Attachment Theory And Child Development

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Intro. There are many types of theory’s linking to child development and learning such as attachment theory, ecological theory, sociocultual theory, cognitive development theory. I’m going to address these and provide examples how they may affect the Childs learning and development in care centre and also relate these to articles and readings also mentioning early brain development and talk about a recent study that caught my eye. Attachment theory John Bowlbys Attachment theory(1977)has influenced how we care for toddlers and infants in the centre by interacting and creating an emotional bond. Caregivers should be sensitive and supportive of the child and the distress they may be in after they created the attachment with their main caregiver, which in Bowlby’s theory should be their mother. With this attachment theory the child has different phases and each of these phases are important to the child’s development and learning. Attachment in centres can be somewhat controversial. Some people think that too much attachment given to the child in the centre can make it hard for the child to settle in a centre if that one person (teacher) they attached to is not there. On the other hand I think that attachment for a child is important it gives the child a place to go or a person to go to if something in there life is really troubling them. Some children don’t have the confidence to just go up to a strange teacher they don’t really no and tell them that they care upset or getting bullied by certain kids in the class so having that support person or the person they trust really will help the child. Bronfrenbrenners ecological theory of development Bronfrenbrenner’s (1977) theory has taught us that children grow and develop with... ... middle of paper ... ...ome attached to a child and create a relationship that was trusting is that the teacher or centre would have to come in the days that that certain child is there. Which would be difficult if only doing part time as even if one child changes days they would have to create a new attachment to another caregiver in the centre or even if the teacher wanted to have a day off cause they were sick the centre wouldn’t be able to settle the children as they would only be trusting of the one teacher. I think that relationships are important for every child and human-being even Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) believes that relationships are a major part of every child’s learning and development. This founding document of New Zealand is mainly based upon relationships, every goal and strand in Te Whariki contain the importance of social and educational relationships.

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