Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Map

1. Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Map …“(Bronfenbrenner’s) Ecological systems theory views the child as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.”…1 (Ecological Systems theory, Bronfenbrenner 1917-2005. Page 25, “Infants and Children, Sixth Edition 2008) Jaimie – 3 Years (Avatar)

2. The micro system is the central level within Bronfenbrenner's model which consists of characteristics and interaction and behaviour patterns within a child’s immediate environment. The activities within the immediate environment of a child is categorised into the micro system. Such could include the child’s immediate personal characteristics and family Jaimie is a 3 year old boy who lives in North Sydney suburbs with his divorced mother and full time nanny. He attends day care 3 days a week and is frequently cared for by the nanny within the home while his mother works full time both outside the home and within the home. The family’s socioeconomic status is high, providing more opportunities and access to services for Jaimie. Jaimie is known to be a quiet child, however can get quite frustrated and at times has shown to be violent to other children at child care. He may have a mild behavioural problem. This could be a result of his interaction with violent video games and television shows, due to his lack of monitoring and presence of mother. As well as his previous experience of observing his parents violent relationship before the divorce. The mother’s lack of attention and time spent with Jaimie also impacts this, as a parent is crucial in the developing stages of a child. Microsystem

3. The second level of the Bronfenbrenner model, the mesosystem displays connections between microsystems, such as jaimie’s child care centre, his home and neighbourhood Mother influences Jaimie’s behaviour through; Positively;  Academic learning – encouraged at home, indirectly by mother, by providing learning tools for Jaimie she is setting an expectation for him to learn.  Providing a nanny for care and indirectly providing opportunity for relationship building, learning and development.  Providing income for high quality child care. Negatively; Work – spending excessive amounts of time away Not providing Jaimie with correct supervision so behaviour cannot always be monitored. Parenting style – Uninvolved/permissive Parent status – Divorced due to abuse. Uninvolvement of father figure in Jaimie’s life. Mesosystem

4. The exosystem does not directly involve children, however affect the experience of a child in its setting. Work  Statistics show that more mothers are returning to the workplace after the birth of a child. 9% of lone mothers of 0-4 year olds were employed fulltime (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Jaimie’s mother works fulltime, thus, her workplace impacts Jaimie and his behaviour. Location  North Sydney – variety of community and child care centres, provides support for both children and adults. Various entertainment and activities as potential for learning. Religious institutions  local churches, religious based community centres. Jaimie’s child care centre promotes all religions and cultures – provides a limited, however nevertheless an influence on child. Health and welfare services in the community. Baby health centres, doctors, Exosystem

5. Laws  policies and procedures within a childcare setting •  duty of care; nanny, child care teachers, mother, •  Human rights declaration – child’s rights and a parents responsibilities. • Customs  family traditions, beliefs, • Cultural aspects of Jaimie are developed through his interaction with other children and teachers within the child care setting and his carer at home, his nanny, who was born in New Zealand. • Values  values reflected through practice and actions, mother practices value of work (e.g. by working all the time, leads child to think that work is priority.) • Value of quality care reflected through high quality child care centre and employed nanny.  importance of education and academic success. • child presented with various toys, books, variety of learning tools suggests the value of education and learning. Macrosystem

6. Macro-system Values Customs Exo-system Busy schedule  no quality time spent with Jamie even when at home. Meso-system Extended family – grandparents for informal care Mothers Workplace Family Childcare Micro-system Culture Jamie Ecological Systems Theory Peers and teachers Support groups for single parents. E.g nannies, babysitters, carers etc Nanny Allows to some days work at home Ideologies of society Attitudes Doctors/Health Centres High paying job = high quality childcare Laws

7. There are 4 layers within the model, the micro system, the meso system, the exo system and the macro system. The relationships built amongst all of these are known as bidirectional relationships which are formed and maintained within this development theory throughout all layers. For example an adult can affect a child’s behaviour in the same way a child can affect an adult’s behaviour. This example is one which links the micro system with the meso system. In Jaimie’s case, a bidirectional relationship is formed between him and his mother. Where his mothers behaviour and attitude towards work, other people, and him, influence the way he interacts with others. i.e his mother shows interest in work, therefore providing the view that work is of great importance setting a value and belief within the home. The level of communication and interaction between Jaimie and his mother is low. This gives jaimie the understanding that the lack of communication and relationship building is a ‘norm’ – this will affect his peer relationships. His previous experience and viewing of his parents abusive relationship has lead to emotional scarring and incorrect perception of how to interact with others as well as his behavioural issue at day care.

8. Nanny Mother & Nanny Working mother Jaimie Nanny  outer support/services

9. References www.pbase.com/brianmckay/image/45495687 http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-17501154.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B444D0E69-99B4-42D2-98F2-1090672CACCD%7D http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/06/12/working_mum_lead_narrowweb__300x466,0.jpg http://www.sightandsoundsolutions.net/Images/Nanny_cam.jpg http://www.virginmedia.com/images/1scarlett-gal-nanny-diaries.jpg http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/23/arts/24nanny-600.jpg http://www.themoviebinge.com/nanny.jpg http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/4644/NannyDiaries.jpg http://z.about.com/d/movies/1/0/7/h/O/nannydiariespic4.jpg