Category Archives: 1.3 Trust & Respect

Relationships

The main issue in both the Suzanne Zeedyke and John Carnochan videos is that the early stages of brain development within babies is crucial and the main thing that can promote or hinder the development is the child’s environment and their interactions with other humans. The connected baby was very focused on the biological effects of different environments for children and how they create different chemical pathways within the brain from pre-birth to three. She explained how a child from a domestic violence background could have a high level of stress hormone within the brain which could restrict the level of concentration they have and limit their development. This is important to understand within our profession as we are teachers we would need to understand that not all children will come into the classroom with the same levels of ability. In addition, they will all have very different life experiences which may mean that some children react differently in situations than others and as teachers we would need to find ways to benefit each child’s capacity to focus and learn. There was also mention that the brain continues to develop until the age of 20, therefore as teachers we have the ability to still make a change within an individual’s life by being a positive role model within their life. The John Carnochan video explained the need for focus to switch to early years as changes in early years could be early intervention for some children which he believes could change their pathway in life. He believed that interactions as a baby could mean the difference between important social and physical skills being developed within a child. This is important to think about in practice as it shows the interactions with the children within any particular setting and forming positive relationships with these children could make a change within their lives.