Managing Gemma’s Behavior: A Collaborative Approach

Involving Gemma’s Family in Behavior Management

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.

1. How you would prepare the physical and social environment to contribute to the child’s relationship with others and learning?

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).

1. 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 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).

Hands-on approaches in the Classroom

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.

1. 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.

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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. What theories have you used to guide your approaches to behavior management in your case study response?

Policy Frameworks for Behavior Management

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 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.

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. (1^st ed.) Ontario: Nelson Education.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL]. (2014). Creating routines . Retrieved from https://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 https://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. (1^st ed)  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Otto, B. (2014). Language development in early childhood education. (2^nd ed) New York, NY: Pearson.

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. (1^st 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.