Reflections on Child Observation

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REFLECTIONS ON THE QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE CHANGES IN THE CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT FOLLOWING THE THIRD OBSERVATION; AND STUDENT’S DEVELOPMENT AS AN OBSERVER Introduction The pace of child development in qualitative and quantitative terms in the early years can be very phenomenal. In this reflective account, I will show the step changes I noticed while observing the development of a 48-month old child over a three part observation programme. The paper will also articulate the changes in my personal learning experience about child development as a result of this study. Section 1: Qualitative and Quantitative Changes in the Child I will refer to the child in my pilot as Child M and she is 48 months old. She is currently attending a nursery group at a local school in South East London. Her parents are a working class couple who are very busy. Recently, there had been discussions about changing Child M’s school. On my first visit in the evening, I met Child M in the living room playing with her toys. On sighting me, she ran to her mum at the other end of the living room. I was a bit surprised because I did not make any attempt to either touch her or interfere with her play. The mother attempted to introduce me to her as ‘Auntie’ but she would not budge. On my second visit, I observed that even though Child M did not run away from me, she was still clinging to her mother but was stealing glances at me intermittently. She started screaming ‘I don’t want to come to your school’. It was then I realised that she had already been made aware of plans to change her school and had thought I was going to be the class teacher. This corroborates the theory of attachment as propounded by Bowlby which has been described by T. David and S. Powell as “an innate device intended to protect the immature offspring of a species by attracting adults who will ensure their

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