The influence of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s model of development has been extensive in different areas of developmental science and education, and it continues to inform contemporary research and practice in many fields, including early childhood education. This book presents a comprehensive introduction to Bronfenbrenner’s model of development in reference to early childhood education. It draws on practice-based research to identify and animate key elements of the model impacting on early educational pedagogy and practice.
This new and revised second edition identifies and explores the key elements of Bronfenbrenner’s model by referring to contemporary understandings of how children learn. It also includes a new chapter which considers repositioning early childhood education settings as interactive, relational spaces and provides a broader focus on the concept of transitional experiences in children’s daily lives. Along with new content on leadership and associated roles and practices in early childhood education, this book illustrates how Bronfenbrenner’s model can help bring quality to early learning environments and show how it can be incorporated into daily work with young children through vignettes, case studies and examples of good practice.
Introducing Bronfenbrenner serves as an ideal read for professionals around the world working with children in early childhood settings, and students training to become early childhood professionals at degree level on undergraduate programmes, as part of vocational training or as part of continuous professional development.
Author(s): Nóirín Hayes, Leah O’Toole, Ann Marie Halpenny
Series: Introducing Early Years Thinkers
Edition: 2
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 208
City: London
Cover
Endorsement Page
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Introducing Bronfenbrenner
Bronfenbrenner‘s ecological model of human development
The bioecological model of human development
The bioecological model and early education
Note
Chapter 2: The bioecological model of human development
Introduction
Nested systems of influence: development in context
Context without development? Focus on the active role of the developing child
Active behavioural dispositions
Resource characteristics
Demand characteristics
Process
Person
Context
Time
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Chapter 3: Proximal processes and relationships
Introduction
Proximal processes
Relationships in psychological theory
Proximal processes and attachment theory
Proximal processes and parenting styles
Proximal processes and Rogers‘ humanism
The importance of sociocultural understandings within a bioecological framework
Proximal processes and sociocultural theory
Interaction with objects and symbols
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Note
Chapter 4: Understanding development in context
Introduction
Bioecological theory and sociocultural theory: learning and development in context
Zone of proximal development
Mediated learning
Self-regulation and internalisation: the interaction between ‘person’ and ‘context’
Dispositions, resources and demand characteristics
Dispositions
Resources
Demand characteristics
Temperament
Learning dispositions
Active agents within a limited range of choices
Context and family
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Chapter 5: A bioecological perspective on transitions
Introduction
Thinking about transitions
Transitions – crucial ‘time’s in early childhood
Proximal processes and the importance of interactions and relationships for transitions
Children‘s interactions and relationships with educators
Children‘s friendships
Person factors impacting on experiences of transition
The impact of context on transitions: Micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-systems
Microsystems
Mesosystems
Exosystems
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Chapter 6: Locating the child at the centre of practice
The agentic child in early years
Negotiating the tensions around children‘s agency in the early years
Supporting children to be active participators in learning
Listening to children in early years practice
Interdependence, intersubjectivity and the agentic child
Play as a vehicle for agency and proximal processes in early childhood
Locating the child in early years assessment
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Chapter 7: Creating rich learning environments
Creating an invitation to learn
Proximal processes and learning environments in the early years
Rich outdoor learning environments
Naturalness and risk-taking
The role of the educator in rich learning environments
Transforming the environment through interactions
Person factors and rich learning environments
Context factors and rich learning environments
Time factors and rich learning environments
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Chapter 8: Early education as a dynamic process
Introduction
Considering development and learning
Interactions in development
Developing executive functions
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Chapter 9: Nurturing Children‘s Learning and Development
Sustaining good-quality learning environments
The importance of play
Implications for practice
Key concepts for early years practice
Note
Chapter 10: Relational spaces linking people, places and resources: Positioning early childhood settings
Introduction
ECEC as a key, linking meso-system
Beyond immediate contexts: ECEC in the exosystem
Learning ecologies
New technologies and an expanding world
Key concepts for early years practice
Note
Chapter 11: Reflecting the bioecological in early years practice
Introduction
Ecological systems as nested and networked
Transformation versus reproduction
‘Process’ in the microsystem
‘Process’ in the mesosystem – the creation of ‘linkages’
‘Process’ in the exosystem and the macrosystem
Guiding practice bioecologically
Glossary
Abbreviations
References
Index
