ECTPP302A: Reflective and Professional Practice: Images of the Child

This essay explores the concept of "images of the child" and its connection to pedagogy, contrasting historical representations with current portrayals in media and education. It examines how these images, often influenced by societal biases and commercial interests, can impact children's well-being, parents, and caregivers. The essay analyzes specific examples, highlighting gender stereotypes and the importance of educators valuing children’s rights and providing equal opportunities. It emphasizes the need for reciprocal relationships and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education to foster a sense of belonging and self-identity in children. The essay concludes by advocating for a critical approach to the images used in educational settings, promoting practices that prioritize children's individual interests and potential.

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Table of content
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………... 2
What is “Images of the child” and pedagogy?…………………………………………............2
History of child images compared to current child images:…………………………............3
Contrast of images:……………………………………………………………………………...4
Conclusion:……………………………………………………………………………................8
References: …………………………………………………………………………….................9
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Introduction:
During their early years, children come across different experiences in life which shape
their future and the well-being (Bredekamp, 2014). According to Bredekamp (2014), the children
are capable learners who are more than just a receptor of information. However, in the previous
era, the independent capability of the child was not acknowledged leading to an experience of
disturbing childhood. At present, the independent capability of a child is taken into consideration
However, the images of children in social media, animation movies have a psychological impact
on the caregiver and parents of children (Bredekamp, 2014). The following paper will explore
the images which are used as early childhood images by educational organizations. The paper
will mainly analyze the story or the concept highlighted in the images through numerous aspects
and different point and how it affects the perspective of the society towards childhood.
What is “Images of the child” and pedagogy?
The image of a child can be described as the views of a person or people regarding the
role of children in the environment and the social content. It also includes the understanding of
child’s strengths, agency, development based on social, historical, and cultural aspects
influencing individual’s image of the child (Martalock, 2012). There is a strong relationship
between the images of the child and the early childhood pedagogies.The term pedagogy refers to
the holistic nature of early childhood educators, decision making for children, teaching, and
learning (Martalock, 2012). The decision making and judgment are the prime compounds of the
active role of caregiver towards enhancing the learning of children. In order to make the
professional decision the caregiver should have the professional skills and sound knowledge
about the children, family, and community (Spodek, & Saracho, 2014). Moreover, the educators
should focus on the certain beliefs the community have and values of the society which
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influences the learning of a child. Subsequently, it brings the creativity to every child, build up
the intuitions of children and facilitate the imagination of every child from the early hood. The
first theory is a developmental theory that focuses on understanding the process of nurturing and
how the process of learning of child developed over the time which also refers to the
environment provided to the child and the child rearing practices in the home environment. The
second theory is a socio-cultural theory that focuses on the prime role of family and community
in developing the respectful relationship with children and structures the mentality of a child.
The third theory is a socio-behaviorist theory that illustrates how experiences of learning shape
the behavior of a child (Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations
[DEEWR],2009). On the other hand, capturing images of childcare is guided by three principles
namely consent, dignity and security or privacy. In the domain of consent, it is the will of the
parents or the guardians of the children, which must be taken into consideration. The parents are
required to made aware about the ways in which the captured images of their child will be used
in digital or audio-visual media. According to Australian Association of National Advertisers
(AANA) (2011), the advertisers and the marketers are required to respect the integrity of the
children and young people through taking proper action
History of child images and comparison to current child images:
Reggio Emilia approach viewed children as competent, strong, capable and powerful
individuals holding rights from birth (Rinaldi, 2013).Previous studies provide a rich source of
empirical literature about the children and childhood. In the previous era, the image of children is
portrayed as the representation of a different compound of society. This subsequently robbed the
innocence of children in every aspect. Childhood was defined as a period from where children
started facing hardships of life. Before the philosophies of Jean Jacques came into action, the
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children were seen as adult, locked in small bodies who will serve the community as useful
human being (O'Hagan, 2017). Previously, the communities were more biased and they portray
the children as a replica of adults. Therefore, an inconsiderate number of children had a barbaric
childhood. They become victim of the slavery in every era long with adults. In the previous era,
society made some cave art of children and their childhood which highlights the barbaric act of
society tover children (Rousseau, 2018). Infants during the past decade were taught to make
marks on the wall of cave and childhood was not a prime priority of children. However,
philosopher Jean Jacques, first recognized the worth of development of children. He believed
that children have inherent goodness in them which will provide an opportunity for shaping their
future (Hill et.al., 2017). He wrote the importance of children’s freedom to grow without any
image of an adult. Moreover, he believed that every child needs excellent care in their early
childhood which will shape their future and this will help them to face the hardship of life
without hesitation. It is after his proposed theory that the overall approach of childcare and
treatment of childhood changed (Hill et.al., 2017).
At present, technology has the massive impact in influencing the society through the
wrong pictures of children. Even children in the recent era tend to behave like adults because of
the influence of social media and the internet. Advertisement industries manipulate the images of
infants to target a specific population and gain the profit from it. Therefore, the childhood of a
considerate number children become harsh due to the negative images. These negative images
have psychological impact on the caregiver, society and family members.
Contrast of images:
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In the early education system, the teacher or caregiver acquire the wrong conception of
child psychology due to the adverse portray of children from the ancient era. Therefore, it has a
massive impact on the delivery of care to child. These images also influence well-being of the
children and their parents. Due to negligence and reluctance, the infants tend to become
aggressive during the later part of their life with no control over their thought processes. Innocent
infants tend to become a violent adult with negative perspective about the gender and society
(Engel et al., 2015).
(Figure: Child with poster, 2015)
The above mentioned image is posted by the United Nation University in the year 2015.
The image was used in an article, where the child is portrayed as a helpless and needy person
where people get attracted emotionally.These are the strategies that organisations use to attract
people using the children’s images (United Nation University, 2015).
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(Figure: Children having nap, 2015) (Figure: Staying healthy, 2015)
This image shows the adult-led approach as the educator is reading the story and all
children are lying down on the bed. This is limiting the learning and is not effective for the
children as they are doing what’s been planned or according to the routine (Arthur. et al, 2018).
The article 12 of UN conventions, highlights that the children have the right to say things
independently that they think should occur and their views should get a noticeable attention
when making decisions (UNICEF, 2015).
The second image is showing the encouraging self-help skills however, two of the
children are wearing bibs which is not age- appropriate practice according to the developmental
milestones unless they are additional need children (ACECQA, 2013).
(“Constru
ction themed experience.”, n.d.)(“Playing with doll.”, 2014)
In this above highlighted image (on the right hand side), two boys are engaged in
dramatic building activity with a set-up of construction site. This image is gender biased as only
two boys have been highlighted to take part in the activity. In the second image, a girl is found to
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play with doll. Again this image is gender biased where only the girl child is portrayed t be
delicate or one who loves to play with set up like home-making. In the modern era, this
perspective is changing to some extent but still exists (UNICEF, 2015).
(“Doll house play.” n.d.) (“Girl with doll.” 2018)
Early childhood learning environment is essential in the process of enhancing childhood
development. The environment, under which children are brought up, holds prominent
significance in their future life and their executed behavior (England et al., 2011). Children are
eager and curious about what happens around them during their early years. Their bodies and
minds develop at a swift rate with respect to the social, physical and temporal environments. As
these images are describing the factor of girls wearing pin color and playing with dolls or dolls
house. This is one of the stereotypical view in the society that pink colored toys and playing with
dolls or doll houses are just for the girls. The parents get influenced by all these stereotypical
views and make the accessibility to the environment limited by creating such things. For
instance, in the dress up corner in the child care services most of the times they are all fancy
dresses for the girls. In order to extend on that, the gender schema theory highlights the fact that
the relation between child rearing practices, child gender views, and child’s behaviour is possible
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to be affected by families’ gender role stereotypes. When parents have their own cultural beliefs
and traditional attitudes, there is more possibility of having gender-differentiating practices
happening in the home environment (Endendijk, Groeneveld, Pol, Berkel, Hallers, Bakermans,
Mesman, 2017).
(“a boy with the doll.”, 2018)
In today’s world, there are surprisingly good images of children can be seen easily but
some images in the negative messages are still there. Some families do encourage the equal
opportunities for all children regardless of stereotypical views. As this image depicts, a young
boy in a child care centre is playing with a doll which reflects a positive message for others.
According to the Reggio Emelia approach, children are capable and strong learners who holds
the ability to be potential since they are born (Rinaldi, 2013). Children begins their life by
exploring the world around them by making relationships through different aspects. As stated by
Martalock (2012), “A rich child is not an empty vessel waiting to be filled, but is one born
equipped to engage actively and immediately in learning”. Therefore, it is essential to take
children’s ideas with solemnity and exploring the environments with. In addition to that, the
sustained shared thinking approach is essential to have in place in the curriculums. The images
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used of the educational institutions as mentioned above destroys child’s own self-identity and
child’s own interests of exploring things. They used such images that attract people emotionally
and gets benefit. On the other side, some images in child care still deliver the stereotypical
messages to the community as discussed above.
Conclusion:
Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that, it is mandatory to deliver the
worth information and practices in relation to children under child care environments. It becomes
challenging sometimes because of some controversial views in the society. However, the
educators should be valuing children’s rights while disregarding the gender stereotypical views
and should be providing equal opportunities for the children. It is essential to have reciprocal
relationships and sustained shared thinking approach in practice to stimulate the sense of
belonging in children every day. The image of a child always depicts two different point of
views- one what the observer thinks that is and the second one is the reason behind taking that
image or the hiding unwillingness of the child.
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References:
[A boy with the doll] [image]. (2018) [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.fairisle-
inf.co.uk/page/?pid=43
[Child with poster][image]. (2015) [Photograph]. Retrieved from
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barriers-to-inclusion.html
[Children having nap] [image]. (2015). [Photograph]. Retrieved from
https://www.npr.org/2015/01/24/379530251/u-s-once-had-universal-child-care-but-
rebuilding-it-wouldnt-be-easy
[Construction themed experience] [image]. (n.d.). [Photograph]. Retrieved from
https://www.flyingstart.uk.com/flying-start-marjon-role-play-nursery-build/
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https://oranaplaygroup.wordpress.com/category/mondays-at-playgroup/
[Girl with doll] [image]. (2018). [Photograph]. Retrieved from
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[Staying healthy] [image]. (2015). [Photograph]. Retrieved from
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https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_
the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
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