social ecological perspective

Question 1

Social Ecological Perspective

Answer 1

This is a way of working with individual children, young people and families that keeps them at the centre but applies knowledge and understanding of the bigger picture when trying to understand their lives. In K218 the social ecological perspective involves an understanding that children and young people’s lives are lived within, and shaped through, their family, their community and their society.

Question 2

To look at this web of relationships, we describe and apply a social ecological perspective.

Answer 2

for representing the complex relationships found in the real world (from the macro through to the micro level) in a simplified way, shedding light on practice problems and contributing to the development of practice solutions.

Question 3

Work with children, young people and families is inter-disciplinary

Answer 3

it draws on a wide variety of disciplines such as psychology, childhood studies, sociology, family studies, gender studies, education, social work theory, political theory.

Question 4

we will be using an inter-disciplinary approach, in relation to, inequalities and bullying.

Answer 4

two of the most important, deeply rooted, and widespread issues that affect children and young people

Question 5

Core questions

• How does practice involve relationships between children, young people, families, community and society?
• How does this change across time?
• What is a social ecological perspective and how can it help us to understand and develop practice with children, young people and families?

Answer 5

Learning outcomes

1. 2 [Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of] the theories, concepts, ideologies and policies shaping childhood and challenging practice with children, young people and families.
2. 6 [Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of] diversity among children, young people and families, and how this interrelates with issues of power, inequality, and agency.
3. 2 [Ability to] read, select and manipulate information from a range of resources including electronic sources.

Question 6

‘a web of relationships’ – relates closely to the social ecological perspective

Answer 6

The social ecological perspective is sometimes presented using Russian dolls to emphasise how individuals are nested in families, who in turn are nested in a neighbourhood or community, which in turn nests within a wider culture, economy or society

Question 7

to understand children and young people, we also need to understand the web of relationships that occur across the environments within which they are located.

Answer 7

‘a web of relationships’

Question 8

The ecological perspective was initially presented by

Answer 8

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979) as a model examining the social influences upon children’s development.

Question 9

His model showed a similar nested relationship, not as Russian dolls but

Answer 9

a series of concentric rings. two or more objects are said to be concentric when they share the same centre.

Question 10

Bronfenbrenner’s model

Answer 10

This model is a straightforward map of the different environments, with a child at its centre
Bronfenbrenner (1979) wished to illustrate how human development is influenced through the mutual influences and simultaneous relationships within, and between, the different systems or environments

Question 11

the different systems or environments, including the following:

Answer 11

• a child’s own innate capabilities and their biological and genetic characteristics
• the stresses and supports of primary carers and extended family
• the stresses and supports of direct (e.g. schools) and indirect (e.g. a parent’s workplace) contacts within a neighbourhood and community
• the stresses and supports created through cultural beliefs, expectations and values at the societal level.

Question 12

This is a way of working with individual children, young people and families that keeps them at the centre but applies knowledge and understanding of the bigger picture when trying to understand their lives. But bigger pictures are invariably complex.

Answer 12

The ecological model can also help us understand diverse childhoods, families and communities.

Question 13

what might appear as innate differences, the relationships both children have with family members and the community, and the wider social, cultural and economic factors that might contribute to differences between children and young people.

Answer 13

One common example would be differences in children’s play: boys and girls of similar ages showing preferences for different types of play activity or toy.

Question 14

Is this an innate difference or the product of learned behaviour?

Answer 14

A social ecological perspective would encourage us to consider each child as an individual with unique characteristics, motivations and capabilities but contextualised by wider social environmental factors and influences.

Question 15

Gender studies reveal that of the toys, clothing and even body language that are modelled or directed towards children by parents, siblings, extended family and formal child carers, many of them conform to the kind of gender roles perpetuated by commercial advertising and popular culture.

Answer 15

A boy’s observed interest in robots and cars, and a girl’s preference for dolls may possibly be explained by this.

Question 16

Even focusing on two children from the same family, it is possible to use the social ecological perspective to identify and debate a range of different influences that may impact on each child’s unique behaviour and identity

Answer 16

(for example, at each ecological level we can consider treatment or messages received through interactions with family members, peers, teachers or the media).

Question 17

the micro level influences

Answer 17

The web of relationships between the individual and family (micro level)

Question 18

the macro level influences

Answer 18

the community and society (macro level)

Question 19

social ecology

Answer 19

is a framework or set of theoretical principles for understanding the dynamic interrelations among various personal and environmental factors.

Question 20

A case study of educational inequality

Answer 20

to what extent should we all support children to meet their potential within the education system? Should educational success be linked to the innate ability and merit of each child, or should it depend on the power, status, wealth or profession of their parents?

Question 21

Social stratification

Answer 21

A sociological term used to describe the hierarchical arrangement of people by ‘social classes’ within a society.

the hierarchical layering of society into socially unequal groups.

Question 22

Few people would argue against the former and education remains, arguably, the most important institution within a modern society.

Answer 22

While previous societies have always transmitted knowledge from one generation to another, modern education systems contribute to social stratification and inequality.

Question 23

Descriptive statistics

Answer 23

Descriptive statistics summarise data to convey information effectively.

Question 24

Descriptive statistics can demonstrate

Answer 24

inequalities in the educational attainment of children from different family backgrounds.

Question 25

The concern here is that despite a universal and free education system, children’s educational attainment is still heavily influenced by?

Answer 25

the social and economic status of their parents

Question 26

In terms of its causes and possible solutions, the issue involves consideration of the relationship between macro-level and micro-level factors.

Answer 26

The research of Feinstein (2003a) provides a useful window into the issue.

Question 27

Feinstein’s research

Answer 27

Feinstein looked at 2,500 children taken from the 1970 Birth Cohort Survey (BCS) – a bank of data tracking the progress of over 17,000 children over time.

Question 28

The data set included assessment scores observed for children at 22 months, 42 months, 5 years and 10 years (based on standard tests of intellectual and personal development).

Answer 28

In order to compare the progress of these children, they were categorised in relation to family background, either high or low social economic status (SES)

Question 29

High SES:

Answer 29

father in professional= managerial occupation and mother similar or registered housewife (307 obs.).

Question 30

Low SES:

Answer 30

father in semi-skilled or unskilled manual occupation and mother similar or housewife (171 obs.).

Thus, children whose mothers were housewives were categorized by the SES of fathers.

Question 31

This historic data set focused on the education system of the 1970s, (which was highly influential in the adoption of early intervention strategies), although very different from the situation today.

Answer 31

However, the findings are broadly consistent with more recent statistical studies highlighting social class or parental occupation, income, and qualifications as key predictors of education attainment in the UK (National Equality Panel, 2010, Sodha and Margo, 2010, Kerr and West, 2010).

Question 32

Together the evidence from research suggests that educational attainment inequalities are an enduring problem that has been difficult to address.

Answer 32

The advantage of using the 1970 cohort data is that it is possible to track these children into adulthood, and to see how early education and parental SES influence children’s eventual careers and qualifications

To see if there is a pattern throughout generations.

Question 33

Is there evidence that children of educated or wealthy parents (high SES) who scored poorly in the 42-month test tended to catch up in later tests?

Answer 33

yes

Question 34

Is there evidence that children with poorer or less educated parents (low SES) who scored poorly in the 42-month test tended to catch up in later tests?

Answer 34

no

Question 35

Is there evidence to suggest that schooling improves the performance of children with poorer or less educated parents (low SES)?

Answer 35

no

Question 36

what do we know about the performances of individual children over time?

Answer 36

The graph confirms that individual children vary in their abilities, even from an early age.

Question 37

What do we know about the influence of parental and family background?

Answer 37

From the graph, we can infer that parental background (occupation and education) appeared to play an important role in determining the continued development of ability amongst children. When comparing the long-term progress of children who performed less well at 42 months, there was a clear distinction between those with low SES parents who remained in similar positions, and those with high SES parents who progressed up the ranking scale.

Question 38

What do we know about the influence of schools and other community-level services?

Answer 38

The data suggest that at the community level, primary schooling may have helped some children but not others in improving performance in the standard education tests. The way children were assessed and the type of tests used may favour children from particular backgrounds more than others. There is little evidence from these data to suggest that schooling helped children from low SES families improve their attainment. The indication of improvement by low-achieving children with high SES parents, on the other hand, could be an indicator that schools are providing them (but not other children) with appropriate support. This suggests that the education system was reproducing rather than overcoming social class inequality.

Question 39

Feinstein’s work has been influential in the development of early intervention strategies (like Children’s Centres) that help poorer families. In the past, these have targeted communities with large numbers of low SES families.

Answer 39

However, it is recognised that this potentially misses similar families who may be living within generally more affluent communities. His work also suggests that such compensatory strategies need to be sustained beyond the early years, into and beyond middle childhood, which raises questions about the extent to which schools and colleges should be doing more to support children from low SES families.

Question 40

To what extent do you think the inequalities highlighted in this research are the responsibility of wider society?

Answer 40

One influential report on inequality concluded that although ‘evidence shows that schooling can lessen the impact of deprivation on children’s progress … its influence is limited by factors beyond the control of the school system (Kerr and West, 2010, p. 8). It could be argued that the inequalities experienced by children from different class backgrounds are the result of factors emanating from the way society is structured and organised.

Question 41

In addition (and often overlapping) with social class are several other factors known to produce patterns of inequality. For example, Kerr and West (2010, p. 10–11) studied education attainment in England, and showed that:

Answer 41

• on average, white British students – both boys and girls – are more likely than other ethnic groups to demonstrate sustained underachievement
• of the minority ethnic groups, Chinese and Indian pupils are generally the most successful and African-Caribbean pupils the least
• poverty – as indicated by eligibility for free school meals – is strongly associated with low attainment, more so for white British students than for other ethnic groups
• children from homes with single and/or unemployed parents, and parents who have few education qualification themselves often do less well at school.

Question 42

Some people (e.g. Wilkinson and Picket, 2009) argue that continued inequality can polarise society and undermine social cohesiveness, resulting in detrimental effects for everyone. Unsurprisingly, there is consensus among political parties that inequalities (related to education, health and employment rights) and social mobility should be addressed through social policy.

Answer 42

Social Mobility: The majority of people remain in the same social, economic, educational , occupational positions throughout their lives. While some individuals may be socially mobile, the social mobility of a whole social group usually involves a change of rules by which society operates.
Social policy: How key aspects of wellbeing (e.g. health, housing, education, social security and care) are organised and delivered within societies. It is interested in laws, policies and services and the role of governments, official bodies, social groups and families.

The term social policy is also used to refer to the general or actual policies introduced to ensure wellbeing in specific areas.

Question 43

Those specifically targeting education inequalities have included:

Answer 43

• general, or universal, interventions targeting all schools
• interventions targeting schools in deprived areas
• interventions targeting underachieving pupil groups
• structural interventions, targeting how school systems are organised
• ‘beyond school’ interventions, targeting community and family factors.

(Kerr and West, 2010, p. 8)

Question 44

We have shown how children’s educational life is interrelated to factors at the different ecological levels

Answer 44

(individual, family, community and society).

Question 45

Individual factors

Answer 45

Some factors are innate to the child or young person.

Question 46

Family/community factors

Answer 46

Some factors relate to the child or young person’s relationships with parents, education and community organisations.

Question 47

Society factors

Answer 47

Other factors seem to be related to the way society is organised and structured (inequalities linked to social class, educational background, ethnicity and social status).

Question 48

A combination of the individual, family, community and wider society can more often than not be implicated in how children and young people’s lives develop and change

Answer 48

Recognition that children and young people’s lives are lived within, and shaped through, their interactions with all these.