When considering the commitment of
evaluating the “whole child” to measure their intelligence I think it is
important to focus on the child’s social competence. In today’s society the primary focus on
children’s development is in academics to ensure the child’s future success in
adulthood. I feel that it is also
important to ensure that a child can function in the world by meeting social competencies. Understanding a child’s social competency
assist with how children relate to their peers, teachers and others especially
while in school. The focus can also
assist with observing how children are treated by others. “Unless children achieve minimal social
competence by about the age of 6 years, they have a probability of being at
risk into adulthood in several ways” (McClellan & Katz, 2001,
para.).
I believe it is
important to continue to support children by looking at how social competencies
can be strengthened throughout childhood in areas such as academics, how a
child adapts to emotional situations, and the level of a child’s cognitive
development. It is important to also
look at how children get along with their peers. In today’s news there is discussion on children
suffering from depression leading to suicide.
Children are experiencing stressors from how others treat them or make
them feel. It is important to look at
these relationships with peers to minimize risks of suicide. Children may also experience risks that
include not finishing school, poor mental health, difficulties in school and
issues with employment (McClellan & Katz, 2001). Utilizing teachers to perform assessments that
focus on social competencies can provide much needed insight on children’s
social and emotional development. This can
serve as a form of early intervention to support the child into adulthood.
In Australia the use of a curriculum
allows students to develop their social and personal ability in in order to
develop the sense of self, manage relationships with peers and others. Australia recognizes that when children have
a strong social and emotional development they are motivated to learn at a
higher level. Teachers are encouraged to
use personal and social capability continuum of learning to help students with
needs that are set per each individual student (Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013).
As
educator I feel that it is important to continue to support children in their
social and emotional development. Throughout
childhood children will continue to face challenges of fitting in with their peers,
adapting to emotional situations, and academics. It is important to be able to identify when a
child needs support with handling these challenges using the social competency
assessment. With the support provided by
this assessment, my hope is to decrease bullying, suicides, and other
challenges with students in the classroom.
I think social competences is a strong piece that needs to be focused on as well, I believe the academic portion of development is important as well. As a head start teacher we have to complete a developmental assessment on all of are children and one of the areas it covers is social emotional, it looks at how children are developing in the social emotional area. I feel that it is important to assess children in the area as early as possible.
ReplyDeleteSocial competences is the key to success for children. I was in a workshop with other educators is the field of Early Childhood and they were so engulfed with getting all the standard covered that they have no time to devote to the develop of the children in their class. They had no idea of whether their children had social skills or not. The sad part about it is that they know what the children need but their hands are tired. If we assess the whole child and not just his academics, we will see what the whole child needs to strength his academics. Great post!
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