Critical Reflective Analysis: Fostering Positive Behaviors in Children

This report provides a critical reflective analysis of child development, focusing on fostering positive behaviors. It examines the influence of socio-economic factors and obesity on a child named Shine, analyzing her development at ages 1, 3, 5, and 7. The report explores the impact of these factors on learning and behavior, highlighting the importance of a supportive learning environment. It emphasizes the crucial role of parents and teachers in fostering positive behaviors, suggesting various strategies like teaching social skills, adapting the environment, and building strong relationships. The report also discusses ethical and professional responsibilities of educators in addressing challenges and promoting positive development, referencing supportive resources within Australia. The conclusion stresses the significance of early intervention and collaborative efforts between parents and teachers to create a nurturing environment for children's growth and learning, especially considering the impact of health issues and social factors. The report is based on research and observations, providing insights into effective approaches for promoting positive child development.

Research based critical
reflective analysis -
fostering positive
behaviours.
(Word Count of the Assignment - 1699)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Criteria 1.................................................................................................................................3
Criteria 2.................................................................................................................................4
Criteria 3.................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................9
Appendix 1.............................................................................................................................9
Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................10
Appendix 3...........................................................................................................................12
Appendix 4...........................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Child development, term can be defined as many sequential phases of individual's life,
which consists with ample number of hormonal and other sort of alterations. There are some
other factors as well like language, emotional, physical and other related changes that took place
in life of a child. A child basically dependents on parents or may be guardians till the time he/she
gets capable of becoming independent or to take care of himself or herself by own (Tearle &
Spandagou, 2012). Here, it can be said that positive behaviour is considered as the main part of
the development of every child as this not only helps in developing their mindset but in terms of
physical as well. Present report is going to focus on a child's development named as Shine at
different stages like from the age of 1, 3, 5 and 7. The report will provide information about child
development and learning issues that may impact on behaviour and inclusion of every child in
individual manner. It will further provide information on the learning opportunities with
consideration of inclusion and diversity and learning environments of children (Sims, 2011). At
last, it will provide knowledge on ethical and professional responsibilities of a teacher which
helps children in fostering positive behaviour.
MAIN BODY
Criteria 1
On the basis of information obtained from all 8 videos, it has been analysed that major
issue in Shine's development is socio economic. Socio-economic is termed as the study which
states that how economic condition of an individual affects their social development. Financially
weak status of Shine in her early childhood have affected development of overall learning period
as her parent were not able to provide her good level of basic necessities like high nutrient food,
clothes etc. On the other hand, obesity too have major impact over behaviour of Shine, that
results in making her more introvert with the passing time (Kohn, 2006). Through psychological
perceptive, it was identified later that impact of obesity on children is a psychological problem
that generates feeling of depression and anxiety. Empahsizing on the Shine’s age, the
investigation gave results that parents of Shine were not able to provide enough time and
participation in her childhood development. This has increased her loneliness which has led to
the child becoming an introvert because there was no one who could hear, understand and
interact with the child (Karten & Karten, 2007) . It also has impacted negatively on Shine as she

did not feel comfortable while communicating to others. Also, it has been identified that various
other influences of childhood obesity on children are physical health, emotional well-being,
social connections, self-esteem etc. All these factors have a significant impact on the academic
performance of child as well since there are high chance that child who suffers from obesity will
not be able to learn quickly in comparison of other children (Healy, 2008). Along with this, it
also lowers down the quality of life experience of child as they are not able to access better
learning environment. Impact of obesity can also be seen on the learning and development of
Shine. Obesity also enhances chances of being caught into other diseases which affects normal
health condition of Shine as she is not able to perform basic activities of school like other
children. This has also reduced her attendance record at school which ultimately affects her
school performance. Shine is also not able to develop her knowledge gained from school session
as due to health issues she is not able to attend all school sessions.
The overall analysis drawn from proforma template of Shine, it has been evaluated that
this child has learnt a lot from her family background, that creates extensive impact over her
development as well as learning abilities (Yelland, 2010). In order to observe the child and her
various aspects related to the personality, when Shine was 5-year old she was kept in a room
with other children of same age. Instructors placed marshmallows in the room before kids in
order to capture reactions of children towards marshmallows. Under this process, it was analysed
that during entire time period Shine did not eat a single marshmallow. The main reason behind
this was identified that she is intelligent and aware about the fact that if she had controlled her
desire to eat marshmallows during the room test then she will get three Marshmallow after
clearing this task (Griffin, 2008). This simply depicts that Shine has gained strong intelligence
genes from her father which lead to development of her intelligence at the initial level only
(Grace, Hodge & McMahon, 2017). Although, this baby girl is very young to understand
competition but while comparing her intelligence with the other children it could be concluded
that her brain and intelligence level is much sharper in comparison to kids of age similar to her.
It could also be concluded that since Shine has observed her parents struggling period, it has
made her strong enough to understand things from the initial phase of her growth and make wiser
choices.

Criteria 2
According to the overall analysis, it has been observed by me that parents are the only
initial source which contributes in developing learning environment for children. This learning is
helpful for every child as they get can maximise their learning from the initial time only
(Robinson, Eickelkamp & Katx, 2008). Furthermore, it has also been observed if a child gets
opportunity to integrate and interact with other children belonging to diverse culture then their
learning growth is higher. Since, Shine has been really very intelligent at the age of 3, it was
found that this came in her from father (Alain). Effective provision of learning opportunities
could be considered as something that has helped Shine in enhancing the individual learning
within the age group of 3, 5 and 7 years (Foreman & Arthur-Kelly, 2014). On the other hand, it
can also be said that although children are ready and eager to learn, many early childhood
educators are not prepared to engage children in rich subject-matter experiences that lay the
groundwork for success later in school and in the workplace. In general, teachers historically
have not been prepared to teach subject-specific knowledge to young children, although
language and literacy has received more attention for young children relative to other subject-
matter areas (Curtis & Carter, 2000). On the other hand, it is also said that diversity is something
that Shine has faced a lot, which made her introvert and due to poverty, her parents shifted to a
coastal area. This brought peace in their lives but it also took them at a place, where they could
feel much more distressed and her father used to feel much more disgraceful as he did not have
anything to do ((Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2012)). This
diversity, built a learning environment for Shine. A perfect example, can easily be seen through
the test which was done on all the 11 kids, where shine was the one who did perform really very
well and this came in limelight due to all the issues, which were faced by their parents while she
was growing continuously (Cologon, 2014).
Criteria 3
When observing and analysing the growth of child by marking down a few years namely
3, 5 and 7 years of age, it was found that the major issue which Shine has faced is socio
economics and obesity which has led to her becoming an introvert. Teacher plays an essential
role in fostering positive behaviour among children as they are capable of identify issues in child.
This is helpful for them because it contributes in provide quality education to children according
to their case. With reference to the case of Shine, it is the teacher's ethical and professional

responsibility is to build positive behaviour and this could easily be done through various
approaches like Commitment to the Job, Keep Learning, Healthy Relationships Top the List and
considering the approach i.e. students matter the most (Berk, 2012). All of this helps approaches
will support child in minimising the effects of social economic issue over their development.
These are the basic responsibilities of both parents and teachers that could have helped Shine in
enhancing the development or growth process in both mental and physical terms. Along with
this, it has also been found that there are many supportive coordinators present within the
Australia to improve child learning like Como Children, Communicate Family Day Care
Scheme, Hiran Family Daycare, Cannington and many more, where they have developed ample
number of policies in regards to reducing the number of issues like obesity (Arthur & et.al.,
2015). It can be said that, prior-to-school and in school as well there are ample number of
strategies that could be utilised by teachers to support the introvert behaviour of Shine and
develop into positive behaviour and these are teaching social skills, building relationships,
adapting the environment, managing sensory stimulation, changing communication strategies,
providing prompts and cues, using a teach, review, reteach process, and developing social skills
(Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2010). On the other hand,
both Michelle and Alain were really very supportive towards development of Shine, and in the
school as well as she was intelligent it has helped her parents in teachers in communicating and
developing much more effective relations with each other (McDevitt & et.al., 2013). This
directly pushed the lucky Shine's future towards getting much more effective and efficient
behaviour towards others.
CONCLUSION
With the help of above mentioned report, it is being concluded that learning process for
children from the age to 3 to 7 can be much crucial and it is much required for both prior-to-
school and in school settings to focus upon giving positive environment. Indulging into any kind
of health issue at the initial stage directly affects learning spam of child as they are not able to
gain knowledge like other children. This can directly be done through building effective
partnerships among teachers and parents. Along with this, positive behaviour among children
could be built through various approaches, which could be anything from reteach process,
offering prompts and cues, building teaching social skills and so on.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arthur, L. & et.al., (2015). Programming and planning in early childhood settings. (6th ed.).
Melbourne: Social Science Press.
Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants children and adolescents (7th International ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Education.
Cologon, K. (2014). Inclusive education in the early years. Right from the start. Melbourne
Curtis, D., & Carter, M., (2000). The art of awareness: How observation can transform your
thinking.St. Paul, MA: Redleaf Press.
Foreman, P., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2014). Inclusion in action 4th ed.. Melbourne: Cengage.
Grace, R., Hodge, K., & McMahon, C. (2017). (5th ed.). Children, families and communities.
Griffin, S. (Ed.). (2008). Inclusion, equality and diversity in working with children. Professional
University Press.
Healy, A. (Ed.). (2008). Multiliteracies and diversity in education. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford.
Karten, T. J., & Karten, T. J. (2007). More inclusion strategies that work! Aligning student
strengths with standards. London: Corwin development. London: Heinemann.
Kohn, A. (2006). Beyond discipline: From compliance to community (10th Anniversary
electronic ed.).
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
McDevitt & et.al., (2013). Child development and education. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson
Australia.
Robinson, G., Eickelkamp, U., & Katx, I. (2008). Contexts of child development: Culture, policy
and intervention. Darwin, Australia: Charles Darwin University Press.
Sims, M. (2011). Social inclusion and the early years learning framework. A way of working.
Castle Hill, Australia: Pademelon Press.
Tearle, K., & Spandagou, I. (2012). Learning support policy in Australia (New South Wales) and
New Zealand; Discourses of influence. Joint AARE APERA International Conference.
Yelland, N. (2010). Contemporary perspectives on early childhood education. Maidenhead, UK:
Open University Press.
Online

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2012). Australian Curriculum.
[ONLINE] Available through:< http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/>.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2010). Educators belonging,
being & becoming. Educators’ guide to the Early Years Learning Framework for
Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. [ONLINE] Available
through :<https://www.education.gov.au/early-years-learningframework>.

Appendix
Appendix 1
Focus Child Recording Pro Forma – use this pro forma to assist in collecting information about
your focus child at each Life At Age.
Child’s Name: Shine Age: (1,3, 5, 7)
Identification of key development factors and implications for teaching
Strengths Interests Teaching and
Learning Needs
Physical Development Coordination
Flexibility
Group playing
games
Interested to know
about new facts.
Cognitive Development Computer
Analogy
Introspection
Emotional Mental processing
Social-Emotional
Development
Relationship
Building
Self-Emotion
Express pride in
accomplishment
Encouragement and
support at the time
of stress
Language Development Vocabulary
Sentences
Understanding
different sound
Literacy as the basis
of reading and
writing
Identification of key socio-cultural factors and implications
for Teaching
Culture Education, language, values
Gender Female
Language English
Socio-economic status Income, type of education
Ability To solve problem faced by the child in learning

Family Circumstance Financially weak family, where her mother was basically
working and her father was studying.

Appendix 2
Focus Child Recording Pro Forma – use this pro forma to assist in collecting information about
your focus child at each Life At Age.
Child’s Name: Shine Age: (1,3, 5, 7)
Identification of key development factors and implications for teaching
Strengths Interests Teaching and
Learning Needs
Physical Development Intelligent Eating or drinking
milk all the time
Curious to know
new and learn
Cognitive Development Follows
moving
objects with
eyes
Focuses on faces Developing mental
abilities
Social-Emotional
Development
Smiles at
sound of her
mother's or
father's voice
Turns head
towards direction
of a sound
Opens and shuts
hands to call her
mother
Language Development Babbling
begins
different
vowels sound
Stares towards
high pitch or loud
sound
Begins using both
eyes and hands at the
same time.
Identification of key socio-cultural factors and implications
for Teaching
Culture Education, language, law
Gender Female
Language English
Socio-economic status Income, type of education

Ability To enhance the power of developing ability of mind
Family Circumstance Financially weak family but filled with intelligence