Contemporary Challenges in UK Child Development: A Critical Portfolio

This report provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary issues impacting child development within the UK education system. It examines critical factors such as poverty, domestic violence, and drug use, highlighting their detrimental effects on children's cognitive, social, and emotional growth. The report explores various child development theories, including Freud's psychosexual theory, Erikson's psychosocial theory, Piaget's cognitive theory, and Bandura's social learning theory, to understand the multifaceted nature of child development. It further analyzes the impact of ineffective government policies, low-quality preschool programs, and the gap between preschool and secondary school education on children's learning and overall development. The report emphasizes the need for effective strategies and frameworks to address these challenges, advocating for improved educational support, early intervention programs, and comprehensive government policies to ensure positive outcomes for children in the UK.

Critical Portfolio and Critical
Reflection
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Table of Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................9
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
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PART 1
INTRODUCTION
In recent times, there has been many contemporary issues which are occurring in education.
So, it has highly impacted on learning and growth of children in UK. These issues need to be
highlighted so that it becomes easy to solve it. Alongside, government can develop strategy in
order to solve those issues. However, child development is major issues in education in UK. It
refers to process of growth that occurs within child from birth to adulthood. The growth is in
terms of physical, language, thoughts, emotions, etc. Thus, here child progress from dependency
from parents to becoming independent. This issue is chosen because it will focus on how child
development is affected if progress made (Bentley, and et.al., 2016).
The issue is concern for parents and government as it has affect on child growth and
development. Hence, it must be researched so that strategies are identified regarding how to
solve it and what changes in required to be made in education. Besides that, it will provide
theories that can be applied in solving issue. Therefore, it will benefit parents and children who
are going to school.
The portfolio will describe about contemporary issue of child development in education in
UK. Also, it will be discussed arguments about various authors regarding issue and educational
system. Moreover, argument will be made to identify core problem due to which issue is
occurring.
MAIN BODY
Child development plays vital role in society as it allows in overall growth of children. this
can be given through education (Duncan, and et.al., 2018). Thus, it is essential to provide
effective education so it leads to child growth. If child development is not effective then it does
not give positive outcomes. Thus, there are no social and economic benefits achieved in it. Child
development means overall growth of child that is mental, cognitive, social, etc. As said by
Francesconi, and Heckman, (2016), child growth is highly dependent on education which he or
she learn from school. With that child development occurs. There are various areas of child
development such as physical, mental, emotional and social. These all contribute in chid growth.
In physical it includes walking, running, sitting and maintaining balance. Also, playing games,
dressing writing, etc. included as well. In emotional it consists of how to react, laugh, show
emotions, and many more. Thus, these all are related to it. Similarly, in mental the learning is
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problem solving, thinking, remembering, etc. and in social skills it includes developing relation,
interacting with people and many others. Basically, there are 3 stages of child development that
are early (birth to 8 years), middle and adolescence. Early is stage from birth to 8 years. There is
lack of emotional attachment and motor sills in it. Besides, no such skills are developed as it is
initial stage. In addition, middle stage is of 8 – 12 years where child start understanding things.
The cognitive skills are developed along with motivation, personality traits, etc. Moreover, there
is development of social skills as well in it. In this stage primary development is integration with
social context. Other than this, the last stage is of adolescence 12- 18 years. Here, child becomes
mature and there are a lot of responsibilities followed as well. There also occurs mood swings
and frustration with change in behaviour. Alongside, hormones are developed that leads to
transition in it. Early education in children is most crucial stage. This is because it leads to
development of brain that is influenced by surroundings. The child undergo growth in a step by
step manner. Besides that, there are certain factors by which it impacts on growth of children. As
said by Letourneau, and et.al., (2017), there are several theories of child development that is
applied in growth. These theories reflect on how varied skills are developed among child. Thus,
they are defined as
Freud psychosexual theory- this theory was proposed by Sigmund freud. He said that child
experience and unconscious is desire influence behaviour. This means that conflict occurred at
any stage will have impact on behavior of child for long time. Thus, conflict plays vital role in
child development. Also, energy of libido focus on various zones in stages. Hence, progress is
failed when any stage result in fixing in development.
Erikson psychosocial theory- This theory state that social interaction and experience play vital
role in child development. This process is continuous from birth till death. So, he said that at
each stage conflict highly impact on functioning and growth of people. As frued theory only said
that conflict affect for long time but Erikson said it continues for lifespan (Grant, and et.al.,
2018).
Piaget cognitive theory –it is related to cognitive development of person though process. Thus,
these process influence understanding and interacting with world. Thus, he showed that how
though process and mental ability is developed. So, these both highly influences on
understanding world. Similarly, Piaget proposed several stages of though process development in
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children. There are 4 stages in it that are sensorimotor, pre operational, concrete and formal
operational stage.
Bandura social learning theory – this is most common and important theory developed by Albert
Bandura. He stated that conditioning and reinforcement can not led to human learning. Thus, he
said that in child development observation play vital role. It does not mean to observe real world
but rather learning can be done by listening, watching fictional character in movies, etc.
Likewise, children can also learn from it which it easy to observe and learn (Habibi, and et.al.,
2018).
As elucidated by Jensen, Berens, and Nelson (2017), in UK there are certain issues that
are occurring in education. Among them child development is also an issue. Here it is found that
there are many children who are not getting education. It is due to which child development is
affected. It has been found that due to poverty there are many children who are not able to afford
education. This is because they are not having enough financial resources to get educate. So, they
are not able to get grow and progress. Along with that, even when they are having resources but
coming at adolescence stage children are not able to get quality education.
Along with that, this issue is due to domestic violence which is becoming a concern in
child development in education. In UK the rate of domestic violence is rising rapidly. It has been
found that about 4.2% of men and 7.9% women suffered domestic violence in 2019. So, it highly
affected on child growth and progress. Due to domestic violence children are not able to attend
schools and get education. Alongside, even when they go to school but the mental stability is not
good. Therefore, it impacts on their growth. Besides that, surrounding environment also
influence their growth and development. Domestic violence results in creating a negative impact
on child education. Thus, children in schools are not unable to develop self confidence and
understand others. They remain in depression and shows improper behaviour.
In the view of Jeong, McCoy, and et.al., (2016), the issue of child development in
education is due to rise in intake of drug. It has been found that children who are above age of 15
years are highly involved in taking drugs. this is because there is high influence of environment
and other factors on them. Thus, using of drugs has highly influenced on their behaviour. Due to
that they are able to focus on education and learn. Alongside, there is negative impact on their
growth and child development. Habibi, and et.al., (2018), stated that drug use has increased
among children when they reach adolescence stage. This is because they become more
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independent. So, it results in creating environment in which children do not like to go school.
There is complete change in their behaviour. Furthermore, entire community is being affected
due to it. Due to it, social and culture beliefs are changed as well. There is no welfare of children
growth in that. In addition to it, those who are taking drugs are also influencing other school
children. Hence, it is on mental and physical health of children. other than this, there is also
impact on cognitive development. So, when they are going to school their learning is affected.
Alongside, long term growth is impacted by using of drugs in it.
As argued by Keenan, Evans, and Crowley, (2016) child development in education
issue is due to ineffective government policy and guidelines in education. There is no proper
policy related to educating children in schools. Besides that, ineffective monitoring of programs
and seminars are also a factor due to which child development is affected. The parents are not
being guided and given direction of how to ensure children progress and growth. The main
problem is faced in middle and adolescence stage where there is change in behaviour of children
observed. The reaction given by them has influenced their behaviour. Due to that they are not
able to focus on education and it is hampering their growth. Furthermore, due to lack of society
programs at local level parents are not aware about what things needs to be done. Therefore, it is
leading to negative consequences on child growth. It is also not giving social as well as
economic benefit to society. As critiqued by Duncan, and et.al., (2018), it is found that quality
of pre school programs are very low. From that program it becomes easy to determine that how
effective they are and has benefited in children learning and growth. With low quality pre school
program no socio economic activity is initiated in that. In that professors and teachers are not
effectively engaged in organising those programs. They are not focusing on child development.
Even pre school learning is not giving positive outcomes in it. In research it has been found that
the experiences of the infant and young child provide the foundation for long-term physical and
mental health as well as cognitive development. More recent studies in this area have examined
the pre-kindergarten achievement gap using nationally representative data using a nationally
representative sample of families in the UK. With the beginning of the 21st century in the world
shaped by global competition, preschool education programs play an increasingly vital role in
child development and school readiness. This is growing awareness that early learning impacts
persist across children’s life span, affecting educational achievement.
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It is argued by Bentley, and et.al., (2016), there is gap in pre school and secondary
school education. It is found that in pre school education learning given to children with
activities are not continued in secondary school. Moreover, there is no framework of child
development in primary school education. Due to that no extra circular activities or learning
programs are organized. This is giving disadvantage in their growth. There exists gap within
educational framework and approaches followed. It has changed way of providing educational
learning to them. So, it requires for UK government to develop strategies at local and state level
so that the gap between pre school and secondary school is reduced. This will enable in
developing a plan by which child development can be effectively implemented in it. Besides that,
with help of strategy framework can be prepare that what activities are to be organized, learning
given, etc. In UK there are many pre schools where children of age 3-6 years go and learn things.
It needs to focus on child development by following discipline of education. It will enable in
making things easy to educate children along with their development. Besides that, it is evaluated
that cognitive development is most crucial in education. It helps in developing cognitive ability
of child where he or she is able to analyse things. This also influence child behavior and make
them positive. In addition to that, emotional and social skills need to be developed through
programs. These all concepts must be included in child development education by which it
becomes easy to reduce gap as well. Here, theories of child development can also be applied in
education. This will be useful in developing children.
In the current educational scenario, a child learns to go beyond the traditional way of rote
learning. They are taught to develop a mind of their own and through the flexible curriculum,
curiosity is promoted. The child is freed from the shackles of mental blocks and lets his/her
imagination run its course. There is importance of imagination is stressed upon extensively. The
play enaction’s and an encompassing curriculum lead to a well developed cognitive system.
However, child development is major issues in education in UK. It refers to process of growth
that occurs within child from birth to adulthood. The growth is in terms of physical, language,
thoughts, emotions, etc. Thus, here child progress from dependency from parents to becoming
independent. There are various areas of child development such as physical, mental, emotional
and social. These all contribute in chid growth. Early education in children is most crucial stage.
This is because it leads to development of brain that is influenced by surroundings. The child
7

undergo growth in a step by step manner. Besides that, there are certain factors by which it
impacts on growth of children (Francesconi, and Heckman, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From above it can be concluded that child development is major issues in education in UK.
Due to it children growth is affecting in physical and emotional way. The changes that are being
observed in them vary and it is resulting in giving negative outcomes. Furthermore, progress
made is in wide direction rather than in one way. There are 3 stages of child development that
are early (birth to 8 years), middle and adolescence. Early is stage from birth to 8 years, middle
stage is of 8 – 12 years and the last stage is of adolescence 12- 18 years. Furthermore, there are
different theories of child development such as Freud psychosexual theory, Erikson psychosocial
theory, Bandura social learning theory and many more. These all focus on learning and
behaviour of child through which development occurs.
Also. it is summarised that child development is contemporary issue in education in UK.
This is because there are many factors which is affecting on it. They are poverty, domestic
violence, abuse, etc. Due to all these children are not able to go to school and their growth is
affected. However, it is evaluated that due to certain government policy and framework child
development issue is in education. The government need to initiate certain programs and
seminars to ensure that this issue is solved. Also, there is change in cultural beliefs and ethics
that is affecting on children behaviour towards education.
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PART 2
INTRODUCTION
Child learning disorder may feel the frustrated that the children cannot master within the
subject despite trying hard, and may act out, act helpless or withdrawn. learning disorder can also
be present with the emotional or the behaviour disorders such as attention deficit, anxiety,
depression etc. According to the mental Health Foundation of the United Kingdom, identify that
10% of the UK population is affected by the ADHD which is known at attention defect
hyperactivity disorders. it is affecting the approximately 3 to 9 percent of tea school aged
children and also affecting the young people.
The thing which made me choose this topic was that understanding of the problems that
have faced by many children’s and they are not able to concentrate on their studies. It is
necessary for the children’s to have a proper learning An it is necessary for the government to
look at the issues children faced and experience. I never had experienced this kind of issues but
locally there are many children who face this problem and one of my classmate during the
schools was facing this problem And he was not able to concentrate on their studies , even if he
wanted to study that subject still he wouldn't able to study.
This report has been discuss about the child learning where This report will reflect on the
issues faced by their children during their age of 3 two 12. it has been discussed that how
parents can overcome from the child learning difficulties and how they can make them effective
learner from the childhood.
MAIN BODY
I made a portfolio on contemporary issue of child development in education. From that I
learned many things from it. I gained knowledge about what are stages of child development,
what theories are followed, etc. Besides that, I learned about why this issue is occurring in
education and who are responsible for it. Thus, I got insight on domestic violence which is
occurring in UK. So due to that child development is affected as they are not going to school.
Moreover, their learning is also affected as there cognitive, social, mental skills are not
developed. In addition, I evaluated that intaking of drugs is because of which issue exist in
education. But here, I find that there is gap in pre school and secondary school education. The
low quality pre school education is result due to which this issue exists.
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Here, I analyse that this issue will highly impact me in future. This is because I have to
match framework of both pre school and secondary. Thus, I will require proper and effective
planning to do so. Besides that, I will not be able to change those programs and activities which
are being followed in educating children. Thus, without those frameworks I will not be able to
teach them. This will be a major challenge for me as it will be highly difficult to educate it with
similar framework. It will impact on my practice in negative way as I will have to focus on all
areas of child development. It will be difficult for me to concentrate of all areas. Furthermore, I
will have to evaluate what issues are prevailing in society and how it is impacting on child
growth. I will not be able to interact with children who are facing domestic violence. Therefore, I
will not be able to identify their needs and how to fulfil them.
I will be required to develop policy that how to reduce gap which exists in education in
pre and secondary school. for that I will have to organise several activities by which child
development is done. It will enable me to set a framework by which this gap can be minimised.
In that I will set a systematic procedure of how education is to be provided. This will be
important for me to change things and find out area that need improvement. Apart from that, I
think that main role here is of government. They must frame policy to solve issue of domestic
violence. So, it will be highly useful in solving this issue and allowing children to go to school.
their mental ability can be changed. Along with that, I will develop strategy to minimise use of
drugs in adolescence. Here, I will make sure that strategy is properly implemented. It will be
helpful in reducing use of drug among children. Thus, it will create positive impact on society. I
will also set certain criteria that how to measure success of strategy. It will help me to monitor
affect of strategy in child development. I will integrate with government as well in order to
execute strategy. Besides that, government can provide financial aid to families who are not able
to educate children. this will be beneficial in solving lack of resources due to which this issue is
occurring in education. I think that child development will be effectively practiced in pre school
that will led to giving positive benefit to society. It is said by Grant, and et.al., 2018, author that
child development theories play crucial role in education. This is because it can be applied in it.
but in my view there is no role of theories in child development in education. I think that
education helps in child growth. It will impact on my practice as I will need to gain knowledge
and get training of educating children. Along with that, I think that it is necessary for me to make
children aware about what are issues being faced in society. This will be helpful for me to make
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them clear about real world. Therefore, I will be able to make them understand why issue is
occurring and how it can impact on child development. Therefore, I will have to follow school
policy that how to ensure child development is done with help of education.
I will also have to face some challenges in it that how to involve children to engage in
activities. this will be difficult as I will not be able to determine their needs and on basis of it
organising pre school activities. Another challenge which I will face is influencing behaviour of
children who are suffering from abuse and domestic violence. As their mental stability will
already be disturbed so it will be challenge for me to make them positive.
In order to solve the issue, I will be prepared by getting trained and knowledge of how to
influence behaviour of children. I will learn it from internet and attend various training seminars
and programs related to child development. Hence, with that I will gain knowledge about how
this concept can be applied in education. I will have to engage with all aspect of child
development. There are various areas of child development such as physical, mental, emotional
and social. These all contribute in chid growth. Early education in children is most crucial stage.
This is because it leads to development of brain that is influenced by surroundings. The child
undergo growth in a step by step manner. Besides that, there are certain factors by which it
impacts on growth of children. I should emphasis on early stage education so that a foundation is
set up for it. This will benefit in long term growth and learning of children. furthermore, I can
use EYFS concept where standards are set for development of children till 5 years. These
standards are adhered by all schools in it.
CONCLUSION
As per the report has been covered the reflection on the childhood and child learning and
it’s important. This report has been discussed that how children’s face the problem during their
learnings and how difficult it is for them to face those challenges. It has been discuss and
summarize about the It’s from the who maintain that yes children needs to be tough about SRE
to keep them safe. This report provides a reflection on it an and how children’s can we feel safe
during their young age and how they can be better learner an hour come from the learning
problems and issues. It has been provided the critical reflection on the basis of child learning
and importance so fit in both positively and negatively. This report had been reflect on the basis
of agree and disagree on the point of view of tourist that are implemented within this reflection
and shared on point of view about the topic. This report has been reflect on the challenges that
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have been faced during the reflection and also include the findings of this report. In the end of
this report it has been found that parents always look at their child learning during their young
age and they should Also try to understand the problems that child is facing so they can help
there children’s to overcome from the child learning issues and difficulties
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bentley, J.P., and et.al., 2016. Planned birth before 39 weeks and child development: a
population-based study. Pediatrics, 138(6).
Duncan, G.J. and et.al., 2018. Maternal age and child development. Demography, 55(6),
pp.2229-2255.
Francesconi, M. and Heckman, J.J., 2016. Child development and parental investment:
Introduction. The Economic Journal, 126(596), pp.F1-F27.
Grant, K.S., and et.al., 2018. Cannabis use during pregnancy: pharmacokinetics and effects on
child development. Pharmacology & therapeutics, 182, pp.133-151.
Habibi, A., and et.al., 2018. Music training and child development: a review of recent findings
from a longitudinal study. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1423(1), pp.73-
81.
Jensen, S.K., Berens, A.E. and Nelson 3rd, C.A., 2017. Effects of poverty on interacting
biological systems underlying child development. The Lancet Child & Adolescent
Health, 1(3), pp.225-239.
Jeong, J., McCoy, D.C., and et.al., 2016. Paternal stimulation and early child development in
low-and middle-income countries. Pediatrics, 138(4), p.e20161357.
Keenan, T., Evans, S. and Crowley, K., 2016. An introduction to child development. Sage.
Letourneau, N.L., and et.al., 2017. The effect of perinatal depression treatment for mothers on
parenting and child development: A systematic review. Depression and anxiety, 34(10),
pp.928-966.
Masarik, A.S. and Conger, R.D., 2017. Stress and child development: A review of the Family
Stress Model. Current Opinion in Psychology, 13, pp.85-90.
O’Leary, J.D. and et.al., 2016. A population-based study evaluating the association between
surgery in early life and child development at primary school entry. The Journal of the
American Society of Anesthesiologists, 125(2), pp.272-279.
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