Childhood Education: Theories and Importance of Early Childhood Development

Running head: CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
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CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 2
Introduction
The United Nations Convention on the rights of children offer the definition of children
as any individual below the age of 18 years (Smith, 2013). For that reason, any persons within
that age will be refered to as a child in this essay. Children all over the world go through
different development cycles depending on their cultural, social and political background. Each
of these consider childhoods differently, for example, every society has its constraints regarding
children like at what age should they vote, drink or consent to surgery. But the definition of
childhood is not different in these societies, childhood is the age of immaturity; a stage
composed of maturation and change. The documents released by UNCRC define three different
theories that explain children and childhood development; children rights, childhood studies,
and sociocultural theories (Smith, 2013). The UNCRC has managed to create an internationally
accredited standard for treating children, they have, in children right, requested the total
corporation of children, their parents and the institution state in order to respectfully reconcile
and manage the treatment of children (United Nations, 1989). These guidelines were accepted
by New Zealand in 1993. In the UNCRC document childhood education and learning are
viewed as a way to protect children's rights, and since the document was signed by New
Zealand, the state considers itself a fighter for children rights (Smith, 2013). The state has gone
further to adopt the learning and development theories that are taught to the teachers to make
sure that children are well protected.
Theories
Early childhood development theories go as far back to the father of psychoanalysis,
Freud. Through his groundbreaking study with mentally ill patients, he was able to develop one
of the best known theories for childhood development. Through his clinical work with patients

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suffering from mental illness, Freud came to believe that childhood experiences and
unconscious desires influenced behavior. He argued that the character and behavior of an adult
can be traced back to childhood, this is reflective in learning. As Clark & Kinney (2006, p. 4)
put it, children are expected to make decisions as a means to increase their visibility. What they
explain is that adults should involve children in the decisions concerning their learning as a way
of improving their development. According to Freud, the development of a child occurs at
different stages and the experiences of each stage have an enormous capability to influence
behavior. He called the theory psychosexual theory. Here is what the theory states; the
development of a child happens in a range of stages all of which focus on a pleasure area. There
are five stages all of which are separated according to age. Dai is four years old. According to
Freud, he is at the phallic stage where he discovers his sexual areas, his genitals. But his
communication is not good, he does not talk to other children possibly because he does not see
his parents communicate with other adults, this greatly affects the capability to successfully go
through this stage (O’Connor et al., 2018, p.5). Freud argues that should a child fail to go
through a single stage, he/she becomes fixated at that one point. A factor that can influence adult
behavior. Now, other childhood development theories argue that more changes can occur that
can influence personality throughout a lifetime, but Freud believed that early experiences lay
the foundation of development.
Another childhood development theory was developed by Erik Erikson. He was a neo-
Freudian psychologist who developed the eight-stage theory of psychosocial development. The
theory focuses on changes throughout life, viewing social interactions and conflicts that come
as a result of separate stages of development. It is true that Erickson's theory is similar to that of
Freud, but instead of focusing on pleasure and sexual interest as the major influences, he went a

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different path to associate development with social interactions (specifically family
communication and socialization) and experiences (Tomlins-Jahnke & Durie, 2008, p. 5). The
theory asserts that change happens from infancy through to death, and at each stage, a child or
an adult gets to develop according to that change and shifts in the factors of the communication
(Tomlins-Jahnke & Durie, 2008, p. 6). Successfully managing these conflicts and interactions
grants a healthy psychological virtue. But in the case of Dai, his development is undermined by
his inability to communicate with other children at a social level, he cannot form a bond or
resolve conflicts. His psychological growth is in this sense stunted by his inability to
communicate.
The two previous theories are traditional and come from an old school of thought. In the
early twentieth century, a new school of thought arose that sought to observe and explain
development as an issue of behavior. This school of thought called themselves the Behaviorists,
and they argued that psychological studies need to focus more on the measurable and
observable traits and behaviors, for example, poverty level (Ridge, 2006, p. 25). They argued
that psychology is a science and has to be able to be more scientific, meaning, empirical pieces
evidence.
Their argument towards human psychology is interesting; they state that all human
behavior can be traced back according to environmental influences. They claim that children
development and learning is in direct reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli, and
reinforcements. In this regard, Dai is behaving as such only in reaction to how he was treated at
home and nothing else. The theory considers only measurable factors and leaves out the
remaining unmeasurable factors like internal thoughts or emotions. As Ridge (2006, p. 25)