A child’s environment comprises a sufficient part of the child’s development process. Family and community remain the largest influence on a child throughout the early years, so maintaining and improving it secures the effective result in learning.
Standard of Choice
In my opinion, the standard that requires the most in-depth exploration is the one that deals with building family and community relationships.
Brief Summary of the Standard
The standard requires advocates on behalf of children to understand the current family and community situation of children, be prepared to monitor further developments in the course of advocacy, and involve the child’s environment into participation in the development process, as well as maintaining a healthy psychological atmosphere.
Significance of the Standard
Cultural and social insights
I’ve chosen this standard for several reasons. First, it allows for a great opportunity of a cultural and social insight, which can be useful both in advocating on behalf of children and outside the professional field, for personal interest.
Examples of benefits
Second, its powerful impact, when neglected, results in disruptive effects. The family with the tension between parents has long been cited as a reason for hampering the child’s progress in life (Hetherington & Arasteh, 1988, p. 4). Indifferent parents also strongly influence a child’s motivation, which leads to decreased performance. Finally, the cultural differences between the family and the teacher may lead to rejection of the latter or major discrepancies in the development process.
Questions and Rationales
As maintaining contact with family, not to mention securing their collaboration, is a complex task that requires more field experience than theoretical knowledge (Feeney, Galper, & Seefeldt, 2009, p. 212), several questions arise.
Special Question
The first question that deals primarily with my professional abilities are the strategies for “unreachable” parents. These are families that are reluctant to work with a teacher. Dealing with them requires more effort than is allowed in the process of education. However, this is not a reason to neglect them. What are the basic strategies to maximize influence while retaining time for other families?
General Questions
Assessing the information
Short-term evaluation of the psychological climate in the family may be useful for dynamic and timely shifts in advocating strategies (NAEYC Professional Preparation Standards, 2012, p. 32). What are the most effective methods of assessment of the current picture in the family?
Unintrusive methods
Many families can perceive the teacher’s attempts to involve them in their child’s development as offensive and intrusive. This may shift their stance towards the teacher to hostile. Is there a way of determining the line between intrusive and persistent behavior and, more importantly, is there a way of blurring this line to persuade the parents to cooperate rather than resist?
Competence and stereotyping
Cultural competence, also dubbed the appreciation of diversity (Colker, 2008, p. 72), is among the chief components of the standard. However, certain steps aimed at bridging cultural gaps can backfire when deemed as offensive instead. Are there any common guidelines to avoid this or should each such case be approached individually, which is more time-consuming?
Hypersensitivity
Finally, the tolerance for cultural diversity has recently been blamed for creating “cultural hypersensitivity”. As advocates for young children work with the most delicate audience, is there a way to avert this without compromising cultural values?
Conclusion
The cooperation between an advocate and a child’s parents has a noticeable impact on the success of the process. Though being among the most complicated tasks, when approached correctly, it yields impressive results.
References
Colker, L.J. (2008). Twelve characteristics of early childhood teachers. Young Children, 63(2), 68-74. Web.
Feeney, S., Galper, A., & Seefeldt, C. (2009). Continuing issues in early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill/Pearson. Web.
Hetherington, E., & Arasteh, J. (1988). Impact of divorce, single parenting, and stepparenting on children. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Web.
NAEYC professional preparation standards. (2012). Web.