Relationships are vital to our future profession as they determine the success rates of our learners. The children who come into our class have brains developed by the relationships they have with the people around them.

The child’s brain is very flexible and so can learn to survive in different situations/learn different languages. However, the child’s brain also learns to protect itself from harm very quickly, this is vital for safety but has the potential to be detrimental to learning. Suzanne Zeedyk created the analogy “a child who protects them self from domestic violence is like a child who would run from saber-toothed tigers in the past. The domestic violence = the tiger”. In our profession this is essential to consider as we could have children in our class who live in fear. As practitioners we cannot expect the best work from these pupils if they do not understand how to concentrate in a calm environment as they will be waiting in fear for the worst to happen and this will disrupt their focus and learning. This easy stress these pupils develop is unhealthy for them as they are not old enough to understand how to control their feelings effectively. On the other hand, a child who has a “calm and collected” mindset is also likely to experience unhealthy stress as they will never have experienced this feeling and are much more likely to panic due to not understanding what is going on.

As a future practitioner it is vital that I get to know and understand my class so I can create a classroom atmosphere that is comforting for all pupils to learn in. Knowing the children will also allow me to set achievable goals for them. This will help to boost the children’s self esteem rather than knock it because they are able to cope with the work load that they are given.