Analyzing Developmental Theories in Childcare and Education Contexts

This essay delves into various developmental theories, including those of Piaget, Skinner, Vygotsky, Erikson, and Gesell, examining their contributions to understanding cognitive, language, physical, emotional, and social development in children. The essay explores the core principles of each theory, such as Piaget's stages of cognitive development, Skinner's behaviorist approach to language acquisition, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective, Erikson's psychosocial stages, and Gesell's maturational stages. Furthermore, it analyzes the influence of these theories on current frameworks, particularly the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), highlighting how these theories inform practices in childcare and early education settings. The essay provides specific examples of how EYFS principles are derived from the various theories, such as the emphasis on creating enabling environments, fostering positive relationships, and providing opportunities for active learning and play. The analysis demonstrates the practical application of theoretical knowledge in shaping the standards and practices of early childhood education.

Running head: CHILDCARE AND EDUCATION
Childcare and education
Name of the student:
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Author’s note

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Theories of development
Numerous theories have described the concept of cognitive and physical development in
children. These include the following:
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development:
This is the most standards theory on the basis of which other theories are judged. After
various experiments with children and adolescents, Piaget concluded that children acquire new
skills as they grow. He gave indication about four stages of cognitive development in which
children learn and develop cognitive skills. Theses stages include sensorimotor stage,
preoperational stage, concrete operational and formal operations stage. Through these stages,
Piaget has explained the method in which children constructs a mental model of the world.
According to this theory, cognitive development occurs through biological maturation as well as
interaction with environment (Siegler 2016). The main strength of Piaget’s cognitive
development theory is that it has clearly defined discrete stages of development by clarifying
qualitative difference in each stage instead of increasing complexity of behaviors at each stage
(Demetriou, Shayer and Efklides 2016).
Theory of language development:
The theories related to learning perspective and speech development of children has been
mainly given by Skinner and Vygotsky. Skinner explained the process of language acquisition in
children based on behaviorist reinforcement principle. The main argument of Skinner was that
children learn language by linking words with meaning. Hence, they utter correct word once they
get positive response from their mother and realize the communicative value of words (Barnes-

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Holmes et al. 2017). Skinner’s theory was opposed by Chomsky as he believed that structure of
brain and its function controls the production and interpretation of speech. Hence, he defended
Skinner’s theory by stating that no trigger or positive reinforcement is needed for language
acquisition, instead grasp in language and speech fluency occurs at an optimal learning age (age
3-10 years) (Friederici and Chomsky 2017). Therefore, based on the analysis of Chomsky and
Skinner’s theory, it can be said that Chomsky favored innate learning mechanism for language
development and Skinner believed that children learn language by gaining knowledge through
experience.
Theories related to physical, emotional and social development
The theories related to development of children have been given by many theorists like
Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget and Vygotsky. The Gesell’s theory gave idea about physical
development in children by explaining about maturational stages in children. Gesell explained
that motor, linguistic, adaptive and personal-social behavior can measure developmental
milestones in children (Horowitz 2014). Erikson provided new insight into human personality by
the theory of psychosocial development. It mainly focused on social and emotional aspects of
growth in children and developed eight stages to define psychosocial development in children.
The theory explains that during each stage of development, children go through social conflict
and they ascend to the next stage once the issues in the previous stage are resolved. It also
clarified that children overcomes the crisis through maturity and involvement of social forces
such as teachers and parents at each stage (Degges-White 2017). The strength of Erikson’s
theory is that it has given good descriptive detail about social and emotional development in
humans; however one limitation is that the cause of development has not been covered. In
contrast to Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky mainly had the opinion that children learn through

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experience. Hence, according to Vygotsky, learning and development in children occurs through
interaction with peers and adults. Through such interaction, they get to learn about customs,
beliefs and language of their culture (Lantolf, Thorne and Poehner 2015). The main opposition
regarding the theory is that developmental routes of children may differ based on different social
and cultural circumstance.
Influence of theories of development on current framework
Different theories of development have influenced practice in institutions working with
children and young people. Piaget’s or other theorist concept has found application in class room
and Early Years setting. The approach given by Piaget or others has been used to provide
framework for child care and learning. For instance, the Early year’s foundation stage (EYFS)
framework has been created by application of different theories and this has helped practitioners
to learn ways to work with children in child care setting. EYFS is a framework that defines set of
standards for learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years. It provides set of
common principles to professionals to deliver quality early education (foundationyears.org.uk
2018). Many of the principles have been informed by developmental theories. For example, the
Piaget’s theory defined that cognitive development in children occurs due to biological
maturation and environmental experience (Siegler 2016). This gave rise to the EYFS principle
that children can develop in enabling environment where individual needs are fulfilled and
strong partnership exist between practitioners and carers (foundationyears.org.uk 2018).
In addition, theories of language development by Skinner has defined that children
acquire language knowledge through experience. His theory of operant condition became the
foundation for the EYFS principle that children develop and learn in different ways

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(foundationyears.org.uk 2018). Thus, skinner’s facilitate development of strategies for new way
of learning in children. However, Chomsky’s theory has given the vision that language
acquisition occurs in children at an optimal age. This theory found application in EYFS
framework in the area of communication and language development. This resulted in the
direction that children should be given rich environment where children can express themselves
and listen in different situation (Friederici and Chomsky 2017). In contrast, Vygotsky gave idea
about learning in children through play and imitating elders. This was the reason for play
inclusion of role plays in EYFS framework so that teachers could provide mix of adult-led and
child-initiated activity to children (foundationyears.org.uk 2018).
Erikson theory was based on motivation and emotion to facilitate psychosocial
development in children. This theory helped to inform the principle of children learning through
positive relationship (foundationyears.org.uk 2018). For this reason, many EYFS educational
programmes are focusing on emotional development in children by teaching them ways to learn
and manage their feelings. Lastly, Gesell’s theory explained about seven stages of maturation in
children which informed practitioners about ways to assess physical development in children
(Horowitz 2014). This has helped to develop EYFS framework related to physical development
and providing activities for young children to be active and interactive (foundationyears.org.uk
2018).

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