Case Study: Supporting Learner Behavior in Early Childhood Education

This case study analyzes a scenario involving a child, Gemma, exhibiting challenging behaviors in an early childhood education setting. The solution proposes a holistic approach involving Gemma's immediate environment, particularly her family, emphasizing clear communication and reinforcement of desirable behaviors. It highlights the importance of involving Gemma in developing solutions, fostering a positive school experience. The physical and social environment, including the family and school, is crucial for Gemma's development, advocating for hands-on approaches and adequate resources. The involvement of external agencies like the Australian Council of Educational Research and the Australian Council of State School Organizations is also discussed, emphasizing the need for collaboration between parents, teachers, and support organizations. Family, cultural, and ethical considerations are addressed, stressing the importance of understanding Gemma's background and respecting her family's concerns. Policy frameworks and external support organizations are utilized to reinforce strategies and ensure compliance. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, along with Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory and Kieran Egan's theory of cognitive tools, are used to guide the behavioral management strategies, focusing on identity development, empathetic interactions, and addressing violent tendencies. References to relevant literature are also included.

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Running head: UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIOR: CASE STUDY
Understanding and supporting Behavior: Case study
Student’s name
Course
Date

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UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIOR: CASE STUDY
Case study addressed: One
1. What strategies and interventions could you use to support the learners in the case study to make
decisions and guide their own behaviour?
An optimal solution for a majority of the challenges elicited in Gemma’s case would be one
that involves everyone in Gemma’s immediate environment. Bronfenbrenner describes this
immediate environment surrounding a child as their microsystem (2018). Within this microsystem
are close-knit relations that bear long term and resilient effects. As such, involvement of Gemma’s
family in the management of her behavior becomes a paramount strategy towards addressing most of
these issues. Additionally, clear communication within this environment becomes the key to the
success of the aforementioned strategy. It becomes important to inform Gemma prior to classroom
activities on the mat or during play of the expected behavior. This can be achieved by reinforcing
desirable behavioral traits in order to instill long-term changes to her behavior. Consequently, violent
behavior or mischief in class and home should be discouraged firmly with an emphasis on the
wholesome development of the child without instilling fear, pain or guilt.
An important aspect of early childhood education is the involvement of the child in the
development and implementation of the solution to the presented issues. Involvement would ensure
that Gemma better understands the importance of particular virtues while simultaneously offering a
platform for better relations between Gemma and the teacher. This not only helps to modify her less
desirable behavioral traits but also offers the opportunity to enhance Gemma’s school experience
positively.
2. How you would prepare the physical and social environment to contribute to the child’s relationship
with others and learning?
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UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIOR: CASE STUDY
Gemma’s physical environment is very important towards her education and development.
Besides parents and instructors, the environment around a child is very critical towards their
education and acts as an additional teacher. As a result, the first area of interest is the child’s family
and home environment. Gemma needs to be afforded every necessary tool to her education and
curiosity in order to constantly stimulate her active intellect. Gemma’s parents also need to identify
any predisposing factors within this home environment that may cause Gemma’s violent outbreaks
and highly competitive nature (Viera et al., 2014).
At school, it becomes important to employ a hands-on approach with regards to dealing with
Gemma’s social shortcomings. Comfort from the teacher during times of distress and even
supportive intervention during playtime and other social activities becomes a useful tool to help
Gemma understand that better solutions to situations than violence exist. During class time activities,
Gemma needs to be afforded adequate resources as she is intelligent and may have valid opinions of
her own on what she needs. As such, constant involvement of the child in selecting their own tools
and methods to solve problems is useful in maximizing the educational benefit a school environment
offers (Allen & Cowdery,2014).
3. What specific involvement would external agencies and professionals have in the strategies outlined
in your response to the case study?
The Australian Council of Educational Research is a body that gathers and evaluates trends in
the education policy, strategies and frameworks employed in schools in Australia. By analyzing the
various specific environmental influences to a child’s education as well as suitable policy for
governing childhood education applied to broader spectrum of specific situations, the organization
would provide a guiding tool for instructors to apply appropriately to these situations according to
the student’s needs. In Gemma’s situation, better frameworks that describe the psychological
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UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIOR: CASE STUDY
development of a child and keener identification of some of the factors that cause the development of
traits such as violent tendencies would thus serve better towards managing the behavior of the child
within the school and home environment (Stern, 2017).
The aforementioned strategies have pinpointed as one of the most important elements of
childhood education as collaboration between a child’s parents and teachers in order to create a
seamless learning environment for the wholesome development of a child. The Australian Council of
State School Organizations helps to bridge gaps between parents, teachers and school communities
in order to ensure the learning environment of the children is not compromised. By ensuring this
constant synergy between the aforesaid parties, the body also works to ensure that the strategies
implemented to help manage Gemma’s case do not collapse and are treated with the urgency they
deserve in order to guarantee their effectiveness.
4. What are the family, cultural and ethical considerations related to the case study?
Different families hail from different backgrounds with different cultures. Understanding
Gemma’s case cannot thus be complete until the whole picture is made clear. Clearly Gemma’s
parents have been unresponsive to attempts at contact by the school. It is thus important to afford
them some ground but still establish to them the urgency of the matter. The reason for ‘cutting them
some slack’ is because the family may be in a crisis of some sort and the educational needs of
Gemma are not an immediate concern at the moment. The family could thus be afforded time to
respond while the teacher reminds them of the issue at hand with regards to Gemma’s behavior. It is
important to ensure that the importance of managing Gemma’s case is conveyed within every
message in order to keep them aware.
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UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIOR: CASE STUDY
The conversation between the family and the instructor on Gemma’s case should be based on
mutual respect and understanding of each party’s stake in the educational and psychological
development of Gemma. Only by a successful synergy can the two parties effectively manage this
case and as such, any potential obstacles to this relationship should be avoided (Boonk, et al., 2018).
Such pitfalls include ethnicity, religion and general ideologies. It is important to consider any
concerns that the parents may have and address each of them satisfactorily.
5. How can you make effective use of policy frameworks and external support organisations in
response to this case study?
Policy frameworks are useful tools that offer a variety of options that present as solutions to
Gemma’s case. External support organizations on the other hand offer robust methods of ascertaining
the change in behavioral patterns in reaction towards or against the plan. Policy frameworks help to
reinforce the strategies employed by satisfying compliance with various policies such as state and
national educational policies as well as ethical regulations. A plan that has considered the legal,
social and ethical implications of the intervention measure is thus able to effectively accomplish the
objective without eliciting any social or legal harm. External support organizations on the other hand
have dedicated resources towards the specific and generic analyses of various behavior management
strategies. This means that they are able to determine concisely the efficacy and efficiency of a
strategy towards behavior management. Additionally, these support organizations are useful in
ensuring and determining whether aforementioned policy frameworks are adhered to in order to
prevent the possibility of future blowback.
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UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIOR: CASE STUDY
6. What behavior framework, strategy and model would you apply in response to your chosen case
study?
Managing Gemma’s behavior requires understanding the relationships between various
behavior and the likely eventuality associated with the behavior in order to clearly inform and
manage the said behavior. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia describes five learning
outcomes for a child with one of them involving identity development (DEEWR, 2009).
Interestingly, Gemma’s situation presents an opportunity to deal with both the issues that affect her
identity and other learning outcomes in one stroke. One of the key ways of building the identity of a
child is by teaching them empathetic and respectful interaction. As such, according to this
framework, it would be expected that by teaching Gemma to be more respectful and understanding to
others even when she loses, in a bid to correct her violent tendencies, other secondary results arise.
Such include the enhanced level of classroom interaction and involvement as well as awareness of
moral concepts such as justice and fairness which forms a key component of the second learning
outcome. Additionally, the strategy helps make Gemma confident and an effective communicator
which not only helps to meet another learning objective but also exercises one of her strengths as an
excellent conversationalist.
7. What theories have you used to guide your approaches to behavior management in your case study
response?
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory is one such theory that describes the domains or
environments that define various contexts of interaction in a learning environment (Aguilar, et al.,
2017). The theory has been useful in the identification of the major influencers of Gemma’s behavior
as the parents and school environment which forms the most immediate contextual system called the
microsystem. The theory is used to describe these interactions and the nature they take at particular
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stages in order to guide the behavioral management process (Powell and Todd, 2004). The theory
also forms a basis for the justification of parental and community involvement in early childhood
education.
Additionally, Kieran Egan’s theory of cognitive tools has also been used in an attempt to
understand some of the influences towards Gemma’s behavior and in particular, her violent
tendencies. At such an age, it is possible that Gemma picked this trait by imitation which is, as
described by Egan, the main mode of learning during initial stages of life. The tools enabling this
process are called somatic tools (1997). Additionally, at her age, she is beginning to develop the
second set of tools, mythic tools, which present particular implications to her case. Mythic tools aid
in development of morality, ideologies and myths which help govern the child’s actions. From
Gemma’s case, it is clear that these faculties are either disjointed or underdeveloped thus offering an
avenue for evidence-based intervention.
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References
Aguiar, A., Baillargeon, R., Aguiar, A., Baillargeon, R., Ahn, J., Ahnert, L., … & Waters, E. (2017).
Changing perspectives on early childhood: Theory, research and policy. In Introducing
Bronfenbrenner: A Guide for Practitioners and Students in Early Years Education (Vol. 39, No. 2,
pp. 1-12). Hillsdale NJ: Stanford University Press.
Allen, E. K., & Cowdery, G. E. (2014). The exceptional child: Inclusion in early childhood education. (1st
ed.) Ontario: Nelson Education.
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL]. (2014). Creating routines [video file].
Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/illustrations-
of-practice/detail?id=IOP00138
Boonk, L., Gijselaers, H. J., Ritzen, H., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (2018). A review of the relationship between
parental involvement indicators and academic achievement. Educational Research Review, 24, 10-
30.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2018). Urie Bronfenbrenner: Learning Context. Learning Theories for Early Years
Practice, 66.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments
[DEEWR]. (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for
Australia. Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.
Early Childhood Australia. (2011). Creating '‘enabling' environments. Retrieved from
http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/nqsplp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/EYLFPLP_E-
Newsletter_No13.pdf
Egan, K. (1997). The educated mind: How cognitive tools shape our understanding. (1st ed) Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Otto, B. (2014). Language development in early childhood education. (2nd ed) New York, NY: Pearson.
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Powell, S., & Tod, J. (2004). Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Model [adapted figure]. in A systematic
review of how theories explain learning behaviour in school contexts (p. 4). EPPI-Centre, Social
Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.
Stern, W. (2017). Psychology of early childhood: up to the sixth year of age. (1st Ed.) London: Routledge.
Veira, Y., Finger, B., Schuetze, P., Colder, C. R., Godleski, S., & Eiden, R. D. (2014). Child behavior
problems: Role of cocaine use, parenting, and child exposure to violence. Psychology of
violence, 4(3), 266.
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