Perspectives on children and childhoods
PART 1: Exploring your motivations for study and demonstrating understanding of
module content.
a. Describe your own particular interest(s) in children and childhoods that
motivated you to study this module. Your interest(s) might be professional,
personal or general.
I had a particular interest in the e102 module because it explored the
developmental ranges of children aged 0-18 which I feel would be invaluable
to me throughout my psychology degree and furthering my education to
becoming a primary school teacher in a few years. I was also interested in the
way it explores the behaviours of children and why they are different from one
another and this I feel is a key concept to learn when educating children in the
early years provision.
Having worked in a childcare from the age of 16 it was clear to me that
children’s behaviours differed from each individual, some more anxious, some
timid, some having severe behavioural problems or learning difficulties, but
learning about and understanding why these differences occur in greater
depth is a fascinating topic of discussion for me and one I feel would benefit
me greatly in my future career to make me a successful educator.
In addition to this, I have a personal interest that guided me towards this
module which is on the autism spectrum, the reason for this was that my
niece was diagnosed at the age of 5, and although this first block of the
module itself does not go into great depth on the subject, by the end of the
module I am sure it will give me more of an understanding of the condition
itself and help me with ways to better support her.
b. For the interest(s) you described in (a) above, which perspective(s) on
childhood and childhoods presented in block 1 connect with these interest(s),
and how do they connect?
, I have found the childhood studies perspective extremely relevant in
connecting with my interests of teaching and exploring behavioural
differences, especially the differences in culture and upbringings across
different countries and cultures which demonstrates childhood as a social
construction, this demonstrates great depth of how the behaviours are
recognised and children’s lives differ in accordance to a number of factors
they are exposed too ((Montgomery, 2013), this has increased my awareness
and gave me greater knowledge on my ability to build up relationships with
children and their families whilst taking into consideration and respecting their
differences and opinions. Another interesting thing I have learnt is that
gender really does make a difference in how people connect with children, in
the ‘Baby X experiment’ it was concluded that boys are tougher, we praise
their physical competences and tend to treat them with a little less empathy,
whereas girls were believed to be more shy and calmer, therefore identifying
that people tended to be more soft and loving towards them trying to soothe
them (Seavey et al, 1975, pg.8) another point noting was (online activity 3.1,
week 5) which confirmed the evidence of the ‘baby x’ experiment and
expressed that gender differences stem from the environment and parents
preconceptions, rather than from genes itself, in other words, children will
react in regards to cultural reinforcements and to how they are ‘expected’ to
react in regards to gender stereotyping ( activity 3.2, week 5). This evidence
enhances my brief understanding before I began the module on behavioural
differences and has gave me further skills to develop within the classroom
whilst dealing with ‘out of character’ behaviour and building up relationships
with the children.
c. How might another perspective on children and childhoods that is presented
in block 1 contribute further to your developing understanding of children and
childhoods?
Looking at the Child psychology perspective, I have found this to further my
development in both of my interests listed above. The block demonstrates a clear
PART 1: Exploring your motivations for study and demonstrating understanding of
module content.
a. Describe your own particular interest(s) in children and childhoods that
motivated you to study this module. Your interest(s) might be professional,
personal or general.
I had a particular interest in the e102 module because it explored the
developmental ranges of children aged 0-18 which I feel would be invaluable
to me throughout my psychology degree and furthering my education to
becoming a primary school teacher in a few years. I was also interested in the
way it explores the behaviours of children and why they are different from one
another and this I feel is a key concept to learn when educating children in the
early years provision.
Having worked in a childcare from the age of 16 it was clear to me that
children’s behaviours differed from each individual, some more anxious, some
timid, some having severe behavioural problems or learning difficulties, but
learning about and understanding why these differences occur in greater
depth is a fascinating topic of discussion for me and one I feel would benefit
me greatly in my future career to make me a successful educator.
In addition to this, I have a personal interest that guided me towards this
module which is on the autism spectrum, the reason for this was that my
niece was diagnosed at the age of 5, and although this first block of the
module itself does not go into great depth on the subject, by the end of the
module I am sure it will give me more of an understanding of the condition
itself and help me with ways to better support her.
b. For the interest(s) you described in (a) above, which perspective(s) on
childhood and childhoods presented in block 1 connect with these interest(s),
and how do they connect?
, I have found the childhood studies perspective extremely relevant in
connecting with my interests of teaching and exploring behavioural
differences, especially the differences in culture and upbringings across
different countries and cultures which demonstrates childhood as a social
construction, this demonstrates great depth of how the behaviours are
recognised and children’s lives differ in accordance to a number of factors
they are exposed too ((Montgomery, 2013), this has increased my awareness
and gave me greater knowledge on my ability to build up relationships with
children and their families whilst taking into consideration and respecting their
differences and opinions. Another interesting thing I have learnt is that
gender really does make a difference in how people connect with children, in
the ‘Baby X experiment’ it was concluded that boys are tougher, we praise
their physical competences and tend to treat them with a little less empathy,
whereas girls were believed to be more shy and calmer, therefore identifying
that people tended to be more soft and loving towards them trying to soothe
them (Seavey et al, 1975, pg.8) another point noting was (online activity 3.1,
week 5) which confirmed the evidence of the ‘baby x’ experiment and
expressed that gender differences stem from the environment and parents
preconceptions, rather than from genes itself, in other words, children will
react in regards to cultural reinforcements and to how they are ‘expected’ to
react in regards to gender stereotyping ( activity 3.2, week 5). This evidence
enhances my brief understanding before I began the module on behavioural
differences and has gave me further skills to develop within the classroom
whilst dealing with ‘out of character’ behaviour and building up relationships
with the children.
c. How might another perspective on children and childhoods that is presented
in block 1 contribute further to your developing understanding of children and
childhoods?
Looking at the Child psychology perspective, I have found this to further my
development in both of my interests listed above. The block demonstrates a clear
