, sitting quietly or talking quietly. Depending on the severity of the event the child may take some time to calm completely and may need to go home rather than return to the classroom.
Assist the child to understand what happened
The child will need time to talk through what happened, and will be better able to do this when fully calm. It is better to pursue this before enacting any necessary discipline. Comment on the child’s strong feelings, and how difficult such events are for everyone. Ask the child to reflect on what was happening for them before and during the event. Children will often respond with “I don’t know”. Say to the child, “It must be hard and confusing not to know how you feel when difficult things happen.” Provide the child with a narrative you have gathered for what happened, being sure to distinguish between what you know and what others have told you. Check that the child has heard and understood, listen to their story and agree to change the narrative if there is a mistake that does not contradict your observation or what you know to be true. Do not enter into an argument with the child about what happened. Children may not tell the truth about the event, or they may blame others for their own behaviour. Make sure the child has heard a comprehensive narrative about the event.
Consequences
Give a clear statement about the consequences. Try to make these natural and fitting for the level of aggression. If the child has broken anything they should fix it, or use their own pocket money to have it fixed, or contribute to having it fixed. If they have hurt someone, they will need to apologise and make restitution, by doing something for the person they have hurt. If school policy is to exclude the child for a period of time, this time should have a structure and a purpose that contributes to the child learning about safe behaviour.
Help the child to take responsibility
The child will often have trouble thinking about the social consequences of their behaviour, and may need help to take responsibility for the hurt they have caused and damage done. This can be a long process that will need therapeutic intervention to be complete. Encourage the child to reflect on the event, and the consequences that have arisen: for example, that other children may be frightened of them and not want to play with them. Help the child to re-integrate into the group, and help the other children to accept the child.
Speaking to other children
If other children have been involved in a challenging incident, they may need some debriefing or other attention. If a child has been hurt during a challenging incident, the child’s parents will be upset and want to know what the school is doing about the traumatised child. An injured child will, of course, need prompt attention, and may need support or counselling if badly affected by the incident. The child and their parents will need to be listened to attentively and given an explanation of the traumatised child’s behaviour that does not compromise confidentiality. They will also need an understanding of the school’s plan to manage such incidents in the future. Parents may need several meetings to feel thoroughly heard in these issues. Other children who have witnessed a challenging incident may need an opportunity to talk about the incident and be reassured that they will be safe in the future. A calm, reassuring and contained response by all school personnel is vital to the ongoing healthy functioning of the school.
Review the plan
After a challenging event, find some time to debrief with others involved, and then review the plan with other school personnel, support staff, parents and others, such as therapists and case managers. Did the plan work in the way it was intended? Could anything else have been done, or other support been used? Change the plan as necessary. Make sure the child knows of any changes to the plan.
Managing hypoarousal (green zone): working with young people who undershoot their window of tolerance
Young people who undershoot their window of tolerance have nervous systems that can begin to shut down when they lose a sense of safety. These are the students that can become disconnected from themselves and the classroom and require gentle engagement to re-enter their window of tolerance. Some ideas for use with these students in the classroom include introducing short, sharp activities that bring young people into the present moment with a focus on what is happening in the here and now. Some examples include:
• Everyone point to something that’s green.
• Tap your head and rub your belly at the same time, then swap.
• Find out what colour eyes the person next to you has.
• Push your big toes into the bottom of your shoes.
• Sensory stimulation.
• Everyone say three objects you can see, two things you can hear, and one thing you can smell.
• Incorporate kinaesthetic learning opportunities that have a sensory element to them i.e. activities that stimulate many of the senses.
• Create a space in the room for a sensory break e.g., cushion corner with textured cushions and calming posters and play calming music etc,.
The window of tolerance is a model we could all apply to our lives. It may be a handy guide to help us better understand the shifting states of the young people we work with, as well as an opportunity to be more reflective about our own windows. It can help us better understand how available our students are to learn at any given time and it can provide us some direction around what a young person might need to re-establish themselves safely within their window of tolerance.
Managing dissociation (blue Zone): working with young people who severely undershoot their window of tolerance
We all use dissociative responses in our everyday lives. Consider any time you focus on one particular task – this means you may not hear someone else speak or not engage in thinking about other topics. Children in particular use dissociation to facilitate their learning.
Abuse related trauma is caused by threatening and overwhelming experiences to children. As children develop, the experiences of trauma induce an avoidant response which becomes a template for engaging with their whole world. The brains of traumatised children move from adaptive survival responses to a generalised protective and defensive state. For children, it is more efficient to operate in this way. Trauma based dissociation stems from a child’s forced absorption with the overwhelming experience of violence and threat. The child is primarily focused on avoiding the pain, shame and hurt of the abuse and comes to develop unconscious, or sub-cortical, responses to try to achieve this. In this abuse related context, dissociation can be seen as the spectrum of strategies, both conscious but particularly sub-conscious, used to not know something.
Dissociative responses stem from the contradictions inherent in the desire to distance the abusive actions with the drive to connect with those who are supposed to care for and respond to the child’s needs. Because these actions are enabled in the lower subcortical or subconscious areas of the brain, children lack the capacity to evaluate and consequently regulate their responses. Children’s responses can be difficult to notice because they are often internalised. The critical point for professional reflection is that these behaviours may impair the child’s capacity to engage with their world. The following list gives an initial understanding of these manifestations. It is by no means exhaustive.
• Fluctuating attention ranging from minor ‘vague outs’ to trance states or blackouts. You might say something to yourself like, “This child is not even listening to me” or “I really don’t think this child is understanding what I’m saying”.
• Fluctuating moods and behaviour which might have you saying, “This behaviour is like it’s from another child!”
• The child talks about alternate selves or imaginary friends who are controlling their behaviour. You might reflect that, “I have never heard an imaginary friend described like that before”.
• Depersonalisation or feeling disconnected from self. You might have an experience where the child doesn’t recognise themselves in the class photo.
• Derealisation or feeling disconnected from the world. You may not even notice this occurrence but the child might talk about or experience the world as being “foggy” or “like I’m in a movie”.
• Withdrawing from all external stimuli or communication. There may be a description of this child as, ‘completely shut down’.
• No response to questions or answers them in an unclear and unfocused way. Again you may think “That child is just not listening to me.”
• Gazing into the distance. Your reflection may be that, “this is just not a child who is thinking about their weekend plans”.
• Intrusive thoughts and feelings, including flashbacks. You may notice, “that child really is uncomfortable when I ask the class to close their eyes”.
• Numbness- both physical and emotional. You may note to yourself, “this child doesn’t seem to respond when I touch them”.
• Self-injury. You are more likely to notice this or be informed of concerns for the child by their friends.
• Excessively compliant behaviour. This can be the most difficult because you are most likely to think, “this child is so good- they seem to be dealing with their experiences really well”.
You, as the teacher in the classroom or in the school yard, can help a child who has dissociated to reorient to the class or the school ground. You can also work together with the child to minimise dissociative experiences in the future. Helpful responses when a child dissociates include:
• Reassuring the child that they are safe (remember dissociative behaviours stem from fear, rage, shame, helplessness, loss, confusion, and other difficult feelings; not wilful manipulation or laziness).
• Responding empathically (e.g., “You look scared, I’m sorry the siren scared you”).
• Suspending confrontation until a child is more present.
• Allowing the child to quietly go to a ‘designated safe space’ within the classroom (e.g., reading corner or a spare table).
• Accepting the child’s feelings even if they do not make sense to you by letting the child know that all his feelings are accepted by you (even if you don’t understand why the child is responding the way he is at a given situation).
• Encouraging the child to utilise more appropriate ways to express difficult feelings (for example, scribble or draw, put feelings into words in a journal, squeeze a squeeze-ball, go for a run in the gym or engage in some other physical activity which safely discharges intense feelings) Avoiding telling or asking for the ‘positive part’ of the child Allowing the child to visit the counsellor or sit in the principal’s office to calm down, and calling the supportive caregiver.
• Presenting consequences for undesirable behaviour only after the child has calmed down.
Helpful responses for working with a child at a time when the dissociation is not happening and to decreasing the child’s need to dissociate include:
• Developing a cue word with the dissociative child that can be used to bring the child back to the present.
• Developing agreed upon hand signals to use in front of the child to warn them that they’re drifting off in order to bring them back to the here and now.
• Learning to recognise, and when possible eliminate, the triggers (i.e., unexpected touch, harsh voice) that cause the child to dissociate.
• Letting the child know ahead of time when a trigger is unavoidable (e.g., if leaving the classroom results in aggressive or immature behaviour, it can help to remind the child of an upcoming transition before the class is to leave, and reassure them they are safe).
• Letting the child have a safe-object in their desk to help him ‘pull it together’ if they are feeling overwhelmed (often times simply knowing the option is available already helps the child feel safer and feeling safer reduces the need to dissociate).
• Limiting surprises.
• Creating a predictable routine.
• Pairing the child with a supportive, caring peer for activities which raise the child’s anxiety (e.g., class trip, recess, a trip to the bathroom).
• Playing music, the child associates with safely.
• While these responses may seem at first glance as ‘coddling’ or ‘rewarding bad behaviour,’ they will help the child reorient to the present situation faster, handle themselves better in the classroom, and accept responsibility for their behaviour.
While these steps may seem time consuming, they need not take much time, in that they can deescalate, rather than escalate, a problem, they may save you time. In addition, they often take even less time as the ‘routine’ becomes more familiar (to both of you) and the child learns to associate your voice and words with reorienting.
You may worry that such ‘coddling’ may make it worth it for the child to act out in order to get that special attention. With dissociation, however; these phrases have a different effect—they increase safety and thus help the child not to become overwhelmed and need to dissociate. This will most likely serve to reassure the child that you care, that they are safe with you and can trust you to help them when they feel overwhelmed, agitated, shut down or ‘spaced out’.
You may worry that other children in the class will resent the ‘special treatment’ that the child will be getting. However (and especially if a child is aggressive or explosive), classmates often welcome less drama and a calmer classroom. Moreover, classmates often follow the teacher’s modelling of offering support and compassion if the child gets upset.
Classroom intervention cannot and should not take the place of specialised assessment by a professional knowledgeable in the area of trauma and dissociation (and, if needed, trauma treatment where the child can be helped to deal with the issues that underlie the dissociation). Nonetheless, simple steps can assist both you and the child in feeling more in control, and can help make school experience a safer one for the child.
Questions for consideration
Three questions about the student’s resources:
• In what situations is the young person most likely to be able to maintain themselves within their window of tolerance and thus utilise social engagement with others and feel safe?
• Are there particular people that the student feels most safe with?
• In what situations are the young person’s protective responses most likely to be shown?
Five questions to take into the classroom with you:
• Where is the young person in relation to their window of tolerance?
• How do I know?
• Where am I in relation to my window of tolerance?
• How do I know?
• What do I need right now to maintain myself in my window of tolerance?
Three questions to share with colleagues:
• What are some ways to share knowledge about the window of tolerance framework amongst teachers and students?
• What are some strategies you already use to help students maintain themselves within their windows of tolerance?
• What are some things you do to maintain yourselves within your windows of tolerance?
Reflective questions
1. Name the three ways in which trauma impacts the brain.
2. What are the five zones of the ‘window of tolerance’ model?
3. How can teachers help student who are dissociative?
Additional reading
Read the following: Tobin, M. (2016).Psychology and Education, 3, 1-19. Australian Council for Educational Research. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/03%3A_Prevent_and_contain/03.6%3A_Using_the_window_of_tolerance_in_the_school.txt |
True story
The Senior Guidance Officer knocked on the door of the Intervention Centre. With her was a small boy, Max, who was younger than the stipulated age range of 10 – 15 years. This was a ‘regional’ case so Max’s age was irrelevant. He was eight years old. The information offered at this point in time was “You do not need to know the details of what this little boy has suffered. Just start with helping him learn how to be at school and not to hit and punch people.”
Welcomed into the classroom, Max was guided by the Intervention Centre teacher and encouraged to choose any activity he wished. Hesitant, silent and avoiding eye contact at all costs, he gathered the big pillows from near the book display, dragged them to the large table in the front corner of the room beside the door, climbed under the large table and used the pillows to barricade himself in. And there he stayed until home time.
This day was the beginning of a four-year relationship. A relationship that saw heartache, tears and joy. A relationship that made a positive difference to the life of this small boy who had experienced complex trauma, the nature of which no child should ever have to endure.
Attachment
“A key adult can really make the difference,” (Bomber, 2009, p. 58).
What is attachment? Human beings need connections. They need to feel safe and secure. We explore our worlds connected to and immersed in the experiences of others who are the important people in our lives. Donald Winnicott (1964) said “There is no such thing
as a baby; there is a baby and someone”. Babies are social little beings that need to live connected with the other people in their world. This need is one of instinct and it is instrumental in their survival. Whatever happens in their environment and the experiences that they have within it, becomes the content of their brain. If we think of the baby’s brain as a blank book, everything they experience is written into the pages and informs what happens next. The relationship with the parent or carer is the author of the book and literally determines the structure and the functioning of the baby’s brain. Over the years as the baby grows, the experiences they have fill the chapters of the brain and mould the person they will become both socially and mentally.
Feeling safe allows infants and children to explore with confidence, demonstrate flexibility and take risks knowing they are supported and cared for. The role of the parent or caregiver in meeting the needs of the infant and nurturing positive relational interactions, is critical to the development of secure attachment. The primary attachment figure is the adult to whom the infant turns in times of crisis when they need comfort, security and protection. But what if the attachment figure is the person who is hurtful, abusive and frightening? What if when a baby cries, they are not picked up, held tenderly and reassured that they are loved, and everything will be alright? What then? When a parent or carer comforts their crying baby with consistent and caring behaviour, their actions are the beginnings of teaching the baby how to self-regulate. If the caregiver is unable to consistently respond, secure attachment is difficult to form, and this has a detrimental effect upon social emotional development.
As we know, early childhood, especially the first three years, is the time when the brain absorbs information at a rapid rate. The contents of the brain are constantly making connections perpetuating learning and exploration that is switched on by the richness and predictability of the parent/carer relationship. The attachment the child feels is governed by their experience of being safe and having their needs met. It is within this relationship that the child makes sense of the world and their place in it (Perry, 2009). It is here that they build a sense of self-worth, trust in others, the capacity to manage emotions and solve problems. When the relationship is one of fear and abuse, the traumatised child will most commonly develop poor self-worth, thoughts of shame and being unlovable (Tobin, 2016).
Research has found that before children have developed what is called explicit memory that is memories of events that are factual, logical and language based, they remember what happens to them through implicit memory. Implicit memory is memory without words that is imprinted on the brain through the intense feelings experienced through for example sight, smell and sound. So, a baby, will from the earliest stage of development, remember and respond to the memory without having the words – they feel it (de Thierry, 2015). Attachments that are secure, wrap the child in a protective layer that provides a safe space where capacity can be built, and hopeful futures can flourish.
Attachment theory
John Bowlby (1958) is the founder of attachment theory. Attachment theory attempts to explain attachment and attachment behaviour. Attachment behaviour is the observable action that the person does to be able to be physically close to the attachment figure and remain there. Attachment behaviour is evident throughout our life, and to know there is a significant ‘attachment’ person who will help us in times of need provides us with protection. Attachment develops across the first three years of life (Breidenstine, Bailey, Zeanah & Larrieu, 2011).
Ainsworth was a colleague of Bowlby’s and together they were the first to suggest that a baby or child did know what was happening and felt the effects of having born witness to the loss of a caregiver or a traumatic event. Bowlby conceptualised the notion of a ‘secure base’ and in 1978 together with her colleagues, Ainsworth investigated this notion of a secure base concluding that the mother is the base from which the infant explores the world. Further, Ainsworth (1979) categorised attachment into secure and insecure and further sub-categorising insecure attachment into resistant, avoidant and disorganised attachment. Together with Bell, the Strange Situation Procedure was developed in 1970.
The power of attachment [2 mins 48 sec]
Watch Dr. Edward Tronick’s seminal ‘ which is a powerful illustration of child attachment and the impact of abuse and neglect.
Research has categorised attachment into four types:
• Secure
• Insecure avoidant
• Insecure ambivalent
• Disorganised
Secure attachments are protective by nature and insecure attachments serve as risk factors. Children with secure attachment have an equal need for proximity and exploration. It is important to remember that attachment types can change over time and that an attachment type, is not a diagnosis. Following is a brief outline from the child’s perspective of each of the attachment types:
• Secure attachment – “I feel safe and loved. The adults in my world are nurturing, respond quickly and calmly when I am upset, fill my basic needs, they interact warmly and are joyful about me. I trust them.”
• Avoidant attachment– “I feel detached. The adults in my world are indifferent about me. They give me very little emotional support, so I rely on myself and ignore other people. I prefer to be on my own.”
• Ambivalent attachment– “I feel misunderstood. The adults in my world love me one minute and hate me the next. I throw a wobbly to get what I want. I am clingy, demanding and needy.”
• Disorganised attachment – “I feel frightened all the time. The adults in my world are scary and mean. I live in fear and I worry all the time.”
Secure attachment
The function of secure attachment is safety and protection. In the relationship of secure attachment, the vulnerable child has their emotional and physical needs met and develops a feeling of confidence and calm. The child learns to trust and has an expectation that a caring adult will respond in a loving and caring manner when meeting their needs. Secure attachment allows the child to learn through the demonstration by the caring adult, how to self-regulate their behaviour and therefore as they grow become more able at controlling emotions and impulses (de Thierry, 2015; Howard, 2013; Sorrels, 2015). The secure child has a view that embodies compassion and empathy for others as well as competency and belief that they are loved and valued.
How does the child feel? Happy, safe and supported. They are more cooperative and can adapt more easily to the academic and social demands of school.
Avoidant attachment
The child with avoidant attachment avoids building a relationship with the teacher and instead focusses on the task. Contact with people means uncertainty and therefore should be avoided. In infancy, the child’s mother has struggled to cope with her own distressful situations and anger and therefore has struggled to adequately meet the baby’s emotional needs. Lack of physical contact can lead to the child avoiding being close to others. In class this child often presents as withdrawn and distant.
How does the child feel? Unwanted, fearful, anxious and angry.
For the teacher, Geddes (2006) suggests that the best strategy is to “turn towards the task” (p. 83). The task provides a buffer between the student and the teacher and allows the teacher to be nearer the child without this proximity being overwhelming and triggering a negative response. The task therefore should be the focus of intervention.
Ambivalent attachment (or resistant attachment)
The child with ambivalent attachment demonstrates behaviours that goes in swings and roundabouts demonstrating opposite behaviours. For example, ambivalence is on the one hand they can be clingy and on the other wanting to be independent. They can also demonstrate aggressive and destructive behaviours (Geddes, 2006). Characteristic of this pattern of attachment is parenting with few boundaries and little control. Children with ambivalent attachment often have poor school attendance and their behaviour is controlled by the fear of not having their needs met.
How does the child feel? Vulnerable, separation anxiety, uncertain.
Disorganised attachment
Think back to the PBS triangle in the chapter one. Remember the three tiers of intervention – the green, yellow and red zones? While the behaviour of children with trauma associated with the various patterns of attachment can be considered ‘red zone’ behaviours requiring intensive individualised support, children with disorganised attachment are often easily identified as being in the red zone for their behaviour because their behaviour at school can be described as serious and disruptive. This behaviour is often visible for all to see and more often than not, it is the type of behaviour that results in suspension and exclusion.
Behaviours demonstrated can include aggression and meltdowns as well as complete ‘shut down’ and withdrawal type behaviours. This highly challenging behaviour may be reflective of a life of chaos and dysfunction. These students demonstrate factors associated with both ambivalent and avoidant attachment patterns (Sorrels, 2015). Possible happenings in this life may have been parents who experienced high levels of stress, substance abuse, mental illness making them unavailable to the child and scary. In some cases, the result for the child may have been to have witnessed or been a victim of abuse (physical, sexual, verbal) and neglect. These children demonstrate behaviour that is fueled by uncertainty and threat and therefore they are in a constant state of hypervigilance.
The child with disorganised attachment needs a safe-haven. A space that is safe, secure and predictable. They live with fear, anxiety and helplessness. Every day is about survival. Where in this picture of the traumatised child with disorganised attachment thinking is there any spare space for anything else? Enter the teacher with genuine care and consideration.
How does the child feel? Overwhelmed by fear, anxiety and helplessness. Unlovable and shameful.
Additional reading
Table 4.1 Types of attachment
Attachment type Characteristics Home dynamic
Secure
• Well adjusted
• Pleasant
• Responds well to appropriate authority
• Responds well to appropriate requests
• Accepts comfort when hurt or upset
• Confident
• Curious
• Has a drive to master their world
• Takes appropriate risks and tries new things
• Persistent, able to cope with challenges
• Parents are nurturing
• Parents have emotional strength and maturity
• Parents respond quickly and warmly to the child’s distress and basic needs
• Parents find joy in meeting the needs of their child
• Parents play and interact with their child
Insecure avoidant
• Self sufficiency beyond the child’s years
• Uncomfortable with intimacy
• Seemingly fearless
• Difficulty accepting help or comfort when hurt or upset
• May seem withdrawn or emotionally flat, with unexpected meltdowns
• May seem persistently angry and blame others for anything that goes wrong
• May be sullen and oppositional
• May lack empathy
• May be aloof, a loner
• Parents may be dismissive of child’s needs and emotions
• Parents may be overwhelmed by child’s needs
• Parents may lash out in frustration at the child
• Parents often overwhelmed by responsibilities or circumstances, such as mental or physical illness, domestic violence, addiction, poverty or single parenthood
• Parents often lack a support system
• Parents may provide for child’s physical needs but ignore child’s need for emotional connection
Insecure ambivalent
• Demanding and clingy
• Difficulty to satisfy
• Low tolerance for frustration
• Uses temper tantrums or crying to manipulate
• Fidgety
• Compulsive
• Poor concentration skills
• Parents respond inconsistently to child’s needs – sometimes in loving, nurturing way, sometimes in frustration and anger
• Parents often overwhelmed by responsibilities or circumstances, such as mental or physical illness, domestic violence, addiction, poverty or single parenthood
• Parents often lack a support system
• Parents are intrusive
• Parents are not adept at perceiving and reading the child’s cues
Disogranised
• Lives in constant state of alarm
• Hypervigilant
• Misinterprets social cues
• Highly reactive to sensory cues in the environment
• Displays behaviour that seems bizarre or strange
• Prone to meltdowns
• May vacillate between a hyperaroused state and a withdrawn state
• Unpredictable behaviour
• One or both the parents are abusive
• Chronic domestic violence
• Parents are profoundly neglectful
• Very little interaction or human contact
• Parents may be mentally ill and/or addicted to substances
• Family may be constantly moving to avoid authorities
Please note that Table 4.1 and the content within this chapter from Reaching and Teaching Children Exposed to Trauma by Barbara Sorrels, EdD, ISBN 9780876593509, is used with permission from Gryphon House, Inc., P. O. Box 10, Lewisville, NC 27023 (800) 638-
0928 www.gryphonhouse.com.
Additional reproduction of this content is not permitted without prior permission from the copyright holder.
Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)
Another attachment pattern is reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Students with RAD typically have serious aggression problems often hurting others and shows little empathy or remorse. Safety seeking behaviours, anxiety and depression are characteristic of the condition coupled with an inability to be genuinely affectionate with others or to develop strong connections. Students with RAD feel the need to be in control and may demonstrate bossy, argumentative and defiant behaviours. Reactive attachment disorder is a mental health disorder diagnosed according to the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Here it is characterised as a stress-related disorder which can only be caused by a lack of adequate care (social neglect) during childhood. Children with RAD demonstrate withdrawn, internalising type behaviours. RAD is only diagnosed in children and must be evident within the first five years of life.
RAD is a deficit in the child’s capacity to manage how they feel. As in the previous section when we looked at attachment types, if we think about RAD from the perspective of the child with it, characteristics could be described as follows:
• I do relationships and conflict poorly because my social, emotional and behavioural skills are ineffective in my interactions with others. It is the frequency, duration and intensity of my difficulties in many settings, that sets me apart.
• Why am I like this? My need for comfort, nurturing and connection as a baby/young child were not met. My world is or has been, one of neglect, fear and hurt. As a result, I cannot articulate my feelings and thoughts.
• I threaten, I throw tantrums, I am aggressive, I am demanding of your attention, I am manipulative, charming and angry. Behaving like this is the only way I can control relationships.
Remember that it is not our place to diagnose but to understand. Regardless of the type of attachment difficulty a child may have, they all need:
• Safety
• A caring adult who will be there
• Emotional support
• Understanding
• Behaviour support
• Routines and consistency | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/04%3A_Connect_and_validate/04.1%3A_Attachment.txt |
When we are thinking functionally about the function of behaviour in terms of attachment coping, we must start with considering the attachment and relationship styles of the student with trauma. Students who have attachment difficulties engage in misbehaviour in an attempt to cope by ‘getting’ control over people – adults and other children – through coercion, deception and aggression (verbal, physical). These children may have learned to use such behaviours to get them access to preferred activities and objects and proximity to adults. The knowledge of such functions helps us give these students what they need to meet these needs in an appropriate manner, while helping them learn new ways of coping. Instead of seeking control, we can provide these students with a sense of predictability in relationships through explicitly teaching rules, consequences and routines.
Control can also be provided to these students through choices in the classroom – in academic or social activities. The teaching of appropriate social skills – both explicitly and implicitly – help these students leave prosocial and interpersonal ways of having their needs met, while building on a sense of safety and trust in the classroom. These kids may also ‘get away from’ adult and peer relationships by not trusting others, by being hypervigilant about being betrayed, humiliated or taken advantage of, they may withdraw from relationships or act as though they do not require any friendships with peers or support from adults. It is possible that these children have learnt to engage in such behaviours as assertive and appropriate expressions of their needs and feelings to adults in the past has not led to the adults (e.g. parents, carers, other teachers) responding to them in a safe, calm, caring and consistent manner. In this way, misbehaviour represents a miscommunication of the student’s need to feel safe in relationships and be part of a trustworthy and loving community of children and adults.
How are we going to do this? How are we going to put this into practice? Let us look at the following framework to help us.
Plan, prompt, pause, push-off
Education Queensland in 2007, published The Essential Skills for Classroom Management (ESCM) as an important component of the Better Behaviour Better Learning professional development program. As the name suggests, the 10 skills outlined are essential to the management of student behaviour in all classrooms from early childhood to secondary and adult learning contexts. As popular today as when first introduced, teachers, both novice and experienced, continue to benefit from learning, practising, embedding and revising, these crucial skills. The 10 essential skills are:
1. Establishing expectations
2. Giving instructions
3. Waiting and scanning
4. Cueing with parallel acknowledgement
5. Body language encouraging
6. Descriptive encouraging
7. Selective attending
8. Redirecting to the learning
9. Giving a choice
10. Following through
The terms ‘prompt,’ ‘pause’ and ‘push-off’ used here are from essential skill seven – selective attending and have been adapted to illustrate a trauma informed approach to positive behaviour support. Elements from across the 10 essential skills are inherent in the discussion that follows as part of quality teaching practice and you are encouraged to familiarise yourself with or revise the content of the essential skills so that they become an integral part of your daily classroom practice. We will now look at plan, prompt, pause and push-off in the context of our understanding of the challenging behaviour demonstrated by children with trauma.
Plan
“Planning is our best strategy for prevention.”
It is best to prevent the behaviour from happening in the first place in preference to picking up the pieces after the damage is done. Plan the classroom environment, plan the activities, plan your words, plan your actions, plan your attitude, plan your reinforcement of appropriate behaviour, plan what to do if everything does not go to plan. When planning, the teacher needs to ‘tune in’ to the student to see if they are about to flip their lid? What are the signs for this child that they are not feeling safe, secure and balanced? Are they in their window of tolerance? Is safety an issue?
Prompt
There are two key choices for prompting:
• Follow the child’s lead which means use prompts and strategies to bring the child back into the window of tolerance. Reminding and reinforcing language is used.
• Take charge which means use prompts and strategies to ensure the safety of the child with trauma, the rest of the children, staff and yourself. Connecting and redirecting language is used.
Following the lead of the child demonstrating the challenging behaviour is something teachers need to do as much as possible. Take charge only when necessary. The language used for each of these choices, following their lead and taking charge, is very important to the success of implementation so let us look at each type of language a little more closely.
Reminding language (following their lead): Keep reminders brief, describe and praise appropriate behaviour, use a neutral tone of voice and body language. For example: “Joshua, group time rules.” “We are going to assembly in five minutes. How do we show active listening?”
Reinforcing language (following their lead): Use specific description, model what you expect showing them explicitly what it looks like and sounds like, tell them what they should be doing not what they shouldn’t be doing. Provide plenty of positive feedback. For example: “Thank you for putting your book away immediately.” “You have used capital letters at the beginning of every sentence and remembered the full stops.”
Connecting language (taking charge): Taking charge means being in control without being controlling. Creating connections includes: managing your reactions, consequences not punishment, setting limits, providing choices, acknowledging good decisions and choices that the child makes and supporting parents and carers.
Redirecting language (taking charge): Be respectful and calm, replace questions with commands, be specific, concise and in control, focus on the immediate behaviour that is needed and do not “pick up the rope”. “Do not pick up the rope” means do not get dragged into responding to secondary conversations that the child uses to redirect you away from the focus of the situation. These will sound like “You hate me anyway,” “You never help me when I ask”. “This is too hard”. “This school sucks” and the like. Some examples of specific redirecting language are: “Put that toy away” (not “Do you want me to take that toy?”), “Help Julie pack up the calculators please” (not “Be nice”) “Eyes on me” (not “Will you look at me?”).
Using the PACE model (Hughes, 1997) helps teachers to help the child with trauma feel connected. PACE stands for playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy and helps to find the balance between following their lead and taking charge.
• Playfulness – delighting in the student; reduce fear of making mistakes or getting into trouble all the time. Having fun and using humour to diffuse tension. “I know you don’t like tidy up time so let’s sing while we all tidy up together.”
• Acceptance– separating the behaviour from the child. reinforcing your commitment to them; listening and showing understanding. Focusing on the child and not the behaviour and trying to understand because whatever it is, it makes sense to them and they need to be able to tell you their story. Behaviour limits are set and consequences applied. “I know you find it hard to manage your anger and you will have to help me fix up the mess, but at the moment come and sit with me until you feel calmer.”
• Curiosity and reflection – taking an interest, showing concern, ‘wondering’ out loud. Taking an interest, showing concern, clarifying what you have heard. This is about asking questions you already know the answer for and ‘wondering’ out loud “I wonder if that question means…” “I wonder if you tried,” “I wonder if you had troubles yesterday because you were worried about your mum visiting on the weekend?” Help the child come up with their own solutions.
• Empathy – putting yourself in their shoes. “I am sorry that that happened to you.” “I feel sad for you.” Empathy relieves shame and is much better than praise in many situations which can tend to escalate a negative reaction.
As Hughes (2009) notes, the PACE approach is equally as beneficial for adolescents as it is for younger children. PACE is an attitude and sends the message to the adolescent that the “intention is to come to deeply know, accept, and value the adolescent, joining with him in areas of his life-story that are stressful, confusing or full of conflict and shame” (Hughes, 2009, p.126). In implementing the PACE attitude and way of working, with the adolescent, it is important to match the emotion portrayed through the words and nuances, the talk of the adolescent. If the adolescent speaks quickly and with conviction and agitation for example, the adult needs to respond in the same manner. This reassures the adolescent that the adult is genuinely trying to understand without judgement thus the adolescent will most likely remain engaged in the conversation.
More time listening and less time talking
Establish joint attention. Joint attention means that both people in the conversation are paying genuine attention to each other. They care what the other person is saying rather than biding their time, so they can speak and say what they want to say. Joint attention also reflects a focus on a joint topic. A topic both parties are interested in. It is always helpful to follow the adolescent’s lead in the conversation rather than continuously trying to force the conversation the adult’s way. This is not about fixing the child or young person or focusing on problems only.
Having the right intentions
This is where an adult intention of ‘fixing’ the child or young person will not be helpful in developing a relationship where there is a balance of investment of sharing the self, from both parties. The goal is for both the adult and the child or young person to feel they have had a positive impact upon the other, their contribution and place within the relationship is worthwhile for each of them. The ongoing growth of this relationship will be characterised by awareness. The relationship must hold meaning for the child or young person and for the adult to be successful.
Pause
Pausing is a skill that teachers generally are not good at. As a rule, they tend to ‘fill in the quiet spaces’ with teacher talk. It is important that the child is given time to process what has been said and what it is that has been asked of them (this is why having a visual timetable either in words, pictures or both and other alternatives to just ‘talk’ are important for not just the child with trauma and students with autism spectrum disorder, but for all children). The child with trauma often has memory difficulties and may require additional time to comprehend. Give an instruction and wait five seconds before giving another. Paraphrasing is also helpful if the child is having difficulty understanding.
Pressure to provide a response could contribute to anxiety and further reduce the child’s executive functioning (the ability to switch attention from one thing to another, prioritise, make decisions and plan) and engagement.
Push-Off
With children who have experienced trauma the ‘push-off’ strategy is particularly helpful in keeping them calm and giving them space to process and adjust. This is because many have a limited tolerance for proximity and adult contact. As relationships slowly become stronger and more trusting the child may be accepting of the teacher being closer to them for longer. Remember the child with ambivalent attachment who could be clingy? They need to slowly learn to function independently from the teacher, but this all takes time, consideration and care. It is important to remember that ‘push-off’ is not punishment delivered by the teacher. The message to the child is that the teacher is available to the child whenever needed. Push-off is always used in conjunction with the other strategies.
“Be insistent, committed and kind.”
Children with trauma put up barriers to relating and becoming close to teachers and other adults. Think about their experiences with grown-ups and the fact that they have no reason to trust any of them given what has happened to them at the hands of some. Once the relationship is established, they will do everything they can to sabotage it and ensure that the teacher behaves in the way they have come to expect grown-ups to behave and also to further reinforce their belief that they are not worthy of love and care. What they need from teachers is unconditional support and encouragement. Remember, the behaviour of the child who has experienced trauma reflects their history.
Interview with Dave Ziegler [20 min 47 sec]
Listen to thiswith Dave Ziegler on helping traumatised children learn. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/04%3A_Connect_and_validate/04.2%3A_Attachment_school_and_learning.txt |
Remember Max?
Remember Max who arrived at the Intervention Centre and silently went about barricading himself into a corner using the reading corner pillows?
For the purposes of this case study we will describe Max’s attachment pattern as disorganised attachment. A pattern that arises when a child is in a relationship where the adult is frightening to the child and often the adult is frightened of the child. Max’s behaviour in the classroom could be described as him needing to be in constant control at all times and he would be verbally and physically aggressive. So how was Max feeling? Anxious, fearful and unsafe.
Max’s fear meant that he needed to make sure he was in control. To do that he would be mean to others, provoking them, hitting them, knocking their belongings onto the floor. Max’s angry and aggressive behaviour was hiding his anxiety and allowed him to ‘control’ the teacher. Max’s particpation in activities was overridden by his anxiety and hypervigilance.
How will we support max?
“I can’t explore the world. I am too busy ensuring I am safe,” (Golding et al., 2013).There are many strategies that while they are targeted to a specific child’s needs, they are effective strategies from which all children can benefit. Highly effective teachers will probably be already employing many of the strategies suggested as a matter of course and
just need to be made aware of the purpose of these in relation to individuals like Max who need specific attention, care and lots of reassurance. Suggestions may include:
• Ensure predictable, consistent routines.
• Provide ‘sanctuary’ – a safe space to retreat to when feeling overwhelmed. For Max this would mean making sure there were extra pillows, so his barricaded corner could remain intact.
• Teach calming routines (ensure these are doable and appropriate).
• Give lots of teacher attention. Have a concrete object that represents time with the teacher so Max knows he can use these to access teacher attention if it is not possible to do so immediately. For example, clothes pegs or Unifix blocks or cards (teacher time owed) work well as visuals to swap for teacher attention time.
• Preferred activities first, followed by non-preferred activities.
• Genuine praise and encouragement.
• Give Max an element of control (or the illusion of control). For example, he can choose which tasks to complete first, where he will sit, what pencil/pen he wants to write with or he can negotiate from the choices given how much of the task he will complete (none, not being an option).
• Small, small steps. Be patient.
• Can you imagine what it must be like to be Max? Put yourself in his shoes.
Sam is having trouble at school
Remember that much of classroom behaviour management assumes that children know how to do relationships. It is assumed that children know and understand how to respond to authority, respect, trust and obedience when in fact the child with trauma is often wired to respond to mistrust, cruelty and survival.
Information snippet one
Sam is a nine-year-old boy in your class. It is the start of term and Sam is being disruptive in class. He often yells out in class at other students, refuses to attempt or complete set tasks and throws his equipment to the floor, finding it hardest to concentrate and do his work in Maths and English.
He has been aggressive with other students in break times sometimes pushing, hitting, threatening to punch and swearing. He is often noticed to raise his voice with teachers on playground duty, often resulting in arguments. Sam has been suspended twice and is sent to the principal’s office almost daily. At the Principal’s office Sam is observed to be calmer. He has spoken to the Principal about his parents – becoming quite upset and tearful discussing this topic.
Why is Sam behaving like this?
Thinking functionally about Sam’s behaviour, firstly the problematic behaviour needs to be defined in observable and measurable terms. What does Sam’s behaviour look like? It looks like hitting, throwing equipment to the floor, yelling at other students etc. Next, what are possible antecedents or triggers for this behaviour? So, what is or in this case could be, happening immediately before the problem behaviour? Perhaps he has been told to complete a writing task, or Maths task, he may have asked to join a game and been told that he was not welcome, or teachers or peers may move into his personal space. Finally, consequences or what happens immediately following the problem behaviour? What do the adults do? He is sent to the principal’s office, suspended, and probably frequently withdrawn from the playground (detention of some sort).
What is the possible function of Sam’s behaviour? Is it to access or escape?
Speculate now, based on the information provided, what possible setting events may have impacted Sam. So, what factors beyond the school gate, would need to be considered by the teacher to lessen their impact in the classroom? Sam could be tired, hungry, anxious and worried (for example he may be worried for the safety of someone at home when he is at school).
To lessen the likelihood that the loud and aggressive Sam will appear, in what ways can the teacher alter or take away the antecedents or introduce new antecedents? Also, change the consequences or introduce new ones? In other words, what antecedent and consequences intervention strategies could be employed?
The goal of the antecedent and setting event strategies is to prevent the challenging behaviour from happening. Examples could be: provide breakfast, class munch and crunch time (fruit for sharing just after class begins), parking bay (quite time, time-in, quiet corner) where the child can go as a transition to participating immediately upon their arrival at class.
Consequence strategies withdraw or alter what is currently happening after the challenging behaviour and is maintaining it or supporting it to continue. The goal is to reinforce desired behaviour. Thinking functionally, consequence strategies are positive and encourage the replacement behaviour. The focus is on increasing appropriate behaviour. Examples could be: praise regularly, non-preferred task (small chunk of work) followed by a preferred task (drawing, reading, computer time), requesting a break (break time card/timer), time with teacher.
Information snippet two
At the parent-teacher interview, you learn that Sam’s parents have split up recently and that he has been living with his maternal grandmother since the start of term. Sam’s mother tells you that there has been domestic violence in the house and Sam may have witnessed some of the verbal and physical aggression. Sam’s mother tells you that his grandmother finds it hard to set limits with Sam and is afraid of his aggression. Sam’s mother is happy for the school guidance officer to speak to Sam’s mental health team for more information.
What needs are going unmet for Sam?
Having thought functionally about Sam’s behaviour and come up with some setting event and antecedent intervention strategies and some consequence-based intervention strategies, now consider what needs could be going unmet for him. Do you think he would feel safe? Would he feel secure and trusting of the adults around him? Does Sam know that anyone at school truly cares about him? Who will be Sam’s key person?
Sam must feel safe so that he can begin to participate in school life. For Sam to feel safe, a relationship needs to be built with a key adult who gets to know Sam and understands he is a child with complex emotions who requires unconditional support. What can the teacher do to meet these needs? How will safety, relationship building, emotional needs and discipline be addressed? Will Sam need to be taught a replacement behaviour and other social skills? What is Sam’s level of maturity? Sam needs reliable and consistent routines that focus on keeping people safe. There needs to be a planned response for critical incidents. Perhaps there are small group activities targeted at those children who require more intensive social skilling. Explicit teaching of desired behaviours – never assume that a child knows what the desired behaviour looks like – break the behaviour down into steps and then model and practise and reinforce the behaviour. The best time to do this, is when the child is not being disruptive. See chapter five for social skilling as part of social-emotional wellbeing.
Sam like Max is controlling and spends his time checking on others around him to ensure his safety. How is Sam feeling? Do you think he copes well with stress? Would a busy, stimulating classroom help Sam or hinder his ability to be calm?
The picture so far…
Sam needs to feel safe and secure. He needs a key person to build a relationship with him and be an advocate for him. Interventions to alter the antecedents and the consequences as well as lessen the impact of setting events, can be made to classroom environment to lessen the likelihood Sam will be disruptive in the classroom and playground. Predictable, structured days are needed with opportunities provided for Sam to escape or access (depending on the function of his behaviour) using appropriate behaviour. Therefore, a replacement behaviour and some social skills will need to be taught to Sam. Clear links will need to be made for Sam between his behaviour and the consequence and it is important that calm and consistent discipline be implemented to avoid confrontation and ‘battles’. Co-regulation demonstrated by adults will help Sam to manage his emotions.
Sam this morning…
Sam was suspended last week and has arrived at your classroom looking irritable and tired.
He walks into class and does not make eye-contact with you when you say hello to him. You notice that as soon as he sits in his seat he puts his head on the desk.
The first lesson for the day is Maths and all the kids have taken out their Maths books, except for Sam. What do you do?
Plan: How are you feeling at this point? Is Sam in his ‘window of tolerance?’ Are there any early warning signs? Any safety issues? What antecedent strategy can you implement? What can you do immediately to lessen the likelihood of an emotional explosion? You may move close to Sam and use a whisper to tell him that he can have 10 minutes in parking bay before he needs to begin his Maths. He might be given a piece of fruit to eat while he is having ‘calm’ time (an antecedent and setting event strategy).
Prompt: How will you respond to Sam not taking out his book? How can you do this without escalating his behaviour? Think about where you will stand, what your body language looks like, check your tone of voice, what words will you use? You might move to Sam in parking bay and tell him when he goes to his desk after he has completed five of the 10 Maths operations he can have 10 minutes drawing time (a consequence strategy).
Pause: How will you know if your prompting has worked? What will you be looking for? Sam will move to the parking bay (in his own time – don’t be pushy) and when his time is up or when he is ready, return to his desk and begin his non-preferred task. He will appear less agitated and will demonstrate fewer aggressive behaviours.
Push-off: How will you know when to move away from Sam? How will you do this? Each child is an individual and this is why it is critical to know your children well. It may be that you move away straight away. It may be that you sit on a chair beside Sam for a while
and then ‘lap’ the classroom assisting other students and then come back to Sam. You might teacher from behind Sam’s chair and then gradually move away to check student work. It is unreasonable to expect that Sam will behave perfectly all of a sudden. He will be aggressive, he will refuse to follow instructions and he will continue to have emotional outbursts. The teacher’s job is to lessen the frequency, duration and intensity of this behaviour as best they can.
Children like Max and Sam that have a type of attachment at the most severe end of the continuum, disorganised attachment, are amongst the most concerning to teachers. Behaviour management strategies that are typically used are rarely effective with children like Sam and Max because they live in a state of dysregulation and fear where survival is paramount, and adults cannot be trusted. Praise and acknowledgement for example are often perceived by the child affected by trauma as ingenuine adult remarks. Therefore, building connections is the first step to helping the child feel safe and secure. It is from this ‘felt safety’ foundation that trust can be formed. Trust is the foundation of their readiness to learn and they learn best implicitly, through the interactions with you and watching you closely. Everything you do as a teacher is modelling to them and they are learning by watching.
Childhood trauma: What every teacher needs to know [1 min 15 sec]
Watch this video on what every teacher needs to know about childhood trauma.
Reflective questions
1. Name the four types of attachment.
2. What is the name of the theorist attributed with Attachment Theory?
3. PACE stands for Playfulness, _____________, Curiosity and_________________.
4. What is the main purpose of setting event and antecedent strategies?
5. List some typical feelings of the child with trauma. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/04%3A_Connect_and_validate/04.3%3A_Putting_it_into_practice.txt |
True story
“Teach him how to be a little boy at school,” was the request from the Senoir Guidance Officer as she stood at the Intervention Centre door with Elliott. The Intervention Centre was for students who had been suspended or excluded from school. It was a temporary placement for behaviour intervention and support to reintegrate the student back into the school environment. Most students were at the Intervention Centre for 8-10 weeks, some longer. “He has had a rough little life and just needs someone to play with him and help him learn what it is to be a child. Next time he is violent the school will exclude him” she continued.
Elliott and I went to play on the carpet and I rolled out the car mat between us and handed Elliott a toy car. He looked at it, turned it over, looked back at me and waited. He had no idea what to do with it. I placed my car on the road and made “broom, broom” noises. Elliott just watched, holding his car tightly in his hand.
And so it went like this for many days. I played, narrating what I was doing and feeling and Elliott watched. At the end of two weeks, he bravely put his car onto the mat and mimicked “broom, broom.” It was like Christmas. I was thrilled.
Elliott was eight years old. He had lived in a series of foster care situations since he was two years old. Removed from his home due to severe neglect and abuse, Elliott had no concept of caring or compassion but he was learning ever so slowly how to be a little boy and that is why his eight week stay at the Intervention Centre became a year.
Social-emotional competence
Competence in social emotional learning is recognised as having a significant influence on a child’s school readiness, school adjustment and academic achievement (Beamish & Saggers, 2014). Supporting the social emotional health of children is integral to teaching. Social emotional learnings develop resilience in children and foster positive wellbeing. The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is a leader in the field of social emotional learning. Formed in 1994, this group of American educators, child advocates and researchers, introduced the term social and emotional learning. CASEL (2020, para. 1) define social and emotional learning in the following way: “Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
It all begins in early childhood, the tone is set, the path laid out and the future sketched. So much that happens in the early years significantly impacts future quality of life. Being ready for school, functioning effectively at school, interacting positively with people at school and being academically successful at school, are governed by social-emotional competence (Bailey, Denham, Curby & Bassett, 2016; Bayat, 2015; Denham, 2010). Generally speaking, emotional competence is about understanding feelings and social competence is about effective interactions and relationships. Relationships – secure, safe and attached. While recognising that each child is unique and will have needs original to themselves, we will begin with evidence-based strategies known to be helpful for all children with trauma.
Key factors to support social-emotional competence
Learning, relationships and emotions go hand in hand. Without the capacity to navigate the social world of school with a firm grasp on emotions, learning becomes problematic. Experiences teach skills and if an experience is repeated, the skill or skills associated with it, together with the response, become imprinted in the brain. For the child with trauma there is often a mismatch between highly developed responses e.g., for survival and underdeveloped responses needed for school success (Blaustein, 2013).
At the core of helping children with trauma develop their social-emotional competencies is teaching new behaviours. For those children who have not had the opportunity of experiencing quality attachment and having care and considerate behaviours modelled to them, behaving in a socially appropriate manner eludes them as it has not been part of their life and therefore, they have little to no experience of it. New behaviours that are an appropriate means of communication that get the child what they want in a manner that is acceptable in the space or environment and acceptable to, the people within it, need to be explicitly planned and taught. These behaviours are what behaviourists call replacement (or alternative) behaviours. In addition to learning new behaviours naming emotions is critical to developing emotional competence and self-regulation. Naming emotions is the first step to coping with them, so it is important that the child with trauma develops a vocabulary to name their feelings (Hertel & Johnson, 2013).
A key component of social-emotional competence are social skills. As with teaching behaviour, these need to be intentionally planned and taught with the purpose of the skill clearly explained to the child. Skills such as turn taking, sharing, joining in and problem solving are essential skills for the child to master so that they can participate to the best of their ability within the learning environment and establish friendships through positive interactions with their peers. Broken attachments, lacking social skills, difficulties regulating emotions and establishing relationships, the child with trauma needs support to learn and grow. From the foundation that all learning is relationships, the teacher is kind, flexible and attuned to the student’s unique needs, building trusting spaces for learning and helping the student with trauma build regulation skills through modelling, teaching and listening.
With reference to “positive replacement behaviours” (Gresham, 2015 p. 199), Gresham makes the clear distinction between social skills, social tasks, and social competence. Social skills are the explicit behaviours that a child demonstrates that are needed to complete a social task. Social tasks are things like making friends, joining in and playing games. Social competence is the ability of the child to demonstrate a social task successfully as judged by another (a teacher, peer, parent) against a set of criteria (Gresham, 2015 p. 199) and therefore in the demonstration of that social task show a degree of competency in executing the social skill or skills needed for that social task.
The upcoming sections focuses more broadly on social-emotional competence in relation to the period of a individual’s life.
Five keys to social and emotional learning
[6 mins 2 secs]
Watch this short video on the five keys to successful social and emotional learning. Choose one of the keys and think about what this would look like for the child with trauma in your context. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/05%3A_Teach_and_reinforce/05.1%3A_Social-emotional_competence.txt |
As introduced in detail in the previous chapter on attachment, the first formation of relationships is critical to future experiences and the social-emotional wellbeing of the child. The development of safe and secure relationships within which children learn how to manage emotions and self-regulate form the blueprint for successful future regulation of emotions and social competence.
There are quite a few evidenced-based programs that promote social-emotional learning for young children and at the same time reduce disruptive behaviour.
Take a look at the The teaching pyramid originally developed by Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph and Strain (2003) is a positive behaviour support framework that outlines practices to prevent challenging behaviour and promote social-emotional competence in children. The foundation is relationships. Quality relationships with children, families, colleagues and other practitioners, are the base from which evidence-based strategies can be implemented to cater for social emotional needs of children.
The teaching pyramid is an example of a multi-tiered framework particularly designed for supporting social emotional learning in early childhood contexts. Multi-tiered frameworks consist of the following three tiers of intervention and support: Universal or tier one, targeted or tier two and intensive or tier three. The tiers of the teaching pyramid reflect the same focus areas: promotion (universal), prevention (targeted) and intervention (intensive). The goal of a multi-tiered framework is to endeavour to provide support to all children across social, emotional, behavioural and academic domains of development, to promoting positive behaviour and reduce the occurrence of disruptive behaviour (Bayat, 2015; Hemmeter et al., 2012). Promotion (universal tier one) is targeted at all children, prevention (targeted tier two) at smaller groups of children and intervention (intensive tier three) at individual children with more intensive needs. For most children, the universal level will probably be enough, however for children with trauma, the secondary prevention and tertiary intervention tiers are more likely to better address their needs. Let us have a closer look at the key features of each tier of the teaching pyramid.
Promotion (Universal tier 1): Building relationships between teachers and children, teachers and caregivers and children and children. It is also important to include here those adults who are significant in the child’s life beyond the school and home such as practitioners from government and community agencies, if applicable.
Prevention (targeted tier 2): Focused teaching of social and emotional skills needed to solve problems, demonstrate feelings and develop friendships. The ‘teachable moments’ throughout the day are the perfect opportunities for this teaching.
Intervention (intensive tier 3): For those individual children needing targeted support. Functional behavioural assessment to ascertain the function of behaviour and develop an intervention plan, is the focus of this tier. Teaching new appropriate behaviours to replace the inappropriate behaviours – new behaviours that serve the same function but are acceptable in the environment. The evidence-based practices of the teaching pyramid are equally important to consider for the primary aged child and the adolescent.
Strategies to help
Bailey, Denham, Curby and Bassett (2016) found that emotional and organisational supports were significant factors in guiding social-emotional learning and self-regulation in pre-schoolers (four to five-year-olds). The authors found that a classroom that was emotionally supportive reduced behaviour problems and increased social competence. Plenty of opportunity was given for children to self-regulate within an environment of safety where expression and learning were valued, and close relationships were formed. These classrooms were well-organised promoting high levels of learning engagement with clear expectations taught and understood (this would equate to the universal promotion area of the teaching pyramid).
Meeting the child where they are emotionally and socially is a key underpinning strategy for developing social-emotional competence in children. Whatever the strategy, research has shown that it is important for children to learn, practise, view and talk about the new skill with examples to illustrate what it looks like, sounds like and feels like (Corso, 2007). For those children who have experienced complex trauma the following strategies have been shown to be very helpful in assisting them to regulate emotions:
• Name your emotions. Talk aloud so there is connection between feeling and words.
• Make clear links between the emotion and the event.
• Use a feeling die (use at carpet time for children to tell about the time they felt…).
• Dance to different kinds of music and talk about how it feels.
• Explicitly teach children how to read the nonverbal cues of others. Why do people frown, grimace, look upset?
• Read picture books that discuss emotions. An article by Harper (2016) discusses how picture books can be useful in developing social-emotional competence.
When you live a life of mistrust and hurt, your internal workings tell you that relationships with others are not a good idea because they are unsafe and to protect yourself it is easier to just avoid them all together. How does this child know how to form and ‘be in’ friendships with others? They don’t. They need to be taught. Sorrels (2015) details the following social skills:
• Empathy – Children from chaotic backgrounds often arrive at school ‘not ready to learn’. Providing time to check in nurtures empathy, encourages regulation and shows care and concern.
• Turn-taking – my turn, your turn (This is not sharing. Sharing is different. We share collage materials and food; we take turns going through the tunnel and down the slippery dip). Children with trauma have lost so much, they do not want to give-up anything so find turn-taking difficult. Use timers, visuals and solve problems aloud.
• Sharing – children with trauma ‘accumulate stuff’ whenever they can because they fear the opportunity may never arise again. They are fearful of not having. They are not greedy. Plan activities where they can practice sharing and ensure they know what it looks like and sounds like to share.
• Joining in – join the game with the child and stay and play for a moment by guiding them in and helping them engage.
• Conflict resolution – talk through situations of conflict. The child with trauma is often overwhelmed by these situations. Remember Elliott from the true story at the beginning of the chapter? He used to climb into a cupboard and slide the door almost shut (the track was fixed so that the door could not be fully closed). Many children with trauma will hide in times of conflict.
Please note that the above material from Reaching and Teaching Children Exposed to Trauma by Barbara Sorrels, EdD, ISBN
9780876593509, is used with permission from Gryphon House, Inc., P. O. Box 10, Lewisville, NC 27023 (800) 638-
0928 www.gryphonhouse.com. No further reproduction of this content is permitted without prior permission from the copyright holder.
The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
Read the following resources from the
Promoting Social Emotional Competence
[27 min 40 sec]
Watch this video on social and emotional competence. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/05%3A_Teach_and_reinforce/05.2%3A_The_social-emotional_needs_of_the_young_chi.txt |
“Children living with trauma are brave, courageous and resilient. School days are often a struggle. Just being at school is testament to their fortitude.”
In the primary years of school, the child is adjusting to greater demands with academic tasks, forming friendships and experiencing failure (Snowden et al., 2009; Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013). Friendships become increasingly important and peer group pressure increases significantly. This is the age for ‘a best friend’. The primary school child begins to think of their sense of self in comparison to others. The views of key adults are important as is their belief in themselves to complete tasks in which they strive to be successful.
When supporting the primary school child with trauma (as with all children with trauma) teachers need to focus on what the individual child’s needs are. Teachers need to ask themselves what is the emotional age of the child? Most children who have experienced complex trauma and therefore have attachment difficulties, hide behind a confident façade that hides their need to be dependent on adults.
Strategies to help
• Provide lots of praise (genuine and descriptive) and acknowledgement. Build the very fragile sense of self-worth that exists within the child with trauma.
• Demonstrate your belief in the child by giving them opportunities to take on leadership-type roles in the classroom so they are ‘in-charge’.
• Clear boundaries and high expectations.
• Focus on connection not correction – relationships are everything.
05.4: The social-emotional needs of the adolescen
The social-emotional needs of the adolescent are similar in many ways to the young child but with add-ins. For example, the adolescent has a strong focus on self and experiences the complications that come with hormones and puberty. Young people going through the stage of adolescence need to belong and feel connected, and they need emotional and social skills. Not all adolescents have had the chance to develop these skills so it should not be assumed that all adolescents have acquired these skills and indeed can competently demonstrate them. The adolescent as is the case with the younger child, does not have superpowers that allow them to become socially and emotionally competent through ‘magic’. As is the case with all children who struggle with social-emotional competence, social and emotional skills need to be taught.
Main and Whatman (2016) note that there is a “window of opportunity” (p. 1067) for the early adolescent who finds themselves embedded in a world of greater challenges both socially and academically. The authors remind us that the foundation of emotional stability is a strong relationship with a significant adult and having friendships with peers that are productive and respectful. Having a sense of belonging and connectedness significantly contributes to resilience and reduces the likelihood of disengaged and disruptive behaviours.
During adolescence concern with self-concept, self-esteem and appearance is greater than during the primary school years and can often lead to heightened anxiety and worry for some (Snowman et al., 2009). The inability to cope with these emotions can manifest into emotional disorders such as depression, eating disorders and substance abuse. This focus on self (self-conscious and self -centred behaviour) coupled with the flood of emotions that accompany the developmental changes of this adolescent stage, can create havoc for the social-emotional wellbeing of some adolescents. It is important to remember that while many adolescents do experience some social, emotional and behavioural hurdles, most of these hurdles fail to become significant difficulties.
The following table is a compilation of key factors of social and emotional development developed from Snowman et al. (2009) and typical behaviours of the traumatised child of the same age from Wiebler (2013).
The secondary school space is full of transitions and changes. Transitions from room to room, teacher to teacher, subject to subject, physical changes from child to young adult, change for some from being known at primary school to being ‘lost’ amongst many. Changes everywhere. Changes that overwhelm. Keep the adolescent in mind.
Strategies to help
• Teach effective social communication skills for example: classroom positive graffiti walls (messages and art work); encouraging journal writing (no one reads it without owner permission); use alternatives to words (visuals, hand gestures, signs); model expression of emotion by reading an entry from your teacher journal (it is important that when student write in their journals the teacher does the same).
• We cannot change the past but with understanding, care and connection we can help to mend the fractures in the life of the child affected by trauma.Take advantage of the social opportunities in the school.
• Be a relationship coach. Be a role model in how to interact with others (Hertel & Johnson, 2013).
• Give feedback when social situations do not work out as planned.
• Ensure the peer group is included where appropriate so they too can be supportive and instrumental in helping.
• Establish a check-in time and place.
• Minimise the changes wherever possible. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/05%3A_Teach_and_reinforce/05.3%3A_The_social-emotional_needs_of_the_primary_a.txt |
In chapter two, we examined behaviour theory in detail and how it forms the foundation of our ability to think functionally about challenging student behaviour. Behaviour theory, you will remember is associated with BF Skinner and focuses on behaviour being observable and measurable and influenced by the environment in which it occurs. Consequences maintain or reinforce the behaviour. While no apology is made for the behavioural perspective of the book being predicated on behaviourism, it is important to always consider other theories of learning from which we can draw to provide a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of learning (behaviour is learning too). Therefore, a brief introduction to social cognitive theory is presented here to promote critical thinking beyond behaviour theory alone, to inform our practice.
Social cognitive theory
Social cognitive theory has developed from the work of Albert Bandura. Founded in behaviourism, the inclusion of the cognitive aspects of learning have seen a greater balance develop between the behaviourist perspective and cognitive psychology. This balance has also been reflected with the change of the name from its original title of social learning theory to social cognitive theory (Ormrod, 2014). The basic premise of social cognitive theory is that a person’s behaviour is the result of three reciprocal factors. These are behaviour, personal characteristics and the environment. Behaviour is about the social world and the influence of other people’s behaviour on our own behaviour. The focus is on shared experiences with others and the molding of a child’s behaviour through the modelling of that behaviour by others and subsequently the imitation of that behaviour. This requires the child to look, remember and do (Hoffnung, et al. 2019).
Modelling, observing and copying behaviour are key elements of social cognitive theory. Teacher behaviour has a very significant impact on student behaviour. What teachers do is closely scrutinised by students therefore it is critical that teachers demonstrate desired behaviours. Bandura (1986) noted that there were four key components needed for learning from modelling to be successful. These were attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation. Let us look at how the basic assumptions of social cognitive theory may apply when teaching social emotional skills to students (Ormrod, 2014, p. 299-300).
• People can learn by observing others. While it is important to make time to explicitly teach social emotional skills to students it is equally as important to provide them with opportunities to observe and watch these skills being modelled.
• Learning may or may not lead to behaviour change that is learning is a mental change that may not be demonstrated in observable and measurable behaviours. While students may understand the importance and application of social emotional skills in a cognitive intellectual manner, the application of these skills in real life situations may require reteaching and scaffolding before these students can autonomously use these skills in their life.
• Cognitive processes influence motivation and learning. Having goals and expectations are important for motivation and self-efficacy (a person’s belief in their own ability) is instrumental in effort and persistence toward achieving goals. It is important to recognise that anti-social behaviours have served an important function in a student’s life in getting their needs met. Self-efficacy and trust in the ability of prosocial social emotional skills in getting their needs met requires setting up supports and situations that provide these students with small successes and feelings of accomplishment.
• People and their environment influence each other. Social cognitive theory posits people influence their environment and do so intentionally. It is important to remember that the use of prosocial behaviours may not be adaptive for students that continue to live in abusive and neglectful environments. Given this it may be that the student may require additional support in learning and using social emotional skills. It is also worth noting that some students may have already developed a bad reputation amongst their peer group which may disincentivise the use of social emotional skills. Supporting the development of safe relationships across the school community will help provide the student with the safety to learn academic and social emotional competencies.
• Behaviour becomes more and more self-regulated. As we grow from infancy, we take greater control of our own behaviour and thinking to achieve and learn, we learn to self-regulate. While these students may experience set backs it is important to observe and document times when these students have demonstrated the ability to be self-regulated through the use of prosocial skills. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/05%3A_Teach_and_reinforce/05.5%3A_Social_cognitive_theory.txt |
Thinking functionally – skills deficit coping
Students with challenging behaviour may experience deficits in their academic and social emotional capacities. In times of stress associated with academic and social challenges, such deficits can leave them feeling vulnerable. Their efforts to cope may be to get feelings of mastery, agency and competence through engagement in disruptive and anti-social behaviour e.g., being the class clown, being the toughest child in the class. These students may also be looking to get away from feelings of shame and embarrassment linked to their delayed capacities compared to their same aged peers.
Such behaviours may include lying, attempting to cheat on tests, being secretive or teasing and bullying others on perceived areas of incompetence to pre-empt others picking on them first. Building on these student’s social emotional capacities would benefit them academically and socially while reducing the need for these students to engage in these maladaptive coping behaviours.
Social skills
Remember from chapter two the competing pathway and replacement behaviour? When we think about disruptive behaviour from a functional perspective we think about what replacement behaviour we can teach the child that is acceptable to the context and the people in it. This replacement behaviour is what we want the child to do to get what they need instead of the current serious, disruptive behaviour they are using to get what they need. Therefore, the replacement behaviour must serve the same function as the serious, disruptive behaviour (that is, it must be an acceptable way for the child to either get or escape) otherwise there is no point in the child using it. If a replacement behaviour does not serve the same function as the disruptive behaviour then the child will not use it. Instead, they will continue to use the serious, disruptive behaviour that did fill the function of enabling them to get or escape because it is working for them.
The goal is to teach a replacement behaviour that works better for the child than the disruptive behaviour and if the replacement behaviour does work better than the disruptive behaviour, the child will use it and keep using it because it works for them. Replacement behaviours need to be more efficient and effective than the disruptive behaviour and this includes taking less effort to demonstrate. Many replacement behaviours are associated with social skills and teaching the child how a particular behaviour looks and sounds in context. Often we assume that a child knows what an expected behaviour looks and sounds like without stopping to think what if? What if, that behaviour does not exist in the child’s world beyond school? What if, that behaviour has never been demonstrated to the child? What if there has never been reason for that behaviour to be used?
Because many disruptive behaviours can be triggered by a lack of social skills, social skills are a crucial ingredient in any intervention into disruptive behaviour. Social skill difficulties according to Gresham (2015, p. 202) fall into two categories either acquisition deficits or performance deficits. Acquisition deficits are about the child not having had opportunity to acquire the skill. Lack of knowledge of the skill, not understanding where and when it should be used or how it looks, make this a ‘can’t do’ problem.
Performance deficits on the other hand can be thought of as a ‘won’t do’ problem. The child knows how to demonstrate the skill but won’t. So, this is a performance problem tied to motivation not a learning problem and this is where knowing and changing the antecedents and consequences, play a critical role in increasing the frequency that these skills the child won’t do, will be performed.
Social Skills Improvement System
Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS-CIP)
Read about the developed by Gresham and Elliott. The program focuses on teaching ten skills which have been proven by research to be the most critical skills according to teachers for students from prep through to adolescence. The ten skills are outlined within the reading. While it is a manualised program written within an American specific education context, it lends itself well to be an excellent framework to structure the teaching of social skills to children demonstrating serious, disruptive behaviours.
Gresham (2015, p. 210) notes the theory of change model derives, in part, from social learning theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986). This model uses strategies from social learning theory such as modelling (vicarious learning and observation), coaching (verbal instruction) behavioural rehearsal (practice) and feedback/generalisation. Within the theory of change model, social skills are taught following six steps:
1. Tell (coaching) – the skill is defined, why is it important is discussed and the steps needed to demonstrate the skill are outlined.
2. Show (modelling) – appropriate and inappropriate behaviours are modelled, and visuals and video clips are also used. The importance of modelling is well supported by the research as a highly effective strategy.
3. Do (role playing) – review, revise, explain and demonstrate through role play the new social skill.
4. Practice (behaviour rehearsal) – the child practises the new skill within the context in which the problem occurred as well as wherever else the skill may be needed.
5. Monitoring progress (feedback and self-assessment) – reflecting on own progress. The teacher monitors and keeps written notes and gives feedback to the child during the teaching of the skill.
6. Generalise (generalising across contexts) – the child uses the skill in various contexts – in different areas/situations in the school.
While the steps above build upon each other in the order listed, more than one strategy can be used at the same time. For example, coaching and modelling would most often be used simultaneously to complement each other and strengthen the child’s understanding of
the skill being taught. The six steps apply to developing social skills of both acquisition and performance.
In summary, social skills are learned behaviours that are viewed as acceptable for the context within which they are performed. Social skills help children to interact positively with others. Throughout a childhood development, variations will exist in the strengths and weaknesses of social skills and therefore the child’s competence in performing them. Developing social competence is critical for all children so that they can demonstrate behaviours necessary for building positive relationships with others (e.g. teacher and peers) and engage successfully in learning.
BeYou
The site has a wealth of resources and information to support children with behaviour and social-emotional learning. Explore the many topics available and implement the strategies where applicable to your context. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/05%3A_Teach_and_reinforce/05.6%3A_Social_skills.txt |
“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Secondary trauma
Secondary traumatic stress has been defined as the experience of stress and distressed experienced by those who become aware of a traumatising event impacting another person. According to Charles Figley (1995, p.6), secondary traumatic stress is “the stress resulting from wanting to help a traumatised or suffering person”. Until recently, when we spoke about persons being traumatised we were speaking of those people who were directly exposed to the trauma. It has only been recently that researchers and practitioners have acknowledged that persons who work with or help traumatised persons are indirectly or secondarily at risk of developing the same symptoms as persons directly affected by the trauma. Clinicians and parents who listen to their clients or children describe the trauma are at risk of absorbing a portion of the trauma.
Secondary traumatic stress is sometimes confused with burnout. It should not be. Pine and Aronson (1981) define burnout as a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations. Unlike secondary traumatic stress, burnout can be described as emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and a reduced feeling of personal accomplishment. Burnout is a condition that begins gradually and becomes progressively worse. Secondary trauma, conversely, can occur following the exposure to a single traumatic event. When there is some interaction between the adult professional (or caregiver) and the traumatised child secondary trauma can occur.
Secondary traumatic stress refers to the presence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms caused by at least one indirect exposure to traumatic material. Several other terms capture elements of this definition but are not all interchangeable with it.
Table 6.1 Secondary stress and related conditions: sorting one from another
Compassion fatigue, a less stigmatising way to describe secondary trauma stress, has been used interchangeable with this term. Vicarious trauma refers to the changes in the inner experience of the therapist resulting from empathetic engagement with a traumatised client. it is a theoretical term that focuses less on trauma symptoms and more on the convert cognitive changes that occur following cumulative exposure to another person’s traumatic material.
Compassion satisfaction refers to the positive feelings derived from competent performance as a trauma professional. It is characterised by positive relationships with colleagues, and the conviction that one’s work makes a meaningful contribution to clients and society. Burnout is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and a reduced feeling of personal accomplishment. While it is also work-related, burnout develops as a result of general occupation stress. The term is not used to describe the effects of indirect trauma exposure specifically.
Please note this table has been reproduced with permission from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2014). No further reproduction of this table is permitted without prior permission from the copyright holder.
Bruce Perry and the Child Trauma Academy (2014) have identified several reasons why professionals working with maltreated or traumatised children are at increased risk of developing secondary trauma:
Empathy
Empathy is a valuable tool for educators working with traumatised students. Our compassion and care for these children helps them, not because we talk to them or at them, but because we are emotionally there for them when the other adults in their life are frightening or preoccupied with other matters. However, by empathising with a child or ‘feeling their pain,’ the teachers become vulnerable to internalise some of the child’s trauma-related pain. We take on their pain as if it was our own, and this leads to becoming emotionally drained and fatigued.
Insufficient recovery time
Teachers working with children and families are sometimes required to listen to children describe some horrific situations they have experienced. Some teachers become secondarily traumatised by having to listen to the same or similar stories over and over again without sufficient recovery time.
Unresolved personal trauma
Many teachers have had some personal loss or even traumatic experience in their own life (e.g., loss of a family member, divorce). To some extent, the pain of experiences can be ‘re-activated’. Therefore, when professionals work with a student who has suffered a similar trauma, the experience often triggers painful reminders of their own trauma.
Children are the most vulnerable members of our society
Young children are completely dependent on adults for their emotional and physical needs. When adults maltreat these vulnerable persons, it evokes a strong reaction in any person with a sense of decency and morality. At times, the senseless and almost evil nature of some of the trauma inflicted on children shakes one’s sense of humanity.
Isolation and systemic fragmentation
When individuals feel valued and are in the presence of others who respect and care for them, they are more capable of tolerating extreme stressors. Clearly this means that the current practices in education – specifically, individual educational practice rather than team-oriented practice within a fragmented system with high-turnover – are a set up for increased stress for individuals working in that system.
Lack of systemic resources
A lack of economic and personnel investment in front-line services for high-risk children exacerbate each of the problems listed above. In our current socio-political climate, no public system is likely to address adequately the issues related to development of secondary trauma in front-line personnel. The task of addressing these problems, then, falls to the mid-level leader, supervisors, program directors and others who are working to create a positive work climate for their coworkers.
Secondary Trauma: Indicators and Warning Signs
Individuals affected by secondary stress may find themselves re-experiencing personal trauma or notice an increase in arousal and avoidance reactions related to the indirect trauma. The signs and symptoms of secondary traumatic stress are similar to those experienced by survivors of traumatic events. These symptoms include hypervigilance, hopelessness, excessive feelings of guilt, and even physical ailments, such as headaches, and irritable bowels (Figley, 1995). More signs and symptoms of secondary traumatic stress are highlighted in the table below.
Table 6. 2 Signs and symptoms of secondary traumatic stress
Hypervigilance Social withdrawal Insensitivity to violence Disconnection
Hopelessness Minismising Illness Poor boundaries
Guilt Anger and cynicism Fear Loss of creativity
Avoidance Diminished self-care Chronic exhaustion Inability to embrace complexity
Survival coping Sleeplessness Physical aliments Inability to listen or avoidance of clients
Please note this table has been reproduced with permission from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2014). No further reproduction of this table is permitted without prior permission from the copyright holder.
These difficulties have been found to interfere with capacity for individuals to offer support, by diminishing their willingness and capacity to listen to others, an inability to tolerate uncertainty and complexity and chronic feelings of fatigue and exhaustion (Figley, 1995). Client care can be compromised if the therapist is emotionally depleted or cognitively affected by secondary trauma. Some traumatised professionals, believing they can no longer be of service to their clients, end up leaving their jobs or the serving field altogether. Several studies have shown that the development of secondary traumatic stress often predicts that the helping professional will eventually leave the field for another type of work (Pryce et al., 2007).
Identifying secondary trauma
Supervisors and organisational leaders in child-serving systems may utilise a variety of assessment strategies to help them identify and address secondary traumatic stress affecting staff members. The most widely used approaches are informal self-assessment strategies, usually employed in conjunction with formal or informal education for the worker on the impact of secondary traumatic stress. These self-assessment tools, administered in the form of questionnaires, checklists, or scales, help characterise the individual’s trauma history, emotional relationship with work and the work environment, and symptoms or experiences that may be associated with traumatic stress (Figley, 2004).
Supervisors might also assess secondary stress as part of a reflective supervision model (Pearlman & Saakvitine, 1995). This type of supervision fosters professional and personal development within the context of a supervisory relationship. It is attentive to the emotional content of the work at hand and to the professional’s responses as they affect interactions with clients. The reflective model promotes greater awareness of the impact of indirect trauma exposure, and it can provide a structure for screening for emerging signs of secondary traumatic stress. Moreover, because the model supports consistent attention to secondary stress, it gives supervisors and managers an ongoing opportunity to develop policy and procedures for stress-related issues as they arise (Pearlman & Saakvitine, 1995).
Formal assessment of secondary traumatic stress and the related conditions of burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction is often conducted through use of the Professional Quality of Life Measure (ProQOL), as seen in the resource below. (Craig & Sprang, 2010; Sprang et al., 2007; Stamm, 2010; Stamm et al. 2010). This questionnaire has been adapted to measure symptoms and behaviours reflective of secondary stress. The ProQOL can be used at regular intervals to track changes over time, especially when strategies for prevention or intervention are being tried (Stamm, 2010).
The Professional Quality of Life (ProQL) measure
The Professional Quality of Life (ProQL) measure can help teachers assess their own coping and self-care. Complete the to reflect on your own self-care practices and areas of need.
Emotional Mastery by Dr Joan Rosenberg [15 mins 17 sec]
Watch this to learn an innovative strategy and surprising keys for experiencing the challenging emotions. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/06%3A_Survive_and_thrive/06.1%3A_Caring_for_the_educator%3A_the_challenge_of_.txt |
Anyone who lives and works with traumatised children may be affected by secondary traumatic stress. As we’ve seen in earlier sections, we are all, at all times, both vulnerable and resilient. Educators and educational systems have an ethical duty to build resilience and reduce vulnerability in themselves and their colleagues as secondary traumatic stress is a health and safety issue. In this section we will look at two broad domains of self-care: strategies for the prevention of secondary traumatic stress and strategies for the management of secondary traumatic stress.
Prevention
Prevention is better than cure, but the disorders cannot always be prevented. Training, support and coaching can all reduce the risk of teachers developing secondary traumatic stress disorder in the first place. When stress disorders do develop, various methods – in addition to training, support and supervision – can be used to treat the condition.
Prevention strategies: training and professional development
Understanding what secondary trauma is and what causes it reduces a person’s vulnerability and increases resilience. Training which increases understanding in the network of support around for teachers and groups of educational staff, increase their resilience. Training in managing stress will increase a teacher’s ability to respond to stress in ways that are less damaging. Enhancing the teacher’s professional knowledge and skills in trauma informed practice, increases their sense of professional identity, while also improving their capacity for teamwork and communication. Similarly, training aimed at personal development also increases the teacher’s sense of having an identity outside of work. Improving skill in sport, or some other pursuit such as music or dance increases the sense of joy in living which helps to protect us from the effects of stress. Educators and support staff in roles or location where no training has traditionally been offered or who would find it difficult to attend courses can utilise techniques such as online learning and distance learning or combinations of different learning methods.
Prevention strategies: support
An audit of one’s social support network, and methods to increase the quality of the support one is receiving, is possibly the most useful exercise in self-care. Informal support may come from people within the individual’s network who are familiar with the concept of secondary traumatic stress disorder and who recognise the signs. Teachers benefit from including at least one ‘trusted challenger’-someone who understands the dynamics of trauma and will point out changes in an individual and ensure that they get treatment.
Formal support may come from structures set up by the school or education department, such as peer support groups, who understand the dynamics of trauma; experienced mentors or people who know a particular traumatised child; or telephone or online helplines. It may also come from other organisations such as support groups and self-help groups.
Prevention strategies: coaching
Coaching and feedback on one’s teaching practice from senior educators within the department or school, line managers or specially designated pedagogy or behaviour management coaches within the school context. Regular de-briefing or feedback sessions that look for any changes that might indicate that the person is developing a secondary stress disorder is critical for good self-care. Such coaching can only be effective when there is a school climate that embraces a ‘growth mindset’ – supporting teachers to be thoughtful in their practice; feeling safe in making mistakes and learning from their mistakes. Coaches and consultants external to the school can also help educators to reflect on processes, policies and practices within the school that are working well and those that may require changes.
Building capacity among staff in educating and supporting students with diverse needs requires a multidisciplinary approach, with consultations from experts in education, psychology, occupational therapy, medicine and speech pathology. These professionals bring with them unique perspectives on the prevention of secondary traumatic stress in staff, while providing specific advice for particular difficulties. These could include problems with drugs and alcohol, mental health, eating disorders, and other challenging problems that educators may find difficult managing in the school setting.
Managing secondary stress disorder
Even with appropriate training and supervision, it is not always possible to prevent secondary traumatic stress disorders. However, these disorders are always treatable. It is the nature of secondary trauma that people who are suffering from it do not recognise the condition in themselves. Members of leadership groups who supervise teachers and other educational staff are equally vulnerable to developing secondary traumatic stress disorders, with consequent effects on their own performance and perceptions. Schools need to recognise these risks. They have a duty of care towards teachers and support staff to ensure that anyone who develops a stress disorder as a result of their work is supported in engaging in the treatment required to make a full recovery.
Physiological self-management
Before anyone can be helped by treatment, they need to recognise that they have a secondary traumatic stress disorder. As well as discussing this with a ‘trusted challenger,’ this may involve showing the person evidence of the effects on their cognitive processing, memory, emotional and social functioning and so on. There are several self-assessment tools available for free on the internet which can help with this process. They can be found online and be downloaded for use as self-reflection or discussions with members of your formal and informal support network.
There are effective remedies which will restore the person’s ability to manage stress, relax and feel pleasure – relaxation techniques, massage, yoga, exercise and music, among others. The key is to practice techniques with awareness of the body’s response to the activity. As soon as there is a feeling of relaxation and pleasure, the person should consciously note this. Keeping a diary or keeping a record of recovery can be helpful. After recovery, the person needs to monitor their state of mind and wellbeing and build in strategies to ensure that they stay well.
Psychological therapies
There are a variety of psychological therapies that can address the symptoms of secondary traumatic stress disorders. For example, teachers working with challenging students in stressful environments can start to develop distorted thinking patterns that persist and require psychological therapy. Similarly, working in such extremely stressful environments for prolonged periods of time can lead to habits such as alcohol abuse, gambling and other dependency behaviours that require treatment focused on these maladaptive behaviours. Working with traumatised students and their families can also trigger unresolved trauma from any time in the life of the teacher, which may or may not have a direct relationship to the child’s trauma.
Other therapeutic interventions
As we have seen in the previous chapters, children who live with trauma are regularly hyper-aroused or dissociated. Hyperarousal leaves children requiring soothing, calming environments which will help diminish their arousal. Such environments are also important for teachers working in stressful environments. Similarly, educators prone to withdrawing or zoning out when stressed will benefit from stimulating environments which help put them back in touch with their feelings. Some people also find complementary therapies such as massage, reflexology and so on beneficial.
Charles Figley (2002) wrote about the need to enable and empower people who give care to others to receive care in their turn. For their own sakes, and for the sake of the children they teach, educators need to be there for the child who experience trauma, while remaining in control of their own anxiety. They also need to realise the value of paying attention to their own needs and wellbeing as well as those of the children they care for.
Healthy Brain Platter
[5 mins 45 secs]
Watch this short clip to learn about the ‘healthy brain platter’ by Daniel Siegal – a framework for thinking about self-care. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed.
Teacher self-care by Education Queensland
Read the from Education Queensland. It relates to supporting traumatised students in the classroom. The resource offers some practical tips and strategies for self-care for teachers.
Taming the gremlins: teaching and the challenges of self-care [5 mins 30 sec]
Watch this to understand the common traps educators fall into that impacts their capacities for self-care. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/06%3A_Survive_and_thrive/06.2%3A_The_teacher_must_survive%3A_self-care_and_ma.txt |
Secondary stress is a health and safety issue for schools. Schools need to recognise it as a potential hazard for carers and staff. Risk assessment requires that schools assess the possible risks that could arise from hazards and daily stressors. They must also have strategies to reduce and manage the sources of stress for teachers and support staff in schools. Managers and supervisors need to understand why secondary stress could affect people’s ability to care for foster children or perform to their usual standard at work. They also need to recognise the benefits of the school having strategies to prevent and support staff in seeking treatment for secondary stress. It’s important that such action do not depend on one or two interested individuals, but be incorporated into the whole organisation’s policies and procedures.
Impact of traumatic stress on schools
To understand the impact of traumatic stress on organisations, it is useful to review our understanding of the impact of trauma on children. As seen in the previous chapters, children who are exposed to violence and other forms of traumatic experience, including neglect – particularly if these stressors are recurrent or chronic – may respond with a complex variety of problems. They are unable to keep themselves safe in the world and often put other people at risk for harm as well. They are chronically tense and hyper-aroused with hair-trigger tempers and a compromised ability to manage distressing emotions. This emotional arousal interferes with the development of good decision-making, problem solving skills and conflict resolution skills and as a result, the ability to communicate constructively with others does not develop properly. This results in grave cognitive, emotional and interpersonal difficulties.
As a consequence, self-correcting skills that involve self-control and self-discipline fail to develop properly. Breaches of trust that are a result of failed interpersonal relationships lead to problems with trusting or constructively collaborating with authority figures. These failures lead to a progressive lack of integration among the various cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal functions required of human beings in complex societies. This lack of integration produces basic deficits that result in demoralisation, loss of faith, helplessness, hopelessness, the loss of meaning and purpose and the spiraling degradation of repetition and avoidance. Lacking the necessary skills to deal with overwhelming emotions, young people frequently resort to substances, behaviours, and destructive relationships that will help them avoid the shame of failure, the anger of unjust treatment, and the grief of recurrent loss. Parallel difficulties may be found in organisations that attempt to serve these individuals.
Today, organisations like schools are experiencing significant stress. In many schools, neither the staff nor the administrators feel particularly safe with their clients or even with each other. Atmospheres of recurrent or constant crisis severely constrain the ability of staff to constructively confront problems, engage in complex problem-solving, and involve all levels of staff in decision making processes. Communication networks tend to break down under stress and as this occurs, service delivery becomes increasingly fragmented. When communication networks break down so too do the feedback loops that are necessary for consistent and timely error correction. As decision-making becomes increasingly non-participatory and problem solving more reactive, an increasing number of short-sighted policy decisions are made that appear to compound existing problems.
Unresolved interpersonal conflicts increase and are not resolved. As the situation feels increasingly out of control, organisational leaders become more controlling, instituting ever more punitive measures in an attempt to forestall chaos. Staff respond to the perceived punitive measures instituted by leaders through acting-out and passive-aggressive behaviours. As the organisation becomes more hierarchical there is a progressive and simultaneous isolation of leaders and a ‘dumbing down’ of staff. Over time, leaders and staff lose sight of the essential purpose of their work together and derive less and less satisfaction and meaning from the work. Standards of care deteriorate, and quality assurance standards are lowered in an attempt to deny or hide this deterioration. When this spiral is occurring, staff feel increasingly angry, demoralised, ‘burned out,’ helpless and hopeless about the people they are working to serve. Ultimately, if this deadly sequence is not arrested, the organisation begins to look and act in uncannily similar ways to the traumatised clients it is supposed to be helping.
Parallel processes
The concept of parallel processes is a useful way of offering a coherent framework that can enable staff and leaders to develop a way of thinking ‘outside the box’ about what has happened and is happening to their service delivery systems, based on an understanding of the ways in which trauma and chronic adversity affect human functioning. Smith et al., (1989) describe parallel processes as occurring when two or more systems – whether these consist of individuals, groups or organisations – having a significant relationship with one another. When this occurs, these systems tend to develop similar affects, cognitions and behaviours, which are defined as parallel processes. Parallel processes can be set in motion in many ways, and once initiated leave no one immune from their influence.
Students bring their past history of traumatic experiences into schools, consciously aware of some of their challenges but unconsciously struggling to recover from the pain and loss of their past. They are greeted by well-meaning teachers, subject to their own personal life experiences, who are more or less deeply embedded in entire systems that are under significantly stress. Given what we know about exposure to childhood adversity and other forms of traumatic experience, the majority of teachers and educational staff have experiences in their background and that similarity may be more or less recognised and at varying levels of resolution (Felitti et al., 1998). The result of these complex interactions between the traumatised students, stressed teachers, pressured schools, and a social and economic environment that is frequently hostile to the aims of recovery and support is often the opposite of what was intended. Teachers in schools of high rates of behavioural difficulties suffer both physical and psychological injuries and thus become demoralised and hostile. Their counter-aggressive responses to the aggression of the students help to create a culture of punitive responses.
Leaders become variously perplexed, overwhelmed, ineffective, authoritarian or avoidant as they struggle to satisfy the demands of their superiors, to control their staff and to protect their students. When educational staff and other support staff gather together in an attempt to create an approach to complex problems, they are often not on the same page. They share no common framework that forms the basis to their problem-solving. Without a shared way of understanding the problem, what passes as support may be little more than labelling and punitive or insufficiently thought out behaviour management approaches. When troubled students fail to engage or respond to these strategies, they are labelled again, given more warnings and consequences and termed ‘too difficult’ or ‘too damaged’ to engage in a school environment.
In this way, our school systems inadvertently but frequently recapitulate the experiences that have proved so toxic for children we are supposed to help. Just as the lives of children exposed to repetitive and chronic trauma, abuse and maltreatment become organised around the traumatic experiences, so too can entire systems become organised around the recurrent and severe stress of trying to cope with a flawed mental model based on individual deficits and diagnoses, which is the present underpinnings of our educational systems. When this happens, it sets up an interactive dynamic that creates what are sometimes uncannily similar processes at various levels of organisations and departments. Trauma theory bring context back to educational institutions, while integrating the importance of the biological discoveries of the last several decades. There are currently significant efforts directed at helping schools become trauma informed. In the following section we describe a framework put forward by Sandra Bloom (2010) for school staff and leaders to become more sensitive to the ways in which individuals and groups of people exposed to overwhelming stress can be supported.
Safety
Schools and classrooms can become an unsafe – physically and emotionally – for students and teachers. This can happen either through teachers having to manage physical and verbal aggression of students or by the management of risky behaviours such as self-harm or
sexualised behaviours from students. When this occurs, the basic trust that supports complex problem solving and high productivity is eroded. The list of behaviours that can trigger mistrust in staff is a long one and includes both verbal and nonverbal behaviour: silence, glaring eye contact, abruptness, snubbing, insults, public humiliation, blaming, discrediting, aggressive and controlling behaviour, overtly threatening behaviour, yelling and shouting, public humiliation, angry outbursts, secretive decision making, indirect communication, lack of responsiveness to input, mixed messages aloofness, unethical conduct – all can be experienced as abusive managerial or supervisory behaviour (Ryan & Oestreich, 1998). According to Bill Wilkerson, CEO of Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, “mistrust, unfairness and vicious office politics” are among the top ten workplace stressors (Collie, 2004).
Emotional control
Pekrun and Frese (1992) have argued that emotions are among the primary determinants of behaviour at work. Emotion can profoundly influence both social climate and the productivity of companies and organisations. Under normal conditions, a school manages and contains the emotional contagion that is an inevitable part of functioning within groups of human beings. This is done through normal problem-solving, decision making, and conflict resolution methods and school policies and procedures that must exist for any school to operate effectively. These are the norms that enable groups of teachers and students to tolerate the normal amount of anxiety that exists among people working on a task, tolerate uncertainty long enough for creative problem solutions to emerge, promote balanced and integrated decision making so that all essential points of view are synthesised, contain and resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise between members of a group and complete its tasks (Bloom, 2004).
In organisations under chronic, relentless stress, however, this healthier level of function is likely sacrificed in service of facing repetitive emergency situations and entire organisations may begin to look like highly stressed individuals. Traumatised people often develop chronic hyperarousal as the central nervous system adapts to the constancy of threat. Similarly, schools may become chronically hyper-aroused, so that everything becomes a crisis. When this happens, the capacity to prioritise what is important and what can be postponed is lost. Stress levels universally increase for everyone and, as one principal has said, “it’s like managing with your hair on fire”. Under conditions of chronic crisis, emotional distress escalates, tempers become short, decision making becomes impaired and driven by impulse, while pressures to conform reduce individual and group effectiveness (Ryan & Oestreich, 1998).
Organisational amnesia
Just like individuals, if they are to learn, schools must have memory. Some modern philosophers believe that all memories are formed and organised within a collective context (Halbwachs, 1992). Organisational memory refers to stored information from an organisation’s history that can be brought to bear on present decisions. Knowledge about the history of a school or educational department, like individual knowledge, exists in two basic forms: explicit knowledge, which is easily codified and shared asynchronously; and tacit knowledge, which is experiential, intuitive and communicated most effectively in face-to-face encounters. Explicit knowledge can be articulated within formal language. It is that which can be recorded and stored in the more concrete organisational storage bins: records, policies and procedure manuals, training curriculums, orientation programs, organisational structures and links of authority, and other written and promotional materials (Weick, 1979).
Tacit knowledge is that knowledge which is used to interpret the information – knowledge that is more difficult to articulate with language but lies in the values, beliefs and priorities of an organisation (Lahaie, 2005; Othman & Hashim, 2004). Tacit knowledge resides within the individual memories of every person who is or has ever been a part of the organisation is cumulative, slow to diffuse, is rooted in the human beings who comprise the organisation, and create the organisation’s culture. Every teacher who leaves a school takes a part of the school’s memory out of the door with them. As a result, over time and with sufficient loss, the educational institutions develop what’s referred to as ‘organisational amnesia’ that affects learning and adaptation of the staff to the demands imposed on them (Kransdorff, 1998). Organisational amnesia becomes a tangible problem to be managed when there is a loss of collective experience and accumulated skills through the trauma of excessive downsizing, layoffs or people choosing to leave an organisation.
The result of organisational amnesia may be a deafening silence about vital but troubling information, not dissimilar to the deafening silence that surrounds family secrets such as incest, or domestic violence. There is reason to believe that maintaining silence about disturbing collective events may have the counter-effect of making the memory even more potent in its continuing influence on the individuals within the organisation as well as the organisation as a whole, much as silent traumatic memories continue to haunt traumatised individuals and families.
Communication
Under increasing levels of organisation stress, the vital communication that is the lifeblood of an organisation starts to break down. As stress increases, perceptions of staff narrow, and the consideration of contextual information is lost and circumstances relating to staff working together as a group deteriorates to more extreme levels before they are noticed. All of this leads to more puzzlement – both among staff, school leaders and higher-level administrators.
Communication is necessary to detect errors and oversights, and risky situations and crises tend to create the need for processes by which information is communicated from teachers in the classroom to the school leaders within educational institutions. These pathways of communication – to and from the school leaders – that is often compromised and become are of poor quality when under stress or pressure. Without such communication, staff and the school community are not provided with appropriate feedback and do not learn or know how to function better into the future. Research has shown that organisations are exceedingly complex systems that can easily drift toward disaster, unless they maintain resources that enable them to learn from unusual events in their day-to-day functioning (Marcus & Nichols, 1999).
Organisations that already have poor communication structures are more likely to handle crises poorly (Kanter & Stein, 1992). Instead of increasing impersonal communications, staff in crisis are likely to resort to the excessive use of one-way forms of communication. Under stress, the staff in supervisory and leadership positions in organisation tend to focus on the delivery of top-down information flow – largely characterised by new policies, procedures and processes intended to control what staff and student can and can’t do. Feedback loops – pathways for how information is communicated between members of a group – erode under such circumstances of stress and morale starts to decline as the initiatives and work requirements that are communicated do not alleviate the stress or successfully resolve the problems faced by the teachers.
Authoritarianism
When danger is real and present, effective leaders take charge and give commands that are obeyed by obedient staff, thus harnessing and directing the combined power of many individuals in service of helping the institution excel, be continued to be funded and supported into the future. When a crisis occurs, the ‘centralisation of control’ is significantly increased, with leaders tightening reins, concentrating power at the top and minimising participatory decision making – seeking the thoughts and opinions of staff less and less when making decisions (Kanter & Stein, 1992). This is referred to as an authoritarian style of leadership. Even where there are strong beliefs in the democratic way of life, there is always a tendency in institutions like schools, and in the wider society, to regress to simple, hierarchical models of authority as a way of preserving a sense of security and stability. It’s important to note that this is not just a phenomenon of leadership – in times of great uncertainty, everyone in institutions colludes to collectively bring into being authoritarian organisations, as a time-honoured method for providing at least the illusion of greater certainty, predictability and therefore reducing anxiety amongst staff (Lawrence, 2015).
However, when a state of crisis or situations of heightened risk are prolonged, repetitive or chronic, there is a price to be paid. The tendency to develop increasingly authoritarian ways of working in institutions is particularly troublesome for organisations like schools. A chronically high level of stress results in a school climate that promotes authoritarian behaviour and this behaviour serves to reinforce existing hierarchies and create new ones. Communication exchanges become more formalised and a one-way street – from leaders down to staff and not the other way around. Command hierarchies become less flexible, power becomes more centralised, staff on the ground stop talking openly and, as a result, important information is lost from the system (Weick, 2001).
The centralisation of authority means that those at the top of a hierarchy will be far more influential than those at the bottom, and yet better solutions to the existing problems may actually lie in the hands of those with less authority. Authoritarian leadership is likely to
encourage the same leadership style throughout the organisation. The loss of democratic processes results in oversimplified decision making and the loss of empowerment at each organisational level reduces morale and increases interpersonal conflict. As a result, the organisational norms of the behaviour of all staff are likely to support punitive and exclusionary consequences and failures in being empathetic when managing difficult situations. When such authoritarian behaviour goes unchecked, staff members can become bullies.
Silencing of dissent
The greater the authoritarian pressures in an organisation and the greater the chronic stress, the greater is the likelihood that strenuous attempts will be made to silence those who might disagree with the decisions and choices being made in these institutions. Empirical data show that ‘organisational silence’ emerges out of staff members’ fear to speak up about issues or problems they encounter at work (Morrison & Milliken, 2000). These underground topics become the ‘unspeakable’ topics become the undiscussables in an organisation, covering a wide range of areas, including decision-making, procedures, managerial incompetence, pay inequity, organisational inefficiencies and poor organisational performance (Ryan & Oestreich, 1998). Dissent is even less welcome in organisations characterised by chronic stress when dissent is seen as a threat to the staff needing to act in a unified manner. As a result, the quality of how problems are analysed, and decisions made deteriorates. If this cycle is not stopped and the organisation allowed opportunity to recuperate, the result may be an organisation that becomes destructive – similar to how severe traumatised children behave (Bloom, 2004).
Decision-making and conflict management
As systemic stress increases, and authority becomes more centralised, organisational decision-making processes are likely to deteriorate, becoming less complex, more driven by impulse, with a narrowing focus and attention only to immediate threat. Long term consequences of decisions may not be considered, and alternatives remain unexplored (Janis 1982). As work-related stressors increase, staff develop negative perceptions of their coworkers, and organisational leaders and this may precipitate serious decreases in job performance. Conflict over the tasks needing to be completed can be useful, but emotion inevitably accompanies such conflict in stressed organisations. Without good conflict management skills in the staff group, tasks-related to conflict can lead to even more misunderstanding, miscommunication, and increased team dysfunction, instead of providing the kind of enriching conversations that can lead to creative problem solving. Over time, it becomes apparent that people in the staffing group do not like and respect each other and spend their time in personal conflicts, while the group as a whole performs badly. Chronic stress puts an added burden on old conflicts, which are likely to emerge and propagate new conflicts.
Hierarchical structures concentrate power and, in these circumstances, power can easily come to be used abusively and in a way that perpetuates rather than attenuates the concentration of power. Transparency disappears, and secrecy increases under this influence – staff members are left feeling uncertain about changes within the organisation. Communication networks become compromised as those in power become more punitive, and the likelihood of errors being made increases as a result. In such situations, conflicts tend to not be addressed and remain unresolved, tensions and resentment mount under the surface of daily interactions between staff and between staff and students.
Disempowerment and learned helplessness
Learned helplessness in workplaces has been defined as a debilitating cognitive state in which individuals often possess the skills and abilities necessary to perform their jobs, but exhibit suboptimal or poor performance because they attribute prior failures to causes which they cannot change, even though success may be possible in the current environment (Campbell & Martinko, 1998). In controlling, non-participatory work environments, every subsequent lower level of employee is likely to become progressively disempowered. After years, decades and even generations of controlling management styles, reversing this sense of disempowerment can be very difficult, particularly under conditions of chronic, unrelenting organisational stress. Helpless to protect themselves, feeling embattled, hopeless and helpless, the staff and management often engage in ‘risk avoidance’ behaviours where risk management policies prevent health change, adaptation, creativity and innovation.
Increased aggression
The most feared form of workplace aggression is physical violence, but there are several other forms of aggression that can be seen in the workplace. These can take the forms of dirty looks, stealing, hiding needed resources, threats and insults, ignoring input, unfair performance appraisals, spreading rumours, intentionally arriving late to meetings, failing to pass on information and failing to warn of potential danger. All of these actions on the part of management, staff and students are subtle forms of aggression. Stressful times are difficult for employees and as interpersonal conflict increases, it is likely that workers will express their anger, frustration and resentment in a variety of way that have a negative effect on work performance. Frequently, bureaucracy is substituted for participatory agreement on necessary changes, and the more an organisation grows in size and complexity, the more likely this is to happen (Huberman, 1964). Research has demonstrated that poorer the performance gets, the more punitive leaders become, and that very possibly just when leaders need to be instituting positive reinforcing behaviours to promote positive change, they instead become increasingly controlling and punishing (Sims, 1980). A sure sign of an increase in aggression in the workplace is an escalation of vicious gossip and unsubstantiated rumour. Research shows that 70% of all organisational communication comes through this system of informal communication, and several national surveys have found that employees used ‘the grapevine’ as a communication source more than any other vehicle of communication (Crampton et al., 1998). Not only that, but the grapevine has been shown to communicate information far more rapidly than formal systems of communication. All of this lends itself to the promotion of a toxic environment.
Unresolved grief, re-enactment and organisational decline
Losses to the organisation are likely to be experienced individually as well as collectively (Carr, 2001). For the same reason, failure of the organisation to live up to whatever internalised ideal the individual has for the way that the organisation should function are likely to be experienced individually and collectively as a betrayal of trust, a loss of certainty and security, a disheartening collapse of meaning and purpose. Sudden departures of key leaders, the sudden death of a fellow teacher or loss of colleagues due to downsizing can be experienced as organisationally traumatic. It is clear that the ways in which grief, loss and termination are handled have a significant impact on employee attitudes. Unresolved grief can result in an idealisation of what has been lost that interferes with adaptation to a new reality. The failure to grieve for the loss of a leader may make it difficult or impossible for a new leader to be accepted by the group.
Traumatised individuals are frequently subject to traumatic re-enactments – a compulsive reliving of a traumatic past that is not recognised as repetitive and yet, which frequently leads to re-victimisation experiences. Such ‘re-enactment’ is a sign of grief that is not resolved. An organisation that cannot change, that cannot work through loss and move on, is likely to develop patterns of re-enactment, repeating past failed strategies without recognising that these strategies may no longer be effective. This can easily lead to organisational patterns that become overtly abusive. The rigid repetition of the past and the inability to adapt to change may lead to organisational decline and possibly dissolution. All of these behaviours can be seen as inhibitors of organisational learning and adaptation.
Organisational change is always challenging, and all too frequently fails (Pascale et al., 2000). But constant and rapid adaptation to a rapidly changing environment becomes a basic necessity for organisational survival. In supporting traumatised students, survivors of traumatic life events and sustained adversity, it has become clear that having a different way to assess and understand past and current problems is frequently the beginning of a healing and event transformative process. If teachers of a trauma informed school can similarly adopt a trauma informed mindset and approach to working, that enables them to collectively assess and constructively respond to recurrent stress in a different way, transformative, sustainable, and inclusive organisational change may be possible.
‘Creating sanctuary in the classroom’ by Sandra Bloom
‘Creating sanctuary in the classroom’ by Sandra Bloom outlines trauma-informed processes and strategies for educators.
The Staffroom [27 mins]
Watc– a three-part documentary as part of the ABC’s Compass program. The show explores the demands and pressures of being a teacher in Australian public schools. Please note that the clip contains themes and images that may be distressing to some. Please feel free to stop watching the video if you are distressed. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/06%3A_Survive_and_thrive/06.3%3A_Were_all_in_this_together%3A_impact_of_secon.txt |
Strategies that focus on trauma informed practice can draw upon the knowledge gained from helping children and adolescents who have survived traumatic experiences. Danger and losses that attend the loss of safety are usually wake up calls that urge individual survivors and schools to recognise that it is time for change. But once we start facing problems, they are generally bigger – more complex – than they appear at first glance and it is difficult to know where to start. When face with complexity it is important to have some kind of cohesive framework that helps structure the development of an action plan for change. In schools, it is essential that the students and the school staff get on the same page so that their goals and strategies for achieving those goals are aligned. Similarly, from a whole school perspective, it is critical that staff members, administrators, and when relevant board members agree on basic assumptions and beliefs about their shared mission, desired outcomes, and methods for achieving their goals. For traumatised students, this including both social-emotional, as well as behavioural goals.
For individuals and for school systems, this requires a rigorous process of self-examination and the development of a core system of meaning that will guide behaviour, decision making, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. Such a process involves the willingness to
temporarily reflect on the past, create a culture of inquiry to examine problems, and commitment of sufficient time to engage in honest dialogue. Constructive discourse, however, depends on good communication and recovering individuals need to learn how to listen and how to talk. Likewise, chronic systemic problems lead to communication breakdowns and the loss of feedback loops within organisations. As a result, an organisation like a school or an education department must learn how to reconnect and integrate with various parts of itself.
This can only occur by practicing democracy in action, not just in theory. Thus far in human evolution, democracy is the best method we have created to approach the problem of complexity. There is little about modern life that is not complex, and this is particularly true in addressing the problems related to trauma and its impact on individual and social existence. To heal, individuals must learn to modulate emotional arousal so that emotion does not interfere with the cognitive processes necessary to ensure good decision-making and problem solving. It is through participation in work groups, teams, and meetings that routine emotional management occurs within organisational settings. Crisis-driven organisations sacrifice communication networks, feedback loops, participatory decision making and complex problem solving under the pressures of chronic stress and in doing so, lose healthy democratic processes and shift to innovation and risk-taking resulting in an inability to manage complexity. The cure for this situation is more democracy. This requires leadership buy-in and immersion in the change process, an increase in transparency, and deliberate restructuring to ensure greater participation and involvement.
Democratic participation requires a level of civil discourse that is missing in many organisational settings, including schools, due to a lack of conflict resolution mechanisms within the organisation. To be healthy, organisations must have the goals of conflict resolution as organisational goals. This means learning to walk the talk, embedding conflict resolution strategies at every level, not turning them over to a separate department or individual who is the formal instrument of conflict resolution. An environment that encourages participatory democratic processes, complex problem-solving and routine conflict resolution is an environment that encourages social learning. In an environment of social learning, every problem and conflict are seen as an opportunity for growth and learning on everyone’s part (Bloom, 2004). In this way, the correction of errors becomes a challenging group educational process instead of a method for punishing wayward individuals. This requires a growth in understanding of the power of group processes.
“Is it working?” is the question that an organisation like a school needs to repeatedly ask itself. Healing from trauma and chronic stress requires change and movement since the hallmark characteristic of stress is repetition and resistance to change. Like individuals, organisations often keep repeating the same strategies that never work, or that do not work any longer and then attribute failure to the children that are being served instead of the methods that are being used to help them change. Change can be frightening and dangerous or change can be exciting and even fun. This depends a great deal on the values and vision that the members of a school are willing to share together and share with the students. The hopelessness, helplessness, and loss of faith that accompany trauma and chronic stress are signs of stagnation that can only be overcome through creating a different vision of possibility toward which every change can be measured. An organisation that heals from its own past history of chronic stress and trauma and rejects the notion of inevitable crisis is an organisation that is able to contain the emotional turmoil so characteristic of working with traumatised students without becoming ‘trauma organised’ itself. This is what is meant by a ‘trauma informed system’.
Principles of trauma informed organisations
Trauma informed organisations are characterised by seven dominant principles of practice that include:
• Culture of nonviolence: helping build safety skills and a commitment to higher goals.
• Culture of emotional intelligence: helping to teach emotion management skills to both staff and students.
• Culture of inquiry and social learning: helping to build cognitive skills.
• Culture of shared governance: helping to create civic skills of self-discipline and administration of healthy authority.
• Culture of open communication: helping to overcome barriers to healthy communication, reduce acting out, enhance self-protective and self-correcting skills, and teaching healthy boundaries.
• Culture of social responsibility: helping to rebuild social connection skills, establish healthy attachment relationships.
• Culture of growth and change: helping to restore hope, meaning, purpose and empower positive change.
The impact of creating such trauma informed cultures should be observable and measurable. The outcomes we should expect to see include:
• Less violence including physical, verbal, emotional forms of violence.
• Systemic understanding of complex biopsychosocial and development impact of trauma and abuse with implication for response.
• Less victim-blaming, less punitive and judgmental responses.
• Clearer more consistent boundaries, higher expectations, and related rights and responsibilities.
• Earlier identification of and confrontation with perpetrator behaviour.
• Better ability to articulate goals, create strategies for change, justify need for holistic approach.
• Understanding how trauma re-enactments occur within organisations and contribute to resistance to change.
• More democratic environments at all levels of an organisation.
Through the implementation of trauma informed practices, staff members engage in prolonged dialogue that serves to surface the major strengths, vulnerabilities and conflicts within organisations. By looking at share assumptions, goals and existing practices, staff members from various levels of the organization are required to share in an analysis of their own structure and functioning, often asking themselves and each other provocative questions that have never been overtly surfaced before. The emphasis on the development of more democratic, participatory processes is critical because these are the processes most likely to lend themselves to the solution of very complex problems while improving staff morale, providing checks and balances to abuses of power and opening up the community to new sources of information.
Leadership in trauma informed practice
Implementing trauma informed practice begins with the development of a core team that represents participation from every level of the organisation to ensure that every voice is heard. It is vital that all key organisational leaders become actively involved in the process of change and participate in this core team. Experience has that courageous leadership is always the key to systemic change and without it, substantial change is unlikely to occur. This change process is frightening for people in leadership positions and they rightfully perceive significant risk in opening themselves up to criticism, in leveling hierarchies and sharing legitimate power. The gains are substantial, but a leader only finds that out after learning how to tolerate the anxiety and uncertainty that inevitably accompanies real change. Since few of us have much real-life experience with operating within democratic systems, learning how to be an effective democratic leader necessitates a share and often steep learning curve.
The responsibility of the core team will be to actively represent and communicate with their constituency and to become trainers for the entire organisation. The care team will work out team guidelines and expectations of involvement for individual team members as well as a meeting schedule. The core team will also need to decide on safety rules for the constructive operation of the team itself. Ultimately the core team will be responsible for the development and implementation of a curriculum aimed at including the entire organisation in the change process. The ultimate goal is to maximise the sharing of information that is so vital to healthy trauma informed organisations.
Adopting a whole school trauma informed practice approach
Phase 1: Looking at the organisation’s history
The first task of implementing trauma informed practice is to review an organisation’s history, using the past to help us understand the present. The focus then shifts to the fundamental question of “are we safe?” Similar to the applications in individuals, organisational safety is understood as occupying four domains, all of which must be in place for an organisation to be truly safe: physical, psychological, social and moral safety. The question “how do we manage emotions as a group?” requires a review of the change processes inherent in every organisation. Staff are asked to anticipate the inevitable resistance to change that is a fact of life in every organisation. They require all staff to review their style of managing emotions, the way decisions are made, and conflicts are resolved. “How do we deal with loss?” touches on how the organisation deals with the losses that are inherent in every setting – staff leave, leaders depart, funding changes lead the loss of whole parts of a particular program or section of the organisation, students fail and sometimes, in tragic circumstances, members of the community die. The inability to deal with losses may lead to a system whose growth is arrested, similar to the impact of unresolved grief in the lives of individuals. A focus on the future of an organisation lends itself to the opportunity to being creating a new vision of what the organisation can be and do if it can move again. In this way, team members together begin to forge a different model of how they want to work together to achieve organisational goals.
Phase 2: Values and vision
The second phase of implementation involves the core team identifying the most important organisational values and identify areas where the organisation is not actually living those values. The discussions about shared assumptions are likely to begin with an assumed consensus that is actually false – profound conflicts are likely to have been bubbling under the service for quite some time but have never been clearly articulate. The core team must surface these conflicts, evaluate the impact on the functioning of the organisation, and decide on the values they are willing to share – and act on – together. Then the core team develops a statement on how they would like the staff and administrators to view their children and adolescents; to view each other and the organisation as a whole. Through this shared group existence, the core team members experience open and transparent decision making and personal feedback that is so valuable in a trauma informed organisation (Kennard, 1998).
Phase 3: Democratic communication processes
Didactic presentations and discussion will help the core team members learn about what it means to engage in more democratic processes on the part of educational leaders, staff, and students, particularly in terms of the simultaneous increase in rights and responsibilities. They must learn about the basic principles that go into creating and sustaining a trauma informed environment. They evaluate the existing policies and procedures that apply to staff and clients and ask whether or not they are effective in achieving the goals that they strive for. The team begins to draft a program constitution and develops a comprehensive plan for the steps they should take to close the gaps between the school they want to be – based on their values and vision – and the school as it exists in the present. This process focuses on inclusiveness, participation, rights and responsibilities, decision-making, conflict resolution, rules and norms, consequences for risky and unsafe behaviour, responses to stress and to violence, responses to secondary trauma and self-care and continuance and maintenance of normative standards.
Phase 4: Teamwork and collaboration
The next focus of implementation is on teamwork, collaboration and systems integration. The core team develops a vision statement for how they believe the work groups or teams should function together to produce a more democratic and cohesive staff group. They then develop a plan for the steps they will take to improve teamwork and collaboration in order to make that vision a reality. The team also begin the process of developing a statement of expectations for staff around their responsibility to confront each other in a constructive manner and initiate a plan to increase the conflict resolution resources within the school.
Phase 5: Understanding trauma and its impact
Studying and understanding concrete information about the impact of trauma on children, adults, families and systems is vital for creating a trauma informed school system. Supplementing didactic and experiential training, core team members need to stay updated on the latest research and findings on the impact of child maltreatment, family violence, and community violence on students. Discussion focuses on the way in which the knowledge about traumatic stress needs to be integrated into the existing policies and procedures of the organisation including the impact of exposure to vicarious trauma and its impact on organisational function.
Phase 6: Creating and reviewing school procedures and processes
In the next phase of implementation, the core team develops a plan for consistent review and response to incidents that breach the safety of teachers and other students. They will identify what student behaviours and what staff behaviour may have led to the incident occurring. It may be beneficial to include trauma informed practice experts and consultants in these procedures. A trauma informed approach emphasises the creation of a nonviolent environment with interventions and strategies designed to minimise the probability of such behaviours occurring again. The core team develops or reviews an intervention plan to use with the student and with each other in high risk and escalating situations. They will develop or review policies for the thorough debriefing after any incidents of violence or loss and develop a plan to train staff as required.
It is also worth periodically reviewing and revising grievance procedures as well as performance reviews to reflect the emphasis on safety and emotion management of the staff. The core team will outline how the school organization should address issues relating to be more trauma informed and what it takes to build a better future and to change the trajectory of student’s educational journey from what it has been to what it can be.
Headspace school support
Check out this on coping following the death of a student, or students by suicide. The resource has some good general tips for self-care and coping. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Behaviour_Support%3A_A_Practical_Guide_to_Developing_Resilient_Learners_(Ayre_and_Krishnamoorthy)/06%3A_Survive_and_thrive/06.4%3A_Trauma_informed_organisational_change_and_su.txt |
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Dr. Dave Ziegler
Dr. Dave Ziegler is a psychologist and founder and director of Jasper Mountain, a world-renowned healing facility for children aged three to 12. Located on more than 90 acres of beautiful forest, Jasper Mountain hosts a residential treatment facility, an integrated school, an assessment and crisis centre, and a foster care programme. Jasper Mountain has consistently achieved remarkable outcomes for some of the USA’s most severely traumatised children for over 30 years. Dr. Ziegler is the author of several books, including Raising children who refuse to be raised, Achieving success with impossible children, Traumatic experience in the brain, and Beyond healing: A neurological reparative therapy.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Ziegler’s work.
Dr. Ziegler: I began my career as a family therapist in Arizona, down in the desert, a long way from the forest in Oregon. While family therapy brought much value to many families, there was a group of children we couldn’t reach. They had serious issues that went beyond what we could do in a outpatient, community clinic. Meeting once or even twice a week was not enough. Some colleagues and I decided to set up a centre that would be a place of healing and learning for these children. To see if there was a way that we could get to the most severe kids and help them. We didn’t want these kids to become society’s casualties through criminal justice or drug and alcohol issues. So in the last thirty-five years, I have worked with the most severe kids at our centre in Jasper Mountain.
Challenges for Traumatised Children at School
Dr. Ayre: In your paper, ‘Optimum learning environments for traumatized children’, you write about some reasons why traumatised children don’t do well at school. What are the biggest challenges for these students to succeed at school?
Dr. Ziegler: I never want to understate how difficult it is for a teacher with a classroom of these young children who all learn differently I never want to understate how difficult it is for a teacher with a classroom of these young children who all learn differently.. The children come from different backgrounds, and trying to get them to move to the next step on the academic ladder is difficult. Even more challenging is when some kids in the classroom have a trauma history. Trauma gets in the way of learning as it changes the brain and how children process information. It changes the ability of children to be vulnerable, an essential aspect of learning. It teaches children that they can’t trust some adults, or maybe they can’t trust any adults. There is a close connection between learning disabilities and complex trauma as they often come together, impacting learning.
Trauma activates the fight or flight response. When symbols or recollections of trauma come up in the academic setting or classroom, children will either fight or act out, or they will flee, which is sometimes to go into their own space. Many teachers consider these children to be daydreamers or, what we call in psychology, dissociators. It’s simply the way that the brain is handling reminders that come up in the classroom or triggers that are related to their trauma.
Our schools are not designed to help children with significant trauma learn because you have to approach how you teach them differently. If we do not reach these children through education, they continue with their learning disability, and they perceive education as not particularly useful. Their brains are designed for survival, and they are focused on survival. Learning about language, arts, history, and math – it is a stretch to have a traumatised child feel like that information is important to them. They’re concerned about how they can be safe tonight from their alcoholic parent. How can I keep Uncle Charlie from coming into my room and sexually abusing me this weekend? Those are the critical things to traumatised kids.
The traumatised brain does not want to be vulnerable. It does not want to be hurt again, yet you cannot learn without vulnerability. You cannot learn without making mistakes, which is a difficult challenge for kids with trauma.
Optimum Learning Environments for Traumatised Children
In Dr. Ziegler’s article, he writes about how trauma and learning in school do not mix well together. This is not to say that trauma does not result in significant learning for the child. The child learns not to trust, learns to be anxious around adults, and learns to be vigilant of the motivations of others. What a child learns from trauma negatively impacts learning in an academic setting. If the goal is for a child to come into an academic setting ready to learn, ready to emotionally experience the enjoyment and excitement of discovery, then the effects of traumatic experience will hinder learning in a variety of ways.
Click or scan the QR code read about read the rest of the article [PDF].
Trauma Informed Education
Dr. Ayre: What is your education model at Jasper Mountain, and how has it been designed to be trauma-informed?
Dr. Ziegler: You have to teach these kids differently. If you want to reach them, these are some of the factors we have found to be very helpful at Jasper Mountain.
First of all, the educational process is very active rather than passive. Many times in classroom settings, the children are given a desk, they sit at their desks, they’re told to be silent, to raise their hand, and they’re told to do their work. We do the opposite. We have a very active process where the children are physically up and about and active in the classroom. They go to learning centres throughout the room. Every half an hour or so, we stop the process, and we might put on some music, do some dancing, get very active and then stop and go back to the learning process. It’s a dynamic thing that most children are very used to doing.
We try to remove negative stress in the classroom. Too often in our schools, we have a competitive setup where we might say, “let’s see who can do the best job on this maths test or spelling test”. This produces stress for all children, but sometimes for some children, it’s positive stress, which can be a significant motivator for learning. Negative stress isn’t a motivator for learning, so we try to eliminate any negative stress. Negative stress will produce a fight or flight response for kids that have trauma.
We want an expressive environment where we want kids to express their opinions.We want an expressive environment where we want kids to express their opinions. We want them to draw things, to write, and to sing. The environment has to be fun. In my learning many years ago, the goal was not to make learning a fun process. I believe that not only do children learn more when they’re having fun, I think adults learn more when they’re having fun.
We also need to be very careful about the adult-mediated activity. It doesn’t take very long for a child to take a risk and try to give an answer or try to do something they’re not very good at, and if they’re made fun of, that immediately stops. We need adults to be right there, onsite, and help this to be a positive process. We don’t want children taking advantage of other children and making them feel bad.
The situation must be predictable, so we have our schedules on the board, and the kids know what’s coming next. We try to give them a five-minute warning when there’s a transition. Kids with trauma do a lot better when they can predict that here comes a change to maths, or we’re going to go to lunch next, or we’re going to go out for recess.
Kids also need to have more successes than failures. Too often, when you don’t know something, you will make lots of mistakes learning. We have to build in elements that kids will be successful in some ways because none of us will continue to do something we continue to fail at. The classroom also needs to be based on relationships. It has to be between the individual and the teachers. What we do in our classrooms is we have no more than ten children. They’re all traumatised kids, but ten children in a classroom with three teachers. One of the teachers is a certified special education teacher with a master’s degree. The other two teachers are teachers’ aides, or what we call their direct care staff. There are also staff who are part of treatment teams trained in mental health. We have both mental health and academics in the classroom simultaneously.We have both mental health and academics in the classroom simultaneously.
Now, in regards to competition. Competition can motivate kids to learn, but it can also stop the process cold. What traumatised kids need is what I call ‘even competition’. Even competition means there is a winner, and there can be a loser which can teach us about life, but every child has an equal chance of winning. The fastest child will win if we go out and have a race. If we have a test on maths, the child that’s the smartest will win. You have to change that competitive process so all children have a chance of winning, or we have found they will simply not compete. We put much more emphasis on cooperation rather than competition. We want children to learn together, and we want them to teach each other. We want some of the children who are a little bit older, who may be more skilled, to help some of the younger children. One of the best ways to learn something is to teach someone else. These are some of the different approaches to education or learning that we use to really change the environment in the classroom so that it’s conducive for traumatised children to learn.
Once Upon a Mountain: Documentary on Jasper Mountain [3:00 mins]
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=342#oembed-1
To learn more about the Jasper Mountain facility and Dr. Ziegler’s work, check out the documentary, ‘Once Upon a Mountain’. Melbourne based film-makers follow Dr. Ziegler, the facility staff and youth as they engage in the educational programs at the facility.
Click or scan the QR code to watch the trailer or rent the documentary.
Dr. Ayre: How do you manage teaching different age groups? Are children grouped according to traditional grade levels?
Dr. Ziegler: Years ago, when we started our school in 1989, I wanted to return to the one-room schoolhouse where everybody learned together. We managed to do that for several years, but when our numbers started getting up to 80 children, we couldn’t teach that number of children in one room anymore. The modern school is like the way Henry Ford built motor cars. We’re assembly lines. We think in first grade, we’re going to teach them this. In second grade, we’re going to put the tyres on. In third grade, we’ll put the muffler on, and in fourth grade, we’ll have the engine. It makes much more sense to have older children learn with younger children. Younger children then see the modelling from the older children, and we don’t have these ‘age ghettos’, where all children are the same, working through the years of schooling. What we do, is we combine children by abilities rather than age. So, you could have a much younger child with an older child if their ability in reading or maths or language arts were similar. We combine the children by ability groups rather than simply ages.
Unschooling the Educational Environment
Dr. Ayre: You write about the need to ‘unschool’ educational environments to avoid triggering memories of school failure. What do you mean by this?
Dr. Ziegler: When I say we need to unschool educational environments, we need something vastly different than a traditional school for traumatised children.When I say we need to unschool educational environments, we need something vastly different than a traditional school for traumatised children. Children who have experienced trauma perceive school as the place they go where they look stupid. They feel stupid, and they perceive teachers are there to point out all their mistakes and make them feel worse. That doesn’t have anything to do with what good teachers are doing in the classroom.
We need to give these kids a new perception of what happens in school. That school is a resource where you will learn what you need to succeed in life, and a teacher is somebody who is a resource person to meet your goals. When I talk about the unschool, I’m saying that school needs to look different, it needs to feel different, and it needs to be different. The education process needs to fit the child rather than the child fitting into the educational process.
All children learn a little bit differently. We need to spend the time to find out how individual children learn and then build a fun, exciting, active process around them so that they can be successful. Our ultimate goal is to instil a genuine love of lifelong learning, and we don’t just want children to get up to their grade level or succeed in their testing. We want them to be excited about learning. There is nothing that should be easier than getting a child to get excited about learning. Yet, somehow in our educational process, we have turned off a lot of children. Learning is not as much fun, and it’s not exciting anymore.
Dr. Ayre: I would suggest many teachers would feel the same way.
Dr. Ziegler: Yes. If we do not have excited, happy teachers, we don’t have excited, happy students.
Challenges for Educators
Dr. Ayre: What challenges do the educators face at Jasper Mountain when working with students in a trauma-informed way?
Dr. Ziegler: We set our vision and goals pretty high. We have 80 children in our school, and every day they come in from about twenty-four different school districts from around the United States. They almost always are the most challenging child in their school district. If you have a school district of fifteen thousand children and you have the most challenging child, try to imagine that same child with 79 peers who are the most challenging child in their school. So right off the bat, there are some real challenges which is why we have a high adult-to-child ratio. This helps the teachers to be able to not only handle the behaviour but also to give individualised attention to children, that’s important.
I’ve mentioned children all learn differently. Even if you have ten kids in your classroom, it’s pretty challenging to figure out how these ten kids are going to best learn. To figure that out in a way that fits into a structure, within the day, and where we want to go as a group is tricky for teachers. You want an active educational process and an active environment, but you don’t want chaos. There’s a balance between children being up and moving around and doing things and dancing, listening to music and then stopping and doing some math facts, etcetera. Chaos will work against the traumatised brain and make it even more difficult to engage and learn.
Our teachers struggle with the fact that education is secondary to the children’s healing at Jasper Mountain. Teachers are not used to hearing that. They’re used to believing the most important thing in their classroom is the educational activity. With our children, they have to understand that sometimes it takes them six months, sometimes the whole school year, to prepare these children to learn and grow. We must start with where they are, which is often needing to heal the wounds that have been produced by trauma in other settings, including in other school settings. Almost all of our children have failed universally. They’ve failed in school, at home, and then in our environment, they succeed, sometimes for the first time.
The other challenge is to transition them back into public school settings where they may encounter the same factors that produced the failure, to begin with. How we transition them back from this very conducive environment into a much less responsive, fun, and exciting environment is all important. Fortunately, if done right, we can make that transition and have them get up to speed, return to a public school, and succeed, but only once they’re healed in our environment.
Dr. Ayre: So, the experiences and skills they take with them holds them in good stead when they’re back in those very different environments?
Dr. Ziegler: Yes, it does, although one of the most important things that has to happen is that we need to change the child’s perceptions about school. They’re used to walking into school and believing that the teacher wants them to fail. Why else would they circle all their mistakes in red? Why would they give them bad grades if they didn’t want the child to fail? Children misperceive, so we need to have them develop a new perception of school as something fun and interesting. As a place where you can learn about things you can use, and you have guides and resources called teachers that want to help you learn the things that you want to learn. With children transitioning back to regular school, we have found that if we’ve been able to alter those perceptions, the children make even more academic progress after leaving us than when they were with us. That tells me that the children plug back in with their peers in public education. They’re excited about catching up and learning; having had some success, they’re ready to have more success.
Dr. Ayre: Is there a time limit for the children who come to your programmes to transition back to public education?
Dr. Ziegler: We have six different programmes. I’ll talk about the most intensive programme, which is our long-term residential programme. Children stay in that programme for an average of 14 months. We have found that with younger children, we can often get to a place of healing and growth quicker than with some of the older children. We don’t have children in our setting longer than needed.
We use a variety of scales and standardised tests to assist with knowing when they’re ready to transition out. When children can cope and engage themselves in families, in public school, and the community, that’s when we know they’re ready to transition. We want them to be able to do all those things successfully before they leave us. While they can’t do that, we’re working in our very intensive structured programme. We have the advantage that when children are in our residential programme, they go to our onsite school. We can also have children move on from the residential programme and continue in our onsite school, so we don’t try to have all the transitions happen simultaneously. We have about half and half in our onsite school. Half the children attend from our residential programme and about half attend as a day student only. The length of time children are in our school varies. However, we generally like to have an entire school year to work on the misperceptions of school, build some successes, get the children excited about learning, and see that school can be a lot of fun.
Dr. Ayre: How do you bridge that gap for a traumatised child to return to Public Education successfully where the learning process looks and feels very different than it does at Jasper Mountain?
Dr. Ziegler: We build a relationship with the school and the teacher to whom the child will transition. We will meet with the school and the teacher and say we have a unique challenge for you. Teachers don’t necessarily like a problem, but they do like a challenge. Teachers are receptive when I tell them, “I will help you succeed, you can rely on my team, and if you have a problem, you can call us, and we will assist you”. Teachers can also see how this child has progressed in our setting and how things can improve. There’s nothing quite like a teacher that takes on a challenging child and succeeds. We begin by transitioning the child back into the classroom one period and one hour at a time so that they have a foot in both worlds. Jasper Mountain teachers will go to the child’s public school classroom, and we will continue to provide psychological help. We continue to be a backup during a crisis and build a team with the public school and the teacher. If we can do that and connect to them, the teachers generally say, “yes, we will do our best”. If we all work together, we can begin to help both the child and the teacher see some successes.
Transition Toolkit
We know routines and planning are key to always supporting students. This is especially true at times of change and transition. Here we provide a range of suggestions and ideas. Some will be specifically relevant to a primary or high school transition; others will be universal and relevant to any transition point for any students. Some ideas will be dependent on your child and their learning and development.
Click or scan the QR code to access resources to support transitions for students from the ACT Department of Education.
Dr. Ayre: When you see that success, that’s the reason you do what you do. You only need to see one little glimmer of a step through the doorway today with a smile and it makes it all worthwhile.
Dr. Ziegler: That’s why we’re all in this business of helping children. To see learning happening in front of us and a future that can make a difference to children.
Recently, I had a visit from a young man that I hadn’t seen in 18 years. Unannounced. He came to my office and said, “I just want to thank you”. He was one of the most traumatised children I have ever worked with. He said everything changed when he was here, and when he thinks of his childhood, he thinks of me and this place. He said, “You are my family, and I want you to know that I am a successful and happy adult”. That’s why we’re in this business! The importance of having fun, having success and being able to expect and predict what’s coming next are elements vital to teaching traumatised children.
Something not yet mentioned is the importance of disconfirmation. What I mean by disconfirmation is that we need to disconfirm not only the perceptions of the child about school, but their perceptions about themselves. We need to disconfirm their belief that they are not a good learner, are not successful, and are not a likeable child. Unfortunately, when we don’t disconfirm, many adults will do important things like hold kids accountable and have consequences for their behaviour. Through this, we confirm the child’s negative view of themselves. We will then never turn that child into a good learner. So the process of disconfirming is crucially important.
We also don’t see enough integration between academic and psychological support. Everywhere I go, I plead with people, have your educational people and have your psychologist, and your mental health people work together for children. What we do in our setting is, in real-time, integrate our treatment and our academics in one place. We bring it to the child rather than send them to a clinic and a school and give them unintegrated bits and pieces. The adults need to be working together to help these very traumatised children.
At Jasper Mountain, we focus not only on our treatment but also on the whole child. We want to touch their mind, their body and their spirit. We do a lot of physical things, and we do a lot of things in terms of their minds and their healing, their trauma and their psychological treatment. We also address their spirit. We want children to feel a connection, the universal sense that we belong to something greater than ourselvesWe want children to feel a connection, the universal sense that we belong to something greater than ourselves. That could be belonging to a team, belonging to a family, or a classroom. We want our academic programme to touch the mind, body and spirit. Sometimes, for children to learn, we must prepare them and get them ready to learn. You always have to start with where the child is.
Although you have a curriculum that says this is step one, two and three, we’re all going to move down this road together. But here is Susan or Charles in the classroom, not ready to learn because they are still fearful of the adults around them, of what’s happening next, or of being vulnerable. We need to start and prepare the child to learn, and sometimes that may take some time before they’re ready to take that first step academically. My experience has been that if we meet the needs of a particular child, we usually can’t hold them back from learning. Sometimes we think we need to prod and push kids into learning, yet if we only understand that if we can get on the same page and understand where the child is coming from, they’ll get excited about learning, so stand back because they’re going to take off and they’re going to learn whatever they can.
This young man that came into my office recently is a mechanic on a world-class aeroplane, and he has to know all the various manuals. He had to go to school for years, and this young man was standing there saying to me, “I learnt here how to learn, and now I am in a position where I make a real difference and teach others the skills I have”. You could see the pride on his face. He came to us at age four and said he was likely never to do well in school, and now this young man is an expert on one of the most sophisticated aeroplanes in the world. I think that’s why we have found that even after they leave our academic and treatment environment, the children grow exponentially in the first few months rather than deteriorate.
Staff Wellbeing
Dr. Ayre: Given the nature and complexity of the children you teach and the effect that can have on staff, how do you look after your team and their wellbeing?
Dr. Ziegler: We’re the only non-profit, non-government organisation that I’m aware of that has a mission statement that says, “we are committed to the development of mind, body and spirit of our staff”. The first thing we know about job satisfaction is that whatever we do works, and we feel like we’re making a difference. I want you to consider, if you worked for me in one of my classrooms and you saw children coming in after having failed everywhere they had been in school, and now they’re succeeding for the first time, how would you feel going home at night?
Dr. Ayre: I’d feel absolutely delighted.
Dr. Ziegler: Once a year, we ask all the staff in detail how they feel about their job. Universally, what they say back in terms of the things that are most important about working at Jasper Mountain, and I have people that have worked here for two and three decades and can’t wait to come to work the next day, they universally say that making a difference in the lives of these kids, makes all the difference to them in terms of their own energy. Despite how hard it is and how much you have to give when you see that there is success, there’s nothing like that to give you more energy and say, “well, I’m going to do it some more”.
We provide our staff with excellent supervision, and research now indicates that your relationship with your supervisor and the support you get is all-important, as is the support you have with your peers. The second most important thing our staff say about working for us is that they work for a team of very committed individuals who want to make a difference. “let’s get back at it and let’s change some more lives” They don’t want to let down the team. They want to do their part. One of the questions we ask all of our 135 staff is, “what are your plans for the future?” and 80 percent say they want to spend their entire careers at Jasper Mountain. I don’t know how to respond to that. I’m so impressed that people would like to stick around and work and make a difference and be a part of this team. Along with working and living in one of the healthiest and most beautiful places in the US, those things all contribute to making a team of people that go home at night tired, maybe in tears, but they sleep well, then get up in the morning and say, “let’s get back at it and let’s change some more lives”.
Caring for the Educator
We are all, at all times, both vulnerable and resilient. Educators and educational systems have an ethical duty to build resilience and reduce vulnerability in themselves and their colleagues as secondary traumatic stress is a health and safety issue. Click or scan the QR code to learn more about self-care and wellbeing in our book Trauma informed behaviour support.
Chapter Summary
• Trauma gets in the way of learning by changing the brain structure of children and how information is processed.
• Minimising sources of negative stress is vital in the classroom and may lessen the likelihood the stress response system of the child with trauma will be activated.
• Unschooling the educational environment for children with trauma is essential. School needs to look, feel and be different to traditional schools where these children have failed.
• Changing the child’s perception about school is important for the child to succeed when it comes time to transition back to a mainstream school.
• Teachers need ongoing coaching and support to learn they can teach a child with trauma successfully. It is important to have fun, success and be able to predict what’s coming next. These are vital elements for teaching traumatised children.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Dr. Dave Ziegler on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [20:47].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
References
ACT Government. (n.d.). Education: Transition toolkit. https://www.education.act.gov.au/support-for-our-students/students-with-disability/transition-toolkit
Ayre, K. (Host). (2016, December 3). Helping traumatized children learn with Dr. Dave Ziegler (Episode 2) [Audio podcast episode]. In Trauma Informed Education. Sound cloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/tipbs-podcast-dr-dave-ziegler-part-1-of-2?in=trauma-informed-education/sets/expert-interviews&si=072698165a6d49c0a46723064c43875c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (2020). Trauma informed behaviour support: A practical guide to developing resilient learners. University of Southern Queensland. https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformedpractice/
Blueprint Studios. (2021, May 28). Once Upon a Mountain [Film]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ouam
Jasper Mountain Agency. (n.d.). Jasper Mountain: Hope for children & families. https://jaspermountain.org/
Ziegler, D. (2013). Optimum learning environments for traumatized children: How abused children learn best in school. http://www.jaspermountain.org/optimum_learning_environment.pdf
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=342#h5p-2 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.01%3A_Helping_Traumatised_Children_Learn.txt |
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Helping students feel safe is a hallmark of trauma-informed education. For some children, feeling secure in relationships is difficult. Well-intentioned teachers often lack the skills required to communicate and reinforce a sense of trust amongst these students. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Kim Golding about her book, Working with Relational Trauma in Schools.
Dr. Kim Golding
Dr. Kim Golding received a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Leicester University and has established and evaluated an integrated service for fostered and adopted children in Worchester, United Kingdom. The service provides support for foster, adoptive and residential parents, schools and a range of professionals around the children growing up in care or adoptive families. Dr. Golding has been trained and mentored by Dr. Daniel Hughes in using Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Practice. Based on what we understand about the attachment and trauma needs of children, this approach underpins the support offered to foster, adoptive and residential parents, schools and professionals through consultation, training and supervision. Dr. Golding’s book, Working with Relational Trauma in Schools, written with Sian Phillips and Louise Michelle Bomber, explores how educators can easily use Dyadic Developmental Practice to help vulnerable students thrive.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Golding’s work .
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How has your own experience of school influenced the work you do now?
Dr. Golding: I was a product of the grammar school system – a private school that typically selects its pupils based on academic abilities. My sister wasn’t chosen to attend the same school, so I have a first-hand experience of how divisive the school system can be and how the effects of that stay with you for life. I also completed school, and she didn’t. At the grammar schools, we were frequently told we were the elite of the elite. My sister had the opposite experience in a public school where she was repeatedly told she wasn’t good enough. I’m the academic one of the family, and she’s the creative one. She’s always minimised that as a skill and her intelligence. The school system can do that to you in the early days. There’s a lack of understanding of how children are experiencing the pressures of school systems and what that experience of passing or failing school means for students.
Trauma, Attachment and Blocked Trust
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How do you make sense of trauma and interpersonal trauma in your work? And how do you conceptualise the idea of Blocked Trust that you discuss in your book?
Dr. Golding: As we speak, the world has experienced a significant trauma impact over the last 12 months with the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is a trauma outside of the family, and children experience the family as a source of protection. Children have their family members to help them feel safe. They feel connected with their family, and this connection allows them to manage what feels like a very unsafe situation for them. One way to think about trauma is as being outside of the family. We can also think about trauma originating from family relationships. When you think of trauma this way, you’re taking away that sense of family protection. You’re removing the people who can support you through these traumatic events. Who protects you if the trauma comes from within the parenting you experience? Who comforts you? Who can you turn to when in need? Who can you trust? Who’s got your back?
Those people who should be there protecting you and comforting you are the ones that are scaring and frightening you. The experience for the child then is a profound sense of mistrust in the parenting they’re experiencing, in the relationships that should be helping them to feel safe in the world. When that experience of trauma is pervasive, starting early in life, it becomes a block to trusting other relationships When that experience of trauma is pervasive, starting early in life, it becomes a block to trusting other relationships. . Even if your parents are in a better position to keep you safe and protected later, or whether you’re moving to alternative parents or moving out into the world and going into school, all relationships become a threat. That’s what we mean by Blocked Trust. It has a biological substrate, and research shows that this sets in your nervous system. This is not just about learned behaviour. It’s more profound than that – a deep sense of ‘I can’t find anyone to trust in the world, so I have to do this myself.’
Blocked Trust
Blocked Trust occurs when children have experienced abusive or neglectful relationships with their primary caregivers early in life, resulting in an inability to trust and experience safe relationships with others.
Click or scan the QR code read about addressing blocked trust in children in this resource from the Mental Health Foundation in Wales.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: There’s a lot of information about the development of attachment styles in children from safe and unsafe relationships with primary caregivers. What does blocked trust look like in the various types of insecure attachment that children experience?
Dr. Golding: If we think about attachment, we also have to think about intersubjectivity, two sides of a relationship experience that children need early in life. People who can offer you comfort at times of distress, a reciprocal relationship experience, and people who can share their experience of you and the experience of the world. Children learn about themselves and the world through their parent’s eyes, which is the reciprocal part of the relationship experience. If we think about Blocked Trust, we must consider the impact on both people. The effect of attachment is that children develop an insecure attachment because they cannot feel safe. They don’t have a source of comfort to turn to reliably. Hence, they find ways to adapt to that. Blocking trust with others is how children adjust to and develop an insecure attachment style. Children essentially find different ways to feel safe in the world because those relationships offer insecure patterns. For instance, if I feel wobbly, I turn to you, you might be less wobbly, but you’re not available to me. Children will learn different ways of adapting when parents aren’t available to comfort them. People will be familiar with avoidant attachment, where we become more self-reliant, and ambivalent attachment, where we become more attachment needy. Those are the two predominant styles of insecure attachment. The disorganised attachment style then takes avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles to a more extreme position. Additionally, suppose you’re working hard to feel soothed in an attachment experience. In that case, you can’t relax and enjoy the reciprocal relationships that may or may not be available to you to feel safe.
What is Attachment?
Attachment theory attempts to explain attachment and attachment behaviour. Attachment behaviour is the observable action that the person does to be able to be physically close to the attachment figure and remain there. Attachment behaviour is evident throughout our life, and to know there is a significant ‘attachment’ person who will help us in times of need provides us with protection.
Learn more about trauma from our book Trauma Informed Behaviour Support by clicking or scanning the QR code.
Dyadic Developmental Practice (DDP) and PACE
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How would you describe the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy approach on which your book is based?
Dr. Golding: Dan Hughes originally developed DDP in America (check the box below for a video about DDP). Dan is a Clinical Psychologist working with adopted and foster children and found the usual ways of providing therapy for these children weren’t helping them. So, Dan developed his model based on the experience of children who’ve missed out on healthy relationship experiences early in life and finding ways of recovering that healthy relationship experience later in life or with foster or adoptive parents. The word Dyadic indicates that we can’t work with children independently and must work with children and their parents within a safe relationship. Children need to work with safe parents to recover the relational experience they need for secure attachment and the trust that comes with that safe relationship. The ‘Dyadic’ in DDP represents the trust in the relational experience that the children didn’t have early in life. The ‘Developmental’ within DDP is based on our understanding of child development. Helping children have a successful developmental pathway fundamental to the model. ‘Psychotherapy’ in DDP is because it is a therapy model with a therapeutic approach. Over time more and more professionals were being trained in the model who weren’t psychologists but worked in Social Work, Residential Care, or Education which has prompted the name change to Dyadic Developmental Practice. There is now Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Dyadic Developmental Parenting, and Dyadic Developmental Practice to highlight this is greater than just a therapy model. The therapy is still there, but around the therapy is a parenting model, and around that is a systems model that includes education systems. The goal is to bring the same principles into all the environments the children live in, with education and schools being an essential part of that environment.
PACE is the attitude that is central to and underpins the DDP model. It’s an attitude based on what we offer healthy relationship experiences to our young children. Within those healthy relationship experiences in DDP, we offer children an attitude of Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. We’re interested in their inner world and what’s going on within them, what they’re thinking and feeling. Imagine having a conversation with a baby. We have the words they don’t have yet. All our words are about what’s happening inside them, for example, “you’re feeling happy today”, “Oh, no, no, now you’re upset”.
We talk about what’s going on internally and tend to do that naturally through infancy and toddlerhood. It tends to fade away after that, which is quite sad as we expect children to know by then they’re in a world, and we don’t need to make sense of it anymore. All children, and most adults, like to have our inner world made sense of by others. PACE, then, is an attitude that can apply to all relationships. Dan realised that if we’re going to help children heal from relational traumas, then the PACE attitude is critical. Making sense of a child’s inner world in a playful, accepting, curious and empathic way is essential to helping them feel understood. It’s critical to assist them in learning to trust that others are reliable and can help them in their distress. When a child is distressed, good parenting feels like making the distress go away. To help a child, to help another colleague, another human, we must make them feel understood and heard. People want others to sit with them when it’s uncomfortable. If you were expressing a level of sadness about a recent event to me, you don’t want me to come in and say, “it’ll be all right”, “by next week, this will all be in the past”, or “why are you worrying”? “What you want is someone to say that sounds tough, you’re having a tough time right now, and I get it, and I think it’s making you very worried.” Then I feel a bit better because you get it, you understand. I feel better because I know someone else understands what I’m going through. That’s at the heart of PACE. The PACE model is sitting compassionately with another person’s experience. Within DDP, we talk a lot about slowing down, which we don’t usually take the time to do. Slowing down looks like “let me listen to you”, “let me hear and know your story”Slowing down looks like “let me listen to you”, “let me hear and know your story”.. “Let me share what I’m hearing about your story and allow me to add a little to it with my curiosity into your story.”
Dyadic Development Practice
Click or scan the QR code to watch this interview of Daniel Hughes introducing Dyadic Developmental Practice from the Scottish Attachment in Action Conference [11:43].
Dr. Ayre: From a teacher’s point of view, unless a student is unsafe, we don’t always have to act immediately, which is hard to do. Just because something’s disrupting at the moment for you, you don’t have to jump in straight away and do something to “fix it”. The word therapy instantly brings up thoughts: “I’m not a therapist; I can’t do a therapeutic thing because I don’t have training in it”. You tend to quickly flick the responsibility outside your classroom because that’s not something you know how to do.
Dr. Golding: Teachers have a whole classroom of children that need educating, and it can feel overwhelming, and you ask yourself, “how have I got time to do this”? “You’re asking me to slow down, but I’ve only got so many hours in the day, and I’ve got so many children to attend to”. An important message here is that slowing down is just about saying, “have I understood or do I need to have a bit more understanding here”? That can happen with an acknowledgement to the child, such as saying, “you’re having a tough day, and I’m here”. That doesn’t have to take very long. I knew a primary school teacher who would just put a note on the desk if he noticed a child struggling that said, “I’ve noticed”, “I’m noticing you’re struggling today”. He often wouldn’t even have a conversation with the student. Slowing down doesn’t have to mean hours and hours of sitting and talking to a student.
Attachment, School and Learning
Students who have attachment difficulties engage in misbehaviour to cope by ‘getting’ control over people – adults and other children – through coercion, deception, and aggression (verbal, physical). These children may have learned to use such behaviours to get them access to preferred activities and objects and proximity to adults. Let us look at a framework of practice to support these students.
Learn more about trauma from our book Trauma Informed Behaviour Support by clicking or scanning the QR code.
The Two Hands of Teaching
Dr. Golding: Dan Hughes initially talked about two hands of parenting, and the two hands of teaching is an adaptation of that. The phrase ‘connection before correction’ is one of Dan’s phrases. The connection is the emotional connection with the person, and the importance of ensuring the relationship is there. Correction is about the doing. It isn’t about punishment but learning and teachingCorrection is about the doing. It isn’t about punishment but learning and teaching.. It might be changing something I’m doing because what I’m doing with you is not working; hence the correction is about action. The connection is my emotional relationship with you, which will help the doing happen more successfully. In schools, we have the connection, on the one hand, which includes warmth, empathy, nurturing, and curiosity about your internal experience. There is also the doing part. You hit your peer, which isn’t an acceptable way of managing things. We need to think about how we can make sure that doesn’t happen again and how we can help you repair the relationship with your peer. If we do that alongside the connection, the child will find it much easier to engage with and be less defensive. If students are less defensive, they’re much more likely to learn from the experience where we’re supporting them. We want a child to learn how to manage conflict with peers without hitting them or just going straight to the correction. If we go straight to discipline without connection, the child becomes defensive and starts feeling like they’re bad. Children don’t like feeling like they’re bad, so they may go into shame. An experience of shame takes you away from learning about the world because it becomes very self-focused. Children can’t learn when they’re in a state of shame, they can’t learn academically, and they can’t learn how to resolve the conflict next time. Suppose we can put the second hand in there, connect with the child, and make sense of their experience of what got them so angry. In that case, we can work with the child to resolve the conflict experience. Remember that being angry is a feeling which is neither right nor wrong. We need to help the child understand and then empathise with that experience. Collaborative consequences[1], rather than coercive consequences[2] where the adult imposes a consequence on the child, are more effective in helping the child learn they can help make things better and repair relationships. This will help them learn how to deal with friendships and relationships in the real world as they grow older.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: One of the things I found powerful about the PACE model is that the focus is always on the relationship rather than just the doing of calming someone down. The focus is always on understanding the child and providing them with the experience of feeling understood.
Dr. Golding: The relationship is more important than the goal. In de-escalation, you have a clear purpose of calming yourself down. Then life is easier for all of us. It’s not an unreasonable goal, but we go a step further than that. My goal is to understand and get to know you. I’m hopeful that that will also help you calm down and make life easier for all of us. Then we talk about storytelling and finding the story or the narrative. I want to understand your experience here, so I’m not just going to come in to calm you down. I can do that, and there are techniques for doing that, but I’m going to do something additional. I want to help you calm down, but I also want to know you, and I want to know what’s going on for you. I want to discover your story, the story of this moment, your story of this experience. I’ll have a more profound empathy for you in understanding that story. When you receive empathy, you will feel more deeply understood, which will help the calming down process. It will also get your thinking brain working so we can figure out what went wrong and we can figure out what we could do another time. In that sense, it’s much, much bigger than just de-escalation.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: With de-escalation, we often fall into the trap of stepping into that control and coercion, whereas with PACE, it’s about relationship building and care and concern for the child.
Dr. Golding: De-escalation, at its best, isn’t about controlling people, but it is focused on using techniques and is goal orientated. PACE is much broader than that with its relational focus. The central element of DDP is that it’s a relational model. The relationship is more important than anything else. The belief is if we understand our students and have a relationship with them, that will calm their nervous systems down and help them feel safeThe belief is if we understand our students and have a relationship with them, that will calm their nervous systems down and help them feel safe.. It will support their emotional well-being, so they’re in a much better learning state. We can then achieve our secondary goal of teaching them. This can sound a little strange to teachers. Why would teaching be a secondary goal? If we think about how we work as human beings, we learn when we’re emotionally safe. If we’re not emotionally safe, our nervous system puts us in a state to deal with the danger, not to learn. While we have an overall goal to teach our children, our primary purpose must be to help them feel safe and emotionally supported to learn. When they feel safe and emotionally invested, then we can achieve our goal of teaching them. Unfortunately, that’s not often understood in the education system.
Empathy and Coregulation
Click or scan the QR code to watch this interview of Brené Brown speaking about empathy and coregulation [2:53].
Practising in the Moment
Dr. Golding: The model starts with ‘noticing’. Notice if something needs attention, and take immediate action to keep everyone safe. For example, if Billy and Joe are fighting, we must break up the fight for safety. The fast route we usually take then, what’s the consequence here for fighting? Maybe it’s detention after school or at lunchtime. That’s the quick route of managing the children but with no connection. I’ve tried to show what the slow route looks like, which is more effective in emotion regulation. The next part of the process is to notice your reaction and focus on yourself. Ask yourself, how am I doing in this situation? Am I regulated enough to help these kids, or do I need to take care of myself first? If I need to take care of myself, can I hand the children over to someone else because these children need support right now? If I can’t, can I at least take a breath, have compassion for myself, focus on the children, and breathe? I can remind myself this is hard, and it’s okay. I might struggle, but we’ll get through it. Compassion for yourself can allow you to be more open and engaged with the childrenCompassion for yourself can allow you to be more open and engaged with the children.. Instead of saying, “what the heck is going on here”? You can now calmly say, “hey boys, you’re having a hard time today. Let’s figure out what’s going on here”. Then it’s essential to think about emotion regulation for the children. Are they regulated? If they’re not emotionally regulated, it’s no point in doing anything else because they’re not in a state to receive it. We have to put our attention on regulation first. We might say, “come on, boys, we’re going to go for a walk. I want one of you on either side of me, and while we walk, we’ll think about what’s going on”. Walking and movement is doing something to help the regulation process. We know from occupational therapists that all sorts of things can help children regulate at a sensory and an emotional level.
Once the children are calm, you can say, “Okay, you’ve had a hard time, let’s figure this out”, which is Dan Hughes’ favourite phrase! Another vital part of this process is to not immediately say, “I want you to think about the other person and the impact on them”. We need to start with ourselves first. If I’m talking to Billy, who was going for Joe, it’s no good to be asking Billy what you think Joe’s feeling right now. Billy will go straight into shame and defensiveness, thinking shuts down, and I’ve lost my opportunity to connect with him. Instead, starting with Billy, we ask something like, “what was going on for you”? “I wonder what made you so angry”? During this process, we must remember anger is just a feeling, and it’s neither right nor wrong. It just is. We may say, “help me understand why you got so angry”. When you understand, you give back with empathy, “that was hard for you when that happened”. Now the child is feeling like you get it. He’s not feeling shame now, he’s starting to feel a bit of guilt, and he’s starting to feel some remorse. Billy then thinks, ‘I didn’t want to hurt Joe. He’s my friend, and I don’t know what to do about that, but I feel it. Now Billy’s receptive to some ideas. If we move from shame to guilt, guilt allows remorse and the desire to make amends. So now Billy is in a receptive state. We can think about Joe. “Joe’s upset with you. I don’t want him to be upset with you. I wonder what we can do about that”?
The next part of the sequence is the action part. What are we going to do about this? Here, the collaborative consequence comes in. The adult takes some responsibility here as well. It might be that maybe you guys aren’t ready to play together for half an hour. Perhaps you need a little more supervision or structure to play together? That’s my responsibility as an adult to put that in place, but maybe there’s something you can do that lets Joe know that you are sorry you upset him. Something that lets him know that you want to be friends. I wonder what that could be? And Joe might not be quite ready to hear it yet. Can you be patient with that?
That leads us to the relationship repair part of the sequence, which is the last part, where we help the child repair the relationship. It’s also the adult’s role to think about and ask if there is anything we need to do to repair the relationship. We can reflect and realise that at the beginning, I wasn’t so PACE-ful. I can then acknowledge that I was initially frustrated with you boys, and that’s down to me. I’m glad we managed in the end, though, and this is doing your repair of the relationship. Doing your part of the repair also shows children that repair is an excellent thing to do. We can always reach out and acknowledge we got something wrong. It’s trying to capture PACE and the two hands mentioned earlier.
Teaching in the Moment
Here is a full description of Dr. Golding’s ‘Teaching in the Moment’ [PDF] framework – with prompts for each of the seven steps in the framework.
Click or scan the QR code to access the resource.
Teacher Self-Care
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: For teachers to be able to implement this framework, they would need to be feeling safe themselves. Regulated and calm but on some level safe in the environment they’re in as well. Safe in the knowledge that colleagues and administrators have their back when needed.
Dr. Golding: Whole schools must use a consistent framework, so everyone supports everyone else in a very PACE-ful way. We can then build schools that are safe for everyone, including teachers and other staff. The well-being of the adults is critical to the well-being of the childrenThe well-being of the adults is critical to the well-being of the children.. If we can’t put well-being for adults in place, we’re not going to get it right for the children. It’s so important we look after the adults here. I’ve also got to look after myself because if we’re not in a safe world, we all go into our defensive nervous systems, which never goes well for anyone.
Dr. Ayre: Commonly, teachers tend to put themselves last. The children always come first, and teachers are not consciously thinking about themselves. Suppose you’ve got a school where everybody consistently supports each other and similarly responds to children. In that case, the mentality of ‘this child is your problem because he’s in your classroom’ reduces. Everybody then takes on some responsibility for helping all students. It helps everybody to say we need great teachers with great well-being to be able to help each other and to help our students. Therefore, my priority as your colleague is ensuring you’re okay.
Dr. Golding: The common phrase ‘you put your oxygen mask on first, I can only support you if I look after myself’ is relevant here. A story that helps define the importance of this is of the father in the desert. I don’t know the story’s author, but it’s where a father and a son are walking in the desert, and they’re lost. They can’t find their way out. They’ve got one bottle of water between them, and the son is getting thirsty because it’s scorching, and the son says to his Dad, “Daddy, can I have some water? I’m thirsty”. The father says, “I’m so sorry, my lad, I’m going to drink the water”. The son says, “but Daddy, that’s not fair. I’m thirsty. Why are you drinking the water when it’s like this”? The father says, “If I drink the water, I’ll keep myself going, and I can find a way to get us out of this desert. If I give you the water, I won’t be able to do that”. That story shows us fundamental reasons why we take care of ourselves first.
Social Emotional Schools
Dr. Golding: There’s a school that I’ve supported in England called ‘Nurture Learning’. It’s a very small school, and it’s for children who are failing in mainstream schools because of social-emotional difficulties. The school has a wonderful group of teachers who offer the children a PACE-ful experience. What we see are children who settle and flourish in school. There was once a young girl who was 14 or 15 when she came into that school, and she was having a tough time. She had a complicated upbringing with her parents. She had failed in mainstream school, and her learning was compromised. She was significantly underachieving. What impressed me was how the staff could focus on her social and emotional support and how they didn’t get preoccupied thinking they had to teach this girl academics. They knew this child wasn’t in a place to learn right now. They felt able to give her the time and space she needed to feel safe in the school and to build relationships around her to improve her emotional well-being. Only after that were they able to see her start to flourish and move towards learning. She achieved the qualifications and all the things we wanted to put out at school. Without the initial focus on safety and her social-emotional well-being, she would never have achieved that learning.
There’s a lot of preoccupation in schools, particularly for adolescents who need to get their Year 12 certificates or qualifications, on getting them to catch up if they’ve had disrupted learning. There’s an ongoing debate with the government, who are pushing to use some of the school holidays to help these kids catch up academically. These kids are frightened. They’re coming back to school after being confined to home. They have been told there’s something perilously dangerous in the world, and now we’re saying go to school and catch up with your learning. We’re missing some steps here. We need social-emotional safety for our adolescence just as much as for our younger children. We need to help them integrate back into schools and their peer groups. If we attend to their social and emotional needs, they’ll catch up because they learn when they’re in the right emotional state. Humans have a thirst for learning and will achieve what they need to succeed. That isn’t always understoodHumans have a thirst for learning and will achieve what they need to succeed. That isn’t always understood..
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: When we think about big groups of people, we don’t often consider their social-emotional safety. People’s mental health was not well regarded in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Interestingly, the social-emotional needs of people are never a key feature of how things are managed in society.
Dr. Golding: And that’s understandable, the crisis came, and we had to deal with it quickly. Like in my model, the first thing you must do is attend to the immediate danger. There is a knock-on effect, though. For example, we know that adolescent suicides are increasing now, and mental health everywhere has been compromised. As we ease out of this pandemic, we must attend to this. It can be easy to say, “everything’s normal again”, “get the kids back into school, get them caught up on their learning, and they will be fine”. It’s not as easy as this. These kids have been through some awful trauma through this pandemic, whether it’s touched them personally or whether they just watched it on the news and heard about it. We’ve all been affected by the trauma of this and some children in a very, very personal way. They’ve lost parents or family members, and this is an excellent example of working with massive trauma. We’re going to help these children return to school, but we’ve got to do it safely, in an emotionally healthy way.
Chapter Summary
• Trauma can occur from influences outside of the family and from within family relationships.
• Blocked trust develops out of pervasive trauma early in life, which creates a block to trusting other relationships.
• PACE principles help promote the experience of relational safety between adults and children.
• Collaborative consequences are effective in helping a child learn they can make things better and repair relationships.
• If students are understood and have a relationship with teachers, their nervous system will calm, and this will help them feel safe at school. Then they can learn academics.
• The well-being of teachers is crucial to the well-being of children. Teachers need to feel supported and safe to implement relational frameworks with students.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Dr. Kim Golding on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [58:02].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
REFERENCES
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (2020). Trauma informed behaviour support: A practical guide to developing resilient learners. University of Southern Queensland. https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformedpractice/
Ayre, K. & Krishnamoorthy, G. (Hosts). (2021, April 11). Educating students with blocked trust with Dr. Kim Golding [Audio podcast episode]. In Trauma Informed Education. SoundCloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/educating-students-with-blocked-trust-with-dr-kim-golding?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Bombèr, L. M., Golding, K., & Phillips, S. (2020). Working with relational trauma in schools: An educator’s guide to using Dyadic Developmental practice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. (2022). Blocked trust. https://cavuhb.nhs.wales/files/resilience-project/parent-group-resources/12-blocked-trust-parents-english-pdf/
Golding, K. (2015). Parenting in the moment: Connection first before responding to behaviour. https://kimsgolding.co.uk/backend/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Parenting-in-the-moment.pdf
RSA Shorts. (2014). Brené Brown on empathy. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw
Scottish Attachment in Action. (2018, September 27). A Day with Dan – Conference themes. [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/292109115?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=66040245
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=183#h5p-2 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.02%3A_Educating_Students_with_Blocked_Trust.txt |
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Betsy de Thierry
Betsy de Thierry is the founding director of the Trauma Recovery Centre, a charity offering therapy and alternative education to children and young people impacted by trauma. Betsy is a psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience working with vulnerable children, young people and adults. She is also a trained primary school teacher. The combination of education and psychotherapy has led her to provide expertise in trauma support for children and families.
Betsy has authored seven books, including Teaching the Child on the Trauma Continuum and The Simple Guide to Child Trauma: What it is and How to Help. Her books are written mainly for teachers and caring adults supporting traumatised children, providing complex information in an easy-to-read and understandable format.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about Ms. de Thierry’s work.
Ms. de Thierry: When I completed my university training, you couldn’t just be an educational psychologist. You had to complete five years in education first, which led me to teaching. Teaching was the best way for me to be with kids, help kids and get to know kids. I loved being a classroom teacher. I’d always try to work out how to help the kids that are troubled, misunderstood and not flourishing.
The Trauma Continuum
Dr. Ayre: In your book, Teaching the child on the trauma continuum, you write about the importance of thinking about trauma in terms of a continuum. Why is this important?
Ms. de Thierry: I think the continuum is vital. I sit in many conversations where teachers tell me that all their children are traumatised. How can I be pointing at one in particular? When speaking to educators, I often draw a line and say, ‘let’s look at the difference in terms of trauma symptoms, trauma experience and the child’s environment’. For example, what is their parental situation? As we look at those three areas, we can have an informed discussion on how traumatised a child is. This leads us to match an appropriate intervention for their level of trauma. Over here in the UK, supporting the attachment relationship between children and adults has become quite a big deal. We have many attachment-aware initiatives that are brilliant for the first half of the trauma continuum. For the second half of the trauma continuum, students with more complex mental health concerns and severe behaviour difficulties, it’s more complicated. The practices of support and intervention for children on the second half of this continuum are often like band-aids over heart wounds. Heart wounds that need heart surgery. Heart wounds that need heart surgery. While many of these interventions are well intended, can lead to feelings of increased shame in educators. They may feel like failures that the intervention didn’t work. This is why I am passionate about the second half of the trauma continuum and those children with complex trauma getting the response and appropriate intervention they need.
Podcast Book Club: Teaching the Child on the Trauma Continuum
As part of the Trauma Informed Education podcast, Dr. Ayre and Dr. Krishnamoorthy review the chapters of Ms. De Thierry’s book, Teaching the Child on the Trauma Continuum. Listen in to the eight-part podcast mini-series to learn more about the trauma continuum [18:34].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
Impact of Trauma in the Classroom
Dr. Ayre: Can you highlight how trauma affects the brain and body of children, and what this looks, sounds and feels like for a classroom teacher?
Ms. de Thierry: We recognise that trauma primarily impacts the body and the mind. Many classroom teachers would ask me, “can you just tell me what these children’s triggers are”? “What are the things that will cause them to react in a way that’s inappropriate or problematic”? I generally laugh and say, “do you know what your triggers are?”
I often tell people a story to help explain the difficulty in identifying ‘triggers’ in others. The story is of a little boy who went for a walk with his dog and ended up having his foot run over by a car. At the same time, he was carrying a banana milkshake that spilled everywhere. After the car ran over his foot, he ended up in the hospital, and it was all very traumatic for him. Many months later, the little boy was happily chatting in the lunchroom at school when somebody spilled a banana milkshake. His reaction was to run, just to run as fast as he could, while he also screamed and yelled as if the car was running over his foot again. The little boy is ten, and this embarrassed him. I explained that there was no cognitive sense for this little boy of when his foot was run over by the car. The trauma of the car running over his foot while drinking a banana milkshake will be entangled in his head. That means whenever he sees a spilled banana milkshake, he might get frightened as the trauma of his foot being run over will be activated.
That’s an example of ‘what wires together, fires together’. But for those teachers or this little boy, there was no cognitive understanding of this. Essentially, when this boy’s foot was run over, the sensory neurones all fired off in his head simultaneously. The smell and sight of spilled banana milkshake, the sound of the car, the feeling of terror, the feeling of pain in his foot, the scent of the dog, all those senses and neurons would have fired off in his head at the same time. That’s how they ‘wired together’, meaning they tangled together in the subconscious. The little boy could have equally screamed and yelled and had a trauma response if he’d seen a dog at the same time as having a headache because the sense of pain and sight and smell of the dog might have triggered a similar response, like a flashback of what happened to him when his foot was run over. The smell of banana milkshake was a sensory memory held in his subconscious, which remembered the accident, which then caused him to have a physiological response of pain, which we would call a flashback.
The Science of Learning: Neurons that Fire Together Wire Together
Teaching to the brain’s strengths is easier once you understand how the human brain acquires, retains, and retrieves information. This video from the State University of New York (SUNY) is a primer on the fundamentals of the neuroscience of learning [59:58]. You will learn the basics of how the human brain changes as we develop and as we learn new skills and concepts.
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
Dr. Ayre: That makes it tricky for the teacher to identify the specific trigger. There’s no logical sense to what’s happening in front of them to try and help the child.
Ms. de Thierry: They are challenging for the teachers and tough for the kids. The kids don’t know what’s just happened and are freaked out themselves. They don’t understand why they did what they did. Unless we teach children about the subconscious and how it works, they can feel terrified by themselves and their responses. The response from an adult at that point, whatever background the adult has, must be empathetic, kind, curious, and not furious. They need to be thoughtful, proceed with caution and reaffirm that what’s just happened is okay. Let the child know you’re not mad, and perhaps they’ve just had a response that related to their experience of trauma.
The first question teachers generally ask is, “why did you do that”? What the child is doing is looking to the adult and asking, “Why did I do this”? The problem is professionals will often question why their behaviour is escalating. If a child is screaming or having a temper tantrum publicly, running out and hiding under a table, or maybe hitting somebody or being aggressive, and afterwards thinks, “why did I do that”? And there’s no adult to tell this child why they did it, and there’s no one to explain that it’s a response to fear. You might be so frightened that your behaviour will escalate because you feel so powerless and terrified. So, adults must be kind, empathic and curious about the behaviour to help the child feel safe.
Dissociation in Children
Dr. Ayre: One response to trauma is often dissociation. What are some of the behaviours or signs that are indicative of dissociation in children with trauma?
Ms. de Thierry: Many professionals here in the UK would refer to dissociation as glazing over and daydreaming. Some forms of dissociation are a normal adaptive behaviour, and it’s something we all do when we’re driving or watching a film or something. Dissociation is also a way of coping with unrelenting traumatic experiences. It’s a form of shutting down and fragmenting. It’s a internal system – a complex internal response to terror and powerlessness.
Essentially, it leads to confusion and chaos internally. In children under eight years old, this could present as occasionally glazing over or daydreaming. Dissociation presents differently at different times. For example, you could have an eight-year-old who is a maths-loving, typical little eight-year-old in one moment. The next moment, for no apparent reason (because we understand that triggers aren’t logical), that same eight-year-old may be rocking in the corner, sucking her thumb like a baby and wetting herself. She may be very verbally articulate, wise, or mature for her age. Then the next minute says, “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never wet myself, I’ve never been like a baby”. That’s the different presentations and ways of presenting her different parts or her different ego states.
I often talk to children about buckets. You have a muddy bucket and a shiny golden bucket. In the shiny bucket, you put all the happy things, the lovely moments, the stickers, the rewards, the friend saying, “I want to choose you.” Then, in the muddy bucket, you put in all the stuff that’s hard to deal with, the tough stuff, the things you feel pained by and you stick those in your muddy bucket. And if your muddy bucket is full, it begins to overflow. This overflow behaviour is being grumpy, irritable, a little bit
spiky, sharp, or maybe aggressive.
When children have been significantly traumatised, they have one muddy bucket that gets too full and then leaks. The leaks are the behaviours that begin to cause the child
to have less love, less nurture, and less kindness and empathy from others. Then they must use another bucket, and then another bucket, and another bucket, and each bucket holds different memories, experiences, feelings, and different ways of being.
I also use another metaphor, the daisy theory. I would say that each bucket is like a daisy petal. It’s a different holding bay for emotions, memories, and experiences. We usually start with talking about the buckets. Then when somebody does begin to show tangible evidence that they’re highly dissociative, we then do what I call the daisy with them. We’ve got hundreds of children around the country that we’re doing the daisy with. We draw a Daisy, and the middle circle we will say is their apparently normal part[1] (ANP), which comes from the structural dissociation theory[2] of van der Hart, Nijenhuis and Steele[3], that’s their normal presenting part, the part that gets on with life. Then we will map out all their petals. They’ll begin to acknowledge that maybe they’ve got a baby petal (or part of themself) that sometimes, like the story I just told you, wets themselves and sucks their thumb for no reason. And maybe they’ve got an older petal (or part). A maths-loving petal, and maybe they’ve even got an aggressive petal, and perhaps a petal that is sad and possibly suicidal and desperate. Those kids will be aware of those parts somewhere in the middle of the dissociative continuum.
When they get to the other end, the furthest end of the continuum, they won’t be aware of those parts because they’ll have a form of amnesia or memory loss. They’ll not be aware that those parts exist. That’s when kids are often told that they’re lying, “Did you do that behaviour”? and the child will say “No” because they can’t remember it. After all, it’s a different part of them, and then they’re told they’re lying when they honestly can’t remember.
An eleven-year-old boy was here a few years ago, and he was sexually abused from birth. He ended up showing some sexualised behaviour. Quite often in the classroom, he would suddenly put her hand up the teacher’s skirt. This would generally make him feel terrified that he did it because it would shock him, and he’d end up having a big meltdown and losing the plot. By the time he managed to recover from the meltdown, and sadly they would often have to restrain him and do all sorts of unpleasant things, he’d be dragged to the head teacher’s office. At the office, the head teacher would ask, “why did you put your hand up the teacher’s skirt”? “Why did you do that?” And the child would stand there and say, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t do that”. And to an extent, he didn’t do it. Another part of him did it. When this little boy understood what was happening to him, he had the language to explain to the adults around him that he took full responsibility for his behaviours. It’s not a way to avoid that, but it’s another part of him that has different responses and ways of responding to triggers, pain, and fear.
Trauma and the Nervous System
This video from the Trauma Foundation gives a basic introduction and overview of how trauma and chronic stress affect our nervous system and impact our health and well-being. The
content is based on the groundbreaking work of Stephen Porges and his Polyvagal Theory and is inspired and informed by the work of thought leaders Deb Dana, Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda, Gabor Mate, Dan Siegel and Peter Levine.
Click or scan the QR code to watch the video.
Dr. Ayre: Children need to be able to name their feelings and understand them. We keep handing out punitive consequences, and they do not work, and it is not fair for these children.
Ms. de Thierry: Punitive consequences cause more shame in children, which causes an escalation in Punitive consequences cause more shame. in children behaviour resulting in children being even more socially withdrawn and isolated, which causes more trauma. The daisy theory is a way of helping children that feel very overwhelmed by their behaviours, emotions, and responses to contain them in a way that feels normal and safe.
Attunement
Dr. Ayre: What key strategies can you suggest for teachers who support trauma-affected students?
Ms. de Thierry: The key is being attuned[4]. As a trainer, I have to attune to the people I’m training. I have to notice when they start to look tired and need a break. Or when I haven’t let them talk enough to digestwhat they’re learning. I have to notice if it’s near lunchtime and they’re hungry. I have to notice when maybe they’ve taken up too much information, and they need to get into groups and go outside and chat. As a trainer, that’s what keeps them listening, and if I’m not attuned to them, I’ll have half of them asleep in the room and not listening. Being attuned as a trainer is vital as I can be responsive in the room. I would argue that that’s precisely the same as being a teacher.
When you attune, you’re aware when one child in the corner is just staring out the window. You’re attuned that there’s a little gaggle of girls being nasty to each other. If you’re aware, even with 30 plus students, you know what’s happening, and you pick up the vibe in the room. I think as an attuned teacher, you can respond to that. You can go “let’s all jump up and do our spaghetti wiggle. We can do regular brain gym exercises, physical exercises that cause the endorphins to run again and break the tension, boredom, hard work, or whatever is going on to let you change the atmosphere”. When you can attune to the needs of your students, you’ve got a happy class, so I would argue that attunement is the most essential skill to develop. Many schools say, “give me the strategies,” and I’ll be like, “not until you understand attunement”. Strategies on their own won’t be successful if you’re not attuned to your students. Many of the strategies only work in attuned relationships.
Attunement in the Classroom
Attunement helps children to feel safe with us and is the building block of secure attachment. Discipline tools should be used with attunement. From this perspective, non-violent discipline methods are not good or bad in themselves, rather, they should be evaluated according to how well they fit with the needs and signals of the child.
Check out this video from Peace Discipline that discusses the concept further [13:48].
Click or scan the QR code to start watching.
Challenges for Students at School Impacted by Trauma
Dr. Ayre: What have you noticed is the biggest challenge for students experiencing traumatic stress at school?
Ms. de Thierry: The biggest challenge is that children are dependent on peer relationships and a relationship with a trusted adult. Yet very often, their behaviours are the very thing that pushes them away from having a relationship. The frustration and conflict of knowing deep inside that they’re desperate for friends and to please their teacher. They’re desperate to have that sense of satisfaction that the teacher is pleased with them. They also know they’re doing the behaviour that pushes children away so they won’t be invited to birthday parties. They are frustrated with their teachers and think their teachers just don’t like them. We know that relationships are the key to healing from trauma, the key to recovery. Yet, they’re the very thing that children We know that relationships are the key to healing from trauma, the key to recovery. struggle with most.
Dyslexia wasn’t understood well when I was training as a teacher. We weren’t really trained on it and didn’t understand it at the time. I used to think it meant those students with dyslexia weren’t intelligent. There was no notion then that you could have highly intelligent people like Einstein, who also had dyslexia. Now we know that if we help children with dyslexia, we can see them become like Einstein, we can see them become some of our creative geniuses. We need to give them extra support in one area to allow them to excel. I would love trauma to become the same, for it to be obvious
and for teachers to acknowledge and use the trauma continuum to see where the kids sit on it to know what intervention might be appropriate. Let’s then provide that intervention now.
If we can work out how to appropriately intervene when a child has been traumatised and help them recover, we will change communities. We will transform families and we will reduce the pressure on the mental health system. We will change the pressure on the criminal justice system. We will literally change the world if we can crack the question of ‘how to help a child recover from trauma.’ We know that one-on-one support and early intervention when the kids are seven or eight will cost us financially for a couple of years. Still, we know long term it will save money. It will save money in terms of their ability to contribute positively to society as they grow into adults, which will likely reduce anti-social behaviour due to unhealed trauma. This will then minimise the use of, and impact on, our mental health and criminal justice systems. This is money worth spending on early intervention while students are at school. I think if we can crack that, then I’ll be happy!
Therapeutic Mentoring Rooms
Ms. de Thierry: The Therapeutic Mentoring Rooms concept came from having run the Trauma Recovery Centre charity in the United Kingdom. There we would see about one hundred children who were coming in for therapy or intensive education in one of our centres each week. I realised that some of the children coming for treatment each week were being sent in taxis that our local government paid for. It seemed very un-trauma informed to me that these little vulnerable kids were being put in taxis with unknown taxi drivers, sometimes driving an hour to our centre for an hour of play therapy. Whilst it’s brilliant therapy, and the kids benefitted from it, I found it very disturbing that they were in a taxi for two hours, often with an adult they didn’t know.
To make the whole process trauma-informed, I thought, ‘why don’t I train people in the school to be trauma-informed and deliver therapeutic support to these kids?’ I developed a 14-day course called the Therapeutic Mentoring Certificate. To support the implementation of these practices, we started therapeutic mentoring rooms. In some mainstream schools, it’s a physical room set up like our therapy rooms with giant colourful beanbags and sensory kits. They don’t look like classrooms at all. The therapeutic mentors who have completed the 14-day certificate work with the children there in a different way from us as therapists. We have trauma-informed therapists who go into the school six times a year and, after completing comprehensive assessments, will devise treatment plans for the most traumatised children that the therapeutic mentor will then implement. We also offer the therapeutic mentors’ clinical supervision’ – a chance to debrief and learn from their experiences that week. This occurred every six weeks to support them in implementing the support plans.
One example is a little eight-year-old boy who came for therapy one hour a week. This cost the local government hundreds of pounds a week. So instead of continuing this, we got the child to have breakfast with the therapeutic mentor each day for an hour. At breakfast, the mentors and children could just play – with playdoh for example – and chat about how he’s doing. In that hour, the therapeutic mentor would also implement activities that a therapist had written in his treatment plan.
If there were any problems or anything complicated arose, then the therapeutic mentor could talk to us as we were providing ongoing support. We see fantastic outcomes this way. Children that were going to be excluded are no longer excluded. Children are building on the relationship they’ve already got with a member of staff within the school, and they don’t have to travel out for therapy to learn how to build relationships as it’s happening right there as part of their education.
Chapter Summary
• The trauma continuum looks at three areas of a child’s life, their trauma symptoms, trauma experience and their environment. The trauma continuum can help to identify and match appropriate interventions to each child’s need.
• Triggers in children at school can be difficult to identify by teachers and the children themselves. A teacher’s response to a trigger and a trauma behaviour needs to be empathetic, kind, gentle and curious.
• Children can suffer memory loss and amnesia as a form of dissociation in response to trauma and may not remember certain behaviours enacted when triggered.
• Attunement is a key skill for teachers to develop to manage various children’s needs in a classroom.
Book Recommendations
• de Thierry, B. (2015). Teaching the Child on the Trauma Continuum. Grosvenor House Publishing Limited.
• de Thierry, B. (2016). The Simple Guide to Child Trauma: What It Is and How to Help. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• de Thierry, B. (2017). The Simple Guide to Sensitive Boys: How to Nurture Children and Avoid Trauma. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• de Thierry, B. (2018). The Simple Guide to Shame in Children: What It Is, What Helps and How to Prevent Further Stress or Trauma. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• de Thierry, B. (2019). The Simple Guide to Attachment Difficulties in Children: What They Are and How to Help. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• de Thierry, B. (2020). The Simple Guide to Complex Trauma and Dissociation: What It Is and How to Help. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• de Thierry, B. (2021). The Simple Guide to Collective Trauma. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Behaviour Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Ms. Betsy De Thierry on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [31:37].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
References
Ayre, K. (Host). (2017). Therapeutic Classroom management with Betsy De Thierry (Podcast Episode 13) [Audio Podcast]. In Trauma Informed Education. Sound cloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/ 13-therapeutic-classroom-management-with-betsy-de-thierry?in=trauma-informed education/sets/expertinterviews&si=6616e4c177f34181a1d7b06faf45aa93&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (Hosts). (2017). TIPBS Bookclub – Teaching the child on the trauma continuum [Audio Podcast]. In Trauma Informed Education. Sound cloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informededucation/sets/tipbsbookclub si=9213ed98cd8948d8a3338609162e9c59&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_cam paign=social_sharing
Peace Discipline. (2021). Attunement. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIQRxwT1I0
SUNY CPD Videos. (2021, August). The science of learning Pt1: Neurons that fire together wire together. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSFkMWXKKfg
The Trauma Foundation. (2021). Trauma and the nervous system: A polyvagal perspective. [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIQRxwT1I0
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=684#h5p-2
1. The rational, grounded and present-oriented parts of an individual.
2. Posits personality is integrated over time and this integration can be disrupted by childhood trauma.
3. The haunted self: Structural dissociation and the treatment of chronic traumatisation (2006).
4. Aware of, attentive or responsive to others. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.03%3A_Trauma_Informed_Classroom_Management.txt |
5
We live in the age of the brain. With increasing research and knowledge about childhood trauma and its impact on the brain, we want to know how educators can put this science to use in the classroom. We had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Becky Bailey about her ground-breaking Conscious Discipline Program.
Dr. Becky Bailey
Dr. Becky Bailey is an award-winning author, renowned educator, and internationally recognised expert in childhood education and developmental psychology. She is the creator of Conscious Discipline, which has impacted an estimated 17 million children while inspiring and training more than 3.5 million educators and caregivers. Conscious Discipline is practised in over 73 countries with resource materials offered in 22 languages. Over 2.5 million of Dr. Bailey’s top-selling books are in circulation. With over 35 years of experience working with the most challenging children, Dr. Bailey deeply believes we must transform the lives of adults first and children second.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Bailey’s work.
Dr. Bailey: I’ve always been a teacher, though growing up, I initially thought I wanted to be a medical doctor. When I was getting my PhD, I interned at a toddler school. My experience at the toddler school spurred me on to learn about how the brain works and how we can use optimal environments and strategies to grow to our maximum potential. I’ve also had some trauma in my personal life, so that led me to want to be a teacher and work with marginalised children.
The Conscious Discipline Program
Dr. Bailey: I’ll describe the program in two ways. The official academic description of the program is that it’s a ‘comprehensive brain-based self-regulation program’ that combines social and emotional learning, school culture and discipline into a systemic whole. Now how I explain it to people in everyday language is that with Conscious Discipline, we’re trying to help people of all ages, adults, and children, be disciplined enough to set and achieve their goals, despite distractions. That’s my definition of discipline. It’s not punishment. You’re conscious enough to know you’re off track and willing enough, which means you’re loved, cared for adequately, and feel you belong enough to return to your path to living your highest values.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: I’m curious about the way you explain discipline. It struck me that it taps into the concepts of persistence and grit. These attributes don’t exist in isolation. You can persist in and have discipline with things when you feel cared for, and someone takes an interest in your persistence with the task, in this case, emotional regulation.
Dr. Bailey: I believe we need to have ‘consciousness’ to know you’re going down the wrong path. For instance, you can persist, be vigilant, and be a serial killer. The ‘consciousness’ implies we have to have an ‘integrated brain’ to get to the higher centres of our brain; we need to have space and time for thinking and reflection. This thinking and reflection is the key to being ‘conscious’.
Dr. Ayre: Traditionally, discipline is seen as punishment. discipline is usually seen as something done to people or children to extinguish a particular behaviour, not to help them learn. In thinking and reflecting, the element of consciousness is not incorporated into this view.
Dr. Bailey: Yes, you’re right there. I like the quote, “discipline is not something you do to children; it’s something you develop within them”. Once you flip that definition, it’s a whole different ballgame.
Dr. Ayre: Several countries and regions have discipline policies within their education systems that include terms like safe, supportive, and disciplined school environment. However, I’m not convinced that an explanation of this is adequately communicated or understood. It’s usually assumed that all educators understand these concepts in the same way when they read them in policies, but this is often far from the truth.
Dr. Bailey: It’s tough for people to change their thoughts about discipline. This change in thinking requires ‘transformational change’, which means people change their deep-seated beliefs about punishment resulting in a shift in how they believe it’s effective. People may think that if I don’t use punishment, I fail my duty as a parent or teacher. That’s a very deep-rooted way people think about punishment and discipline in many countries and cultures. It’s like it’s almost in everyone’s DNA.
Discipline and Child Brain Development
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., the New York Times bestselling author of Brainstorm, and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, are the pioneering experts behind The Whole-Brain Child who now explore the ultimate child-raising challenge: discipline. Learn more by watching this video of Dr. Siegel and Dr. Bryson discussing the link between a child’s neurological development and the way a parent reacts to misbehaviour [6:10]. Click or scan the QR code to start watching.
Trauma Sensitive Practice
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How would you define trauma-sensitive practices and describe this in the school context?
Dr. Bailey: If you understand how the brain works, what helps the brain develop optimally, and what inhibits its development, the question becomes how do we support optimal growth, even through trauma? Schools I see in the United States, regardless of the program they use, the ones with a better understanding of the brain and the emotional states we experience have a better understanding of how to manoeuvre from one emotional state to another. I don’t think you can get to that understanding without being trauma sensitive. I believe that that’s almost a by-product of being trauma-sensitive, even if it’s unintentional.
Once you get a defensive brain, a brain geared for protection, instead of an engaging brain, many strategies are like trauma-sensitive practices in how to help a student drop that defence. Dropping those adaptive skills for that defensive brain are very similar regardless of the specific traumas the child has experienced. There are specific strategies you can use when you learn about traumas, but that starts to move into a mental health or psychology focus rather than a trauma-sensitive focus in education. A teacher needs this basic information about trauma all the time. It should be in every university and be bound together with education. My PhD is in education and developmental psychology, and I never could understand how we separated any of that to begin with, and that was back in 1970. I completed my PhD in 1979, so I was trying to combine things people hadn’t thought about yet.
Dr. Ayre: What a challenging, groundbreaking perspective to question. Why separate education and developmental psychology in the first place? Even today, we still separate developmental psychology and education training.
Dr. Bailey: That’s what led me to leave the university system. I thought we’ve got to go a different route in teaching children with trauma. Twenty years ago, ‘trauma-sensitive’ didn’t exist in the United States. Sadly, I’ve also discovered that we have people following the money. For the last 15 years, I’ve been pushing a ball uphill regarding trauma-sensitive practices. Just in the previous five or six years, it’s starting to catch on. Big educational companies are making kits, putting a little puppet in a couple of videos and showing a 30-minute presentation to teachers and staff about how we need to be respectful to children in schools. Then those same teachers are screaming at the children the next day to shut up and behave, so it’s a difficult journey and, as mentioned, hard to change those deep-seated beliefs.
Brain Development
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Are there any essential things you believe teachers should know about brain development in children, particularly in times of stress?
Dr. Bailey: In the Conscious Discipline program, I use a very simple brain model, yet accurate enough to teach how our brain works, especially under stress. Then I teach what ‘safe enough’ means from a teacher’s perspective. Our brain needs safety, connection, and the ability to problem solve because we have social brains. When we work with typically developing children, in other words, with an engaged brain, teachers need to think about how to keep the student emotionally safe. We don’t want teachers thinking about how to make the student behave but how to keep the student safe enough to learn.
Children with a defensive brain are generally unfamiliar with what ‘safe’ is as a concept and a feeling. They are unfamiliar with being ‘safe’ in any biological, neurological, or psychological way as their life has not been safe. If you imagine flipping the brain over, you can reach those kids by connecting with the emotional part of the brain. The goal is to build a relationship with the student with a defensive brain. To do this, you must develop a relationship with this student through their successes. The more you can notice their success or achievements, any achievements, including from activities outside the classroom they enjoy doing, like skateboarding or fishing. The more you use those activities to notice their success, it will help you get the connection with the student, and from that connection, build a relationship and move into safety. When we understand that a developing brain is geared to adapt to keep children safe, not to learn reading or writing, we can learn to flip it over to establish a connection. Our goal then becomes how do we reach a relationship resisted child who will push you away at any given time?
Children who feel like they are defending against life tell you through their behaviours that they’re going to shut down or use their fight or flight response. We start with noticing anything they do successfully. Noticing means not judging, not saying, “you did this well”, “you held that door open so Kevin could come in, way to be helpful”. You must start with their name and then describe what they did, noticing the success. For example, you’re very good at skateboarding; you draw beautiful pictures, let’s hang them up and show everybody; what a great song you sang, you shared your talent with us by singing something that touched my heart. The noticing is the conscious part of it, helping the students become aware of their success. Once you can do that, you need to find something in common with the child to strengthen that relationship. It could be basketball, rugby, dogs, whatever it is that child enjoys, but you have to have it in common. You can’t fake it. You can’t say, oh, this student likes basketball, so now I’m going to study basketball at home and try to make a connection. You must find something you and that student have in common to make that connection. It’s like when you go to a cocktail party, you’re standing around, and you don’t know anybody, and suddenly someone says, oh, I’ve been to Florida, and you say, oh my gosh, I live in Florida! That’s where your defences drop, there’s a breakthrough moment, and you connect with that other person. Teachers must be very present in that moment of play and create positive interactions with the child, including eye contact and touch. That’s what you want to create with that student through that common interest.
The last thing I would tell teachers is once you make a connection through that commonality with the student, you must spend time with them in play where you can make eye contact and connect through touch. Teachers must be very present in that moment of play and create positive interactions with the child, including eye contact and touch. That’s how we start changing that defensive brain through a safe relationship.
Chapter Summary
• Conscious Discipline is a ‘comprehensive brain-based self-regulation program’ that combines social and emotional learning, school culture and discipline into a systemic whole.
• Thinking and reflecting is the key to being ‘conscious’.
• Discipline is something to be developed in children; it’s not punishment.
• Trauma-sensitive practices include being aware of how the brain typically develops, what inhibits brain development in children, and the various emotional states we experience.
• Teachers need to think about how to keep a student emotionally safe, not how to make a student behave, to get an engaged brain ready to learn academically.
• Students with trauma or a defensive brain often do not understand or know what feeling ‘’safe’’ is.
• Disruptive students in classrooms who lose control offer an opportunity for all students in that classroom to regulate and learn social-emotional skills.
• Relationships between adults in charge of a family affect a child’s ability to self-regulate more than the adult-to-child relationship itself. In schools, this means teachers and other staff must have positive relationships and support each other to regulate to affect the students in the school in the same way.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Dr. Becky Bailey on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [56:32].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=242#h5p-2 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.04%3A_Conscious_Discipline.txt |
6
Educators are among the most critical influence on a child. Still, it’s no secret that managing behaviour issues in the classroom are what teachers struggle with most. Children’s emotional and life challenges can create problem behaviours that may seem complex. But when a student’s behaviours are monitored and evaluated correctly, educators can discover the appropriate intervention to modify the problem behaviour. The modifications made in a classroom can set a child up for success or failure. But are some children simply too challenging to respond to such classroom modifications?
Dr. Laura Riffel
Dr. Laura Riffel has more than 40 years of experience. She has trained thousands of teachers, parents, counsellors, psychologists, administrators and even bus drivers on how to make data-based decisions to change behaviour. Dr. Riffel began her career volunteering at the school for the blind, which led to her love of children and special education. She has taught pre-kindergarten through to adults in general and special education. Now retired from public education, she presents seminars worldwide on behaviour at the universal, targeted, and intensive levels.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Riffel.
Challenging Behaviour and Behaviour Support
Dr. Riffel: On reflection, there are two things in my career I’m most proud of. The first is a statewide program called the Behavioural Intervention Programme, where we had five full-time behaviour therapists. If you had a student who had challenging behaviour, you could contact us for free. One of our behaviour therapists would then come to your location and help you figure out the function behind the child’s behaviour. Once the function was identified, the therapist would help you devise a plan to modify that behaviour. It didn’t matter if you were a parent, a daycare centre, a school or a residential setting. We would come and support you in modifying that challenging behaviour. We could have served many more children than we did, but I had to keep the numbers manageable for the behavioural therapists doing that work. While my staff were out doing the Behavioural Intervention Program, I ran a day clinic for the children with the most severe behaviours, where we brought the kids into the clinic to work with them. We were very successful at being able to transition them back into their home or school and restabilise them after that transition. Then we would reverse integrate a class around this highly trained team of teachers we had worked with to ensure the return transition was successful.
The second thing I’m very proud of is that my husband, I, and our whole family, chose to live with an adult who had autism. Let’s call him Jay. Jay, wanted to live independently, and they needed housemates to make that happen. When my husband and I became empty nesters, and our kids were in college, we didn’t like the empty nest syndrome, so we asked Jay’s parents if we could live with Jay. We loved it so much that we decided to live with Jay until we needed to live in a nursing home. Unfortunately, Jay passed away in 2009 due to a sudden heart attack. He was the best teacher we ever had as he taught me what it’s like to live with a disability and how to build a quality life for that person.
Another driving force was when I was in kindergarten. My mother had to take me to school every day and drop me off; one day, she didn’t come back and get me, which was quite scary for a five-year-old child. Eventually, my grandmother came and picked me up, she was nervous and upset about something, and when we got home, my mom was crying. She kept repeatedly saying, “if only I’d said hold on”. She was beside herself. What had happened was my mother had dropped me off that morning at kindergarten. As she was driving away, my little two-year-old brother opened up the car door as she was going around the corner, and she said the words, “don’t let go”. What my brother heard was “let go”. We didn’t have seatbelts or car seats in the fifties, so he just fell out of the car while she was driving.
My mother internalised this accident as her fault. She believed if she had said ‘don’t let go’ differently, it might not have happened. It made her analyse her parenting, and she realised that kids don’t hear the first word, like don’t, stop, quit, etc., that are spoken. They hear the last words. From that point forward, my mother changed her parenting style, and she told us she wouldn’t tell us what not to do, but here’s what I want you to do instead. Years later as a teacher, I heard about this thing schools were trying called Positive Behaviour Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and they said, we’re going to tell the kids what to do instead of what not to do, and that just made so much sense to me, and I jumped right on that bandwagon!
A Trauma-informed Approach to Positive Behaviour Support
Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS) provides an effective multi-tiered framework for incorporating the knowledge about childhood trauma into an established system of support, rather than focusing on trauma as a separate and perhaps competing initiative.
Following the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) process for integrating PBIS and school mental health into a single system (Eber et al., 2019), trauma-informed practices become part of one multi-tiered continuum of support, benefitting from the structures that contribute to efficiency and effectiveness. Learn more by watching this animation from the National Disability Services [6:24]. Click or scan the QR code to start watching.
The Teach, Imprint, Practice and Praise (TIPP) Method
Dr. Riffel: We can’t hold kids accountable for behaviours if we haven’t taught them what those behaviours look like, sound like and feel like. We can’t hold kids accountable for behaviours if we haven’t taught them what those behaviours look like, sound like and feel like. So I talk to people about what I term the TIPP (teach, imprint, practice, praise) method.
You have to Teach the behaviour you want to see. You can’t just say, “be good”. You’ve got to teach what you expect. For example, this is what I mean by being respectful, responsible and prepared or whatever your focus is. Then you have to Imprint it by modelling. That’s the I in TIPP. So often, the schools that I work with will have the words up on the wall, be respectful to your teachers. Still, in the hallway, kids are overhearing things being said that are not very respectful about teachers or each other. We’ve got to imprint it by modelling what we want to see for the kids, and then we must practice it with them.
Practice is the first P in TIPP. If we want to talk about behaviour on the bus, we need to bring a bus out to the school and show them what that behaviour looks, sounds, and feels like on that bus.
Then the last P in my TIPP is to Praise approximations when you see them. Generally, people don’t really like that one because they think kids should do it because they should do it. But how do you know what’s extrinsic value or intrinsic value? If you are not extrinsically motivated to behave a certain way, you will unlikely internalise this behaviour or expectation. If you think about a baby learning how to walk, people clap and cheer, and the baby knows he’s on to something and must keep doing it.
Once you learn to walk, you walk everywhere. Nobody claps or cheers because you internalised that that was an excellent way to get around. And you’ll know that a child has internalised that value or behaviour because if you compliment them, they’ll go, “oh, that’s okay, it was just the right thing to do”. When children move to internalise these behaviours, we call that the universal level.
Then there are the kids who need ‘booster shots’ or tier-two interventions. These children need a reminder: “now remember, before we go out in the hallway, where do our hands and feet need to be?” Or maybe you have a secret signal with a student. For instance, I had a child who had ADHD and was very hyperactive. Sometimes his hyperactivity would be very disruptive to all the kids around him. He and I had a secret signal that if I tugged on my ear, he needed to check himself and ensure he wasn’t bothering someone around him. Only he and I knew that secret signal, and he wasn’t singled out because he needed extra support. It was like a tier-two intervention because his individual booster shot helped him. He got the universal support, everybody gets those, but on top of that, he also had a little tier two booster shot. Teachers often do these things naturally and don’t even realise they’re doing a tier two intervention. Then there’s a minimal number of students who need those tier three interventions that are more intensive.
We once made a video with a student of what ‘raising your hand’ and ‘waiting to be called on in class’s sounds like and feels like. In this example, we included the parents and asked them to show the video at home before the student came to school each day, and then we gave him booster shots during the day and little reminders of what he needed to do. Then at night, when the child goes home, the parent might ask, “how did you do today remembering to raise your hand and waiting to be called on”? Another intervention, for that example, might include the teacher wearing a bright red bracelet on their wrist. Every time they want students to raise their hands, the teacher holds up their hands with that bright red bracelet. Previously though, they’ve taught that child in private to tune in to that red bracelet.
Dr. Ayre: What a great visual reminder for students. It doesn’t single any child out. You’ve taught the student previously to tune in to it.
Dr. Riffel: Students need environmental cues to help them, and we could use various things. For example, they could wear a watch that vibrates every 15 minutes, which reminds them to check in on themselves. They could use a tracking sheet where they make a tally of the things they’re working on, for example, each time they’re out of their seat or wandering around. Nobody else knows that the student has this plan to help them be successful. Environmental cues are everywhere. For example, when we board a plane, no matter how many times we’ve flown before, the flight attendant stands in the middle of the aisle and holds up a seat belt and says, “you insert the flat end into the buckle, to release the seat belt you lift the buckle”. The first time I heard that I thought, well, that’s ridiculous, that’s a seat belt. Then after they go through that little spiel about the seatbelt, they say they cannot take off until everybody has their seatbelt fastened. The flight attendant then walks down the aisle, leans over and says, “please buckle your seat belt” or “I’m sorry that your building’s burning down, but you need to get off your telephone, so we can take off”. Such different levels of support, they’re alive and well everywhere. At school, we talk about different levels of support, and if you start looking at the world around you, they’re alive and well everywhere you go. It’s no surprise that children need help and support as they learn, while adults in the world need the same intensive support.
Trauma-Informed Social Emotional Learning
Social and emotional learning is about learning how to control & express feelings, manage friendships and solve problems. Children who have developed social and emotional skills and it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, resolve conflict, and feel positive about themselves and the world around them. This guide is designed to be a comprehensive collection of trauma-informed SEL strategies, activities and resources.
Click or scan the QR code to access the free resource.
Thinking Functionally About Behaviour
Dr. Ayre: What key elements of thinking functionally about behaviour are essential for teachers to know and utilise in their classroom?
Dr. Riffel: We first need to help everybody understand that they don’t need to do something immediately unless a child is in danger. We need to learn how to take a deep breath and think about that behaviour. We need to learn how to take a deep breath and think about that behaviour. That’s the hardest thing in understanding and learning what to do. We know this behaviour is happening for a reason. It’s communication. This student is communicating something to me somewhere, and somehow, someone has taught them, usually inadvertently, that this behaviour has a particular payoff. It’s like learning the child’s secret code and figuring out what this child wants.
What I teach to teachers, and even to veteran teachers who’ve been teaching for a long time, is that there are three things that children might be trying to get. Firstly, they might be trying to get attention. Secondly, they might be trying to get access to a preferred item or a preferred activity. Lastly, they might be trying to gain sensory input. Sensory input is something we don’t talk much about at the service level, and it’s enormous with us as adults and with children. Often when you are teaching college classes, you’ll look out and see people giving themselves proprioceptive input (see video below to learn more about proprioception and sensory modulation). That is, they are fidgeting and fiddling with things, or they’re doodling on their paper to be able to sit and pay attention effectively. We must understand that we haven’t taught kids how to get that sensory input in a socially appropriate way. Those are the things that kids are sometimes trying to get.
The Proprioceptive System and Sensory Modulation
Proprioception is the process by which the body can vary muscle contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces, by utilizing stretch receptors in the muscles to keep track of the joint position in the body. Proprioception, also often referred to as the sixth sense, was developed by the nervous system as a means to keep track of and control the different parts of the body.
Click or scan the QR code to watch a video from Brain Highways explaining the proprioceptive system [4:36].
Children also communicate through behaviour things that they might be trying to avoid, such as schoolwork. It might be because the work is too tricky or because they are dealing with something emotional and cannot take on new information at the moment. They might be trying to avoid attention. Usually, this attention is from the adults because they will ask them to do something they might not feel comfortable doing. They also might be trying to avoid other children, and that might be because their mom doesn’t do laundry as frequently as most moms do. They had to wear dirty clothes; they know they smell a little and don’t want to get around other kids because they smell. It’s like playing detective, and we’re always trying to decipher what a child’s behaviour is telling us.
Children can also have challenging behaviour because they’re trying to avoid emotional or physical pain, especially young children or children who don’t use words. They don’t have enough words to explain the pain they’re feeling. They don’t want shirts that say mom and dad had a huge fight last night, or we got kicked out of our apartment, and our furniture is on the front lawn, and I don’t know where I’m sleeping tonight.
The last thing children might be trying to avoid is too much sensory input. I always find it amazing how many people are bothered by noise. We’ll talk about different little noises, and I get teachers to imagine hearing that one noise that drives you over the edge but ten times louder. For some children, too much noise can make it difficult to attend, concentrate and learn, so they may try to avoid situations or environments that are overly noisy. I often hear from teachers that children are just behaving in a particular way to get attention. I want to tell you that it is vital for everybody to remember that it’s true that children do want attention, but we need to understand why. As a society, we’ve decreased time spent together in the same space by about 63 per cent. During the 1950s, we frequently sat at the dining room table as a family. Only rich people had television sets then, and if they had a TV, they only had one, so we had a lot of face-to-face time with our family. We played outside more, hugged each other more, and dug in the ground like we were searching the other side of the world and all those physical play activities. As a result, we made and received eye contact with others and got their attention.
In today’s society, we’ll go to a restaurant to eat, and eight people will sit together at a table. Yet you look over, and all eight people look at their phones rather than interacting. Kids are desperate for eyeballs and attention. If we give them attention before they start seeking it, we’ll avoid the problematic behaviours children use to gain the missing attention. If we give them attention before they start seeking it, we’ll avoid the problematic behaviours children use to gain the missing attention. This is the proactive part that I want teachers to utilise in their classrooms.
I’ve found with the teachers that I’ve worked with, if you stand at your door and greet your students every hour or every time they come back to class at the elementary level, every hour for secondary, I tell them to do TUMS (touch, use their name, make eye contact, smile).
Consistently throughout the day, we need to Touch, give them a high five or a handshake; Use their name in a positive way, for instance, “how is P.E. Charmaine?” or “glad to see you today, Ferris”, this shows that you’ve taken an interest in them; Make eye contact, give it on the front side in a positive way; and then Smile. Because we’re so busy thinking, sometimes we don’t think about what we’re doing with our faces. Sometimes our faces don’t look very friendly, and kids get most of their information about us from our body language. We need to make sure we’re smiling most of the time. Teachers who have done this have found 45 to 72 percent fewer disruptions in their classroom, supporting the notion of giving eyeballs or attention on the front side. We’ve timed it, and it takes about three minutes, and it’s worth the three minutes.
When you think about how long the disruption of children seeking your attention stops learning, that three minutes is time well spent. The older the kids are, the more critical it is to give that attention straight away. Most teenagers’ primary mode of communication is texting, so they’re not getting the face-to-face feedback and attention they need for their development. So you see, if we put iPad holders on baby strollers, they will not get the face-to-face feedback they need for early development. Imagine what that’s going to do to those kids’ brains by the time they’re teenagers.
If I could only share one piece of advice with teachers, that would be to be proactive. What’s the function of the behaviour? And what can you put in place before that behaviour has a chance to happen? I think greeting them at the door will make a world of difference.
Observing Behaviour and Thinking Functionally
Thinking functionally about disruptive student behaviour assumes that behaviour is maintained by something in the environment where the behaviour is happening. To find out why or the function, we examine the antecedents, the behaviour, and the consequences. That is, we watch or observe the behaviour directly and document the A, B and C of that disruptive behaviour.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more from the Trauma Informed Behaviour Support book.
Implementation
Dr. Ayre: I’ve witnessed several teachers who have seen the value in this form of behaviour support. But when the school is not supportive, the teachers try to implement these practices in isolation. What advice do you have for teachers in this situation?
Dr. Riffel: It is tough to implement behaviour support in isolation, but I tell teachers that success sells. It is tough to implement behaviour support in isolation, but I tell teachers that success sells. For example, I know of a fourth-grade teacher who supports PBS, yet her school is not buying into it too much. She did everything she knew she was supposed to do. She created expectations for her classroom, taught them, imprinted them by modelling, practised with the kids, and praised it. Now it’s later in the year, and her kids are all still following the expectations. For example, they’re supposed to walk on a specific side of the hall, and they’re supposed to have their hands a certain way, they’re supposed to stop at the stop signs when they get to corners and look both ways before they cross the hallway; they’re not supposed to go inside the classroom until the teacher sends them in, that way kids aren’t inside a classroom without adult supervision. All the other teachers’ kids are running in the classrooms, past stop signs in the hall, and generally not following the rules. Yet, at a grade level meeting, another fourth-grade teacher asked, “how come your kids are doing what they’re supposed to be doing and ours aren’t?” and this teacher said, “let me tell you about PBS”. She’s been able to sell it to the other fourth-grade teachers, and now it’s starting to catch on.
Teachers now see the value in taking the time to do these things rather than saying, “I shouldn’t have to do that. Kids should just know how to behave”. To those teachers, I ask, “how’s that working out for you?” If it’s working, go ahead, but if it’s not working, why not try doing what you see is working well? Remember, success sells. You just plug along, do what you know is right, and let your kids be the shining example. When I was teaching a class, I used to tell my kids it was a secret. They couldn’t tell anybody else, but the principal liked me better than everybody, so he always gave me the best kids. The kids just walked around like little angels because they thought they were the best fish in the school!
Dr. Ayre: And the kids think they’re all special and chosen. That’s great!
Dr. Riffel: It probably wasn’t very nice because they were out on the playground thinking they were better than everyone else. But it did help change their attitude because I told them, “I expect you to be role models, and kids will rise to that occasion.” When the other teachers see that, they’ll want to buy in, which used to happen in the behavioural intervention program often. We would come in and help with one student. We would support the teachers in looking at the data and determining the behaviour’s function. Once that student’s behaviour changed (and everyone in the school knew this kid because of his behaviour), suddenly, I’d get five referrals from that school. They saw the success and what that one teacher did by collecting the data and changing things up. That’s when I would call the principal and ask if I could come in to do an all-day training on functional behaviour assessment and teach the whole staff.
Dr. Ayre: It makes sense to empower all the teachers and upskill everyone at once.
Dr. Riffel: Yes! So just remember, success sells. That’s how you’ll get the whole school’s buy-in.
Behaviour Support for Unsafe Behaviours
Dr. Ayre: As teachers, we sometimes neglect to look at ourselves and the contribution of our behaviour and we may project all the blame onto the child for the problematic behaviour.
Dr. Riffel: It’s very easy for me to come in and sit back and say the teacher’s part of the problem. So I try to be very delicate in how I see it. It’s like we don’t notice things about our kids as they are growing up. You didn’t notice how tall they were getting until some distant Aunt visited that hasn’t seen them for months and months. They say, “oh my gosh, you’ve grown like a weed,” and suddenly, you look at your child, and you’re like, “oh my gosh, you’re right”! But you’re there day to day and don’t notice it happening. That same thing happens in the classroom. We don’t realise that some of our actions are causing us pain. We don’t realise that some of our actions are causing us pain.
For example, we got a referral for a little girl who was burping the alphabet. While not the worst thing in the world, it was very obnoxious. It made you feel ill and was disruptive to the whole class. The teacher who referred her said she does it all day, every day, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. We came in and took ten days of data and found that every time there was a transition, this little girl started burping the alphabet. It happened 20 times in 10 days. About twice a day. And every 19 out of 20 times, the teacher ran over and gave her attention every time she burped. Now the attention was a little bit different each time. Sometimes the teacher would be directive, sometimes, she’d offer her choice, but it was always the teacher giving her some attention. When we showed the data to the teacher, I said, “let’s think proactively. How can you give the girl attention on the front side to stop that burping behaviour”? After some thought, we made the little girl Vanna White, and we made her the host of a daily schedule in the classroom. Vanna White is in a game on TV in the United States, and she’s a model who gets paid millions of dollars to turn the letters over in the game. We made this little girl the spokesperson for the daily schedule. It made the teacher pull her over and tell her what they were doing next before the transition, so the little girl would get up and then flip the schedule. She’d flip what was finished backwards and then say, “class, it’s time for reading. Please open your reading books to page 147”. That gave the little girl a replacement behaviour that got her attention on the front side. She only burped one more time, and I believe just to test the water a little bit.
We also told the teacher if she burps, ignore it, look the other way, and give attention to another student. Then as soon as she’s quiet, give her attention.
Another example of teachers causing their own pain is when I worked with a school when I ran the day clinic. We had a child who, from age three to 11, who had autism and intellectual disabilities and didn’t use words to communicate, jumped up and down for hours a day screaming. At the end of four hours, he would go horizontal with his mouth open and bite. Every time he did that from three to 11 years old, so for eight years, the school called mom and said, “Mom, come get your child”. What they did without realising it was to cause their own physical pain. Somebody got bit every day. They inadvertently taught the child that if you scream for four hours and bite somebody, you get to go home, and that’s exactly where this child wanted to be. They inadvertently taught the child that if you scream for four hours and bite somebody, you get to go home, and that’s exactly where this child wanted to be. When we bought him into the clinic, we padded ourselves up so that he couldn’t hurt us, and I taught everybody in the clinic how to avoid bites and how to block a bite. We wore arm pads on our arms, and most women had been bitten in the chest area as that was his height and that’s the area he would come for, so we had an umpire vest under our clothes, and shin guards on our arms, and we could put our arm up so that he would bite our thickly padded arm, and we just acted as if nothing happened. We gave him no attention at all. Then I told mom, “go get a job. I promise you I will never call you to come to get this child because of biting or behaviour for any reason”. I said, “I’ll call you and tell you good things, but I’m never going to contact you and ask you to come to get your child”. He stopped biting within three weeks and wasn’t showing that behaviour anymore. He caught on quickly that that behaviour doesn’t pay off anymore. He ended up doing all the same work as all the moderate students. He really was quite brilliant. The teachers had just caused their own pain by sending him home and accidentally creating a pattern.
Key Classroom Strategies
Dr. Ayre: Are there any key strategies you would recommend for teachers to use with students whose behaviour would be red zone behaviour in that tertiary level?
Dr. Riffel: The most effective strategy is to think proactively. When you get home at night, go through the behaviours that happened and think about these three things I call the triple T’s: 1) Trigger – What was the trigger that set that behaviour in motion? A lot of times, we don’t think there is one. If we reflect on an incident, we can often identify a trigger. We need to know that trigger so we can intervene before the trigger occurs next time; 2) Target behaviour – What is the behaviour you want to target for change? We used to call this the ‘bad’ behaviour and the ‘problem’ behaviour. The truth is, though, that makes you think negatively about the child. Thinking negatively about the child sometimes makes you think you want the child to disappear, when in fact, we don’t want the child to disappear, we want the behaviour to disappear. Thinking negatively about the child sometimes makes you think you want the child to disappear, when in fact, we don’t want the child to disappear, we want the behaviour to disappear. I call this the trigger in the target; 3) ImpacT – in a way, it is the consequence of the change we want. The word consequence confuses people because they think of consequences as punishment rather than the impact of something. So those are my triple Ts. What were they wanting, or what were they getting out of having this behaviour? Sit down at the end of the day, and if you can write those three things down, you can proactively put a plan in place that’ll be effective.
You need to put three things in place when considering a plan for any student, and I call them the triple Rs. The first thing that you have to do is revise the environment to set the student up for success. That might be the red bracelet you wear or some little secret code you’ve set up in the background. It might be a particular worksheet you give the student where you give them double what you want them to do. You then tell them they can only do half, so they have some autonomy over which problems they do. They’re the proactive environmental strategies that you might implement to help the student succeed.
The second R stands for replace, replace the behaviour. We can’t just say don’t, stop, quit, or no. We’ve got to teach students what we want them to do instead. For example, teaching a student that when you’re feeling all bouncy, and you feel like you need to get up and run around the room, here’s a stretchy band we’re going to put on the two front legs of your chair. Please put your feet on it and bounce your feet when you feel the need to get up and run around. This gives the student some replacement behaviour that will help them proactively with what they need or want to do or provide the input they seek.
The last R is to reframe our response. This one’s the hardest to do and the one we hate the most. Suppose we haven’t taught the student a replacement behaviour. In that case, we can’t be angry with them for running around the room because we haven’t taught them what to do instead. If teachers could use the triple T and triple R approach to intervention, it would help those kids in the red zone, which in turn will help you go home at night feeling much more relaxed. I like to tell teachers, let’s take one behaviour and focus on that. If you can get that one behaviour under control, what happens is a lot of the other behaviours disappear.
Dr. Ayre: It’s like a domino effect.
Dr. Riffel: It really is, so don’t try to focus on all eight behaviours that you want to change. What is the one behaviour that would make your life better if it went away? Start your journey in helping the student there – small goals and small steps quickly lead to big changes. Small goals and small steps quickly lead to big changes.
Chapter Summary
• Students can’t be held accountable for behaviours if we haven’t taught them what those behaviours look like, feel like and sound like.
• TIPP method is used to Teach, Implement, Practice and Praise when teaching new behaviours.
• Behaviour is communication. Students may be trying to get to something or away from something, or seeking sensory input by using problematic behaviour.
• Use TUMS as a proactive means of giving attention; Touch, use their name in a positive way, make eye contact & smile.
• Be aware of accidentally reinforcing problematic behaviour.
• Use the Triple Ts to think about behaviour; What was the Trigger? What is the Target behaviour for change? What is the ImpacT or the change you want to see?
• When considering a plan for change, use the Triple Rs; Revise the environment; Replace the behaviour; Reframe your response.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Dr. Laura Riffel on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [47:57].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
References
Ayre, K. (Host). (2017, December 3). Preventing challenging behaviours with Laura Riffel (Episode 55) [Audio podcast episode]. In Trauma Informed Education. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/preventing-challenging-behaviours-with-laura-riffle
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (2020). Trauma informed behaviour support: A practical guide to developing resilient learners. University of Southern Queensland. https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformedpractice/
Brainhighways. (2010). Brain highways: The proprioceptive system. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2iOliN3fAE
Eber, L., Barrett, S., Perales, K., Jeffrey-Pearsall, J., Pohlman, K., Putnam, R, Splett, J., & Weist, M.D. (2019). Advancing education effectiveness: Interconnecting school mental health and school-wide PBIS, Volume 2: An implementation guide. Center for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. University of Oregon Press. https://www.pbis.org/resource/interconnecting-school-mental-health-and-pbis-volume-2
Trauma Informed Positive Behaviour Support. (2018). Social emotional learning: Child trauma toolkit. A guide for educators. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Trauma-Informed-Social-Emotional-Learning-Bundle-Activities-Resources-4061652
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=273#h5p-2 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.05%3A_Preventing_Challenging_Behaviours.txt |
7
There have long been debates on the inclusion of social-emotional skills in the school curriculum. Some say life skills and competencies are the responsibility of parents and carers. In contrast, others advocate for the education of the whole child. The pressures of adhering to curriculums and preparing for standardised testing has meant educators have had to be creative in meeting students’ different learning and social needs. Is this possible, or are we asking too much of our teachers?
Professor Maurice Elias
Professor Maurice Elias works in the Department of Psychology at the Rutgers School of Art and Science in Piscataway, New Jersey. Professor Elias has worked in the area of prevention, school-based preventative intervention, and social competence promotion. He was integral in setting up the Rutgers social, emotional, and character development lab, which is dedicated to conducting research in public, private and religious schools. These labs were constructed to help build children’s skills for facing the tests of life and not a life of tests. Professor Elias is the author of several books, including Promoting social-emotional learning: Guidelines for educators; and The other side of the report card: Assessing students’ social, emotional, and character development.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about Professor Elias’ work .
Prof. Elias: My training is as a clinical psychologist. In my work, primarily with children and families, I noticed the importance of social-emotional factors in everything that happens. I was drawn increasingly toward the prevention side of things. I also found myself very interested in what happens when kids are in school. This is where kids spend such a vast proportion of their lives. It seemed to me that many of the difficulties that kids were encountering and the routes to improving their lives took place in schools. About 40 years ago, I devoted my career to working directly in schools and understanding how schools promoted kids’ social-emotional needs. My early career work was with kids with severe behavioural and emotional difficulties. Again, these are the kids whose social-emotional competencies are critical.
When I was doing a practicum placement during my training in graduate school, I would sit in the staff room, and no one would notice me or talk to me. Still, I could hear everything they were saying. It was like I had a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility, and everyone was complaining about ‘if the school would do this and if only the school would do that. If only the school had been doing this’. Listening to everything they were saying, I would often think that there was no reason these things can’t happen. Then as I was seeing clinical cases, it became clear how often kids were being ill-served by what was happening in their schools and, of course, sometimes in their homes and communities. That experience drew me much more working toward strengthening schools to be a positive influence on the lives of children.
Importance of Social-Emotional Skills and Competencies
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How do you define social-emotional skills and competencies, and why do you think they’re important for teachers and schools to work on?
Prof. Elias: I view social-emotional competencies to be a lot like oxygen in that they are essential for life. I view social-emotional competencies to be a lot like oxygen in that they are essential for life. We are social beings, and virtually everything we do involves other people. We are not islands of independence; therefore, we exercise our social-emotional skills from birth. From the moment kids learn how to cry – to get their parent’s attention – all the way through to the end of life. Our ability to interact with other people is an essential life skill. We need to learn to manage and recognise our emotions, work in groups, and be good problem solvers. These are things that are foundational to being a human.
One analogy that I like to talk about is reading. Of the many critical academic skills, I think we would agree that if you don’t know how to read, your life will be far more difficult than otherwise. My analogy is that if you don’t know how to read people, your life will be far more difficult than it otherwise could be. So, I view social-emotional competencies as integral to life’s success.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: We hear a lot from teachers and others who attend our training, asking ‘when did social-emotional skills become the work of teachers?’ Shouldn’t this be the work of parents and families? How would you respond to this?
Prof. Elias: If we reflect on the teachers that we valued most, that were most influential on us growing up, we will mostly conclude that the social-emotional aspects of those teachers made the difference to us. When I think about why we go into education, the answer is typically not to help kids get test scores perfect but because we want to touch the lives of children. We want to touch their hearts and souls and help make their lives better. To do that, we must address their social-emotional well-being. Some teachers may not feel that way, and I quite honestly feel bad for their students, but it’s not an either/or, it’s a both. We can improve our student’s academic competencies and skills while not losing sight of the human element that will enable them to use their skills for good. it’s not an either/or, it’s a both. We can improve our student’s academic competencies and skills while not losing sight of the human element that will enable them to use their skills for good.
One of the things we’ve done in our most recent work is to understand that skills and virtues need to be considered together in our work. Our work as educators is not values neutral. In fact, we only want to have smart kids who want to do good. Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States, once said that to educate someone in mind but not in morals is to create a menace to society Our work as educators is not values neutral. Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States, once said that to educate someone in mind but not in morals is to create a menace to society. . I think that’s a very exceptional quote. I tell people that in the United States, our typical school year is 180 days. Kids spend maybe six or seven hours daily in school and with teachers. Kids spend at least, an average, of perhaps an hour a day interacting with their parents. So I ask, “who’s most invested in kids being decent, pleasant companions”? And the answer is, it should be teachers. If I spend 180 school days with you, I don’t want you to be miserable.
What we find in the data is that your instructional time increases as you develop the kid’s social-emotional skills in the classroom. You have an increased positive atmosphere for deeper discussion. You get better listening, better questioning, and better thinking. So, teachers should not feel that somehow parents have the province for creating decent human beings. It’s a collective enterprise. I tell school administrators that even if you hate children and only want high test scores, you should still be interested in their social-emotional competence because if they don’t have that, it’s tough for them to excel academically.
I think we have to acknowledge that social emotional skill development is not a meaningful part of most teachers’ training and preparation, so we can’t be naive and think that just because it’s important, you can just do it. That’s not the case. Teachers need guidance and support to do this. Not tremendously, because teachers mostly know kids. They know about child development and have wonderful pedagogical techniques. Mobilising all that in the service of social-emotional skill learning and building positive character takes support and some resources. I don’t want folks to think that somehow, they should just do it. But it is something that taking the time to do and learn has tremendous payoffs.
Fundamentals of Social-Emotional Learning
Click or scan the QR code to learn about the fundamentals of social and emotional learning from the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASL) [25:09].
The Values, Virtues and Character Framework
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Why is it important to be explicit about your values as a teacher?
Prof. Elias: In past years, our work has focused on school environments – primarily urban environments and with children of colour. We also focused on children from families living in poverty. Poverty is itself a chronic source of trauma. Some of these kids have experienced intense violence; they have incarcerated parents, and there’s a whole litany of detrimental things. We have found that when these kids walk into the school building, they are not first interested in finding out about the great books or in hearing about the ancient history of something.
They are looking to walk into an environment in which they are welcomed. Where they are valued and cherished. We have seen that the concept of positive purpose is an essential anchor in working with traumatised kids.
When you’ve experienced trauma, it’s as if your moorings have been ripped away. When you’ve experienced trauma, it’s as if your moorings have been ripped away. It’s as if the ground under your feet is not stable. It’s the fact that when you go home, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but you suspect it’s not going to be good. Then when you come into the school. If you also don’t know what’s going to happen and you’ve come to expect it’s not going to be good, this leaves you in an awful place mentally. We want our kids to feel that they’ve come to a school where their sense of positive purpose is recognised, valued and supported. We want our kids to feel that they’ve come to a school where their sense of positive purpose is recognised, valued and supported. You support a positive purpose in part by building kids’ social-emotional competencies. Still, the question then is toward what end? We’ve identified five virtues that we believe are essential for trauma-informed education.
The first virtue is ‘optimistic future mindednesses’. We’ve got a lot of kids who’ve lived in a trauma context. We’re worried that another trauma will happen, or they’re in a context of chronic trauma like poverty and have no sense that things will get better. When we’ve done surveys of some of these kids, we found in one middle school that we work in that 50 percent of the kids said that they don’t believe they’re going to have a healthy, happy life in the future. If I don’t believe I will have a healthy, happy life in the future, I won’t be too motivated to learn calculus, chemistry, or anything else. We have to help kids develop this optimistic future-mindedness. This is more than just a growth mindset. This is willing to see themselves in the future positively, and that’s not a simple thing. It is vital.
The second virtue is ‘compassionate forgiveness and gratitude’. We’ve got a lot of kids we work with who’ve had bad things happen to them in their life, and they blame people for it. I don’t blame them for blaming people for it, but they hold grudges. Holding a grudge is the surest way of keeping yourself stuck in the situation you’re in. Compassionate forgiveness and gratitude are about giving the kids the virtue of being able to accept what’s happened, as bad as it is, and to be able to move on. If our kids can’t move on, then they sit in our classes, consumed with thoughts of revenge and an ‘oh, poor me’ mindset. We need to teach kids about forgiveness, the power of forgiveness, and the power of gratitude to open up their hearts.
Once these kids can forgive and open their hearts a little, we must engage them in the third virtue, ‘generosity’. It may seem paradoxical, but we have found that many of our traumatised kids come to feel that they have very little value. They are also the recipients of a lot of remediation. I don’t know about you, but when I get up in the morning, I don’t open up my window, take a deep breath of fresh air and say, oh, I can’t wait to have remediation experiences today. This is not what I’m looking forward to, but this is the life of many of our kids. So we ask the question, how do we help our kids feel generous? How do we help them feel that they have something to offer? They are motivated to learn and improve their social-emotional skills and academic knowledge when they think they have something to offer. So helpful generosity is another very essential virtue.
The fourth virtue is ‘constructive creativity’. Our kids who are traumatised need to be able to think out of the box. In fact, when you look to the future, the future belongs to the creative thinkers. The innovators. We need them to think creatively and nurture their creativity. We need them to develop that sense that I may not have these traditional skills, but I have something to offer.
The fifth and final virtue of ‘responsible diligence’. This is not simply grit. It’s more than grit. Responsible diligence is the idea that our kids will set goals and work toward them despite setbacks. We want our kids to be responsibly diligent. The sad truth is that our troubled kids often have to work twice as hard to get half as far. This is sad and unfair, but it’s the reality. If they’re not imbued with encouragement to keep going despite difficulties, they will probably not persist. We need them to be able to persist. Hence, from our perspective, a set of virtues is required for kids to achieve a positive purpose, which motivates them to develop their skills. This is particularly the case with kids who are involved in both acute and chronic forms of trauma.
Social and Emotional Learning and Character Education
Learn more about the theoretical and empirical foundations of Prof. Elias’s Values, Virtues and Character framework in this article. Click or scan the QR code to read the paper, ‘Social and emotional learning, moral education, and character education: A comparative analysis and a view toward convergence’.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: I’m interested to understand how this gets taught and what it looks like. Can you give an example of how this looks in the classroom? And does this influence disciplinary action? One of the problems we often have is that schools and teachers can be overly accommodating to students’ difficulties. The students then do not have very challenging learning experiences. Or it goes the other way where teachers have unrealistically high expectations, and it becomes and feels very punitive to the student.
Prof. Elias: This links back to the issue of bullying, where we expect individual students to somehow stand up for bullying when they see it. This is an unrealistic expectation unless it’s the norm unless we create a whole school that is designed to be a supportive learning organisation. When that happens, it’s easier for the classroom to reflect those norms. When that doesn’t happen, then the classroom is, in essence, creating a normative island that becomes a little harder to sustain.
All learning is cumulative. The key for the individual teacher is to be very clear about the positive, supportive classroom norms and identify and exercise the student’s strengths. This is where we have high expectations, which are not inappropriate. Still, the problem is that we set high expectations for the areas where kids need the most assistance, which is not helpful. Then when we are lenient in the areas where the kids are weakest, that’s not helpful because we need our kids to excel. Working through our kids’ strengths allows us to have areas where we set high expectations so kids can feel competent. Then when they feel competent, they can take on the challenges of the areas where they’re not so good.
Similarly, having low expectations of the kids doesn’t do them any favours. We do have to recognise that we can’t expect them to go from point A to point Z without all the intervening steps. We must be thoughtful about how we scaffold our expectations for the kids. Part of this is the incentive systems that our teachers must operate under. Sometimes they may feel, not inappropriately, that they’re being asked to do miracles. They’re being asked to move children along in developmentally impossible ways, as opposed to moving them along like a relay race, where the key to success is not just how fast each person runs but how well they pass the baton. If you don’t pass the baton successfully every time, you will not win the race, no matter how fast each person is. The same thing is true in education. For teachers, it’s easier when the school has a climate that’s positive and supportive and reflective of the same values that they would like to have incorporated within their individual classrooms. In most countries I’ve ever been to, there are schools that people say, “Gosh, that’s a great school”. When you go into one of those schools, you feel the climate, you feel the warmth, you feel the support, you feel the camaraderie. If you analyse it, you’ll see that they are attending to the kid’s virtues, character and social-emotional competencies. They may not be doing it with an explicit curriculum, but when you take out the magnifying glass, you see all the signs are there.
Positive School Climate: Eidsvold State School
The leadership of one small school took steps to implement a whole-school change of practice to build positive student and community wellbeing and along the way significantly enhanced learning outcomes. Eidsvold State School is a small rural Prep to Year 12 school located in the North Burnett Regional Shire in Queensland. The school is co-ed and has a high Indigenous English Language or Dialect (IELD) population with 52% of students identifying as Indigenous. The Wakka Wakka, Wulli Wulli and Goreng Goreng language and cultural groups are represented in the Eidsvold community.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more in this case study provided by the Student Wellbeing Hub.
Differentiating Social-Emotional Skills across Students
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How can you deliver social-emotional curriculums in a differentiated manner?
Prof. Elias: My colleagues and I have a book on assessing social, emotional, and character development. It’s not simple, yet we expect teachers to do this all the time. When teachers implicitly or explicitly sign report cards, they include information about the kids’ social-emotional competencies. This is why the data shows that long-term success is better predicted by report card grades than test scores. Report card grades implicitly and sometimes explicitly include qualities and characteristics about the kind of person the student is.
Let’s say I’m a middle school or high school teacher, and I’ve got a kid I see an hour a day. Perhaps I’m an elementary school teacher, and I’ve got kids I see maybe five hours a day. How can I not learn about their social-emotional skills? If we give teachers a template that breaks down social-emotional skills for them, including the primary areas of emotion recognition, self-control, emotion management, awareness of others, empathy, problem-solving, and ability to work in groups. If we broke that down developmentally, teachers would indeed be able to develop nuances for the kids. They would then be able to see what these students need to work on.
Teachers are fantastic. Teachers are fantastic because they get to know the students, Teachers are fantastic because they get to know the students and they make differentiations on many levels. They don’t make more precise and explicit social-emotional differentiations because they’ve rarely had a framework for it. If given a framework for it, they can do it, but they’re already doing it implicitly. When teachers form groups of kids in workgroups, they often think those kids get along well. I don’t want to have these kids in the group because these kids never listen to anybody. I need to have a kid who listens, I need to have a kid to cooperate, so we need a helpful child with these other students. I’ve got an inclusion class, so I’m going to have some of my kids with the best social skills paired up with some kids with fewer social skills. Teachers are doing this stuff all the time. They just need a little more guidance and support.
Activating Strengths and Virtues in Children
This video from the VIA Strengths Institute highlights some simple strategies for parents and other adults to activate character strengths and virtues in children. Click or scan the QR code to watch the video [4:37].
Advantages of Inclusion to Social-Emotional Learning
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: We often hear that the most problematic students demand so much time and energy from the teachers and the school. What are your thoughts about inclusion, particularly for the kids we need to be trauma-informed for?
Prof. Elias: There is a saying that is used in some schools, in essence, that we are all responsible for each other. I believe that is a value and a virtue. If I have kids coming into my class who are having problems, I need to be having conversations with all my class about how we help each other. This is where the strength part comes in. I don’t want kids coming in who are included to somehow be seen as a deficit.
I have a very close colleague, Timothy Shriver, who works with International Special Olympics. Tim Shriver says that we need to not use the term disabilities but use the term different abilitieswe need to not use the term disabilities but use the term different abilities. Every child has different abilities. Every child has things they are not so good at, and they have things that they are good at. That needs to be part of the conversation when that kid comes in.
I work with a programme in Highland Park, New Jersey, where they had an influx of kids who were diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. They taught all students in the school about Autism. They helped the kids understand what Autism is, its symptoms, and what it looked like when kids had difficulty. They learnt what self-stimming behaviours were and why kids were doing repetitive talking or were not talking at all. They learnt how to support those kids. And for years, they’ve had an exemplary and award-winning programme. It’s summarised in an article called ‘To Reach for the Stars’, written by Trina Epstein. That article talks about the fact that inclusion is the keyword, and the question is, ‘how do we all include one another regardless of circumstances?’
To Reach for the Stars
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about the article ‘To reach for the stars’, by Trina Epstein and Prof. Elias.
The article may be available though your library.
When kids have experienced personal life trauma, that’s something that people need to know about and talk about. When there’s community-wide trauma, and it’s all shared, that can be easier because we’re all included in that trauma. Regardless, the point is, how do we provide a safe, supportive, caring and helpful environment for everyone that walks in that door in our classroom? And how do we see every one of those kids as a potential asset for what we’re doing rather than a liability? Not someone who will take away my instructional time. If you’re attending to me because of my competencies, you’re using my assets in the classroom, then I’m not going to cause you too much trouble. As we make kids more hopeful and generous, they will exhibit fewer behaviour problems, and that’s the link to the discipline. As we make kids more hopeful and generous, they will exhibit fewer behaviour problems, and that’s the link to the discipline.
One of the things we’ve started is the Academy for Social-Emotional Learning in schools. We’ve done this for the reasons alluded to earlier: many teachers want to get better at these things but don’t have places to go to do that. The Academy is an online certificate programme where teachers and counsellors, psychologists, social workers, and all student support service providers can come to develop their expertise in delivering social-emotional and character development to their classrooms. As well as building a positive classroom, culture and climate. We have many educators from many countries who have come together to build skills in delivering social-emotional learning in schools. We find that this shared international learning environment is just wonderfully enriching. Kids are kids all over the world, and teachers are teachers all over the world. We share this common set of goals and problems that we can solve together. We also have a similar certificate programme for school leaders because, as I was talking about earlier, the task of creating a welcoming, positive school culture and climate, a school of social-emotional competence and character. We feel that without that kind of support, we’re making pronouncements to teachers, but we’re not helping them to walk the talk. And we want people to be able to walk the talk.
Chapter Summary
• Social-emotional skills are essential life skills and are used by humans from birth.
• The most influential teachers we remember are generally those that expressed well developed social-emotional skills. Teachers can improve students’ academic scores and their social-emotional skills, it doesn’t have to be either/or.
• The five virtues essential for trauma-informed education: optimistic future mindedness, compassionate forgiveness and gratitude, generosity, constructive creativity, and responsible diligence.
• Creating a school-wide culture of warmth and responsiveness to social-emotional needs is essential to kids’ success at school and staff wellbeing. Long term success is better predicted by report card grades as teachers are including elements of kids’ social-emotional learning and capacity at an implicit level.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Prof. Maurice Elias on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [43:58].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
References
CASEL. (2021). Social and emotional learning fundamentals: SEL 101 with CASEL [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgKNn-JcYPE
Elias, M. J., Parker, S. J., & Kash, V. M. (2008). Social and emotional learning, moral education, and character education: A comparative analysis and a view toward convergence. In L. Nucci & D. Narvaez (Eds), Handbook of moral and character education (pp. 264-282). Routledge.
Epstein, T., & Elias, M. (1996). To reach for the stars: How social/affective education can foster truly inclusive environments. Phi Delta Kappan, 78(2), 157.
Krishnamoorthy, G. (Host). (2017, Oct 27). Trauma informed social emotional skills with Maurice Elias [Audio Podcast Episode 50]. In Trauma Informed Education. Soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/boosting-learning-with-social-emotional-skills-with-maurice-elias?in=trauma-informed-education/sets/expert-interviews&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Student Wellbeing Hub. (n.d.). Leadership and inclusion: Eidsvold P-12 State school case study. https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/educators/illustrations-of-practice/leadership-and-inclusion/
VIAStrengths. (2016). Helping your child be their best [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42KfMq8TgPM
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=432#h5p-2 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.06%3A_Trauma_Informed_Social-Emotional_Learning.txt |
4
Ms. Leah Kuypers
Ms. Leah Kuypers earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a Graduate Certificate in Autism and a Master of Arts in Education from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Leah created and write The Zones of Regulation (2010), a concept designed to teach regulation. In addition she has authored and co-authored regulation tool card decks, apps, storybooks and a game to complement The Zones of Regulation learning. She has practised as an occupational therapist and specialist in school and clinical settings specialising in regulation and social learning. She provides training and consultation to districts, professionals and caregivers on self-management and the Zones of Regulation programme around the world.
Learn more about Ms. Kuypers’s work by clicking or scanning the QR code.
Ms. Kuypers: As an occupational therapist working in schools, I saw a huge need to support students with their ability to self-regulate. I supported many students on my caseload who needed help with their sensory regulation. I was finding I would show up to a classroom, and the teacher would push a student out the door to me, saying, “he needs to calm down”. I would bring them to my sensorimotor room and get them to this just right level of arousal.
As I brought the student back, the teacher would say, “we’re five minutes into maths. Catch up to problem six”. This makes the student upset and dysregulated because they missed the first five minutes of maths. The teacher then looks at me with an expression of “now what are you going to do?”. I’m often left looking at the teacher like, “I’m not sure?”. Many of us at the school were unsure of what to do in these situations. This helplessness would often lead to a culture of relying excessively on punishment. If students couldn’t quickly comply with the demands from the teacher, they were escorted out of the classroom, or they exploded, and then there were punishment and consequences. There wasn’t any teaching on how to help the student have a more adaptive, prosocial response to stressors in the school environment.
When I was getting my Master’s in Education and a Graduate Certificate in Autism, it was through the coursework and applying the coursework to my caseload that I started thinking, “how can we do this differently?”, “how can we look beyond teaching a student a lesson to truly teaching them a self-regulation lesson?”.
Self-Regulation & Emotional Control
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How do you explain the idea of self-regulation to teachers?
Ms. Kuypers: Self-regulation is an umbrella term that covers other groups of complex skills like self-discipline, self-control, anger management, and emotional control. It also includes regulating our level of arousal or alertness. For example, some of us immediately wake up to the alarm and hit snooze. This shows a very low level of arousal or alertness. Some of us are startled by the alarm, which is a heightened arousal level. And some of us lie in bed, thinking about our day and planning. That’s just a more grounded, organised level of arousal or alertness.
We need to constantly adjust this level of arousal and how we reveal our emotions. We need to do this in a way that’s adaptive to the social context and in relation to the goals or the tasks we’re trying to achieve in the environment. For many students, those goals or tasks are just getting through the work and moving on in their daily schedule. It often includes having fun, pleasing parents and teachers, and having friends to eat lunch with and play with. We make many adjustments to how we express those innate emotions and manage that level of arousal to move more smoothly through our day.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: It almost seems foundational to manage our arousal and emotional expression before we can do any higher-level cognitive learning.
Ms. Kuypers: It’s such a foundational skill, and you’re not going to be in a place for learning and taking on that challenge of academics, turning that information into knowledge if you’re not in this calm, regulated, grounded stateyou’re not going to be in a place for learning and taking on that challenge of academics, turning that information into knowledge if you’re not in this calm, regulated, grounded state. I see an increasing number of schools understanding the value of this and wanting their students to achieve high-level academic scores. They’re putting the work in and building the self-regulation skill set to give their students success. The research is backing this up too. It’s been exciting to see the pendulum swinging and more research showing the value of self-regulation.
Self-Regulation: The Fundamentals
We depend on executive functions and emotion management daily—did you know these skills can be taught? Research shows that students with better self-regulation skills have higher academic achievement, are more likely to get along with others, and are better able to build and maintain strong relationships. Learn more by watching this brief video from the Committee for Children [2.22]. Click or scan the QR code to start watching.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: When did you realise that sensory regulation strategies were effective and made a difference to students?
Ms. Kuypers: I had a kindergarten student who came from a home environment where he had a parent who was incarcerated. He was raised by a single mother and had a brother with a disability. We knew there were illicit drugs in the home, and he had a cognitive impairment. We worked on making a routine and helping the family understand his emotions first.
As we were working through and using the Zones of Regulation framework with him, he put his picture into the red zone to show he was in this heightened state of arousal. The red zone is where emotions are at their max. He then put himself into a time-out, and that wasn’t something we were teaching with the red zone. This was an ‘aha’ moment when I saw a student who could barely go through the ABCs or spell his name but could recognise his emotional state. He could recognise he was furious at that moment. What typically happened when he’s angry is he ended up in time-out. So he let us know he was in that heightened state and put himself in time-out. We wrote a different ending to this routine teaching him red zone tools he could use instead of timeout, like deep breathing and taking a break.
I began noticing that students have this ‘little bit of control when they’re in that super heightened state and the red zone. With that little bit of control evident, we could help these students diverge from, or change, their typical expression of those heightened statesWith that little bit of control evident, we could help these students diverge from, or change, their typical expression of those heightened states.. In that heightened state, their expression may be running, fleeing out of a building, aggressive, destroying something, or whatever disruptive behaviour is protective for the child. We can teach them to recognise when they’re in that heightened state and that they can have a different ending or outcome. They can have a calm, quiet place, but they don’t associate anything punitive with the heightened state. When we reduce the shame of being heightened, children can learn helpful, effective strategies to manage.
By the end of the year, this student would identify he was in the red zone and participate in yoga independently at his spot. This student had been previously going into a time-out, out of the classroom. He’d had behaviour reports for disruptive and aggressive behaviour. Sometimes his behaviour led to a locked seclusion situation. He was going to time-out multiple times a day. After the intervention, he was sent to time-out perhaps once a week, if that. He was also doing yoga instead. That was a pivotal place where I thought, “okay, I think this has something of value.”
Self-Regulation Strategies: Feel Your Best Self
Feel Your Best Self (FYBS) is a unique partnership between the Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH) and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut. The collaboration was initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the emotional challenges schools, children, and their caregivers faced. Pairing collective expertise in educational psychology and puppetry, the team designed fun, engaging ways to learn simple strategies to calm yourself, catch your feelings, and connect with others. The initial response was overwhelmingly positive, with the project evolving synergistically into the complete FYBS toolkit.
Click or scan the QR code to access all the free FYBS resources.
Zones of Regulation
Ms. Kuypers: The Zones of Regulation is a framework for thinking, and it comes packaged up in a curriculum. This is a systematic approach to classifying all the different feelings and states, levels of arousal, and energy.
The curriculum has four zones that help us make this abstract, emotional world more systematic. Essentially what we’re feeling inside, we’re giving or assigning to a zone. Once we can recognise our emotions and the corresponding zone, we can identify tools that support regulating that zone.
The red zone is that very heightened level of arousal, those intense, overwhelming emotions. Sometimes red zone emotions can be positive but intense like when we’re elated our sports team won the state championship, it’s a big, exuberant experience.
The yellow zone is elevated emotions. Emotions have intensified, but there’s some cognitive control in the yellow zone. Some feelings in this zone might be worried, silly, excited, wiggly, irritated, or overwhelmed.
The green zone is when we’re more controlled, an organised state where we might be happy, calm, and focused.
Then there’s the blue zone. The blue zone is the lower arousal levels, those down, feelings like sad, sick, tired, or bored.
This systematic approach to emotional awareness and regulation gives a visual structure and helps ease communication. As part of the curriculum, we learn about our emotions, and we talk about what zone it falls into. Then when we do get in those less regulated states, we can point to the zone we’re in or use the colour to identify the zone and efficiently communicate our emotions to others. This allows the adults to co-regulate with the student and support them in finding the tools that help regulate that emotion.
The Zones of Regulation: Free Resources
The Zones of Regulation provides a common language and compassionate framework to support positive mental health and skill development for all while serving as an inclusion strategy for neurodiverse learners, those who have experienced trauma, and have specific needs in terms of social, emotional, and behavioural development. Click or scan the QR code to access the free resources from the Zones of Regulation website.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: What’s good about the zones is that it’s a helpful tool for all students. It covers the spectrum of students without singling out just the challenging students.
Ms. Kuypers: We all work on emotional regulation all the time. Emotional regulation is an ongoing life skill for all of usEmotional regulation is an ongoing life skill for all of us.. There’s not an adult among us who doesn’t have some reflection after they’ve been dysregulated and thought, “that didn’t work out so well for me. I need to work on that.” The reality is that we get stressed and overwhelmed as adults. We get angered and worried and don’t always manage those emotions as well as we want to.
The zones are something that I initially designed for my students who had special needs – those with neural biological impairments. I think the reach is far beyond just those students, though, because all students are learning this, and many adults are using it. I find many adults familiar with the framework talk in the colours of the zones to their colleagues. They’ll say, “I’m in the yellow right now” or “oh, I was getting close to the red zone” it’s just simple language, and it’s a way to co-regulate even as adults.
Key Strategies
Ms. Kuypers: The programme works a lot at helping students build emotional awareness in a very user-friendly way. I find the colours and language around the zones make it tangible for people to implement, use and adapt to their cognitive style. There are four colours, and many students find it simple and easy to grasp. Teachers, therapists, and parents also use it as it feels approachable for them.
We’re not going to be able to use a tool to regulate ourselves if we don’t first have the awareness that we’re in a less regulated state. A lot goes into building that self-awareness and recognising when we’re dysregulated and moving into a different zone.
It intends to help students understand that all these emotions are human nature and that we will experience these different emotions. Another positive is that the zones are intended to be used without judgement. There’s no shaming, no penalties associated with one zone or another, and it’s not a behavioural approach where you get points if you stay in this zone or lose points in that zone. It intends to help students understand that all these emotions are human nature and that we will experience these different emotions. Therefore, we share all these different zones are okay. It’s our job to work on recognising our zone or feelings and find healthy ways to manage them.
Barriers to Implementation
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: What barriers have you come across for the teachers and the schools when they attempt to adopt a framework like this?
Ms. Kuypers: Teachers have so much on their plate already, and they have increased pressure to have high-performing test scores from their students that it can feel like this is one more thing they must be doing. If teachers set aside a little time upfront each day to teach, the zones can then just be embedded into the conversations in the classroom. This helps remove the added pressure of it being something extra to teach.
The zones framework helps stressed teachers manage their classrooms as it gives a visual structure to support the students learning. Teachers can overlay the zones in their academic instructions. Students can use the characters they’re reading about, and discuss what zone they may fall in, and what tools would help them move between the zones. Also, if they’re teaching written expression, they could choose a topic on the zones and have the students do their written expression around that topic.
The zones framework offers teachers a way to build student self-regulation, which helps move that burden away from the teacher’s shoulders. The students can build responsibility in their self-regulation in a non-punitive and non-shaming way. It does take some time upfront to put the framework in place in the classroom, including displaying visuals. Allowing routine time to practise the tools, just five minutes from your daily schedule, means you will spend much less time managing student conflicts in the classroom as the students can regulate themselves. Teachers can then use the zone’s framework to support their students in doing more self-regulation versus teacher-imposed regulation.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: A common dilemma we’ve likely encountered is where teachers feel students with lots of difficulties get a lot of extra support – while other students miss out. Some teachers find that hard to keep things fair with the other students who don’t require as much support.
Ms. Kuypers: The zones framework tries to support kids in finding individualised tools that work for them. Each student has many opportunities for individualising tools within the framework because we want the students to be empowered to use those tools. I often found myself saying, you need to take a break, you need to calm down because I thought that was what the student needed. That only worked about half the time, though. Instead, I learned the students needed to build that self-awareness of what they needed and what worked for them. That said, some students’ tools may involve a little more than others. They might need more time with their tool or more resources for their strategy to succeed. I also find that the tools we initially work for a student are often only a starting point. We can still stretch those students to be working towards finding more adaptive strategies that are less disruptive to the classroom or their learning.
For example, taking a break and using a calming corner is a tool. This is much less disruptive than lashing out at another student or destroying property in a school environment. It’s a step in the right direction. We also want students at their desks learning. Our aim over time might be to stretch that student to get to where he can just put his head down to regulate rather than leave his desk. To go from a student destroying a classroom to putting their head down to regulate is sometimes too big of a leap at once. So we’ve got to work towards that incrementally. It can be encouraging for some teachers to see that when we weigh our options up, taking a break in a calming space, albeit slightly disruptive, is much better than destroying a classroom.
Social-Emotional Learning and Differentiation
The 2016 Daryl Dugas article, ‘Group Dynamics and Individual Roles: A Differentiated Approach to Social-Emotional Learning’, describes a differentiated classroom management approach based on group dynamics that focuses on developing group norms and roles. By teaching students about the task and social-emotional roles and positive and negative roles, this approach provides venues for constructively talking about student misbehaviours. You may be able to access this article through your library.
Inclusive Classrooms
Ms. Kuypers: Part of what we’re teaching with the Zones framework is all the Zones are okay and we use tools to help us regulate it. Although in the green zone we’re calm and regulated, we also have tools to support our green zone. These tools can help maintain the organised sensory state associated with the green zone. Often they are proactive strategies rather than waiting until we’ve moved into the yellow, red, or blue zones.
What can we be doing to support that student in their green zone to keep them in a more regulated state for longer rather than wait until they’re dysregulated? Can we find some green zone tools to support their sensory needs in the classroom so they can be engaged in the learning while supporting what they need to stay regulated?
The zones are also a proactive approach to regulation rather than a reactive approach. As students get older, they’ll be at the helm of their self-regulation. They must gain that emotional regulation skill set, so it’s not just us adults in the background trying to be the puppet master and have everything lined up so we can keep them in a regulated state.
Data Collection
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How do you collect data or check to see if interventions are effective within the zones curriculum?
Ms. Kuypers: There is a self-regulation checklist that a parent can fill out pre- and post-interventions. There’s also a student self-assessment that the students can complete too. In the book itself, there are a lot of opportunities for the students to be compiling data as they’re self-monitoring. By reviewing that self-monitoring data, we want to see if their day has become more regulated, if they’ve increased their repertoire of tools, or if they’re using their tools more frequently. By doing this, we can see if the intervention for the student is effective. Data recording is embedded into the lessons because self-regulation is a complex skill to measure.
Research shows there isn’t an all-encompassing self-regulation tool available and that often we’re measuring sub-skills of self-regulation. We can look at executive functioning, sensory processing, modulation and social cognition, which are all related to the ability to self-regulate.it’s valuable to have the student self-monitoring and self-reporting the effectiveness of interventions when possible A standardised tool can measure deficits in those areas and determine how they retest over time. Still, it’s hard to do when observing self-regulation to see what a child is thinking and what’s happening inside. The students are often harder on themselves than I am when reporting on their self-regulation. For that reason, it’s valuable to have the student self-monitoring and self-reporting the effectiveness of interventions when possible.
Using Data to Support Students
See how educators use data to inform student support in an American primary school.
Learn more by watching this brief video from Edutopia [4:47]. Click or scan the QR code to start watching.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: You mentioned giving measures to parents to complete. Have you had any experience with this from a school context and involving parents in the process?
Ms. Kuypers: Its important students don’t go home just talking about colours as parents have no insight into the programme. They might ask their kids, “what do you mean you’re in the red zone”? In the book, there are reproducible’s, and there’s a page for parents explaining the programme. A one-page visual can also be sent home for parents to display. There’s also a glossary that can be sent home for parents to understand the terminology of the programme so they can support their kids with the zones too. I encourage schools to have a parent training night to welcome parents and give some information on the zones programme and what to expect.
Two apps can be used with the programme, which will help engage the students in the zones and help the parents understand what it’s all about. One app is called the ‘Zones of Regulation’, and the other is called ‘Exploring Emotions’. The apps are an excellent way to bridge the divide between school and home and help parents understand what the schools are working on. Then, as students work through the curriculum, we ensure we send home the work they’re putting together so that it can continue to be compiled and extended at home.
Individual Progress
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: What’s your general advice to teachers with students for whom the strategies don’t work immediately or as quickly as other students?
Ms. Kuypers: Self-regulation is a developmental skill, like learning to walk and talk. Hence, we must be mindful that many of our students will not be developmentally ready to jump from where they are to where you desire them to be quick. These students might be 10 to 15 years old chronologically. Still, developmentally, their self-regulation skills are that of a four-year-old. Because of that, they’re not going to make that leap in progress in half a year like other students with more neurotypical self-regulation developement.
Rather than working through a new lesson each week, we need to look at each student and see where they are in the curriculum. Do they need more time for the development of a particular skill? Are they demonstrating that knowledge? A lot of our students can spout or talk about that knowledge, they describe about the zones upside down and backward, but are they demonstrating those skills that we’re trying to teach? If a student isn’t showing a skill, to layer on another skill before they’ve mastered the original skill indicates we are moving too fast, and that student may become resistant. I encourage people to slow down and pace the instruction based on where the student’s skills are. We can ask ourselves, “what are they absorbing and starting to demonstrate?” “What do we see emerging?” That should give us the clues that they’re ready to add more to this and extend it another step. It’s important to acknowledge that this takes time. There is a lot of effort, and teaching needs to be placed up front when the students are calm and regulated. This will lead to a payoff down the road when students become dysregulated. I caution people to think if you introduce this (The Zones), you will see the effects immediately. Rather, it takes time, practice and repetition to see results. Many students need more intense support and to go at a slow and steady pace to be successful.
Chapter Summary
• The Zones of Regulation is a systematic approach to classifying different feelings, emotional states and levels of arousal.
• There are four Zones of Regulation:
• Green zone – controlled, organised, calm, regulated, focused
• Yellow zone – elevated, still have some cognitive control, worries, silly, wiggly, irritated
• Red zone – very heightened, intense, overwhelming emotions, angry, elated
• Blue zone – down, sad, tired, sick, bored.
• Emotional regulation is an ongoing life skill for children and adults.
• The zones framework bridges the gap between school and home to provide a consistent approach to emotional regulation.
Listen to the full interview on the Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Ms. Leah Kuypers on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [43:57].
Click or scan the QR code to start listening.
References
Committee for Children. (2016). Self-regulation skills: Why they are fundamental [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4UGDaCgo_s
Dugas, D. (2017). Group dynamics and individual roles: A differentiated approach to social-emotional learning. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 90(2), 41-47.
Edutopia. (2019). Using data to support teacher and student growth [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMkqjbiSaA
Krishnamoorthy, G. (Host). (2017, May 29). Teaching self-regulation with Leah Kuypers (Episode 27) [Audio podcast episode]. In Trauma Informed Education. Sound cloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/teaching-self-regulation-with-leah-kuypers?in=trauma-informed-education/sets/expert-interviews&si=0ac5ad7448014543b2b3e6fbf32a531d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Kuypers, L. (2021). The zones of regulation. https://www.zonesofregulation.com/learn-more-about-the-zones.html
University of Connecticut. (n.d.). Feel your best self. https://feelyourbestself.collaboration.uconn.edu/
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=302#h5p-2 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.07%3A_Teaching_Self-Regulation.txt |
8
For many of us advocating for trauma-informed practices, we may find ourselves isolated in schools that are stressed, under-resourced and punitive. In these systems, compassionate and thoughtful strategies to help students may face strong opposition and cynicism. What can be done to change such schools? We reached out to speak with psychiatrist Dr. Sandra Bloom. Dr. Bloom’s work on helping educational and health systems through trauma-informed leadership is ground-breaking and vital. Our discussion highlights critical issues facing our educational systems today and may shed light on ways to better care for our students and our teachers.
Dr. Sandra Bloom
Dr. Sandra Bloom is a psychiatrist and professor at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in the United States of America. She is the president of Community Works, an organisational consulting firm committed to developing non-violent environments. Dr. Bloom is also the director of the Sanctuary program, an inpatient psychiatric program for treating trauma-related emotional disorders. Dr. Bloom’s first book, Creating Sanctuary, tells the story of understanding the connections between a wide variety of emotional disturbances and the legacy of child abuse and other forms of traumatic exposure. In more than 350 programs, considerable numbers of staff are now trained in Dr. Bloom’s Sanctuary Model, which is currently being used in various settings, including several schools.
Learn more about Dr. Bloom’s work by clicking or scanning the QR code.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: How has your own experience of school influenced the work you do now?
Dr. Bloom: I went all the way through school at the same school district. It was called Lower Moreland – it’s in a suburb of Philadelphia in the United States. It was like growing up in a small town, in a small school. It was a very natural, democratic environment where teachers were interested in the kids. The kids came from middle-class families, mostly in brand new suburbs – post-World War 2. The social norm was that you helped others in the whole community and the school community. There were 100 kids in my graduating class, so it was small enough that everybody knew everybody. When a problem arose, it was noticed and addressed. Yet there weren’t many problems in those days. There was a stable economic situation for families. People had jobs. I was utterly unaware that violence existed. I did not learn about violence until I got out into the world. That was a real blessing that I didn’t think about such things until I saw the enormous contrast between other people growing up.
As an adult, I learned that Sociologists have come up with Dunbar’s number (see the box below for more information), which says that humans and our systems deteriorate after about 160 to 170 people. Since then, I have thought about all of the educational system’s problems, and we could probably solve all of them by just stopping to try and save money by getting bigger schools and instead returning to small schools where there are communities where children can learn how to be citizens. That has influenced a lot of my work in this field and continues to do so.
Dunbar’s Number
Proposed by anthropologist Robin Dunbar (1992), ‘Dunbar’s number’ refers to a concept that limits the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships—relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person. The proposed number is said to lie between 100 to 250 people and is commonly cited as 150 people (Dunbar, 1993).
Learn more by watching this TED talk [15:17 mins] by Robin Dunbar. Click or scan the QR code to start watching.
Defining Trauma
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Given your expansive knowledge in this area, how do you explain what trauma is?
Dr. Bloom: When this field started, it was clear that trauma meant people had experienced a real threat to their life or witnessed a threat to life, or death and dying and other horrible things. That remains one of the definitions of trauma, but because we don’t have one word in English that embraces what we’re talking about, particularly to children, we use the word trauma as a shorthand to also represent chronic stress, toxic stress, relentless stress, and traumatic stress. With that caveat, I define trauma as “when the brain and body are overwhelmed, our physiology is overwhelmed by an experience that causes suffering.” In response to suffering, people often get derailed, their development gets derailed, the way they cope or try to cope derails them further, and we end up with complex problems. This suffering and attempt to cope isn’t necessarily directly due to the trauma itself, but due to the adaptations that children and adults make to deal with their disordered physiology and brain regulation.
What is childhood trauma?
More than 20 years ago, Lenore Terr (1992) defined childhood trauma as the impact of external forces that “[render] the young person temporarily helpless and [break] past ordinary coping and defensive operation”. Terrasi and de Galarce (2017, p. 36) suggest that complex trauma is “the cumulative effect of traumatic experiences that are repeated or prolonged over time”.
Learn more about trauma from our book Trauma Informed Behaviour Support by scanning the QR code.
Adopting a Public Health Approach
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: You mention that defining trauma has become increasingly complex. How do you see this complexity and resulting suffering in services and systems working with children?
Dr. Bloom: We know from the Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACEs study ; see the box below for more information) and all of the follow-up research that most of the population will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime. Most of the population have been, or will be, exposed to at least one ACE. A substantial minority have been, or will be, exposed to four or more ACEs. We have to address this. It’s a public health emergency that affects the whole community.
It can’t be a band-aid approach to meeting the needs of specialised, at-risk groups. These are community-wide concerns that have a multi-generational impact. This is why we need a public health approach to trauma. We must understand and spread knowledge about what we’ve learned so that everybody understands these concerns. Everyone in an organisation and community must understand the impact of trauma, from the staff, administrators, teachers, children, and their family members.
Let me give you an example of what I mean by a public health approach. A public health response is that we’ve made laws to ensure seat belts are in every car. Will everybody have a car accident? Thankfully no but will enough people be in danger and at high risk of having a car accident? Yes. So everybody has to wear seat belts. We need that kind of measure in place around the issue of trauma and adversity for the same reasons. Everybody’s at risk of experiencing trauma. Even if you’ve had a perfect childhood, you will interact with people who have had a difficult time growing up, and their distress will emotionally impact you. Being repeatedly confronted and affected by such pain and distress in others and within yourself may lead you to develop unhelpful coping skills. This is especially true in professions such as education. In this way, large groups of people may be impacted by the pain and distress of those in need.
This is why trauma-informed practices are critical for organisations and whole systems. We can’t pretend that this stuff isn’t real any longer. It’s very real, and anybody that works in any kind of workplace knows that, in the long-term, stress kills.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Scan the QR code to watch this video from the movie ‘Resilience’ [4: 59 mins] from director James Redford – outlining the findings of the ACEs study.
The Sanctuary Model
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Could you tell us about the Sanctuary Model and the model helps implement trauma-informed care in organisations and systems?
Dr. Bloom: The Sanctuary Model is an organisational approach that evolved from my original work running a psychiatric inpatient unit for adults and adolescents for over 30 years. We learned from our patients what it meant to help people who experienced trauma. We learned upfront, close and personal about the lived experience of these adults. Through caring for them, we learnt how to facilitate an environment that helped those experiencing distressing emotions related to a history of trauma and adversity.
We then applied those learnings and created a conceptual framework that we could teach other people. This framework centres on a set of values that are critical in creating a milieu or environment that keeps people safe. We use various tools to help people cope with the distressing emotions on a day-to-day basis.
Every school is a community, so schools are apt to have trauma-informed systems. Every school has a climate, every classroom has a climate, and there’s been a wealth of research about the importance of school climate for learning and classroom management.
The Sanctuary model is a newer articulation of longstanding ideas in healthcare and education that keep getting lost. It goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. We keep forgetting, and we have to rediscover it. Today we can integrate this knowledge through the emerging research on how trauma and adversity affect the brain and the body. So that’s what makes it so important and helpful for schools. You don’t have to think about this as ‘Oh, a brand-new flavour of the month.’ It’s well grounded in longstanding educational principles of how we must treat children to encourage learning.
It’s as simple as this: stressed kids can’t take in new information, and neither can stressed adults. It’s as simple as this: stressed kids can’t take in new information, and neither can stressed adults. This means that administrators have to take care of the staff, so that the staff can educate the kids. Suppose there’s lots of conflict among the staff or between the staff and administration. In that case, the teachers will be too stressed to pay attention to what the stressed children need to calm, regulate, and learn. This is all part of what we mean by trauma-informed education.
The Sanctuary Model
The Sanctuary Model is a trauma-informed organisational change intervention developed by Sandra Bloom and colleagues. Based on the concept of therapeutic communities, the model is designed to facilitate the development of organisational cultures that support the victims of traumatic experience and extended exposure to adversity.
Click or scan the QR code to read about the framework and its implementation [PDF].
Aligning Practice with Core Values
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Why is it that we veer away from those core values? Does it have something to do with the experience of stress or our outlook on our work?
Dr. Bloom: I’ll start with the big picture. Our educational system has been afflicted by our unidimensional emphasis on money. If money and financial success are the only value, then it trumps everything else. And that’s what we’ve got happening here. Everything is sacrificed to the ‘God of money’. This has a corrupting influence on everybody. Even the most well-meaning people must try to align with what the next person in the hierarchy says about the factor that trumps everything else: “Yeah, that’s all good. That’s well-meaning. Yeah, it’d be nice if we could do that, but we can’t afford it.” It becomes difficult for people with a clear moral compass to challenge that moral infringement because they feel extraordinary levels of moral distress. Sometimes it’s so distressing that you start to ignore it completely. You get two selves, one responding to the power needs of those in control of the purse strings. The other self, more genuinely you, says, “I know this is wrong, but I’m too scared, I’m too intimidated, or I’m too threatened to be able to do anything about it.” I think that’s why articulating a value system consistently becomes so critical that it should be a primary leadership role.
Leaders should be speaking the values and walking the talk. What happens too often is that the value system gets put on the shelf, away from our daily decisions. Every single decision we make should include the test of whether it’s a good decision. Does this support or undermine the values that we say are important? If our purpose is to educate underprivileged children, who needs to learn things? We live in an increasingly inequitable society, what will we as adults do about that? How are we going to speak truth to power? How are we going to resist without becoming annihilated? It’s really about money, and it’s about power. It comes down to our education systems being in a moral crisis.
So, what can the individual do? Individuals alone are very vulnerable. We must figure out how to work together, collectively. In an individualistic culture, that’s a tough sell. But there is little hope unless we move in that direction. Schools are collective bodies. Schools can mobilise power within their community if they speak with one voice.
The S.E.L.F Framework
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: You have a lovely framework in the sanctuary program, the S.E.L.F framework. How can you use that to help children with their recovery from trauma?
Dr. Bloom: S.E.L.F stands for Safety, Emotions, Loss, and Future. We think of it as a compass. It guides professionals to begin thinking about how to help another. For instance, a teacher is confronted by a distressed child who is chaotic and profoundly dysregulated. Where does the teacher start? You’re supposed to be educating this kid, and this child is too hyper-aroused to be able to teach them anything. They’re disrupting everybody else in the classroom. How do you even begin to think about where to start? And that’s where S.E.L.F comes in.
You start work with a child around identifying the safety issues. When we talk about safety, we talk about the four domains of safety, physical, psychological (within self), social (with others) and moral safety (safe within a system of values that are dear to you). You help a child think through all of their problems as safety issues. Underneath the S.E.L.F framework is a fundamental shift in mental models. S.E.L.F is saying, “This child in front of me, it isn’t a matter of whether they’re sick or bad, it’s that this is an injured child.” And we need a framework within which to think about an injured child. The first step is, how do I help you get safe in the world? That’s the S in S.E.L.F.
It would help if you took responsibility for you being safe, and I’ll help you as much as possible. We have to help you develop abilities to calm yourself down. You have to be safe with yourself, meaning you have to make the connection that what you’re doing is hurtful to you and your self-esteem. You have to be safer with other kids. You need to understand that when you get upset other kids catch it, and then the whole classroom gets out of control, and that’s not safe for me as your teacher.
The E is for emotions, recognising and regulating our emotions. We know that stressed people can’t manage their emotions very well, and emotions are critical for education. Emotions direct our attention to what’s important. A child dealing with violence cannot direct their attention to reading, writing, and arithmetic. It’s impossible; their brain doesn’t work that way. It’s part of our evolutionary heritage as humans. It becomes critical for teachers to develop skills to help children calm and become emotionally intelligent about their self-regulation. Children can then help each other in the classroom regulate their emotions. To do that, you must know what emotions you have the most problems regulating. To help a child recognise: “I’m okay until I pick up Johnny’s anger, and then I get scared, and when I’m afraid, I can’t think.” That is the conversation the teacher could have. Okay, what can you do? What can we help you figure out to do when you get afraid so that you can be less afraid?
Loss is the L which recognises that all change involves some loss. We don’t think about that much because we don’t like a loss. But people don’t resist change; we resist loss. Therefore, if you help a child to see that if you make a change, you will have to give up something, you are honouring that child’s loss. If you’re going to use exercise to help yourself calm down, it’s going to take time, and you’ll have to give up time playing your video games. Are you willing to make that commitment to improve your emotion management skills? In this sense, all change requires loss for kids and adults. We then ask, why should we change? Well, because we envision a future, that’s where the F comes in.
We want something and will have to give up something in return. So we have to have a clear vision of what we want. When you’re challenging a child to make a change and manage their emotions to get safe, no human being will do that unless they have a vision of why. What would that feel like? What will it feel like for a student to not to have me discipline them all the time? Can they imagine taking a math test and getting an A plus? Can they imagine that happening even though they failed every math test this semester?
You may start with a teacher using S.E.L.F and you can start anywhere in the framework. It might start with asking where are we trying to get to? You may say “I need to talk with you, Johnny, because this is what I see happening, and I’m worried about you. But let’s start with the idea that everything works, everything you and I are going to plan, it works, and you are successful. What does that look like to you? Give me an example of something you’ve been successful at before. Now you can imagine the future goal, and then we’ll link the goal back to where we are now”. This organises the chaos in the teacher-student relationship.
When using the S.E.L.F framework, many people miss the L – the loss. We don’t calculate what the person will have to give up. That’s important to consider with traumatised people. Whats at stake if they stop using the unhealthy habits they’ve used to cope? They have to sit with unimaginably terrible feelings, and we’re not good at understanding that. We need empathy for their experiences and emotions to help them figure out what to do and learn to improve it. In this way, S.E.L.F is a powerful and straightforward tool, yet simultaneously complex.
The S.E.L.F Framework
S.E.L.F. is a problem-solving framework that represents the four dynamic areas of focus for trauma recovery. It offers a trauma-informed way of organising conversations and documentation for clients, families, staff, and administrators by moving away from jargon and towards more simple and accessible language.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more from this resource from the Mackillop Institute.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: I like how you frame unsafe or oppositional behaviour as a coping strategy for those who are traumatised. Could you say more about this?
Dr. Bloom: We learned this from our patients, many of whom were self-mutilating or self-harming. We tried all kinds of punitive strategies to get them to stop self-harming. Of course, it was a complete failure. Until we understood that the cutting was how they were coping with feelings that felt worse. We couldn’t expect them to give up an effective coping skill unless we could replace it with something healthier and just as effective. That’s how we learned to approach these kinds of problems entirely differently.
Oprah talked about this last year on a TV program she had. She said, “This revolutionary approach, it’s not ‘what’s wrong with you?’. We’ve stopped asking that question. Now we ask the question, ‘what happened to you?’. It was my friend Joe Foderaro, a social worker in 1991, who said that in a team meeting. When you see that problem behaviour, you must start with: I wonder what that’s about? Why would somebody react that way? What happened that could produce that outcome or behaviour? How can we figure out how to redirect that behaviour into more positive, self-affirming, creative, and educational channels? Unless you get that original shift, you don’t get anywhere. You just end up trying to punish people who are already profoundly punished for doing their best at coping.
Systems Under Pressure
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: We often hear from many teachers who don’t feel supported by their leaders and colleagues to work in a trauma-informed manner. What early warning signs can people pick up on when an organisation or a system is under stress and perhaps not functioning the way it should be?
Dr. Bloom: The only antidote that we have to the effects of trauma is social support. For example, if you go into a staff room in a school, and there’s a lot of hostility and tension, we pick that up instantaneously. Those are signals of danger. There’s likely little social support in that environment. Other indicators of systems under stress include chronic conflicts that are not resolved; there are no conflict management strategies routinely in place; a lack of training on the impact of stress and trauma on the teachers, students or their families; a punitive environment where the reaction to the breaking of rules or episodes of violence is to punish students or adults. If you’re interviewing for a job, and pick up on these signs, don’t go there.
There are also authoritarian leadership principles. Authoritarianism is a disaster for human groups unless they are in an acute crisis. In an acute crisis, it’s a good strategy to use. After that, the only thing that is going to be effective is democratic processes. Other warning signs include a lot of secrecy, which often indicates communication problems exist within the system; how many violent incidents have there been? And how many times are students pushed out of the classroom and punished for their problems? Has that been rising or decreasing? Is it being addressed, and how? How are behaviour problems at the school addressed? What are the expectations of teachers? Is there any support for teachers? What happens if you’re having a difficult time with a child? Are there people in the school who are called in when there’s any kind of emergency, not just as police, but as real helpers? Is there attention being paid to the students and teachers?
These are things you see in an environment that’s becoming increasingly sick. Remember that organisations are like organisms. They are living, adaptive, complex systems. It becomes a worry when everybody’s reaction to a stressful situation is to try to make a new rule, and the accumulation of rules is a very clear indicator that social norms are eroding. Pay attention to the social norms of the system. Positive social norms will include bringing people within the system together, talking about the rising level of incidents, and talking about what’s going on with our group and what’s going on collectively.
It’s not just seeking out a new rule or a new person to punish to ‘fix’ the system, it will never work. But that’s what we do over and over again, and I’ve seen that happen in all kinds of organisations, and I’ve definitely seen that happen a lot in schools where the attitude is, these kids are out of control, so we need more punishment, and they need more consequences.
It’s always called consequences, and there are always consequences for everything that we do. You want the consequences to be deliberately designed for that group or that student that’s going to get you more of what you want that student to be. If you apply the same consequences to everybody, it makes no sense. It makes the system incredibly stupid because one student will be breaking a rule because they’re pushing the limits of authority to see what they can get away with and find where the limit is. Yet another student will be breaking the rule because it’s a coping skill that they’ve learnt to deal with terrible stuff that’s going on at home. Now, if you consequence those two students, in the same way, you’ve totally missed the point.
It’s really important that people who run organisations are able to identify when their systems are getting sick. Just like we identify the signs of the flu or a cold within ourselves, we go in for a check-up to help us recover and heal our bodies. Systems are living bodies, they can get well and heal and recover from stress, but not if you ignore the symptoms. You’re describing that the system had adapted to a sick way of functioning. That’s what whole communities do, and that’s what entire societies do. We adapt to sick, inhumane conditions and then wonder why things are so messed up. Well, they’re sick, ill, and dysfunctional, and it’s time that we were willing to stake our claim around knowing what health an organisation is in. How does a healthy organisation function? What is a healthy school? Let’s get out there and say it. Those of us who have been in lots of systems, get us all together, and we’ll have no trouble talking about and voicing it. But it’s not talked about, and we don’t think about it. We do this when we as individual human beings are sick. We know how bad it feels to feel sick, and we know what it feels like to feel well. We need to be doing that at an organisational level too.
Trauma-informed Organisational Change and Support
Crisis-driven organisations sacrifice communication networks, feedback loops, participatory decision making and complex problem-solving under the pressures of chronic stress and in doing so, lose healthy democratic processes and shift to innovation and risk-taking resulting in an inability to manage complexity. This requires leadership buy-in and immersion in the change process, an increase in transparency, and deliberate restructuring to ensure greater participation and involvement.
Learn more about trauma-informed organisational change from our book Trauma Informed Behaviour Support which you can access by scanning the QR code
Restoring Sanctuary
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Let me play devil’s advocate for a bit. I can hear some of the educational leaders reading this saying, “Well, that’s very nice for you, Sandy, but we’ve got parents at our door complaining, we’ve got disruptive students, teachers threatening union action, and we don’t have an endless resource of money.” So what are these practices that make for a healthy organisation?
Dr. Bloom: What you’re describing is a failure of imagination. It begins with a vision of what could be possible if we were committed to it. Then you want to mobilise collective action to achieve that goal. What’s happening here because of the ACEs study is that various local communities are organising around, knowing we have all of these problems; What would it look like for our community to be healthy? What would the outcomes be? How would we know? And then they move back into what would we need to have that happen?
Money is food to an organisational body, just like food is nutrition for humans. But it isn’t everything; you need more than food to be healthy. There’s a lot of work any community, including a school community, can do about getting better nutrition. This isn’t just about getting money, but organising the way money is spent, looking at where the funding goes, and how to mobilise our families. How do we mobilise the children as resources for creating the healthier environment that we’re all imagining? That means you must include students and parents in that imagining process. It can’t just come from the people that work in the school; it has to include all of the stakeholders.
There are now group methods to begin the imagining process. You get large groups of people together to start the creative process, which helps to make a value space rather than criticism and negativism. The point of conflict then is to figure out how to satisfy all those opposing forces. The best system humans have come up with to do that thus far is Democracy. It isn’t perfect, it’s messy, it’s hard, and it’s time-consuming, but humans will support what they’ve helped to create.
Therefore, if you want to make a change, you have to get all the stakeholders to talk to each other after setting up some basic standards for how people work and conduct themselves in the group. I teach a lot, and every class I do, online or in-person, begins with the students deciding what kind of safe environment they want. All students must have a safety plan outlining their responsibility in managing emotions. There are simple things that, even in large groups, you can do to begin the process of reclaiming the territory so that we can build collective skills and intelligence, which is really our only hope.
Teacher Burnout and Self-Care
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: Self-care and burnout. There are many complexities to the issue, but I wanted to get your thoughts about how individual teachers can think about their self-care and advocate in a way that’s sustainable for them to continue being in the profession.
Dr. Bloom: We use a tool called a wellness plan. It’s a commitment that every individual makes to take care of themselves. To try and achieve a better balance between work and home to maintain healthy wellbeing and mental health. It’s part of serving the organisation that, as educators, social service, and healthcare providers, we’re the only tools we have. We have nothing else except our beingness, so we must keep that shiny. We have nothing else except our beingness, so we must keep that shiny. It’s tough because we do emotional labour all the time. We’re picking up other people’s emotions, and emotions are contagious. It’s effortless to get dragged down when you’re seeing dozens of really distressed people. Because of this, you have to do things to leave work at work. Make a ritual transition on your way home where you cleanse yourself and do whatever works physically, psychologically, socially, morally, spiritually, and politically for you. Commit to implementing those things as part of your job responsibility to keep yourself healthy and balance your work and family life. Technology has produced significant problems for people. Some organisations are beginning to implement rules about prohibiting email responses at certain times of the day and on weekends. Having rules about the use of technology is essential, otherwise you will drown in it. When is work ever done? When can you put it away when there are still emails to answer? People can help themselves by having internal rules. Still, the more the organisation supports these rules, the easier it becomes for people to follow through on self-care. It’s helpful if you can share your self-care plan with your teammates so that when somebody sees you escalating, they can say, “Hey, why don’t you go take a walk, and I’ll fill in for you”. Those simple acts of social support mean a great deal. As does having a sense of humour. Being able to laugh and also celebrate our successes are essential for positive wellbeing at work. There’s a lot we can do as individuals, and there’s even more, we can do at an organisational level to keep our equipment and people shiny and healthy.
Trauma in First Nations People
Dr. Krishnamoorthy: I want to touch on trauma in First Nations People. We do some work with some of our Indigenous communities here in Australia. In terms of trauma, they’re often the people who are significantly affected. Some of the issues are historical injustices and structural inequalities that contribute to their intergenerational trauma . I often think people feel overwhelmed and dispirited because their trauma is so significant.
Dr. Bloom: Let me preface this by saying I have a lot of experience working with our African-American communities, less with our native communities. From my experience, working with these communities is that so much of the historical injustice is about an assault on people’s identity and a long-term multi-generational assault on people as being okay, healthy, normal, and creative human beings. It erodes a sense of community identity. The knowledge we have now about trauma and adversity is that by its very nature, these are normalising conversations. It says, “You’re not sick, you’re not bad, you are injured.”
In the case of historical injustice, you have been injured, and your ancestors have also been injured. Despite that, you are a survivor and managed to thrive within the present constraints. You must validate that normality with people to help change that negative identity. I think that’s the beginning of the educational process around trauma and adversity. It normalises these terrible things that people do and how they feel. It says, ‘I can understand this because of what you’ve been through. Now, can I help you in some way to find outlets that are positive and creative that will help you thrive even more? Because you’ve already survived, you’re here, and you’re living’. I think political analysis is crucial. When I started working in residential treatment with kids, I had this fantasy that we would help those children go from being ‘sick and disabled’ to being political and social activists. And that we would create an army of kids who understood what had happened to them, how they had survived it, and what they needed to do to help the rest of the population.
Interestingly, I had an early experience in a high school that again dealt with a plague of adolescents who died by suicide. I was part of a group of adults and students who were brought together to create a task force to address the question ‘how are we going to manage this suicide cluster’? Interestingly, the counsellor who picked the students was a wise guy. He was intelligent and well-informed and understood the issues of trauma and adversity. The students he chose to be a part of this task force to help explain to the adults what was happening with adolescents were all students who had been in treatment. They had all been in substance abuse facilities and knew how to talk to adults. That was my fantasy about the most disturbed kids: if we handle this correctly, the kids will turn into our greatest strengths.
They had learned how to talk about their emotions. They were experienced adolescents, and I thought it was so fascinating the power they had to be the translator to the rest of the adult community about what was going on.
Research Supporting First Nations Students with a Trauma Background in School
First Nations students are disproportionately exposed to trauma. However, limited research has explored teachers’ experiences in response to trauma affected First Nations students. Jenna Miller and Emily Berger’s study aimed to explore teachers’ experiences of supporting First Nations students with a trauma history.
Click or scan the QR code to learn more about this study. This article may be available through your library.
Chapter summary
• Trauma can be defined as when the brain and body are overwhelmed, our physiology is overwhelmed by an experience that causes suffering.
• Everybody’s at risk of experiencing trauma. A public health approach to understanding and managing the impact of trauma is essential in beginning to limit the multi-generational, community wide impact.
• The Sanctuary Model is a trauma-informed organisational change framework that centres on a set of values that are critical in creating an environment that keeps everyone safe.
• The four pillars of the Sanctuary Model include Safety, Emotions, Loss and Future.
• Unsafe or oppositional behaviour needs to be understood as effective coping skills for traumatised people who are trying to cope with feelings that feel worse than self-harming behaviours.
• Organisations are living, adaptive, complex systems that are susceptible to becoming sick, and not functioning well, when under pressure.
• A wellness plan is critical to maintain overall positive wellbeing for staff and to enable staff to have a healthy balance between work and home life.
Creating Presence
Creating Presence is an online organisational and clinical approach for trauma-informed, trauma-responsive and trauma-resilient organisations created by Dr Sandra Bloom.
Click on or scan the QR code to learn more
Listen to the full interview on Trauma Informed Education Podcast
Listen to our full interview with Dr. Sandra Bloom on our Trauma Informed Education Podcast [1:08:16].
Click on or scan the QR code to start listening.
References
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (Hosts). (2019, March 26). School climate with Dr. Sandra Bloom [Podcast episode]. In Trauma Informed Education. Soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/trauma-informed-education/trauma-informed-school-climate-with-dr-sandra-bloom?si=598a7d8bcec94ca883960021a726052e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (2020). Trauma informed behaviour support: A practical guide to developing resilient learners. University of Southern Queensland. https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformedpractice/
Crawford County Human Services. (2016, March 15). ACES Primer HD [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccKFkcfXx-c
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1992). Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates. Journal of Human Evolution, 22(6), 469–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2484(92)90081-J
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1993). Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16 (4),681–694. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00032325
Esaki, N., Benamati, J., Yanosy, S., Middleton, J. S., Hopson, L. M., Hummer, V. L., & Bloom, S. L. (2013). The Sanctuary Model: Theoretical framework. Families in Society, 94(2), 87–95. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.4287
Felitti, V., Anda, R., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D., Spitz, A., Edwards, V., Koss, M., & Marks, J. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245-258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8
Miller, J., & Berger, E. (2022). Supporting First Nations students with a trauma background in schools. School Mental Health, 14(3), 485-497.
TEDxTalks. (2012, March 22). TEDxObserver – Robin Dunbar – Can the internet buy you more friends? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07IpED729k8
Terr, L. (1992). Resolved: military family life is hazardous to the mental health of children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 31(5), 984-987. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1097/00004583-199209000-00029
Terrasi, S., & De Galarce, P. (2017). Trauma and learning in America’s classrooms. Phi Delta Kappan, 98(6), 35-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721717696476
The MacKillop Institute. (n.d.). Sanctuary’s S.E.L.F. Framework. https://www.mackillopinstitute.org.au/resources/sanctuary-self-framework
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://usq.pressbooks.pub/traumainformededucation/?p=125#h5p-2
1.09: Conclusion
Schools can be a place of sanctuary or a place of fear and dread for the traumatised child. Danger may take many forms – the threat of a suspension, the mocking tone of a peer’s comments or the potential to appear weak or incompetent. Such experiences are perceived as a disruption or disappointment to some children but as a life threat to others. The scholars in the preceding chapters have discussed how our bodies and brains are engineered for survival. The acknowledgement of these perceptions among students, and the need for the facilitation of physical and psychological safety is the challenge of trauma-informed educators.
How can teachers support our most vulnerable children? Small gestures, skilful accommodations, and tactful communication. Small victories in class turn into successful days. Small celebrations that become enjoyable weeks. While success at school is often measured in grades and rewards, there is much learning that occurs in the day-to-day interactions at school that is often overlooked. Children are constantly learning about their world, their emotions, their bodies, and their relationships. In this way, the experience of education is more than the prescribed curriculum. The experience of education is the experience of the school community.
A whole school approach is fundamental to the success of creating a culture where not only children with trauma are well understood and supported, but teachers’ well-being and self-care are also supported. Trauma-informed education is about resisting the re-enactments of control and coercion at all levels – from students, their families, and with staff. All successful educational leaders understand the risks of allowing systemic pressures to undermine the autonomy and flexibility of teachers. Children with complex needs require agile educators – those who have a deep understanding of their students and the role of pedagogy in helping them achieve learning. A repeated message throughout the book is that educators require the support of the whole school community for trauma-informed practice to be embedded successfully.
I hope that reading these stories has inspired you to learn and embed trauma-informed practices into your daily teaching. I hope you’ve become moved to understand the traumatised child and change the relationships you have with your most vulnerable students – to be unrelentingly genuine, compassionate and, most importantly, hopeful.
I want to thank you for allowing yourself time and space to read this book. Learning is an act of great vulnerability and bravery, and teaching is a wonderous act of care. You are the most important resource for the future of our children. Thank you for all that you do for your students.
Dayna Schimke, MPsych
Registered Psychologist | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Trauma_Informed_Education_(Krishnamoorthy_Ayre_and_Schimke)/1.08%3A_Creating_Sanctuary_in_Schools.txt |
Learning Objectives
The learning objectives for this chapter are as follows.
• Distinguish between different states of demand and explain contexts wherein each state may be relevant.
• Describe the demand relationship and explain the law of demand.
• Identify and describe variables that shift demand. You should be able to say something about the direction of the demand shift.
• Explain the difference between substitutes and complements. Provide examples of each.
• Explain the difference between normal and inferior goods.
• Graph the inverse demand schedule given a demand equation and values of shift variables.
• Describe the concept of consumer surplus. Compute consumer surplus.
This chapter addresses the demand side of the market. This is also the buyer or customer side of the market. The overall aim of the chapter is to provide the background you need to use demand constructs to understand marketing strategies and models of market equilibrium that you will encounter later in the course. The chapter is organized into three sections. The first covers the states of effective, latent, and negative demand. Most of the course will deal with marketing problems for products or services in a state of effective demand. However, latent and negative demand states are important in product development and many social-marketing contexts. The second section introduces the basic mechanics of demand for a product or service under an effective demand state with a particular focus on the law of demand, the demand schedule, and variables that shift the demand schedule. Some of this will be a review of material you encountered in your introductory microeconomics course, but some will likely be new and/or will be presented in a way you have not yet encountered. The third section of the chapter introduces the idea of consumer surplus. Consumer surplus is presented in a way that should deepen your understanding of the law of demand. The concept will come up later in the course as a measure of economic welfare and will be used to understand pricing strategies used by sellers, many of which can characterized as attempts to convert consumer surplus into profits.
01: Market Demand
It is useful to think about different demand conditions or states. Specifically, there are three: effective demand, latent demand, and negative demand. Much of the class will emphasize effective demand because markets exist for products in a state of effective demand. For products in an effective demand state, you can see equilibrium prices and quantities. It is also possible estimate demand and understand how demand responds to changes in prices, consumer income, or other factors that affect the desirability of the product. In the other two demand states, markets do not yet exist, but there could or would be a market provided technological barriers can be addressed or consumer preferences can be changed. In fact, many product development efforts are aimed at overcoming some hurdle or limitation that would allow a product or service to move from a latent or negative demand state to an effective demand state.
Effective Demand
Normally, the word “demand” refers to a product in a state of effective demand. Effective demand refers to the demand for products that are commercially feasible. These products satisfy consumer wants and needs, and consumers (or some segments thereof) are willing to buy them at prices that justify their production. Automobiles, apples, vacation trips, restaurant meals, or any other good or service readily available in the economy is in a state of effective demand. Since market transactions are observed for products in a state of effective demand, it is possible to measure variables that influence demand. These measurements can be used to estimate and forecast demand to gain insight into business or policy decisions.
Latent Demand
A state of latent demand is said to exist in cases where a need or want exists but a product does not. For example, if there was a cure for cancer, there would be a demand for it. Because of this latent demand, biotechnology companies spend large amounts of money on research and development efforts to create new drugs to more effectively combat cancer. A latent demand state exists when the following conditions are present:
1. the product in question is not technically feasible given the current state of science and engineering (as in the case of a complete cure to cancer) or has yet to be conceived by an inventor or entrepreneur, or
2. the product is technically feasible but not commercially feasible given current technology, existing infrastructure, or the existing regulatory environment.
With latent demand, one does not actually see market transactions. For this reason, estimating the potential value of products in a latent demand state is often more difficult. Economists often use experimental methods to assess willingness to pay for products in a state of latent demand.
A change in technology, such as the introduction of the microwave oven, can unleash a number of new products that address latent demands and thereby bring them into a state of effective demand. The first link below points to an early television commercial for the microwave. This commercial speaks directly to how the microwave meets the latent demands of those who prepare meals over the eons of human history. Today, much of what is in the frozen section of a supermarket is tailored to the microwave oven. Here is a link to an early microwave oven advertisement emphasizing how the microwave addresses latent demand (visit youtube.com).
Negative Demand
Negative demand refers to cases where there is a potential product that could meet a consumer want or need, but consumers are reluctant to purchase the product for one reason or another. For example, many insect species are edible and could be produced at a cost that compares favorably to other food sources. However, insects are not commonly being sold in attractive displays at the local supermarket. The reason for this is that cultural norms in the USA frown upon consumption of insects. This example is a bit “creepy,” and I hope it does not “bug” you too much, but the same general idea can apply to many actual or potential products that are viewed skeptically by consumers. When confronted with negative demand, it may be possible to change the image of the product so that consumers view it as desirable.
• National Geographic segment on edible insects (visit youtube.com).
• Fact sheet on entomophagy from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (visit fao.org).
Food Irradiation: A Case Example
Food irradiation is a process that many thought could potentially address latent demands for safer food. For example, irradiation could destroy Trichina parasites allowing pork to be cooked and served rare. In the late 1990’s, irradiation was approved by US regulatory agencies for use on raw meat and poultry. There were some predictions that this would become a standard process, akin to pasteurization. This turned out not to be the case. One reason is that irradiated foods also faced a negative demand problem. Consumers have been hesitant to embrace irradiated foods. Review the fact sheet and short video clip from the links below. Both are from reputable organizations: a land-grant university and the United Nations.
• Fact sheet from the University of Wisconsin on food irradiation (visit wisc.edu).
• Short video from International Atomic Energy Agency and FAO (visit youtube.com).
Now consider the following questions:
1. What fundamental problem (or problems) can food irradiation address?
2. Is food irradiation safe?
3. Are there labeling requirements that would allow you tell if a food item in a retail store was irradiated?
4. Why might consumers be reluctant to accept irradiated foods?
5. Why is microwaveable food so widely accepted but irradiated food not? | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/01%3A_Market_Demand/1.02%3A_Demand_States.txt |
The demand schedule is the relationship between own-quantity demanded and corresponding own-price levels. Several variables could affect the demand for a product, including the prices or quantities of related goods. The adjective “own-quantity” is used to mean the quantity of the product being analyzed. For example, the own-quantity of beef could be represented as \(Q_{BEEF}\) and the own-price of beef as \(P_{BEEF}\). The price of pork, \(P_{PORK}\), could conceivably affect demand for beef, but this is not the own-price of beef. The point to be made is that the demand schedule is the relationship between the product’s own-quantity and its own-price holding all other variables that could affect demand constant at some fixed value. The normal convention in this course will be to use subscripts to denote the product in question. For example, \(Q_{1}\) refers to the demand for good 1, \(P_{2}\) refers to the price of good 2, etc.
The demand schedule can be expressed mathematically as \(Q_{1} = f P_{1}\) or \(P_{1} = f^{-1} (Q_{1})\). The term “direct demand” is used when \(Q_{1}\) is on the left-hand side of the equation and the term “inverse demand” when \(P_{1}\) is on the left-hand side. When showing a demand relationship as an equation, the normal practice is to express the relationship in terms of direct demand. However, it will generally be graphed in inverse form with the price of the product on the vertical axis and the quantity on the horizontal axis. This convention is consistent with most microeconomics text books and can be useful when you want to simultaneously show production (supply side) relationships on the same plot. Many textbooks, however, do not distinguish between direct and inverse demand. The distinction is being made here because you learned back in middle-school algebra that if \(y = f(x)\), then \(y\) goes on the vertical axis and \(x\) goes on the horizontal. The term “inverse demand,” permits adherence to both algebraic and economic conventions.
Demonstration \(1\): An inverse market demand schedule
The Law of Demand
The law of demand states that quantity and price are negatively related. In other words, if the price of the product increases, then the quantity demanded will decrease and vice versa. The law of demand reflects two phenomena. First, consumer preferences generally exhibit diminishing marginal utility. Diminishing marginal utility is a technical way of saying that consumers receive lower amounts of additional satisfaction from each additional unit of a product they consume. Because of diminishing marginal utility, the price will need to fall to induce consumers to buy more units of products that they already consume. This contributes to the negative relationship between quantity demanded and price. Second, in most cases, different consumers place different valuations on the same product. For example, suppose that Jane and John Doe would both enjoy tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Jane loves baseball and is a huge Cardinals fan. John mildly enjoys baseball and prefers the Minnesota Twins. It would stand to reason that Jane would probably place a higher value on the tickets than John would. The point here is that it is often the case that some consumers are very enthusiastic about a product and are willing to participate in the market even when the price is high. Other, less enthusiastic, consumers stay out of the market at high prices but are willing to participate once the price comes down a bit. For this reason, the number of consumers willing to participate in the market increases as the price falls and decreases as the price rises. This also contributes to the negative relationship between quantity demanded and price.
Because of diminishing marginal utility and differences in valuation across consumers, an increase (decrease) in price has two potential effects, each of which contributes to the negative relationship between quantity and price.
1. Each consumer buys less (more) of the product due to diminishing marginal utility.
2. The total number of consumers decreases (increases) as consumers with valuations close to the prevailing price exit (enter) the marketplace.
Demand Shifters
The demand schedule characterizes the relationship between quantity demanded and that product’s own-price. For instance, the demand schedule for beef would show the relationship between quantity of beef demanded and the price of beef holding everything else constant. What happens if something else changes? There are other prices that could affect the demand for beef. For many consumers, pork or poultry serve as reasonable substitutes for beef. Consequently, if pork or poultry prices decline (rise) relative to beef prices, one would expect reduced (increased) quantities of beef to be demanded. This suggests that other factors, aside from a product’s own-price, need to be considered. These other factors are called demand-shift variables. If the value of a shift variable changes, you will need to plot a new demand schedule that reflects the updated relationship between quantity demanded and the product’s own-price. The following are some common demand shift variables.
Prices of related goods (substitutes or complements)
Related goods in demand are classified as substitutes in consumption or complements in consumption. A substitute in consumption is a good that the consumer can use instead of the good in question to meet his or her underlying want or need. For example, if you are analyzing the demand schedule for beef, then chicken, pork, or fish are all reasonable substitute products. After all, one could order a chicken, pork, or seafood entree from the menu in lieu of beef; or the supermarket shopper may decide to cook chicken breasts, pork chops, or fish fillets for dinner instead of beef. Formally, product 2 is considered to be a substitute for product 1 if an increase (decrease) in the price of product 2 causes an increase (decrease) in the demand schedule for product 1. In other words, there is a positive relationship between the price of product 2 and the quantity of product 1 that consumers demand.
A complement in consumption is a good that the consumer uses along with the good in question. For example, if you are analyzing the demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs), then gasoline is reasonable complementary product. After all, an SUV is a large automobile and uses a lot of gas. In recent years, gasoline prices appear to have had an effect on the demand schedule for SUVs. During periods of high gasoline prices, sales of SUVs suffer. Formally, product 2 is considered to be a complement for product 1 if an increase (decrease) in the price of product 2 causes a decrease (increase) in the demand schedule for product 1. In other words, there is a negative relationship between the price of product 2 and the quantity of product 1 that consumers demand.
Consumer income
Consumer incomes can also shift the demand schedule, but the direction and magnitude of the shift depend on the characteristics of the good in question. Some goods are classified as normal goods. Consumption of a normal good increases as income increases. Formally, good 1 is said to be a normal good if an increase (decrease) in income causes an increase (decrease) in the demand schedule for good 1. In other words, there is a positive relationship between consumption of good 1 and the amount of income available to consumers. Other goods are classified as inferior goods. Consumption of an inferior good decreases as income increases. Formally, good 1 is said to be an inferior good if an increase (decrease) in income causes an decrease (increase) in the demand schedule for good 1. In other words, there is a negative relationship between consumption of good 1 and the amount of income available to consumers. It is important to emphasize that the adjective “inferior” only refers to the income relationship and does not imply that the consumer dislikes the good in question.
Tastes and preferences
Demand is subject to trends, fashions, health concerns, and a variety of other considerations. For example, in 2012, media coverage of lean finely textured beef (LFTB), characterized as “pink slime”, had an impact on demand for ground beef. This would classify as information that led to an unfavorable change in preferences (meaning the product in question is less favored by consumers than before). Conversely, a growing number of studies linking blueberries to improved health has impacted demand for blueberries in a positive way. This would classify as a favorable change in preferences.
• Link to a 2012 magazine article on the LFTB controversy by economists J. Ross Pruitt and David P. Anderson (visit choicesmagazine.org).
• Link to the 2012 ABC News Segment on LFTB mentioned in the magazine article (visit youtube.com).
• Link to LSU AgCenter publication Blueberries and Your Health (visit lsuagcenter.com).
Population
Market demand reflects the sum of all consumers in the marketplace. All else equal, as the number of consumers increases (decreases), the demand schedule will increase (decrease).
Demonstration \(2\): Demand shift variables change the demand schedule
Demand Schedules from a Linear Demand Relationship
A general demand relationship would need to include all the demand shifters that could affect demand in addition to own-price. With this in mind, consider the following demand equation for good A:
\(Q_{A} = 20Pop + 0.01M + 2P_{B}- 4P_{A}\)
In this equation, \(Q_{A}\) is the quantity of good A in thousands of units, \(Pop\) is population in millions of persons, \(M\) is disposable income in dollars, \(P_{B}\) is the price of good B in dollars, and \(P_{A}\) is the price of good A in dollars. Given this equation, you are able to answer some general questions about the demand for good A.
• Is good A a normal good or an inferior good? How can you tell? Good A is a normal good. You can tell because the coefficient associated with the income variable (0.01) is a positive number. If this were a negative number, you would have an inferior good.
• Is good B a substitute or a complement to good A? How can you tell? Good B is a substitute for good A. You can tell because the coefficient associated with the price of good B is a positive number. If this were a negative number, you would instead conclude that good B is a complement to good A.
• Does the demand for good A conform to the law of demand? How can you tell? Yes. The coefficient associated with the price of good A is a negative number showing an inverse relationship between the quantity of good A and the price of good A.
• What variables shift the demand schedule? In this case, there are three variables: population \(Pop\), income \(M\), and the price of the substitute good \(P_{B}\). Remember that the demand schedule is the relationship between own-price and own-quantity. In the equation above, \(P_{A}\) represents the own-price and \(Q_{A}\) represents the own-quantity. Thus, every right-hand-side variable other than \(P_{A}\) is a demand shifter.
The demand schedule shows the relationship between own-price and own-quantity demanded holding all else constant. In this case, “all else” consists of the three demand shifters. Thus, to get an equation for the demand schedule you need to fix these shift variables at some value. Let us use a value of 3 million for \(Pop\), \$30,000 for \(M\), and \$20 for \(P_{2}\). Using these values, you get the direct demand schedule:
\(Q_{A} = 20(3) + 0.01(30000) + 2(20) -4P_{A}\)
or
\(Q_{A} = 400-4P_{A}\)
Remember that this is the direct demand schedule because \(Q_{A} = f(P_{A})\). It is simple enough to get the inverse demand schedule. Simply solve to get \(P_{A}\) on the left side of the equation. The inverse demand schedule is
\(P_{A} = 100 - \dfrac{1}{4} Q_{A}\) | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/01%3A_Market_Demand/1.03%3A_The_Demand_Schedule.txt |
Consumer surplus is a measure of consumer welfare. The concept is remarkably simple and can be conceptualized as the value that the consumers receive above the price paid for the product. Consumer surplus is an important part of the value created by market transactions but is often overlooked as it does not formally get recorded on the seller’s financial statements nor is it quantified on customer receipts. The notion of consumer surplus will be used at different points later in the course. It is useful to introduce it now because it can be used to explain the law of demand in terms of consumers seeking to obtain surplus through market transactions.
Explaining Consumer Surplus
To motivate the idea of consumer surplus, imagine that you have a difficult exam in your 1:30 PM class. Because you are so worried about the exam you decide to forego lunch and use the time to study instead. At 2:30, after having written the exam, you realize how very hungry you are. You head to your favorite sandwich shop for lunch. You are willing to pay up to $12 for a sandwich and are pleased to see that sandwiches are priced at$8 on the menu. Does the purchase of a sandwich make you better off? Absolutely. By paying $8 you receive a good that provides you with satisfaction worth$12. Your consumer surplus is $4 and can be computed as the value you place on the product ($12) less the purchase price ($8). Figure 1 shows that value from a market transaction such as this one is divided among the consumer (in the form of consumer surplus) and the firm (in the form of profits). Suppose the sandwich shop can produce the sandwich for$5 per unit. The shop receives a profit margin of $8 -$5 = $3. The total value created by the transaction is$7 (the $12 value you place on the sandwich less the production cost of$5) and is also equal to the $3 profit margin going to the shop plus the$4 consumer surplus going to you. Thus, there is a simple identity for the value created from a transaction such as this:
$Value \: Created \equiv \: Consumer \: Valuation - Production \: Cost \equiv \: Consumer \: Surplus + Profit$
Firms create value by producing goods and services that consumers value more highly than the costs of production. Typically, as in our sandwich example, some of this value will be captured as a profit margin. The rest of the value gets passed on to consumers in the form of surplus. Thus, even though consumer surplus is not entered into a company’s books or onto customer receipts, it is important to profitability. Firms that create superior value can be said to have a competitive advantage in that they can gain market share by providing consumers with more-attractive surplus propositions and or can command higher profit margins while still offering consumers surplus on par with their competitors (Besanko et al. 2010).
Consumer Surplus in the Context of Diminishing Marginal Utility
Recall from above that the law of demand reflects diminishing marginal utility from successive units of a product. To see this, let us continue our sandwich example. A very hungry person receives a great deal of satisfaction from the first sandwich, probably enjoys the second, might nibble a bit on a third, but is not much interested in the fourth. What is happening here is that as the person eats more and more, he or she starts to become satiated. The first sandwich was wonderful but the fourth sandwich creates indigestion. This translates into the monetary value the consumer places on sandwiches. The hungry consumer is willing to pay a relatively high price for the first sandwich, a moderate price for the second, and much less, if anything, for the third or fourth sandwich. This leads to the negative relationship between price and quantity as stipulated by the law of demand.
Let us continue this example with Demonstration $1$ below. Suppose that your marginal valuation, the value you place on additional sandwiches, is as presented in Demonstration $1$. If sandwiches are priced at $8, you buy one and receive consumer surplus of$4. You are quite hungry and would enjoy another, but the first sandwich has taken the edge off your hunger and you only value the second sandwich at $7 which is less than the$8 purchase price. For this reason, you will only buy one sandwich if they are priced at $8. Notice from Demonstration 3 that as prices fall, you purchase additional sandwiches (again giving rise to a downward sloping demand schedule). In addition to buying more sandwiches at lower prices, you obtain more surplus from each sandwich you purchase. With this in mind, let us consider a slightly different situation: suppose that when you showed up at the sandwich shop, you were pleasantly surprised to see that the shop owner was running a special and had sandwiches priced at$6 instead of $8. Move the price down to$6 in Demonstration $1$ to verify that in this case, you would gladly buy two sandwiches at $6 apiece. Now you would get a total$8 in consumer surplus ($7 from the first sandwich and$1 from the second).
Now let us think about this from the perspective of the shop owner. It costs her $5 to produce each sandwich, so she makes only$2 in profit by selling you the two sandwiches at $6 apiece. If she would have kept her sandwiches priced at$8 as normal, she would have only sold you one sandwich but would have made $3 in profit from the transaction with you. She faces a dilemma. She can profitably sell you a second sandwich since you value the second sandwich at$7 and it only costs her $5 to produce it. However, if she sets price low enough to induce you to buy two sandwiches, she gives up the high margin she could have commanded on the first sandwich. Moreover, there are probably less hungry customers that would have bought one sandwich at$8 but would not want a second sandwich even at the low price of $6. By pricing at$6, the shop owner sacrifices the higher margin on sandwiches sold to all these less-hungry customers as well.
Calculating Total Consumer Surplus Using the Demand Schedule
It should be clear from Demonstrations $1$ and $2$ that there is a link between consumer surplus and the demand schedule. Graphically, the consumer surplus in a market can be computed as the area below the demand schedule but above the prevailing price. In Figure $2$, the consumer surplus is the triangular area that is shaded in blue. If the demand schedule is linear (as in the demand schedule presented in Figure $2$), you can use the formula for the area of a triangle to compute consumer surplus. You may recall that the area of a triangle is given by $12 \times \dfrac{base}{frac}$. With this in mind, when given a value of $P$, say $\bar{P}$, you can compute consumer surplus from a linear demand schedule:
$CS = \dfrac{1}{2} \times Q (\bar{P}) \times (Intercept \: of \: Inverse \: Demand \: Schedule - \bar{P})$
In Figure $2$, $\bar{P}_{1} = 40$. Let us use the information in the figure to compute consumer surplus.
1. Evaluate the direct demand schedule at $\bar{P}_{1} = 40$ to get $Q_{1} (\bar{P}_{1}) = 200 - 2(40) = 120$. This is the base of the consumer surplus triangle.
2. Look at the equation for the inverse demand schedule provided in the figure and notice that it has an intercept of 100. Compute the height of the consumer surplus triangle as the difference between this intercept and $\bar{P}_{1}$, which is $100-40 =60$.
3. Use the formula for the area of a triangle to get consumer surplus as $12 \times 120 \times (60) = 3600$.
Provided the demand schedule is linear, you can use the formula for an area of triangle to get consumer surplus. Pedagogically, linear demand schedules will be fine for most of what you will encounter in this course; however, in many empirical applications you may not want to assume that demand schedules are linear. In general, if the demand schedule is not linear you can compute consumer surplus using the integral as $\int_{0}^{Q*} P(Q)dQ - P(Q)Q*$, where $P(Q)$is the inverse demand curve and $Q* \geq 0$ is an arbitrary quantity value.
1.05: Concluding Comments
To recap, this chapter has introduced concepts essential to understanding the demand side of the market. First, you learned about different demand states. As you move forward through the course, the focus will be primarily on products in an effective demand state. You will, however, examine models appropriate for understanding products in other demand states in chapter 5. In chapter 3, you will revisit the demand shift variables as you learn elasticities. These shift variables will play a central role in chapter 4, as you model market equilibrium. Consumer surplus will central to measuring welfare in chapters 7 and 8 and will help motivate the ideas behind pricing schemes commonly used be sellers to extract consumer surplus and turn it into higher profit margins.
A question central to this course relates to how markets address the economic allocation problem. Any economic system needs to answer questions such as the following (see Kohls and Uhl 1998).
1. What to produce?
2. How much to produce?
3. How to produce?
4. How to distribute production?
In many cases, market-determined prices provide the information needed for the economy to efficiently respond to these questions. The content of this chapter relates directly to the fourth question. A consumer with a dollar to spend will use it in the market that provides him or her with the most surplus, and you have already seen that surplus depends on the price. Provided consumers know their valuation of a product, a set of market prices provides the information necessary for consumers to self-sort into markets where they obtain the most surplus. This helps to ensure that products and services are allocated to those consumers who value them most and as you will see in the coming chapters, value them sufficiently to justify the production costs.
1.06: References
Besanko, D., D. Dranove, M. Shanley, and M. Schafer. 2010. Economics of Strategy, 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons.
Kohls, R. L. and J. N. Uhl. 1998. Marketing of Agricultural Products, 8th Ed. Pearson. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/01%3A_Market_Demand/1.04%3A_Consumer_Surplus.txt |
Problem Set 1: Short Answer.
Exercise \(1\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 125 + 3 P2 - 0.1 M - 6 P1
P2 = 25; M = 500; P1 = 20
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a substitute.
Good 1 is inferior.
Direct: Q1 = 150 -6 P1
Inverse: P1 = 25 -0.17 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 75
Exercise \(2\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 230 + 5 P2 -0.2 M -5 P1
P2 = 10; M = 400; P1 = 30
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a substitute.
Good 1 is inferior.
Direct: Q1 = 200 -5 P1
Inverse: P1 = 40 -0.2 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 250
Exercise \(3\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 104 + 2 P2 + 0.1 M -6 P1
P2 = 30; M = 1000; P1 = 20
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a substitute.
Good 1 is normal.
Direct: Q1 = 264 -6 P1
Inverse: P1 = 44 -0.17 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 1728
Exercise \(4\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 382 -2 P2 -0.3 M -4 P1
P2 = 30; M = 300; P1 = 40
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a complement.
Good 1 is inferior.
Direct: Q1 = 232 -4 P1
Inverse: P1 = 58 -0.25 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 648
Exercise \(5\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 137 -3 P2 + 0.4 M -3 P1
P2 = 25; M = 400; P1 = 50
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a complement.
Good 1 is normal.
Direct: Q1 = 222 -3 P1
Inverse: P1 = 74 -0.33 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 864
Exercise \(6\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 102 + 6 P2 + 0.3 M -4 P1
P2 = 5; M = 600; P1 = 40
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a substitute.
Good 1 is normal.
Direct: Q1 = 312 -4 P1
Inverse: P1 = 78 -0.25 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 2888
Exercise \(7\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 400 -4 P2 -0.4 M -3 P1
P2 = 20; M = 200; P1 = 50
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a complement.
Good 1 is inferior.
Direct: Q1 = 240 -3 P1
Inverse: P1 = 80 -0.33 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 1350
Exercise \(8\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 200 + 4 P2 + 0.2 M -5 P1
P2 = 20; M = 800; P1 = 30
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a substitute.
Good 1 is normal.
Direct: Q1 = 440 -5 P1
Inverse: P1 = 88 -0.2 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 8410
Exercise \(9\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 260 -6 P2 -0.5 M -2 P1
P2 = 5; M = 100; P1 = 60
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a complement.
Good 1 is inferior.
Direct: Q1 = 180 -2 P1
Inverse: P1 = 90 -0.5 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 900
Exercise \(10\)
Given the following:
Q1 = 132 -5 P2 + 0.5 M -2 P1
P2 = 10; M = 300; P1 = 60
--------
Is good 2 a substitute or complement to good 1?
Is good 1 a normal or inferior good?
Write equations for the direct and inverse demand schedules.
Plot the inverse demand schedule. Label the vertical and horizontal intercepts along with the own-price and quantity.
Calculate consumer surplus at this data point. Shade the area that represents consumer surplus.
Answer
Good 2 is a complement.
Good 1 is normal.
Direct: Q1 = 232 -2 P1
Inverse: P1 = 116 -0.5 Q1
Consumer Surplus = \$ 3136
Problem Set 2: Multiple Choice.
Exercise \(1\)
1. Which best describes consumer surplus?
a) Large surplus that result when consumers perceive the product in question to be undesirable (e.g., negative demand).
b) Value that the consumer receives from a transaction above the price he or she is required to pay.
c) Situations where the consumer only wants one unit of the product. Additional units are considered to be surplus.
d) Goods that consumers store for use at a later date.
Answer
b
Exercise \(2\)
1. Which of the following is most likely to shift the demand schedule out (to the right or northeast)?
a) An increase in population.
b) An increase the own-price.
c) A decrease in the price of a substitute product.
d) All of the above.
Answer
a
Exercise \(3\)
1. Suppose that a prestigious journal reports that the regular consumption of walnuts reduces risk of heart disease. As a consequence, the demand for walnuts increases (walnut demand shifts to the right).
a) Walnuts would switch from becoming inferior goods to normal goods.
b) This would be described as a change in the price of a substitute product because heart disease is something no one wants.
c) This change in demand would best be characterized as a change in preferences.
d) All of the above
Answer
c
Exercise \(4\)
1. Which best describes a direct demand schedule?
a) Price is a function of quantity.
b) Quantity is a function of price.
c) Price is a function of income.
d) Both a and c.
Answer
b
Exercise \(5\)
1. Which condition is the best example of a product in a state of latent demand?
a) High-protein muffins filled with roasted caterpillars.
b) Fresh salads in cold Midwestern and Northeastern cities during the winter months of the mid to late 1800s.
c) Demand for products that are outdated (e.g., unused tickets to last week’s ball game).
d) Demand for apples.
Answer
b
Exercise \(6\)
1. Suppose the economy goes into recession, many people lose their jobs, and nearly everyone has a lower income. Which products will likely experience an increase in market demand?
a) Products classified as normal goods.
b) Products that are classified as inferior goods.
c) Products classified as necessities.
d) Products classified as complements.
e) Products classified as substitutes.
Answer
b
Exercise \(7\)
1. Which best describes complements as described in class?
a) Goods that are consumed together, for example, gasoline and automobiles.
b) Luxury items purchased in the hope of eliciting complements from friends or acquaintances.
c) Goods that can be used in lieu of one another, for example, beef and poultry.
d) Goods for which demand increases given an increase in income.
Answer
a
Exercise \(8\)
1. In demand, if the price of good A decreases and the demand for good B also decreases then which must be true?
a) Good A is a substitute for good B.
b) Good A is a complement for good B.
c) Good A is a normal good.
d) Good B is an inferior good.
Answer
a
Exercise \(9\)
1. When you write an equation for the inverse demand curve,
a) Price will be a function of quantity (price is on the left-hand side of the equation).
b) Quantity will be a function of price (quantity is on the left-hand side of the equation).
c) The demand schedule will slope upwards.
d) Both b and c.
Answer
a
Exercise \(10\)
1. The law of demand
a) States that as price increases, quantity decreases and vice versa.
b) Reflects the fact that marginal utility usually declines as the number of units consumed increases.
c) Reflects the fact that different consumers will generally place different valuations on the product. In other words, as price declines more consumers will find it attractive to participate in the market.
d) All of the above.
Answer
d
Exercise \(11\)
1. If consumer incomes increase,
a) demand will shift out (to the right).
b) demand will shift in (to the left).
c) demand will not shift but there will be a new quantity demanded from the same demand schedule.
d) the shift in demand cannot be determined without additional information.
Answer
d
Exercise \(12\)
1. Consumer surplus refers to
a) The triangular area below the linear inverse demand curve and above the horizontal axis.
b) The sum of the value that consumers receive above the price they are required to pay.
c) Situations where consumers do not like a product and so the result is an excess or surplus.
d) A case where producers put too much on the market.
e) Both a and b.
Answer
b
Exercise \(13\)
1. Prepared breakfast cereal is best described as being in a state of:
a) Latent demand.
b) Negative demand.
c) Effective demand.
d) Latent supply.
Answer
c
Exercise \(14\)
1. By definition, an inferior good is:
a) A good that is in a state of negative demand.
b) A good for which demand increases (shifts out) when consumer incomes decline.
c) A good for which demand decreases (shifts in) when consumer incomes decline.
d) A good that would be unappetizing to most consumers.
Answer
b
Exercise \(15\)
1. The law of demand indicates:
a) Cross-price elasticities will be negative for substitute products.
b) The demand schedule will be downward sloping.
c) Income elasticities will be positive.
d) Demand shifts when tastes and preferences change.
Answer
b
Exercise \(16\)
1. Vacations to Mars are best described as being in a state of:
a) Latent demand.
b) Negative demand.
c) Effective demand.
d) No demand state since consumers cannot buy these products.
Answer
a
Exercise \(17\)
1. By definition a normal good is:
a) A good that is in a state of negative demand.
b) A good for which demand increases (shifts out) when consumer incomes decline.
c) A good for which demand decreases (shifts in) when consumer incomes decline.
d) A good that consumers consider to be “normal” in the sense that there is nothing extraordinary about it. Food insects, for example, would be abnormal goods for many US consumers.
Answer
c
Exercise \(18\)
1. All else equal, if income increases and the demand schedule shifts out (to the right) then you can conclude that:
a) The demand schedule is for a normal good.
b) The demand schedule is for an inferior good.
c) The demand schedule is for a substitute product.
d) The demand schedule is for a complementary product.
Answer
a | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/01%3A_Market_Demand/1.07%3A_Problem_Sets.txt |
Learning Objectives
The learning objectives for this chapter are as follows:
• Describe the firm’s production decision, specifically the conditions under which the firm will enter the market and the conditions under which the firm will exit the market.
• Express the firm’s profit maximization problem in terms of revenue and cost.
• Describe and explain the logic of the firm’s profit maximization condition (MR = MC).
• Explain the idea of opportunity cost.
• Identify variables that shift the supply schedule. Be able to predict the direction of the shift.
• Distinguish between competing products in production and joint products in production. Provide examples of each.
• Explain the derivation of input demands from profit maximizing input choices, and describe variables that shift demand schedules for inputs.
• Explain producer surplus and compute producer surplus given a linear supply schedule.
02: Market Supply
Supply arises from the business decisions of producing firms. The term “firm” is used broadly to refer to any producing enterprise and includes farms. The law of supply states that the quantity supplied to the market increases as a a product’s market price increases. After a brief overview of the law of supply and the market supply schedule, this chapter examines two types of decisions at the level of the producing enterprise that give rise to the law of supply.
1. The first revolves around the decision to participate in the market. The primary goal here is to establish that: (a) a higher output price induces additional firms to enter the market, and (b) when the output price is low, some firms will find it in their interest to exit the market. The decision to participate in the market is one reason for the law of supply. In examining the entry and exit decision, you will see that the price that induces new firms to enter the market will often be higher than the price at which existing firms will exit. This observation is not essential to the law of supply but does have implications for marketing arrangements that will be considered later in the course.
2. The second type of decision pertains to the output choices of existing firms. In many situations, the firm has some flexibility to alter the volume it produces once it has entered the market. You will see that a firm’s profit maximizing output choice is positively related to the market price. This is a second reason for the the law of supply. Existing firms will supply more to the market at higher prices and less to the market at lower prices.
Having analyzed these two decisions, you will be in a position to characterize the market supply schedule as an aggregate reflecting choices of many individual firms. As is the case with the demand schedules you studied in Chapter 1, There are a number of variables that shift the market supply schedule and which are described in this chapter.
The next portion of the chapter examines demand for inputs used in production. Many agricultural products are demanded as inputs in downstream production activities. For example, corn is an input used in the production of livestock, ethanol, vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup and a number of other downstream products. Demands for inputs arise out of the supply decisions of profit maximizing firms. Thus, even though the chapter has “supply” in its title, it is also very much about input demand. The firm’s problem will be characterized by choosing inputs to produce the output that maximizes profit. The solution to this problem provides input demand equations that depend on the own-price of the input, the prices of other inputs, and the price of the output.
Finally, this chapter introduces the concept of producer surplus. The market supply schedule is used to compute producer surplus at a prevailing market price. This represents total economic profits in excess of production costs accruing to the producing industry and is used as a measure of producer welfare in the analysis of market outcome. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.01%3A_Section_1-.txt |
The previous chapter emphasized the market demand schedule. The demand schedule shows the relationship between the amount of a product or service demanded and its own-price. The supply schedule is analogous in that it shows the relationship between the amount of a product supplied to the market and the product’s own-price. Again, the convention will be to plot the supply schedule in inverse form (with price on the vertical axis and quantity on the horizontal axis).
Like the demand schedule, the supply schedule is affected by other variables – supply shifters – that characterize the economics of the production environment. Because market supply arises from the actions of individual agents (firms or producers) who seek to maximize profit, anything that affects cost of production or the potential for profit in alternative production endeavors will impact the relationship between the price and the quantity supplied. Variables that shift the supply schedule will be covered in some depth below. An example of a supply schedule is presented in Figure 1. Aside from the fact that the supply schedule has a positive slope, it is analogous to the demand schedule in that it plots out the schedule of quantity supplied to the market at corresponding own-price levels holding all other variables constant.
The law of supply states that as price increases, quantity supplied increases and vice versa. Consequently, the supply schedule shows a positive relationship between the market price and amount supplied. The law of supply is the result of two key features of the production environment:
1. The entry of new firms to the marketplace and the exit of existing firms is determined, in part, by price levels. In the standard economic model, the firm takes inputs such as labor, physical capital, raw materials, and know-how and converts them into a good or service that is sold on the market. All of these inputs come at a cost. A firm will not engage in a production activity unless it is economically feasible. That is, the production activity must generate enough revenue to cover its cost. All else equal, as the price of the good or service rises, it is more likely that new firms will find it feasible to enter the market and produce the good or service at a profit. These new firms will cause the quantity placed on the market to increase. Conversely, as the price of a good or service falls, firms that are presently in the market will find it more difficult to generate a profit and some will go out of business. As these firms leave, the total quantity that is placed on the market declines.
2. Production processes are generally characterized by the law of diminishing marginal productivity. This means that in order to induce existing producers to put more on the market, the price will need to be high enough to justify bringing less productive and/or more costly resources into production. Most human activities reflect the law of diminishing marginal productivity. In fact, you confront this law as a student. Suppose you spend four hours studying the night before a difficult exam. If you are like most people, the first hour of solid study will be quite a bit more productive than the fourth. By the fourth hour, your are mentally tired, apt to confuse ideas and associations, and are just plain sick of the subject. The same thing holds true in the production of goods and services. The additional inputs that are needed to expand production may be available only in lower quality or accessible only at higher cost. The law of diminishing marginal productivity suggests that cost per unit of output will rise as more output is produced. Consequently, firms will place more output on the market only if a higher price justifies the higher cost of production. This is another reason for the law of supply. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.02%3A_Section_2-.txt |
Supply reflects profit maximizing behavior of firms in the market. The assumption is that firms are in business to make a profit. Profit is composed of two terms. The first is revenue (total sales), and the second is cost (the total cost of doing business). The basic equation for profit is as follows:
$Profit = Total \: Revenue - Total \: Cost$
The Price-Taking Assumption
To keep things simple, assume that the market consists of price-taking firms. The price-taking assumption means that any given firm can produce and sell all that it wants at the going market price. This assumption is reasonable if the following two conditions are met.
1. The firm is small relative to the size of the market. The firm must be sufficiently small that its output decisions have a negligible impact on market price. For example, the wheat market is large relative to the size of a given wheat farmer. Even a large farm, with several thousand acres, will have an immeasurable impact on the overall market price. On the other hand, producers of pectin (a food ingredient) are large relative to the size of their market. If one of the major pectin producers opens a new plant or closes an existing plant, there would be an affect on the market price. The assumption of price taking behavior is reasonable for a wheat farm but is unreasonable for a major producer of pectin.
2. The firm’s product or service is indistinguishable from that of other firms. If the assumption of price-taking behavior is valid, then the firm’s output cannot be unique in a manner that enables it to command a premium in the marketplace relative to the products of other firms. This does not entirely rule out quality differences among firms and associated price premiums or discounts for quality attributes. However, quality attributes must be objective and readily identifiable so that products can be sorted into lots of uniform quality. For example, many agricultural commodities are graded by quality. Market prices reflect the quality grade. In these cases, it is the presence of the quality attribute that matters, not the firm that is producing the product. When subjective quality attributes are important to consumers and are conveyed through a brand name or by the reputation of the firm, then the firm is not a price taker.
Why the price-taking assumption? Clearly, the price-taking assumption does not hold in many cases that are interesting and important to understanding the food marketing system. Later in the course, you will consider cases where this assumption does not hold. For now, the assumption enables us to more easily motivate and explore some important economic considerations that relate to the supply side of the market.
Revenue for a Price-Taking Firm
Let $q$ represent the quantity the firm places on the market. A lower-case $q$ is used to indicate that this is the firm’s quantity and not the total market quantity ($Q$). Total revenue ($R$) for the firm is its quantity multiplied by the market price ($P$). The price-taking assumption means that the firm can place more on the market without affecting the market price. Its quantity is so small relative to the market quantity that one can assert that $P$ is not a function of the firm’s quantity ($q$), even though $P$ is a function of the market quantity ($Q$). With this in mind, the total revenue for the firm is
$R = q \times P$
Because of the price-taking assumption, an output choice only affects revenue through the volume sold. This simplifies the computation of marginal revenue ($MR$) and average revenue ($AR$) for the firm. Marginal revenue is the change in revenue given a small change in output produced by the firm:
$MR = \dfrac{\Delta R}{\Delta q} = P$
where \Delta (capital Greek letter delta) is the change operator. To give you some intuition about $MR$, note that the total revenue function is a line. The intercept is zero and the slope term (what you learned in algebra as the rise, $\Delta R$, over the run $\Delta q$ ) is $P$.
Average revenue is total revenue divided by the firm’s quantity. In the case of a price-taking firm,
$AR = \dfrac{R}{q} = \dfrac{q \times P}{q} = P$.
Two points are worth mentioning here. First, given an industry comprised of price-taking firms, both marginal revenue and average revenue for the firm are equal to the market price ($MR = AR = P$). Second, because all firms face the market price, all firms have the same marginal revenue and average revenue even if there are differences in technology or ability among the firms.
The Cost Side of Profit
Let us start with some general facts about production cost.
1. Total cost is an increasing function of $q$. As the volume produced and sold increases, total cost will increase. This reflects the fact that something cannot be produced out of thin air. Production requires inputs (raw materials, labor, capital, etc.). These inputs cost money. As more output is produced, more inputs are required, and production cost will rise accordingly. Sometimes it is said that large firms have lower costs than small firms. It is possible that a large firm could have a lower cost per unit than a small firm, but in this case, the statement is about average cost (cost per unit) and not total cost. Assuming that firms are operating efficiently for their size, then total cost for firms at a larger scale of production will be higher than total cost for firms at a smaller scale.
2. Total cost is an increasing function in input prices. Because production requires inputs, total cost will depend on the prices of inputs. For example, if fertilizer, petroleum, or wage rates increase (decrease), then the cost of producing a given crop will increase (decrease) even if the number of units produced or acres in production remains the same.
3. Total cost reflects efficient use of the prevailing production technology. The firm cannot be maximizing its profit unless it is simultaneously minimizing the cost of producing the profit maximizing output level. Minimizing cost requires that there be no waste in inputs, and the firm is converting inputs into outputs in the best way possible given the technology that is has available. Improvements in technology affect this conversion and impact the production cost. In agriculture, improvements in machinery, genetics, and pest control methods could all be classified as improvements in technology. Such technological improvements usually mean that more output can be produced for a given set of inputs. Stated another way, a technological improvement means that any fixed level of output can be produced with fewer inputs.
4. Cost is an “economic” as opposed to an “accounting” construct. What this means is that the returns that could have been received in alternative production activities are included as an opportunity cost of engaging in the current activity. For example, a farmer who plants corn forgoes the returns that could have been made if an alternative crop were planted instead. The degree of risk inherent in a production activity is also important to the idea of opportunity cost. As a general rule, more-risky activities require higher returns to attract investment of inputs and effort. As risk increases, other, less-risky activities become more attractive. This increases the opportunity cost of staying in the now-more-risky activity.
For simplicity cost will often be expressed only as a function of $q$ or
$Total \: Cost = c(q)$
Total cost depends on all of items 1 - 4 above, so it is a bit of a simplification to only include qq as an argument to the function. In making this simplification, the function shows the relationship between cost and quantity for a fixed technology, a fixed vector of input prices, and constant opportunity cost. Should one or more of these things change, our cost function would shift to reflect the new input prices, new technology, or different opportunity cost. Of course, when necessary, input prices and other items will be included in the cost function. This will be the case later in the chapter.
Marginal and Average Costs
As in the case of revenue, marginal and average concepts on the cost side are of interest as well. Marginal cost (MCMC) is the change in cost resulting from a small change in quantity produced:
$MC = \dfrac{\Delta c(q)}{\Delta q} = \dfrac{\Delta c(q + \Delta q) - c(q)}{\Delta q} \> 0$.
Marginal cost is strictly positive reflecting the fact that something cannot be produced from nothing. Moreover, an assumption that marginal cost is an increasing function of quantity will often be appropriate. An increasing marginal cost reflects the law of diminishing marginal productivity. Again, this law states that as the producer adds more of any given input, that input’s contribution to output (while positive) diminishes. Average total cost, $AC$, is defined as the total cost per unit of output:
$AC = \dfrac{c(q)}{q}$.
Fixed and Variable Costs in the Short Run
In the short run, some cost items may be unavoidable and independent of production. That is, the firm would incur some cost whether or not it actually produces anything and regardless of whether it produces a little or a lot. In these cases, total cost can be expressed as
$c(q) = f + v(q)$,
where $f$ is the fixed cost, that portion of total cost which is independent of quantity in the short-run, and $v(q)$ is the variable cost, that portion of total cost which increases (decreases) as short-run quantity increases (decreases). With this in mind, average total cost can be decomposed into average fixed cost and average variable cost as follows:
$AC = \dfrac{f}{q} + \dfrac{v(q)}{q} = AFC + AVC$.
AC=fq+v(q)q=AFC+AVC.AC=fq+v(q)q=AFC+AVC.
Earlier it was mentioned that total cost was an increasing function of $q$, and that this is due to the fact that one cannot produce something from nothing. However, the equation above suggests that average cost could actually decrease as $q$ increases. You can see this from the two terms that comprise the equation above. The first term, $AFC= \dfrac{f}{q}$, declines as $q$ increases. This is because $q$ is in the denominator. The second term, $AVC=\dfrac{v(q)}{q}$ may increase or decrease as $q$ increases. It is always true that $v(q)$ increases as $q$ increases because more inputs are needed to produce more output. However, $q$ is also in the denominator of $AVC$ making the overall sign of the change with respect to $q$ ambiguous.
At this point, it should be clear that there are situations where $AC$ falls as more output is produced. When this is true, there are economies of scale. Conversely, when $AC$ increases as $q$ increases, there are diseconomies of scale. Figure $2$ presents a cost function that exhibits both economies and diseconomies of scale over different ranges of output. In the figure, the firm is operating under economies of scale at output levels below $q=10$ and under diseconomies of scale at output levels greater than $q=10$. Notice from Panel A of Figure $2$ that cost always increases as output increases. Panel B, however, shows that average cost declines until the firm reaches an output of 10 units and then increases afterwards. Note that the firm faces fixed cost of $f = 100$ and variable cost of $v(q) = q^{2}$. The corresponding $AFC$ and $AVC$ are $AFC = frac{100}{q}$ and $AVC = q$, respectively. The reason for the economies of scale is that at output levels below $q = 10$, $AFC$ is declining at a faster rate than $AVC$ is increasing. At output levels greater than $q = 10$, $AFC$ continues to decline but at a lower rate than $AVC$ increases.
Panel A: Total cost.
Panel B: Average cost.
Later in the course, you will see that economies of scale are important to coordination as products move through different stages of the vertical chain. Specifically, the decision of whether to source a supply or service through the market or internally through vertical integration depends to large extent on whether the firm’s demand for the input is large enough to justify operation at an efficient scale. For now, however, the goal is to emphasize the difference between total and average cost and their relevance to the law of supply. Let us turn our attention to this topic.
The Producer’s Decision to Enter, Remain, or Exit the Market
One reason for the law of supply lies in decisions by producers to enter or exit the market. The supply side of the market will attract entrants whenever a producer sees that $P \geq AC$. Remember that $AC$ includes opportunity cost, so $P \>AC$ means that the producer’s profit margin in this market is better than alternative production activities available to him or her. As the market price rises, more producers will see that $P \> AC$ and will enter the market. Additional entry into the market at higher prices causes more output will be placed on the market. Exactly what the law of supply says will happen.
The converse is also true, as the market price falls, some producers will exit the market. However, the price at which producers exit the market will often be lower than average total cost. In fact, it could be much lower as you will see in the vineyard example below. The reason for this lies in the fact that over some planning horizons, average total cost includes a portion that is fixed. The producer incurs the fixed cost in the short run regardless of whether he or she produces anything. If the producer exits the market, the short-run loss will be equal to the fixed cost. If the producer remains in the market, loss could be reduced provided the market price is high enough to cover the variable cost. There are three price points that are important to the entry and exit decision.
1. The break-even price point is $P = AC$. When the market price exceeds the break-even point, the market will attract new entrants.
2. The shutdown price point is $P = AVC$. At a price below the shut-down point, the firm will lose less by exiting the market. The short-run loss will be equal to the firm’s fixed cost.
3. A firm will remain in the market and continue to operate when the market price is between the break-even and shutdown points, $AVC \< P \< AC$
The difference between the break-even and shutdown points results from differences in the length of run. In the long run, all cost items are variable. In the equation for average total cost above, $f=0$ and so $AC = AVC$. In other words, there is no difference between the break-even and shutdown points in the long run. In the short run, however, some cost items cannot be avoided and must be incurred regardless of whether the firm operates. For example, suppose the firm has a long-term lease on a production facility. In the short run, the lease must be paid regardless of whether the firm operates. The cost of the lease is fixed. The short run is the length of time it would take the firm extricate itself from the lease obligation.
Vineyard Economics: A Case Example
Production of grapes involves a large fixed cost in terms of a trellis system to support the grape vines, a drip irrigation system to deliver water and nutrients to the vineyard, and expenses incurred to establish a productive vineyard, a process that takes several years. Consider some wine-grape production budgets published for the Finger Lakes region of New York (White 2011). Here is a direct link: download from ageconsearch.umn.edu. Although it would be a good idea to review other parts of the publication for background, the focus will be specifically on Table 11 of the publication. White’s (2011) budgets are chosen since they are quite detailed, provide a good overview of what it takes to establish a vineyard, and are representative of Eastern viticulture regions. With the exception of Pinot Noir, the varieties that White (2011) considers can be raised in regions of Arkansas suitable for the production of bunch grapes (see Noguera et al. 2005). As you peruse White’s (2011) budget publication, consider the following:
1. How has the author handled the issue of “economic” versus “accounting” cost? Can you provide some examples of cost items included in the budget that would indicate that the author is attempting to measure economic costs? If so, what?
2. Why did the author classify some costs as fixed and others as variable? Is there any feature that all fixed costs have in common? What do all variable costs have in common?
3. How did the author compute the break-even price? You should take a moment to compute the average fixed cost ($/ton) and average variable cost ($/ton) assuming the yield targets reported in the top row of Table 11.
4. Given the values reported in Table 11, would you expect to see new vineyards being established? Why or why not?
5. Assuming that variable costs and yield targets reported in Table 11 are typical for vineyards that have already been established, do you expect existing vineyards to shut down in the short run? Why or why not?
6. What is the potential length of the short run in a vineyard operation? How long does the author assume the vineyard will be productive once it has been established?
Demonstration 1 is calibrated to match the last column of Table 11 in White (2011). This is the column for Riesling grapes. In the demonstration, quantity is 3.4 tons/acre if the vineyard continues operations. Otherwise, quantity is zero. One thing to notice is the high fixed cost of the Riesling vineyard. Total fixed cost is $2,445 per acre. Dividing this by tons produced indicates an average fixed cost of$719 per ton. In the demonstration, this $719 is the difference between the break-even threshold (solid blue line) and the shutdown threshold (solid red line). When Demonstration 1 first loads, it matches the assumptions of White (2011) and shows a market price of$1,300 per ton, average variable cost of $817 per ton, and an$803 loss per acre on the Riesling vineyard. If it does not match, you can reload the page so that it will.
The first thing to point out is that at the price of $1,300, the vineyard is not profitable. It cannot cover its total cost comprised of both its fixed and variable cost. Nevertheless, you would expect a vineyard in this situation to continue operations since$1,300 is well above the shutdown point of $817. The table in the demonstration shows two scenarios. If the vineyard continues to operate at a price of$1,300 per ton it loses $803 per acre. If it shuts down at this price, it loses$2,445 per acre. Clearly, its best choice is to continue operations at a price of $1,300 per ton. However, this price will not attract any new vineyards into the market. In the demonstration, you can control two things: the market price and the magnitude of average variable costs. Whenever the market price is above the blue, break-even threshold, you would expect entrants into Riesling vineyards. Whenever, price falls below the red, shutdown threshold, you would expect existing Riesling vineyards to exit. Notice that the market price affects the entry/exit decision as does the magnitude of average variable cost. Demonstration $1$: The decision to enter, exit or remain. There are three takeaways from the entry and exit decision as explained here. The first is simply that producers enter the market if the price exceeds their break-even point, remain in the market when the price is between the break-even and shutdown points, and exit the market if price falls below the shutdown point. This entry and exit decision is one reason for the law of supply. The second takeaway is that supply can be fixed in the short run, and, as the vineyard example demonstrates, the short run could be a long time. Thus, in some markets, there can be stickiness in supply because it will take a large increase or decrease in prices to trigger the entry or exit decision. As you will learn later in the course, this can give rise to cyclical patterns in agricultural prices. The third takeaway is a bit more subtle but is important for the organization of agricultural markets. Imagine that you are the owner of a Riesling vineyard similar to the one in the example above. Now suppose that you have a limited number of buyers for your grapes. From a marketing standpoint, the overarching concern is that once your vineyard is established, a buyer may be able to extract substantial price concessions from you. This is possible because of the large difference between the break-even and shutdown price. There is little concern if you have many alternative buyers, but when the number of buyers is small, the potential for opportunistic behavior may prevent an open market from functioning. Coordination of supply with demand could still take place but would involve formal or implicit contracts. In some cases, independent suppliers may be so concerned about opportunistic behavior on the part of the buyer that they will not enter the market. The buyer will need to backward integrate in order to secure the supplies. Many wineries are, in fact, backward integrated into vineyard operations. Profit Maximization In the vineyard example, the firm’s quantity choice was binary in that the vineyard either continued to operate or it shutdown. If the vineyard continued to produce, its output was 3.4 tons/acre, give or take a bit. This is because yield is related to quality of the grapes (and their value to wineries). Moreover, a vineyard has a more or less fixed capacity once it has been established. The quantity choice is much less binary in many other production settings. For instance, I worked in the box cooler of a beef packing plant when I was younger. The packing plant could increase the volume of cattle it processed if it was profitable for it do so. In these situations, I worked longer hours and/or weekend shifts. The plant paid overtime in these situations, which was time and a half. Thus, the plant could increase its output but only at a higher cost. Labor was the plant’s second highest cost item after cattle. The firm’s profit is maximized when marginal revenue equals marginal cost. This condition is $P = MR = MC$ in the case of a price taking firm. The logic supporting this condition is as follows: 1. Suppose that $P \> MC$ at some output level $q = \tilde{q}$. In this situation, the firm could increase its output by $\Delta q$, a small amount. Its revenue would go up by $P$, but its cost would only go up by $MC \< P$. For this reason, its profit will go up if it produces $Delta q$ more units. Hence, $q = \tilde{q}$ could not be a profit maximizing level of quantity if $P \> MC$ because there is another value of $q$, namely $q = \tilde{q} + \Delta q$, that provides a higher level of profit than $q = \tilde{q}$. 2. Suppose instead that $P \<MC$ at some output level $q = \tilde{q}$. In this situation, the firm could decrease its output by $\Delta q$, a small amount. Its revenue would go down by $P$, but its cost would go down by $MC \> P$. Its cost savings from reducing its output by $\Delta q$ would more than offset its revenue loss. Overall profit would go up. Hence, $q = \tilde{q}$ could not be a profit maximizing level of quantity if $P \< MC$ because there is another value of $q$, namely $q = \tilde{q} - \Delta {q}$, that provides a higher level of profit than $q = \tilde{q}$. This logic suggests that the only way for $q = \tilde{q}$ to be a profit maximizing level of output is if marginal cost at $q = \tilde{q}$ is equal to the price. The beef packing plant I worked for understood this concept. When boxed beef prices justified the overtime costs, it meant that $P$ was greater than $MC$, and the company had me work longer hours and/or weekend shifts. Conversely, when $P$ was less than $MC$, my overtime hours were cut back. For a price-taking firm, the condition $P = MC$ defines the individual firm’s supply schedule. As the output price increases, producers will find it profitable to produce more units (albeit at higher marginal cost). This relationship holds in the short run so long as the market price is above the shutdown point ($P \> AVC$). Use Demonstration $2$ below to gain some intuition about this. In the demonstration, the shaded rectangular area represents the size of the firm’s profit (if blue) or loss (if red). Notice in the demonstration that when you choose the quantity that equates the firm’s marginal cost with the market price, you cause this rectangular area to be maximized if blue or minimized if red. Change the price in the demonstration. Then adjust the quantity to maximize profit. You will see that the firm should expand or reduce its output to maximize its profit if price increases or decreases. Marginal Cost (MC) =$40.00
Average Total Cost (AC) = $30.00 Profit = (AR - AC)q =$100.00
Demonstration $2$: The firm’s problem when $C(q) = 100 + 2q^{2}$. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.03%3A_Section_3-.txt |
To recap, market supply reflects the actions of individual firms seeking to maximize their profit. These actions include entry into the market, exit from the market, and profit maximizing quantity choices once firms are in the market. With this in mind, anything that affects profitability aside from the product’s own market price will shift the supply schedule. Let us summarize some of these factors here.
First, anything that affects production cost will affect supply.
• Input prices. Other things equal, an increase in the price of an input will shift the supply schedule inwards (decrease in supply). Conversely, a decrease in the price of an input will shift the supply curve outwards (increase supply)
• Available production technology. Other things equal, as production technology improves, the cost of converting inputs into outputs declines and this will shift the supply schedule outwards (increase in supply).
Second, anything that affects the opportunity cost of factors of production will affect supply. These include:
• Prices of competing products. In most cases, inputs that are being employed to produce one product might be used alternatively to produce other products. For example, inputs such as land, machinery, labor, and management of a farm operator could conceivably be used to grow corn or beans. By producing a corn crop, the producer gives up the opportunity of using the inputs for a soybean crop. If the price of soybeans were to increase, the value of the alternative opportunity (a soybean crop as opposed to a corn crop) would increase. In this example, the returns that could be obtained by growing soybeans is the opportunity cost of raising corn. If returns from growing soybeans rise relative to corn, the market supply for corn will shift inwards (to the left). This is because producers devote more of their factors of production to the (now more profitable) alternative opportunity. In this example, corn and soybeans can be termed competing products in that they compete for the same inputs.
• Prices of joint products. In some cases, production involves joint outputs. This occurs when two distinct products are produced simultaneously, as is the case when production of one commodity generates a marketable byproduct. More generally, joint products result from situations where two or more different outputs can be more cheaply produced within a diversified firm because of complementarity in the production process. For example, a wheat producer might also bale and market straw; a cotton producer is simultaneously growing fiber and cotton seed; and most broiler growers run cow-calf operations. In these kinds of situations, the price of a joint output could shift supply of the other. For example, low cotton prices would result in producers transferring land and productive resources out of cotton production and into other activities. This would reduce the supply of cottonseed.
• Production risk. The risk of an activity also affects its opportunity cost. As the risk inherent in an activity declines, the returns required to attract producers to that activity will decline as well. Advances in production technology often impact the risk of production as well as the efficiency by which inputs are converted into an output. Hence, technological changes can affect supply through their impact on the cost function and by their impact on the opportunity cost of production.
Finally, the supply schedule may shift due to shocks and random factors that disrupt or augment supply. Weather conditions during key parts of the growing season are important to markets because these affect the supply of crops. An outbreak of an epizootic disease or resolution thereof would similarly affect supply of animal products. In many markets, political upheaval, regulatory changes, labor disruptions or similar social events affect access to supplies and production risk.
Demonstration \(1\): Inverse supply and supply shift variables. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.04%3A_Section_4-.txt |
Up to this point, our emphasis has been on the output decisions of firms. A primary goal has been to establish that firms’ output decisions respond to market price as predicted by the law of supply. However, when firms choose output, they must choose inputs. Input choices are also important to profit maximization. Let us briefly consider the problem of simultaneously choosing an output level and the necessary inputs to achieve it. To do so, it will first be necessary to introduce the idea of a production function. A production function is a mathematical representation of the production technology by which inputs are converted into an output. To keep things simple, consider a production technology with two inputs, $x_{1}$ and $x_{2}$ that can be converted into an output, $q$.
$q = f(x_{1}, x_{2})$
Figure $1$ presents a three-dimensional rendering of a production function. Output increases as either of the inputs increases. However, it is common in economics to assume that production functions are concave. This is a mathematical way of saying that production functions exhibit the law of diminishing marginal productivity that was described earlier in the chapter. The example production function in Figure $1$ is concave in that output increases at higher levels of inputs $x_{1}$ and/or $x_{2}$ but at a decreasing rate. The production surface shown in Figure $1$ always slopes upward (moving away from the origin) but becomes less steep as increasing amounts of either of the inputs are employed.
Because three dimensions is often hard to work with, a production function is typically rendered in two dimensions using an isoquant map similar to that shown below in Figure $2$. To help you visualize the connection between the three-dimensional rendering in Figure $1$ and the two dimensional rendering in Figure $2$, consider the green plane that intersects the production function in Figure $1$ above. The points where this plane intersects the function represent different combinations of $x_{1}$ and $x_{2}$ that could be used to obtain a fixed level of output equal to the elevation of the plane. If you were to look at this intersection directly from above, you would see an isoquant similar to one of the grey curves in Figure $2$ below. In Figure $2$, any point on the same isoquant represents a feasible way to produce a fixed level of output from the two inputs. Different isoquants could be obtained from Figure $1$ by raising or lowering the horizontal plane to correspond to a different levels of output. The word, isoquant, is a combination of the prefix “iso”, meaning equal, and the word “quantity”. Thus, you can think of isoquants as “equal quantity curves”. For example, Points D and E in Figure $2$ would each produce the same output level. Point D uses more of the $x_{2}$ input and less of the $x_{1}$ input than does point E. Nevertheless, each point represents a production plan that will achieve the same level of output. Using a conventional geographic orientation to Figure $2$, it can be seen that isoquants in a northeasterly direction indicate higher levels of output.
Figure $2$ also shows isocost lines. Again as the name implies, an isocost line plots out production plans that cost the same. Production cost can be expressed in terms of inputs as follows:
$c = W_{1}x_{2}$
where $W_{1}$ and $W_{2}$ are the prices of inputs 1 and 2, respectively. Solving this expression algebraically for $x_{2}$ provides the isocost lines depicted in Figure $2$. These are of the form
$x_{2} = \dfrac{c}{W_{2}} - \dfrac{W_{1}}{W_{2}}x_{1}$
Two isocost lines are depicted in Figure $2$. One maps out all plans that provide a cost level of $c = c*$. To the northeast of this is another isocost line that maps out all plans providing a higher cost level of $c = \tilde{c})$. In Figure $2$, the production plans represented by points A and D both cost $c = \tilde{c} )$ because they are each on the isocost line even though more output is produced at D than at A (D lies on an isoquant that is northeast of A).
With these preliminaries, Figure $2$ can be used to visualize the firm’s profit maximization problem. Suppose that at the prevailing output and input prices, the firm’s profit maximizing choice is to set its output at $q = q*$. This is represented by the blue isoquant in Figure $2$. The firm must choose a production plan that produces $q*$ at the lowest cost possible. The profit maximizing production plan is represented by point B in Figure $2$. To see why point B is the profit maximizing production plan, consider an alternative production plan like point A. This plan would also result in an output of $q*$, but the plan itself would not be profit maximizing because the cost at point A is higher ($\tilde{c}$ as opposed to $c*$). At point A, the firm could obtain a lower cost by using less of the $x_{2}$ input and more of the $x_{1}$ input. You can know that the production plan at point B meets the cost minimization criterion because it is tangent to the isoquant of the profit maximizing output. At point B, it is not possible to find another production plan that still produces the profit maximizing output level of $q*$ but at a lower (southwesterly) isocost line.
The fact that the profit maximizing production plan occurs where the isocost line is tangent to the isoquant for the profit maximizing output provides some important economic intuition. Look again at the mathematical expression for the isocost line and notice that it has a slope that is equal to $-\dfrac{W_{1}}{W_{2}}$. This is simply the negative of the ratio of the market-determined input prices and is the rate at which the economy is willing to trade input $x_{2}$ for input $x_{1}$. The slope of the isoquant shows the rate at which the firm can replace $x_{2}$ with $x_{1}$ while keeping output constant. Thus, a profit maximizing production plan occurs where the rate of trade-off between the two inputs within the firm is equated to the rate the economy will trade between the two inputs. The slope of the isoquant varies from being steep at low levels of $x_{1}$ to being quite flat at high levels of $x_{1}$. The slope of the isoquant is given by $-\dfrac{MP_{1}}{MP_{2}}$, where $MP_{1}$ and $MP_{2}$ are the marginal products of $x_{1}$ and $x_{2}$, respectively. At a point like A in Figure $2$, there is a lot of $x_{2}$ being used but not very much $x_{1}$. Because of the law of diminishing marginal productivity, the marginal product of $x_{1}$ will be large relative to the marginal product of $x_{2}$, thereby causing the slope of the isoquant at point A to be steep (large in absolute value).
We are now ready to discuss the demand for inputs. The demand equation for an input will depend on its own-price, the price of other inputs, and the price of the product being produced. Given the production technology in the figures above, the firm’s demand for $x_{1}$ could be expressed generally as
$x_{1} = f(W_{1}, W_{2}, P)$.
In the parlance of Chapter 1, the firm’s demand schedule for the first input would be the relationship between $x_{1}$ and $W_{1}$. This schedule would shift if the output price, $P$, or the price of the other input, $W_{2}$, were to change.
Demonstration $1$ will be used to help you understand input demand. The top panel of the demonstration presents an isoquant map very similar to that shown in above in Figure $2$, the bottom panel shows this firm’s demand curve for the input $x_{1}$. As you use this demonstration, note that the profit maximizing production plan always occurs at a point where the isoquant is tangent to the isocost line. This reflects the fact that the firm is simultaneously choosing its inputs to minimize the cost of obtaining the desired output. Step through this demonstration by doing each of the following:
1. Focus first on the top panel of the demonstration. Increase only the output price from “baseline” to “high”. You will notice that the profit maximizing quantity shifts in a northeasterly direction to a higher isoquant when you do this. Now, decrease the output price back to the baseline and then to low. You see the isoquant shift in a southwesterly direction to lower levels of output. What you are seeing in the top panel is simply the law of supply. The firm’s profit maximizing production plan involves more output at a higher output price than at a lower output price.
2. Set the output price and the price and the price of input 2 to “baseline”. Set the price of input 1 to “high”. Now, gradually drop the price of input 1 through each price level until you reach “low”. As you do, pay attention to the relationship between the top panel and the input demand curve in the bottom panel. The input demand curve in the bottom panel simply reflects the profit maximizing production plans from the top panel. Thus, you see that the demand for the input is derived from the profit maximizing behavior of the firm. Note that this input demand satisfies the law of demand as presented in Chapter 1. At lower input prices more is demanded and vice versa.
3. Return all values to their baseline level. Now shift the output price from high to low. What happens to the demand schedule for $x_{1}$? You should see it shift. Similarly, increase and decrease the price of input 2. You will similarly see a shift in the demand schedule for $x_{1}$. The takeaway here is that changes in the output price or the price of other inputs will shift the demand for an input. An increase in output price will always increase the demand for an input, all else equal. In this particular example, an increase (decrease) in the price of input 2, shifts the demand for input 1 inwards (outwards).
4. Finally, return all values in the demonstration to their baseline levels. Now set the price of input 1 to “low” and the price of input 2 to “moderately high”. Compare the resulting production plan to the baseline plan, denoted by point B in the top panel of the demonstration. Notice that the new production plan involves a large increase in $x_{1}$ relative to the baseline. The point to be made here is that the optimal production plan will favor lower-priced inputs. You should have noticed that the slope of the isocost line became flatter, which shifted points of tangency to the right in favor of $x_{1}$.
Demonstration $1$: Deriving the inverse demand schedule for an input from a firm’s profit maximizing behavior.
Capital and Labor Intensity in Agriculture: A Case Example
Figure $3$ shows two methods of harvesting rice. The photo on the left is from Bhutan the photo on the right is from the United States. The method being used in Bhutan is labor intensive. The method being used in California is capital intensive. Which method is the best?
Photo on the left by Steve Evans from Citizen of the World (Bhutan) CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Photo on the right by Gary Kramer courtesy of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service., via Wikimedia Commons.
Given the concepts above, a case can be made that each method is probably best given the prices of the two inputs (labor and capital) in Bhutan and the United States. In Bhutan, labor is inexpensive relative to capital. In the United States, the reverse is true. This can be represented on the isoquant/isocost map in Figure 6. The optimal production plan in Bhutan would occur at a point like B, where the slope of the isoquant is relatively flat to match the small labor to capital price ratio. The isocost line in the United States is much steeper. Consequently, an optimal production plan for US rice harvest would occur at a point where the isoquant is equally steep, such as point A in Figure $4$. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.05%3A_Section_5-.txt |
Chapter 1 introduced the idea of consumer surplus. If you knew the market demand schedule, you could use it to obtain a monetary value of the benefits in excess of the market price that consumer’s received from participating in a market. Producer surplus is the analogous measure on the supply side of the market. The difference is that producer surplus is calculated from the supply schedule and is the aggregate value of economic profits that producers gain from participating in the market. Graphically, the value of producer surplus in a market can be computed as the area above the inverse supply schedule but below the prevailing market price. In Figure $1$, producer surplus is the triangular area that is shaded in blue. If the supply schedule is linear (as in the supply schedule presented in Figure $1$), you can use the formula for the area of a triangle to compute producer surplus. When given a value of $P$, say $\bar{P}$, you can compute producer surplus as
$PS = \dfrac{1}{2} \times Q(\bar{P}) \times (\bar{P} - Intercept \: of \: Inverse \: Supply \: Schedule)$
In Figure $1$, $\bar(P)_{1}= 35$, the quantity supplied is $Q(\bar{P}) - 84$, and the intercept of the inverse supply schedule is \$14. Given this, producer surplus can be computed as $\dfrac{1}{2} \times 84 \times 21 = 882$.
In Chapter 1, you learned that consumer surplus is value that the consumer receives over and beyond the price he or she pays for the product. This value is typically not recorded or reported and is often known only to the consumer. Thus, the concept of consumer surplus is a neat way to obtain a measure of consumer welfare. Producer surplus has a similar interpretation. Producer surplus is the value that producers receive from a transaction over and beyond the costs of production. Strictly speaking, producer surplus measures economic profits to the selling side of the market. You might question why there is a need to measure producer surplus because firms generally calculate their profit and report it on financial statements, use it compute taxable income and so forth. The primary value of the producer surplus measure is that it reflects economic profits as opposed to accounting profits. The supply schedule incorporates the opportunity costs of production whereas income statements do not. Later in the course, you will use both consumer and producer surplus to examine the economic performance of markets.
2.7: Concluding Comments
This chapter has introduced concepts essential to understanding the supply side of the market. You learned about the law of supply and that this law reflects profit maximizing decisions related to market entry, market exit, and the quantity of output. You learned about the supply schedule and variables that shift this schedule. In the process the chapter covered the assumption of a price-taking firm and introduced total, average, and marginal cost and revenue concepts. You also learned that profit maximization involves producing with a cost-minimizing combination of inputs. This provided an opportunity to introduce the idea of a production function and cover derived demands for inputs. Finally, you were introduced to the idea of producer surplus as a measure of the economic welfare of participants on the supply side of the market.
At the end of Chapter 1, it was mentioned that any economic system needs to address resource allocation problems (see Kohls and Uhl 1998). Again, relevant questions include:
1. What to produce?
2. How much to produce?
3. How to produce?
4. How to distribute production?
Chapter 1 presented an argument that the principles you learned about the demand side of the market related directly to the fourth question. The principles you just covered above about the supply side of the market directly address questions 1 to 3. The entry and exit decision is relevant to the first question. You learned that markets for products with high prices will attract entry by new firms. You also learned that at some point, existing firms will exit markets for products with low prices. In short prices answer the first question by directing firms into markets where output is valued highly and out of markets where it is not. As to the second question, the profit maximizing condition (\(P=MC\)) for a price-taking firm indicates that firms will place more on the market at higher prices and less on the market at lower prices. Finally, the prices of inputs help to answer the third question. Firms will adopt production methods that favor lower-priced inputs in order to minimize their costs of production.
There will be an opportunity to revisit these questions in Chapter 4, when the demand and supply sides of the market come together. However, before examining markets in equilibrium, it is necessary to introduce or review demand and supply elasticities. This is the topic of Chapter 3.
2.8: References
Kohls, R. L. and J. N. Uhl. 1998. Marketing of Agricultural Products, 8th Ed. Pearson.
Noguera, E. J. Morris, K. Striegler, and M. Thomsen. 2005. Production Budgets for Arkansas Wine and Juice Grapes. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Research Report 976. Available at arkansas-ag-news.uark.edu/pdf/976.pdf.
White, G. B. 2011. Cost of Establishment and Production of Vinifera Grapes in the Finger Lakes Region of New York-2010. Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, E.B. 11-3. Available at ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/121629/2/Cornell-Dyson-eb1103.pdf. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.06%3A_Section_6-.txt |
Problem Set 1: Fill the Missing Blanks.
Exercise \(1\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,400
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,400
Total variable cost is \$2,000
The break-even price point is \$6.80
The short-run shutdown price point is \$4.00
Average variable cost is \$4.00
Entry ceases when price falls below \$6.80
Exercise \(2\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,500
Total cost is \$3,700
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,500
Total cost is \$3,700
Total variable cost is \$2,200
The break-even price point is \$3.70
The short-run shutdown price point is \$2.20
Average variable cost is \$2.20
Entry ceases when price falls below \$3.70
Exercise \(3\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,800
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,800
Total variable cost is \$2,400
The break-even price point is \$1.90
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.20
Average variable cost is \$1.20
Entry ceases when price falls below \$1.90
Exercise \(4\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,300
Total cost is \$3,900
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,300
Total cost is \$3,900
Total variable cost is \$2,600
The break-even price point is \$7.80
The short-run shutdown price point is \$5.20
Average variable cost is \$5.20
Entry ceases when price falls below \$7.80
Exercise \(5\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,200
Total cost is \$4,000
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,200
Total cost is \$4,000
Total variable cost is \$2,800
The break-even price point is \$4.00
The short-run shutdown price point is \$2.80
Average variable cost is \$2.80
Entry ceases when price falls below \$4.00
Exercise \(6\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,100
Total cost is \$4,100
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,100
Total cost is \$4,100
Total variable cost is \$3,000
The break-even price point is \$2.05
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.50
Average variable cost is \$1.50
Entry ceases when price falls below \$2.05
Exercise \(7\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,000
Total cost is \$4,200
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,000
Total cost is \$4,200
Total variable cost is \$3,200
The break-even price point is \$8.40
The short-run shutdown price point is \$6.40
Average variable cost is \$6.40
Entry ceases when price falls below \$8.40
Exercise \(8\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$900
Total cost is \$4,300
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$900
Total cost is \$4,300
Total variable cost is \$3,400
The break-even price point is \$4.30
The short-run shutdown price point is \$3.40
Average variable cost is \$3.40
Entry ceases when price falls below \$4.30
Exercise \(9\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$800
Total cost is \$4,400
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$800
Total cost is \$4,400
Total variable cost is \$3,600
The break-even price point is \$2.20
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.80
Average variable cost is \$1.80
Entry ceases when price falls below \$2.20
Exercise \(10\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$700
Total cost is \$4,500
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$____
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Entry ceases when price falls below \$____
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$700
Total cost is \$4,500
Total variable cost is \$3,800
The break-even price point is \$9.00
The short-run shutdown price point is \$7.60
Average variable cost is \$7.60
Entry ceases when price falls below \$9.00
Problem Set 2: Fill the Missing Blanks.
Exercise \(1\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$3,400
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$6.80
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$2.80
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,400
Total variable cost is \$2,000
The break-even price point is \$6.80
The short-run shutdown price point is \$4.00
Average variable cost is \$4.00
Average fixed cost is \$2.80
Exercise \(2\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$3,700
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$3.70
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$1.50
Answer
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,500
Total cost is \$3,700
Total variable cost is \$2,200
The break-even price point is \$3.70
The short-run shutdown price point is \$2.20
Average variable cost is \$2.20
Average fixed cost is \$1.50
Exercise \(3\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$3,800
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$1.90
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$0.70
Answer
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,800
Total variable cost is \$2,400
The break-even price point is \$1.90
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.20
Average variable cost is \$1.20
Average fixed cost is \$0.70
Exercise \(4\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,400
Total cost is \$3,800
Total variable cost is \$2,400
The break-even price point is \$1.90
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.20
Average variable cost is \$1.20
Average fixed cost is \$0.70
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,300
Total cost is \$3,900
Total variable cost is \$2,600
The break-even price point is \$7.80
The short-run shutdown price point is \$5.20
Average variable cost is \$5.20
Average fixed cost is \$2.60
Exercise \(5\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$4,000
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$4.00
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$1.20
Answer
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,200
Total cost is \$4,000
Total variable cost is \$2,800
The break-even price point is \$4.00
The short-run shutdown price point is \$2.80
Average variable cost is \$2.80
Average fixed cost is \$1.20
Exercise \(6\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$4,100
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$2.05
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$0.55
Answer
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,100
Total cost is \$4,100
Total variable cost is \$3,000
The break-even price point is \$2.05
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.50
Average variable cost is \$1.50
Average fixed cost is \$0.55
Exercise \(7\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$4,200
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$8.40
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$2.00
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$1,000
Total cost is \$4,200
Total variable cost is \$3,200
The break-even price point is \$8.40
The short-run shutdown price point is \$6.40
Average variable cost is \$6.40
Average fixed cost is \$2.00
Exercise \(8\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$4,300
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$4.30
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$0.90
Answer
The firm's quantity is 1,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$900
Total cost is \$4,300
Total variable cost is \$3,400
The break-even price point is \$4.30
The short-run shutdown price point is \$3.40
Average variable cost is \$3.40
Average fixed cost is \$0.90
Exercise \(9\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$4,400
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$2.20
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$0.40
Answer
The firm's quantity is 2,000 units
Total fixed cost is \$800
Total cost is \$4,400
Total variable cost is \$3,600
The break-even price point is \$2.20
The short-run shutdown price point is \$1.80
Average variable cost is \$1.80
Average fixed cost is \$0.40
Exercise \(10\)
What goes in each blank?
The firm's quantity is ____ units
Total fixed cost is \$____
Total cost is \$4,500
Total variable cost is \$____
The break-even price point is \$9.00
The short-run shutdown price point is \$____
Average variable cost is \$____
Average fixed cost is \$1.40
Answer
The firm's quantity is 500 units
Total fixed cost is \$700
Total cost is \$4,500
Total variable cost is \$3,800
The break-even price point is \$9.00
The short-run shutdown price point is \$7.60
Average variable cost is \$7.60
Average fixed cost is \$1.40
Problem Set 3: Multiple Choice.
Exercise \(1\)
1. Accounting cost differs from economic cost in that:
a) Accounting cost does not include fixed cost.
b) Accounting cost does not include opportunity cost.
c) Accounting cost is based on supply, but economic cost is based on both supply and demand.
d) Accounting cost is always larger than economic cost.
Answer
b
Exercise \(2\)
1. Which is true of a profit maximizing and price taking firm that faces a price above its shutdown point?
a) Marginal cost (MC) = average fixed cost.
b) It will lower its asking price in order to increase its profits.
c) MC < Marginal revenue (MR).
d) Price = MR = MC.
Answer
d
Exercise \(3\)
1. In supply, if the price of good A decreases and the quantity for good B increases then
a) Good A is a competing product to good B.
b) Good B is a joint product with good A.
c) Good A is a necessary luxury good.
d) Good B is normal necessity good.
Answer
a
Exercise \(4\)
1. Which is true of a price taking firm?
a) It can sell all that it wants at the going price.
b) Its actions have a negligible impact on the market price.
c) It will maximize profits by producing where price is equal to marginal cost.
d) All of the above.
Answer
d
Exercise \(5\)
1. Which is true of a price taking firm?
a) It is large and has power to take surplus from consumers in the form of a higher price.
b) The price it receives is not affected by its output choice.
c) It can set the market price in order to maximize its profits.
d) All of the above.
Answer
b
Exercise \(6\)
1. What is true of a price taking firm that faces a price above average variable cost?
a) It will set its quantity so that its marginal cost will equal the market price.
b) It has no control over the market price.
c) The firm’s marginal cost curve is the firm’s supply schedule.
d) All of the above.
Answer
d
Exercise \(7\)
1. Which causes the inverse supply schedule to decrease or shift inwards (to the left)?
a) An increase in the price of a joint product.
b) A decrease in input prices.
c) An improvement in production technology.
d) A reduction in production risk.
e) An increase in the price of a competing product.
Answer
e
Exercise \(8\)
1. Which best describes fixed cost?
a) Those expenses that vary with output.
b) Those expenses that result from market power. For example, a single buyer of an agricultural commodity might be able to fix the price and this imposes a large cost on farmers.
c) Cost that does not vary with output.
d) Cost that is crucial to identifying the shut-down point.
Answer
c
Exercise \(9\)
1. Which of the following would cause the inverse supply schedule to decrease (shift inwards to the left)?
1. An increase in the price of a competing product.
2. An increase in production risk.
3. An increase in input prices.
4. All of the above.
Answer
d
Exercise \(10\)
1. Which of the following would cause the supply schedule to increase (shift outwards to the right)?
a) An increase in consumer incomes.
b) An increase in the price of a joint product.
c) An increase in input prices.
d) All of the above.
Answer
b
Exercise \(11\)
1. In the short run, the firm will continue operating so long as:
a) Price is above average variable cost (AVC).
b) Price is above average fixed cost (AFC).
c) Price is above average total cost (AC).
d) Price is above the break-even point.
e) Choices (c) and (d) only.
Answer
a
Use the diagram below to answer the remaining problems in this problem set
Exercise \(12\)
1. Which production plans produce less than point S
a) Points T, U, and V.
b) Points U, V, and Y.
c) Points T and Z.
d) All of the above.
e) None of the above.
Answer
d
Exercise \(13\)
1. Which production plans cost less than point T
a) Points Y and S.
b) Points U, V, and Y.
c) Point Z.
d) Points U and V.
Answer
c
Exercise \(14\)
1. Which production plans do you know cost than same
1. Points T, U, and V.
2. Points U, V, and Y.
3. Points T and Z
4. Both choices (a) and (c).
Answer
a
Exercise \(15\)
1. Which production plans produce more output than Z
a) Point S only.
b) Points S, T, U, V, and Y.
c) Points S, U, V, and Y.
d) None of the above.
Answer
c
Exercise \(16\)
1. Which production plans do you know produce the same amount
a) Points T, U, and V.
b) Points U, V, and Y.
c) Points T and Z
d) Both choices (b) and (c).
Answer
d
Exercise \(17\)
1. Which production plan could be a profit maximum?
a) Point Z.
b) Points U or V.
c) Point S.
d) Points T or Y.
Answer
a
Exercise \(18\)
1. T produces the same amount as Z
a) True.
b) False.
Answer
a
Exercise \(19\)
1. T and Z cost the same
a) True.
b) False.
Answer
b
Exercise \(20\)
1. U produces the same amount as V
a) True.
b) False.
Answer
a
Exercise \(21\)
1. U and V cost the same
a) True.
b) False.
Answer
a
Exercise \(22\)
1. U produces the same amount as Y
a) True.
b) False.
Answer
a
Exercise \(23\)
1. U and Y cost the same
a) True.
b) False.
Answer
b | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/02%3A_Market_Supply/2.9%3A_Problem_Sets.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Imagine yourself in an internship this summer. It is your first day on the job and your supervisor asks you to develop answers for the following questions:
• How does the demand for beef respond to changes in the price of beef?
• How does the demand for beef respond to changes in the prices of related goods such as pork, poultry, lamb, or fish?
• How does the demand for beef respond to a change in consumer income levels?
• How does the demand for beef respond to changes in advertising expenditures by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA)?
• Having just completed a course on food and agricultural marketing, you notice immediately that each of these questions pertains to a variable that can influence market demand. Question 1 deals with the own-price relationship, question 2 with cross-price relationships, question 3 with an income relationship, and question 4 with the potential for advertising expenditures to exert a favorable influence on consumer preferences.
You are pleased to have been given such a straightforward assignment and begin to draft a memo that provides sensible answers to each question. In response to question 1, you explain that as the price of beef increases, quantity demanded will fall. After all, there is this little idea called “the law of demand” that your professor kept blabbering about. Question 2 is also easy. You simply argue that pork, poultry, lamb, or fish are usually presented as alternative protein choices to beef. Because of this, each can be classified as a substitute to beef. You conclude that as the price of one or more of these products increases, beef demand would increase as well. You find the income question to be a little harder. Nevertheless, being a resourceful person, you log into the University Libraries and locate a study showing that as incomes rise, consumers increase visits to higher-end restaurants. Since these restaurants are more likely to serve expensive table cuts from the loin and rib, you reason that this study provides the evidence you need to make a case that beef is a normal good. As such, you argue that beef demand will increase as consumer incomes rise. Finally, on question 4, you state: “If the NCBA launches a new advertising campaign, it is reasonable to expect beef demand to increase. Especially if the campaign is successful in convincing consumers that beef is a nutritious and convenient menu choice.” You proofread your memo and send it off to your supervisor in an email. She acknowledges receipt with a short reply: “Wow. That was fast. I’ll look at this tonight.”
The next morning you arrive at work and see a hard copy of the memo on your desk. On it is a hand-written note that says: “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Ouch! So much for making a good first impression.
The answers you developed were correct. The problem is that answers this simple are usually not specific enough to support policy or marketing decisions. Your supervisor already had a good idea of the direction of the demand changes. What she really wanted was a better idea about the magnitude of these changes. This is where elasticities can be useful. The aim of this chapter is to help you understand how to compute and use demand and supply elasticities. You will use elasticities to address some basic decision problems in the problem sets of this chapter but will put this knowledge to work in earnest in the next chapter.
The learning objectives for this chapter are as follows:
• Interpret elasticity numbers and compute elasticities using both the point and arc formulas.
• Use demand elasticities to identify normal necessities, normal luxuries, inferior goods, substitutes, and complements in consumption.
• Describe factors that impact the magnitude of own-price demand elasticities.
• Show how the revenue implications of a price change depend on the own-price elasticity of demand.
• Use supply elasticities to identify competing products and joint products in production.
03: Elasticities of Demand and Supply
Imagine yourself in an internship this summer. It is your first day on the job and your supervisor asks you to develop answers for the following questions:
1. How does the demand for beef respond to changes in the price of beef?
2. How does the demand for beef respond to changes in the prices of related goods such as pork, poultry, lamb, or fish?
3. How does the demand for beef respond to a change in consumer income levels?
4. How does the demand for beef respond to changes in advertising expenditures by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA)?
Having just completed a course on food and agricultural marketing, you notice immediately that each of these questions pertains to a variable that can influence market demand. Question 1 deals with the own-price relationship, question 2 with cross-price relationships, question 3 with an income relationship, and question 4 with the potential for advertising expenditures to exert a favorable influence on consumer preferences.
You are pleased to have been given such a straightforward assignment and begin to draft a memo that provides sensible answers to each question. In response to question 1, you explain that as the price of beef increases, quantity demanded will fall. After all, there is this little idea called “the law of demand” that your professor kept blabbering about. Question 2 is also easy. You simply argue that pork, poultry, lamb, or fish are usually presented as alternative protein choices to beef. Because of this, each can be classified as a substitute to beef. You conclude that as the price of one or more of these products increases, beef demand would increase as well. You find the income question to be a little harder. Nevertheless, being a resourceful person, you log into the University Libraries and locate a study showing that as incomes rise, consumers increase visits to higher-end restaurants. Since these restaurants are more likely to serve expensive table cuts from the loin and rib, you reason that this study provides the evidence you need to make a case that beef is a normal good. As such, you argue that beef demand will increase as consumer incomes rise. Finally, on question 4, you state: “If the NCBA launches a new advertising campaign, it is reasonable to expect beef demand to increase. Especially if the campaign is successful in convincing consumers that beef is a nutritious and convenient menu choice.” You proofread your memo and send it off to your supervisor in an email. She acknowledges receipt with a short reply: “Wow. That was fast. I’ll look at this tonight.”
The next morning you arrive at work and see a hard copy of the memo on your desk. On it is a hand-written note that says: “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Ouch! So much for making a good first impression.
The answers you developed were correct. The problem is that answers this simple are usually not specific enough to support policy or marketing decisions. Your supervisor already had a good idea of the direction of the demand changes. What she really wanted was a better idea about the magnitude of these changes. This is where elasticities can be useful. The aim of this chapter is to help you understand how to compute and use demand and supply elasticities. You will use elasticities to address some basic decision problems in the problem sets of this chapter but will put this knowledge to work in earnest in the next chapter.
The learning objectives for this chapter are as follows:
• Interpret elasticity numbers and compute elasticities using both the point and arc formulas.
• Use demand elasticities to identify normal necessities, normal luxuries, inferior goods, substitutes, and complements in consumption.
• Describe factors that impact the magnitude of own-price demand elasticities.
• Show how the revenue implications of a price change depend on the own-price elasticity of demand.
• Use supply elasticities to identify competing products and joint products in production. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/03%3A_Elasticities_of_Demand_and_Supply/3.01%3A_Section_1-.txt |
Elasticities will be important for much of what follows in this course. More importantly, an understanding of elasticities will help you think through decision problems you will encounter in your career. You were introduced to elasticities in your introductory microeconomics course, but let us take a moment to review them now.
The term “elastic” implies flexibility. An elastic material responds readily to force. An inelastic material is less responsive. For example, a rubber band is quite elastic. You can exert force by pulling on the rubber band and it responds easily and stretches according the force you apply. For this reason, the term “elastic band” is sometimes used in lieu of the term “rubber band.” In demand, the interest is in the responsiveness of a product’s quantity to forces that affect demand. The forces of interest were introduced in Chapter 1 and include the product’s own-price, prices of related products, income, and other demand shift variables.
Simply stated, an elasticity is the percentage change in one variable resulting from the percentage change in another. In this course, the symbol ϵϵ (the Greek letter epsilon) will be used to refer to demand elasticities. Subscripts will indicate the product and demand variable in question. The first subscript will always refer to the quantity of the product in question. The second subscript will refer to a price or other variable that affects demand. For example, $\epsilon_{i j}$ refers to the elasticity of demand for good i with respect to a change in the price of good j. Similarly, $\epsilon_{i X}$ refers to the elasticity of good i with respect to some non-price demand shift variable $X$.
There are several types of demand elasticities. Own-price elasticities measure the relationship between the quantity of a particular good, say good 1, and its own-price. The own-price elasticity of demand for good 1 is defined as
$\epsilon_{1 1} = \dfrac{\% \Delta Q_{1}}{\% \Delta P_{1}}$
where $\Delta$ is the change operator. The formula for the own-price elasticity of another good, say good 2, would be
$\epsilon_{2 2} = \dfrac{\% \Delta Q_{2}}{\% \Delta P_{2}}$
Cross-price elasticities measure the relationship between the quantity of one good and the price of a related good. The cross-price elasticity of demand for good ii with respect to the price of good $j$ would be
$\epsilon_{i j} = \dfrac{\% \Delta Q_{i}}{\% \Delta P_{j}}, \: for \: i \neq j.$
As you learned in Chapter 1, variables other than prices also affect demand. One of these variables is income. An income elasticity for good 1 would be calculated as
$\epsilon_{1M} = \dfrac{\% \Delta Q_{1}}{\% \Delta M}$,
where $M$ represents income.
Interpretation of Elasticity Numbers
Because elasticities are the ratio of two percentage changes, they are easy to interpret. If $\epsilon_{i X} = 0.5$, then you can say that quantity demanded increases (decreases) by half a percent as $X$ increases (decreases) by one percent. You can algebraically rearrange the terms in the elasticity definitions above to use an elasticity to predict the change in quantity that would result from a change in a demand variable of interest. Specifically, the definition of an elasticity suggests the following:
$\epsilon_{i X} = \dfrac{\% \Delta Q_{i}}{\% \Delta X} \Rightarrow \% \Delta Q = \epsilon_{iX} \times \% \Delta X$.
One nice thing about the fact that elasticities are expressed as a ratio of percentages is that they are independent of units of measurement. It does not matter whether prices or income are reflected in US dollars, Euros, Pesos, or Yen. Similarly, it does not matter whether quantities are measured in bushels, pounds, kilograms, or tons. The interpretation of the elasticity number will be unaffected. That said, one could use an elasticity to predict what would happen to physical units demanded when a demand variable changes. Suppose you knew that $\epsilon_{11} = -2.5$. If you were interested in the effect of a three percent price increase, this elasticity can be used to tell you that
$\% \Delta Q_{1} = =2.5 \times 3 = -7.5 \%$.
Now, suppose that you know that before the price increase demand is 1,000 units. You could easily predict what demand would be after the 3% price increase. The new quantity demanded would be
\{1000 \: units \times (1-0.075) = 925 \: units\).
This elasticity could be used in a similar fashion to predict the quantity response given any magnitude of a price change, but there are some practical reasons why predictions will tend to be less accurate when using elasticities to predict large percentage price changes. These limitations will become clear below as you learn more about elasticities.
Ranges for Demand Elasticities
Because elasticities measure responsiveness, their magnitudes are of importance. Table $1$ presents some magnitude-based classifications of demand elasticities that will be important for you in this course. Notice from the table that own-price elasticities are non-positive. This is because of the law of demand. It is common in introductory microeconomics textbooks and even in some more advanced MBA-level textbooks to take the absolute value of an own-price elasticity and report it as a positive number. This will not be done here. Elasticities will be used to predict quantity changes and to model market responses to demand or supply shocks. It will be important to preserve the direction of the negative own-price effect on quantity demanded. Another reason for not taking the absolute value of own-price demand elasticities is that such practice is uncommon in the empirical literature.
Table $1$: Classifications based on magnitude of demand elasticities.
Type Range Implication
Own-price $\epsilon_{ii} \< -1$ Demand for good $i$ is elastic
Own-price $\epsilon_{ii} = -1$ Demand for good $i$ is unitary elastic
Own-price $-1 \< \epsilon_{ii} \leq 0$ Demand for good $i$ is inelastic
Cross-price $\epsilon_{ij} \> 0, i \neq j$ Good $j$ is a substitute for $i$
Cross-price $\epsilon_{ij} \< 0, i \neq j$ Good $j$ is a complement to $i$
Income $\epsilon_{iM} \< 0$ Good $i$ is an inferior good
Income $0 \leq \epsilon_{iM} \leq 1$ Good $i$ is a normal necessity
Income $\epsilon_{iM} \> 1$ Good $i$ is a normal luxury
As shown in Table $1$, own-price elasticities are divided into three ranges. First, when demand is elastic, the numerator of the elasticity is large in absolute value relative to the denominator. This means that demand is responsive in the sense that a change in price induces a more-than-proportional change in quantity. With elastic demand, the quantity change will be large in comparison to the price change. When demand is unitary elastic, the numerator of the elasticity is the negative of the denominator. Unitary elastic demand means that the change in quantity is exactly proportional to the change in price. Finally, when demand is inelastic, there is a less than proportional change in quantity in response to a change in price. With inelastic demand, a large change in price may not change quantity very much.
To give you some intuition about own-price elasticity, consider Demonstration $1$. In this demonstration, the price is fixed at $50 and the quantity at 100 units. The only thing you can change is the slope of the inverse demand curve. When the demonstration first loads, this slope will be -0.5 and the elasticity of demand will be -1 or unitary elastic. If you see something different, set it to -1 or reload the page in your browser. Make the slope steeper by sliding the control of the demonstration to the left. As you do, you will see that demand becomes inelastic. As the slope becomes steeper, price changes quite a bit, but quantity does not change very much. This is what is meant by inelastic demand. Now slowly slide the control of the demonstration to the right to flatten the slope of inverse demand. You will see that demand switches from inelastic, to unitary elastic, to elastic as you do. When the slope of inverse demand is 0, the elasticity of demand is negative infinity. This means that any amount can be sold at the given price of$50, but that no amount can be sold at a slightly higher price (e.g., \$50.01). The term “perfectly elastic” is sometimes used in situations like this and means the same thing as infinitely elastic.
It is not likely that a market demand schedule will ever be infinitely elastic, but there are situations where the demand schedule facing an individual firm is infinitely elastic. In fact, the price-taking firms you learned about in Chapter 2 face infinitely elastic demand. If you remember, price taking firms can sell all they want at the going price. This is equivalent to saying that price taking firms face an infinite elasticity. As the course progresses, it will be useful to pay attention to whether an elasticity refers to the market demand or the demand facing the firm. The market demands for agricultural commodities are commonly inelastic but the demands facing the individual farms supplying these commodities may be infinitely elastic.
Demonstration $1$: Own-price elasticities show the responsiveness of quantity to changes to price.
As indicated above in Table $1$, cross-price elasticities of demand are used to determine whether related products are substitutes or complements. Consistent with the relationships presented in Chapter 1, positive (negative) cross-price elasticities imply substitutes (complements). The magnitude of the cross-price elasticities can be used to determine which products are strong substitutes or complements to the product in question. For instance, Brand A yogurt might be a very close substitute for Brand B yogurt. There might also be some substitutability between Brand A yogurt and cottage cheese. Nevertheless, cottage cheese is a much weaker substitute for Brand A yogurt than is Brand B yogurt. In this case, one would see a large positive cross-price elasticity of demand for the Brand A yogurt with respect to the price of Brand B yogurt. There would be a positive, albeit considerably smaller, cross-price elasticity of demand for Brand A yogurt with respect to the price of cottage cheese.
Finally, income elasticities can be used to classify goods as normal or inferior based on a positive or negative sign, respectively. As indicated in Table 1, normal goods can be further classified as a normal necessity or normal luxury goods. A normal necessity has an income elasticity that is between zero and one. For normal necessity goods, the change in quantity is less than proportionate to the change in income. Many, if not most, food items have income elasticities in the range of normal necessities. With a normal luxury, the change in quantity is more than proportionate to the change in income.
Revenue Implications of Own-Price Elasticities
If you know the range of the own-price elasticity – whether demand is elastic, unitary elastic, or inelastic – you can predict what will happen to revenue if there is a change the product’s own-price. Higher prices are not always good for revenue. When there is a price increase, two things happen: First, fewer units of the good or service are sold. This is a quantity effect. Second, a higher price is received for each of the remaining units that continue to be sold. This is a price effect. If the price effect is larger than the quantity effect, revenue will increase as price increases. If, on the other hand, the quantity effect is larger than the price effect, revenue will decrease as price increases. Fortunately, you can easily tell from the own price elasticity of demand which of these effects is largest.
In the elastic range, an increase (decrease) in price causes a decrease (increase) in revenue. Because demand is elastic, the quantity effect dominates the price effect. The revenue lost from selling fewer units more than offsets the revenue gained from selling the remaining units at a higher price. Thus, raising price causes revenue to fall. On the other hand, when demand is elastic and price is lowered, the revenue gain from selling additional units more than offsets the revenue lost from selling each unit at a lower price. Lowering price when demand is elastic will cause revenue to rise.
In the inelastic range, an increase (decrease) in price causes an increase (decrease) in revenue. When demand is inelastic, the price effect dominates the quantity effect. The decline in quantity is proportionately smaller than the increase in price. In this case, the revenue gained from the higher price more than offsets the revenue lost from selling fewer units. Conversely, if price is lowered when demand is inelastic, the revenue gained from selling more units is not sufficient to offset the revenue lost from selling each unit at a lower price.
When demand is unitary elastic, revenue is maximized. When demand is unitary elastic, total revenue is maximized. This is because the price effect and quantity effect are of the same magnitude. The revenue gained (lost) from a price increase (decrease) is exactly offset by the revenue lost (gained) from the sale of fewer (more) units.
Use Demonstration $1$ below to get some intuition about the revenue implications of price changes. As you work through the demonstration, pay attention to the size of the red and blue rectangles that appear when you change the price. The blue rectangle represents revenue gained from the price change. The red rectangle represents revenue lost. Note that whenever you change the price, there is always a blue and red rectangle. This is because the quantity effect and price effect of the change are always in opposite directions (because of the law of demand). Calculate the areas of the red and blue rectangles and notice that when you subtract the area of the red rectangle from the area of the blue rectangle you obtain the net revenue reported in the demonstration. Use the demonstration to verify that the revenue implications of price changes under different elasticity conditions match those outlined above.
Demonstration $2$: The relationship between price changes, own-price elasticity, and revenue.
One word of caution is in order. The normal assumption is that firms maximize profit (not revenue). That said, the revenue implications of demand elasticities are important because revenue is a key part of the profit calculation you learned about in Chapter 2. Moreover, firms probably have a good idea about their production cost and so information about what happens to revenue in response to a price change may be all that is needed to make the right pricing decisions to increase profit.
Based on what you have learned up to this point in the course, you should be able to prove that a firm that controls its price (this is not a price-taking firm) will never set its price so that demand is in the inelastic or unitary elastic ranges. How could you prove this? The most straightforward way would be to show that it cannot possibly be true that a firm has maximized its profits if its demand is not in the elastic range. Start by asking the question: Could a firm have maximized its profit if its demand is inelastic or unitary elastic? The answer is no. To see why, suppose this firm raised its price by a small amount. Two things would happen:
1. First, the firm’s revenue would go up if demand is inelastic or its revenue would stay the same if demand is unitary elastic. Spend some more time in Demonstration 2 and review the content above if this is not clear to you.
2. Because the firm raised its price, it would sell less (because of law of demand) and its cost would go down as a result. Remember from Chapter 2 that total cost is an increasing function of quantity. Thus, a lower quantity sold means lower cost to the firm.
In sum, a small price increase in this situation either increases or does not affect revenue but unambiguously decreases cost. This means that profit must unambiguously increase with a price increase. Thus, a firm facing demand in the inelastic or unitary elastic range cannot have possibly maximized its profit because it can raise its profit simply by raising its price. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/03%3A_Elasticities_of_Demand_and_Supply/3.02%3A_Section_2-.txt |
There are occasions in this course where you will need to compute elasticities. There are two formulas used to do this. One is the point formula. The point formula will be most important for this course and is also most commonly in published studies on food demand. The other formula is called the arc or average formula. Let us spend some time on each.
The Point Formula for Demand Elasticities
The general formula for an elasticity can be rearranged algebraically to arrive at the point formula. To illustrate, rewrite the own-price elasticity formula shown above as follows:
$\epsilon_{11} = \dfrac{\% \Delta Q_{1}}{\% \Delta P_{1}} = \dfrac{(\Delta Q_{1} / Q_{1}) \times 100}{(\Delta P_{1} / P_{1}) \times 100} = \dfrac{\Delta Q_{1}}{\Delta P_{1}} \times \dfrac {P_{1}}{Q_{1}}$
Point formulas for different kinds of demand elasticities are reported in Table $1$. Note the similarity in the formula for each kind of elasticity. As a practical matter, you need three terms (numbers) to compute an elasticity using the point formula.
1. Depending on the type of elasticity, the first number you need is $\dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta P_{i}}, \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta P_{j}}, \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta M}, \: or \: \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta X}$. These numbers are slope terms from a direct demand relationship. You might remember from algebra class that the slope is the rise over the run. In this case the rise is $\Delta Q_{i}$ and the run is $\Delta P_{i}, \Delta P_{j}, \Delta M, \: or \: \Delta X$.
2. The second number you need is the value of the demand variable in question $P_{i}, P_{j}, M, \: or \: X$.
3. The third and final number you need is the value of $Q_{i}$.
Table $1$. Point formulas for demand elasticities.
Type Formula
Own-price elasticity $\epsilon_{ii} = \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta P_{i}} \times \dfrac{P_{i}}{Q_{i}}$
Cross-price elasticity $\epsilon_{ij}= \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta P_{j}} \times \dfrac{P_{j}}{Q_{i}}, i \neq j$
Income elasticity $\epsilon_{iM} = \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta M} \times \dfrac{M}{Q_{i}}$
Elasticity for other demand shift variable $X$ $\epsilon_{iX} = \dfrac{\Delta Q_{i}}{\Delta X} \times \dfrac{X}{Q_{i}}$
To illustrate the implementation of the point formula, consider the following direct demand equation for good 1:
$Q_{1} = 1.5A + 0.01M + 2P_{2} -4P_{1}$
In this equation, $Q_{1}$ is the quantity of good 1 in thousands of units, $A$ is advertising, $M$ is disposable income in dollars, $P_{2}$ is the price of good 2 in dollars, and $P_{1}$ is the price of good 1 in dollars. Let us first compute the quantity demanded for the following data point: $(A^{0} = 40, M^{0} = 30000, \(P_{2}^{0} = 20, \: and \: P_{1}^{0} = 60)$. Entering these values into the demand equation provides a quantity demanded of
$Q_{1}^{0} = 1.5 \times 40 + 0.01 \times 30000 + 2 \times 20 - 4 \times 60 = 160 \: thousand \: units$
You can now use the point formula to obtain elasticity measures. These elasticities are reported in Table $2$ under the heading “Data Point 0”. Take some time to look at the elasticity computations. Make sure you see where each value used in the elasticity computation originates.
Now, repeat the elasticity calculation at another, slightly different data point: $(A^{1} = 40, M^{1} = 30000, P_{2}^{1} = 20, \: and \: P_{1}^{1} = 50)$. At this new data point, let us call it “Data Point 1”, we get a new quantity demanded of
$Q_{1}^{1} = 1.5 \times 40 + 0.01 \times 30000 + 2 \times 20 - 4 \times 50 = 200 \: thousand \: units$
Elasticities for this new data point are also reported in Table $2$. Notice that all the point elasticities are different even though the data points themselves differ only in the value of $P_{1}$. The takeaway here is that the point formula gives an elasticity number at a specific data point and elasticities can depend on point of location along the demand equation. This is one of the reason why caution should be used when using an elasticity to forecast the effects of a large change in one of the demand variables. The elasticity values could be very different at the new point and the old.
Table $2$. Computing elasticities with the point formula.
Type Data Point 0 Data Point 1
Own-price elasticity $\epsilon_{11} = -4 \times \dfrac{60}{160} = -1.5$ $\epsilon_{11}= -4 \times \dfrac{50}{200} = 1.0$
Cross-price elasticity $\epsilon_{12} = 2 \times \dfrac{20}{160} = 0.25$ $\epsilon_{12} = 2 \times \dfrac{20}{200} = 0.20$
Income elasticity $\epsilon_{1M} = 0.01 \times \dfrac{30000}{160} = 1.875$ $\epsilon_{1M} = 0.01 \times \dfrac{30000}{200} = 1.5$
Advertising elasticity $\epsilon_{1A} = 1.5 \times \dfrac{40}{160} = 0.375$ $\epsilon_{1A} = 1.5 \times \dfrac{40}{200} = 0.30$
In this course, you will primarily be using linear demand specifications, such as the one we used to get the elasticity numbers in Table 3. With linear demands, the elasticity will depend on the point of location along the demand schedule. This is illustrated below in Panel A of Demonstration 3. Panel A shows that demand is elastic at high prices and inelastic at low prices.
The idea of demand being more elastic at higher prices makes intuitive sense and is probably true for most real-world cases. For instance, consumers will be more responsive when the gasoline price increases from $4.00 per gallon to$4.40 per gallon than when the gasoline price increases from $2.00 to$2.20 per gallon. In each case, there is a 10 percent increase in price, but the increase causes more pain at $4.00 than at$2.00. Nevertheless, the fact that elasticities vary along a linear demand schedule, such as that presented in Panel A of Demonstration $1$, is a consequence of using a linear specification for demand.
Panel B of Demonstration $1$, shows an alternative demand specification that provides a constant elasticity. This is a log-log demand specification. The term “log-log”" is used because this type of demand schedule is linear if we take its logarithmic transformation (it is linear in logarithms). With the linear demand curve, the slope does not change. In other words, $\dfrac{\Delta Q_{1}}{\Delta P_{1}}$ is always the same regardless of location on the demand schedule. However, as shown in Panel A of Demonstration $1$, the own-price elasticity is not constant and will vary between being elastic, unitary elastic, and inelastic as we move from high to low prices. With log-log demand, the slope of the demand schedule changes as we move from high to low prices, but the elasticity is always constant.
The Arc Formula for Elasticities
An alternative formula to compute elasticities is the the arc formula. The arc formula returns the elasticity at the average of two points on the demand equation. Table 4 provides arc elasticity formulas for different demand elasticities.
Table $3$. Arc formulas for demand elasticities.
Type Formula
Own-price elasticity $\epsilon_{ii} = \dfrac{Q_{i}^{1} - Q_{i}^{0}}{P_{i}^{1} - P_{i}^{0}} \times \dfrac{P_{i}^{1} + P_{i}^{0}}{Q_{i}^{1} + Q_{i}^{0}}$
Cross-price elasticity $\epsilon_{ij} = \dfrac{Q_{i}^{1} - Q_{i}^{0}}{P_{j}^{1} - P_{j}^{0}} \times \dfrac{P_{j}^{1} + P_{j}^{0}}{Q_{i}^{1} + Q_{i}^{0}}, i \neq j$
Income elasticity $\epsilon_{iM} = \dfrac{Q_{i}^{1}-Q_{i}^{0}}{M^{1}-M^{0}} \times \dfrac{M^{1} + M^{0}}{Q_{i}^{1} + Q_{i}^{0}}$
Elasticity for other demand shift variable $X$ $\epsilon_{iX} = \dfrac{Q_{i}^{1}- Q_{i}^{0}}{X^{1}-X^{0}} \times \dfrac{X^{1} + X^{0}}{Q_{i}^{1} + Q_{i}^{0}}$
Let us compute the own-price arc elasticity over the two data points we have already considered from the demand equation above. For the own price elasticity, the two price quantity pairs are (60,160) and (50,200), respectively. Using these, the arc elasticity formula provides an elasticity at the average of these two points on the demand schedule
$\epsilon_{11} = \dfrac{200-160}{50-60} \times \dfrac{50 + 60}{200 + 160} = -1.22.$
Notice that it does not matter which point is designated with a superscript 1 or superscript 0, but one must keep the points straight in the first term of the arc formula. Reverse the ordering of the points so that (60,160) is assigned the superscript 0 and (50,200) is assigned the superscript 1, you get
$\epsilon_{11} = \dfrac{160-200}{60-50} \times \dfrac{60 + 50}{160 + 200} = -1.22.$
Using the point formula, you found the own-price elasticity at $(P_{1}= 60, Q_{1} = 160)$ to be $\epsilon_{11} = 1.5$. At $(P_{1} = 50, Q_{1} = 200)$, it was $\epsilon_{11} =-1$. The average of these two points is $(P_{1}= 55, Q_{1}=180)$. Using the point formula to measure elasticity at this average point provides $\epsilon_{11}=-1.22$, which is what was obtained from the arc formula. This should help you get some intuition about the arc formula. The arc formula provides an elasticity at the average of the two points used in its computation.
A compelling feature of the arc formula is that you only need to know two points to compute an elasticity. However, it is important to emphasize the “all else held constant” provision. In the example above, this provision was met because income, the price of good 2, and advertising were held constant. The only difference in the two data points was the price of good 1. Application of the arc formula requires you to assume that the entire change from $Q_{1}^{0}$ to $Q_{1}^{1}$ is attributable only to an observed change in $P_{1}$. In the real world, it may be hard to defend this assumption.
As an exercise, use the arc formula to replicate the elasticity ranges reported above in Demonstration 3.2.2 after you increase or decrease the price. In this case you know that all else has remained constant because you are comparing two points on the same demand schedule. There may be a small bit of rounding error in the demonstration, but the arc formula should give you something very close to the same number when you compute it from a price increase or decrease. | textbooks/socialsci/Economics/An_Interactive_Text_for_Food_and_Agricultural_Marketing_(Thomsen)/03%3A_Elasticities_of_Demand_and_Supply/3.03%3A_Section_3-.txt |
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