African Child Development

                Much research and study about how children develop is taking place in Europe and the USA. Be careful when you read books, because what is written may not apply to African children. Many African universities have research projects, so keep looking in modern teachers’ journals for the results. Each teacher can do his own research by observing children carefully.

Two Important Warnings

1. Do not jump to conclusions. If you observe that most children do a certain thing by a particular age, do not conclude that a child who does not fit the pattern is unintelligent. There may be special reasons. If you can discover these reasons, you can help the child better. For example, most children can weight accurately and work out simple weight sums between the ages of seven and eight. One boy cannot. What is the reason? Perhaps he is undernourished and cannot concentrate. Perhaps he came from another area and lacks experiences (no shop in his previous class, no sand or clay or weigh, no balance, no scales); maybe he has been ill and missed much of the early teaching; maybe he is afraid of failing, because his last teacher or his father has been too strict with him; perhaps he is ill and the fever makes his hand shake; maybe he is unhappy because of trouble at home.

2. Observing children carefully means that we find out many things which should be treated with confidence. Teachers must never gossip about children. The parents must know that anything we learn about their children is a secret, kept in our own heads. Our professional integrity (honesty) must be guarded by all teachers. If you want to discuss or write about your observations (and it is good to do these things) always use fictitious names so that no one can guess the identity of a particular child.

Rates of Development

                Research shows that most growth is irregular with quick periods and slow periods. Physical development is very fast in the prenatal stage (before birth) and during the first two years of life. The rate is then much slower until puberty, when the boy or girl grows quickly again.

                The rate of learning is irregular too. When starting to read the child may remember many words when the teacher plays the Flash card game. Then may follow a slow period, when he struggles with the reading book. if the teacher is helpful and encourages practice there will follow another period of rapid progress. It is during these periods of slow learning that the child may become frustrated, unhappy and stop trying. It is important for the teacher to recognize the different rates of development (and the rates will vary for each child), so that praise and encouragement will help the child to progress to the next stage.

Development of the Whole Child

                Development goes on at the same time (but at different rates) in all areas. We see the totlal child, but it is a very complex picture and often we study one section at a time. Development can be looked at under different headings, but the following divisions are quite useful: physical, intellectual (including language), social, emotional and spiritual (including moral and aesthetic). Remember that one aspect of development affects all others.

Heredity and Environment

                When a child is conceived, 23 chromosomes from the mother combine with 23 chromosomes from the father to make a new cell. The genes are carried on the chromosomes. The genes carry the heredity from both parents. Form the new cell develops a completely unique being. (in the case of identical twins the cell splits into two, and two babies grow with the same heredity, but the environment will be slightly different for each). From the genes the child will inherit characteristics of the father and of the mother, and of the grandparents and the great–grandparents. Certain things are decided at conception, such as the colour of the eyes or hair, the height of the adult-to-be and the sex. It is also decided that certain things are possible for the new human being, and other things are impossible. But no one knows what these possibilities are:

                The environment is all the factors outside the child affecting his development. The physical environment includes his home, the way he is fed, the toys he is given to interest him, and his experiences as he explores the world around him. The social environment includes the family, especially the parents. As the child grows older it also includes the people who live nearby, and most important, the teacher. The action of the environment on the genotype (described by the genes) produces the phenotype, the person as he develops. If a child is removed from his home at birth, he will grow into a different person from the one he would have been if he had stayed at home. His environment will be different. Some children with good inherited characteristics may not develop well, because of a poor environment. For example, a baby may inherit the possibility of a tall, strong body, because both his parents are tall and strong, but if the child does not get the nourishment he requires he may get rickets and other malformations. Although his genes laid the foundations for tallness and strength, he will be short, misshapen and weak. The environment has hindered his development. Another child may have the genes of great intelligence, such as would make him a scientist, a writer or a great teacher, but because he is given no stimulation, no toys, no help with language, no interesting experiences, he will not develop well. The potential (possibility for good development) was there, but the environment was poor.

                No one knows the potential of any one baby, so the environment must be the best possible to give all children the opportunity to develop properly. Remember that the womb is the first environment and if the mother lacks good food, or if she gets too tired, worried or anxious, this will adversely affect the baby even before he is born. (Although identical twins have the same heredity, they will not have exactly the same environment. They will sleep at different sides of the bed, one will be picked up before the other, one will be washed before the other, etc. these differences are small, gut they are enough to show that even two children with the same heredity grow up with different personalities, because of environment.)

                Child development is a very big subject and other books should be consulted. Rememeber it is the interaction of heredity and environment which produces the individual. He develops from within, following the stages of all human beings, but this development is helped or hindered depending on the environment.

Basic Needs of all Children

                There are certain things, necessary for growth and development, which apply to all children (and adults too for that matter). Without these basic needs no one can develop properly.

Physical needs: Food, shelter, rest and sleep, exercise and play

                A nourishing diet of proteins and vegetables as well as carbohydrates is necessary. Supervise any meals which are cooked at school. The buildings of home and school need to be kept in good repair. Advise the parents to send the children to school in suitable protective clothing. The child needs plenty of opportunity for movement, not only in P.E. lessons but also between lessons. Sometimes it is said that a change is as good as a rest, and careful planning of the school day will help give alternate quiet sitting times and active, moving about times. Sleep is most important, or the child will not be able to concentrate.

Emotional Needs: Love and security, success and a feeling of importance

                For the development of a human being, love is necessary and without it no one can progress. A child should feel that whatever happens, his loving family will care for him. This love and care leads to a feeling of security. A secure child is usually a well–behaved child. Often a child misbehaves simply to find out if anyone cares enough to stop him. If the adult shows that he likes the child and cares to help him, the child will respond by trying to be good.

                To help the child to feel secure in school, the teacher must be very regular in his behavior. A teacher who punishes without warning, or who ignores something one day but punishes the child for the same thing the next day, will puzzle and confuse him. The child will then feel insecure. He will not be able to work well, because he will be wondering what the teacher will do next. There should be rules in the classroom, sensible rules for the good of all, and the child should understand them clearly. He will not then be surprised if the teacher is cross when a rule is broken. The regular daily routine of school helps a child to feel secure, because the same sort of thing happens each day and he knows what to expect.

                A child wants to be himself; a person quite different from anyone else. Encourage each child to make the best of himself. What we think of ourselves is sometimes called a self–concept (a picture in our minds of ourselves). Each child needs to have a good self–concept, and to feel that he is a successful and important member of the class. Try to build up good self–concepts, by finding something every day to praise in each child. ‘what lovely neat writing, Ali.’ ‘How hard you have tried with your sums today, Mary.’ ‘You have been thoughtful and kind today, Musa.’ ‘What an interesting specimen you found today, Anna’. Each child you speak to will not only feel successful, he will also feel important. He will be happy that all the other children look at him when he is praised, and he will try even harder to do well. Naughty children are often those the teacher has forgotten to praise and encourage. The teacher will call a naughty child’s name and he will feel important, but not in a good way. He will have a bad self–concept.

Social and Moral Needs: Leading and following, being part of a group, an understanding of right and wrong.

                All children like to be a leader sometimes, as this makes them feel important. Try to give all the children in your class a turn at leading. They also need to be part of a group, and to take turns at following. Sometimes there is a child whom no group wants and he is pushed away (called an isolate). The teacher should watch for such a child, and help him to join in. we all need to be on our own sometimes, but in our society it is necessary to learn how to take our place in a group. This learning starts early in the Primary school.

                Everyone needs to learn what his particular society considers right or wrong. Teach the child gently to behave in the right way, and to dislike wrong actions. Guide the child to understand the difference between imagination, dreams and real life (see page 23).

Emotional Needs: expression of anger, fear, tenderness and happiness

                Anger and fear are natural, but we need to help the child to express them in the correct way. Help him to control his anger, and to use the energy to improve poor conditions. Help him to realize that fear may help to protect him in dangerous situations, but he also needs to learn when it is necessary to be brave. (Clay and sand play, drama and story telling help children express safely, emotions like anger and fear.).

                Tenderness also needs expression. No man is much use to his country if he selfishly tries to get everything for himself, without caring who is hurt or troubled. In an educated community the poor and weak are protected. Help each child to express tenderness and caring by helping any sick or weaker children, and by being kind to animals.

                The classroom should be a happy place where children and teacher can have fun together. (But be careful never to laugh at a child, because great harm could be done to his self–concept).

Intellectual Needs: Stimulation, opportunities to experiment and discover, opportunities to use language

                For the mind to develop properly every child needs to be stimulated by adults. He needs things to see, hear, taste, touch, smell. He needs opportunities to discover interesting things. The more the child is stimulated to experiment and find out, the more his interest and curiosity will grow. The child needs adults to help him have stimulating experiences.

                At first the parents are the teachers. A tin to rattle will increase the child’s listening ability, his physical coordination as he learns to hold it, his understanding of shape as he looks at it and feels it, his language as his parents tell him it is a rattle. This is only one small example of how parents can stimulate a baby. He needs many, many things to listen to, see, touch, taste and smell; things which bump, roll, bounce, float, sink, thread, fit one into another, can be put into groups, arranged in sizes, built one on top of the other, mixed together for food, looked at carefully, copied, etc. all the time the parents should be talking and explaining in words. With stimulation and language the child’s intellectual needs will be met. Language is very, very important. As a child spends five or six years at home before he comes to school, he needs language stimulation at home. Parents should be told how important it is to spend some time each day talking to their children, telling them what is happening, asking questions, and encouraging the children to tell the adults about all they see and do together.

                The teacher will build on the work started by the parents, helping the child to develop and use his language, so that he can express his thoughts clearly. The intellectual needs will then be met with more and more interesting lessons.

The Development of the Primary Child

                Before the child comes to school he passes through a number of very important developmental stages, but space prevents them being discussed here. Parents and teachers, who are trying to give children a good start in life, should study books on pre–school development.

                Usually a child starts school at about five or six years, and he is called an infant until he is about seven or eight. Then he is called a junior or a middle school child, until he is about 12 years old.

The Development of the Infant School Child

                The child at five or six is well developed physically. He can run, skip and jump. His balance is good, and he can turn and change direction quite quickly. He can make large motor movements better than fine motor movements. He cannot sit still for long, and he needs plenty of bodily activity. If he has been sitting still for a while let him dance or play a short game, e.g. ‘Who can stand as tall as a giant?’ ‘Who can make himself as small as a rate?’ “Be a drummer.” (Children beat the air and pretend to have drums) ‘Be a farmer digging the ground.’

                Infant children should be encouraged to make big drawings and big letters with big paintbrushes and big pencils and crayons. This helps them to practice and develop the finer movements of the fingers and the wrist. Children should be shown big pictures and big printing, while they develop the fine coordination of the muscles of the eye. Sometimes coordination between hand and eye is poor, due to lack of experience (all the pre–reading activities will help); and sometimes it is because the small nerves have not finished growing. We can, and should, give children plenty of practice to develop coordination. But we must also wait for the inner growth, and never force a child, or he will become frustrated and frightened.

                Socially the child at five or six is ready to play and work side by side with other children, and he enjoys their company. But he does not really cooperate with others very well, nor for long. He can be taught to play reading, number and activity games in a group. It is good training to encourage a child to share with others in a group, and to wait for his turn. The group should be small, only two or three children. The teacher should not be surprised if the children do not agree together very well.

                Adults are very important to the infant. In school the child considers his teacher the most important adult. He will copy your actions and speech patterns. He will work hard to get your praise. Try to help each child individually as often as possible, and make sure that each one knows you value him as a person.

                This will also help him emotionally. He needs to feel he is important to the teacher. He cannot control his emotions much and is easily frightened or made miserable. Try to make your classroom a happy place, where the child can rely on your friendship and firm, kind help.

                A young child has little idea of right and wrong. At home and at school he will gradually learn how his society expects him to behave. remember that a small child who lies, may do so because he finds it difficult to tell the difference between what has actually happened and what he has imagined. In fact he is not telling lies in the adult sense at all. Never say to a young child, ‘That is a lie.’ Just say, ‘Well I think you have made a mistake.’ ‘Go and look again’ or ‘Think again about what happened.’ Make as little fuss as possible. Give the child activities which will gradually help him to know the difference between reality and his imagination. Stealing is another problem with the young child. At home he will have started to learn about ‘mine’, ‘yours’ and ‘ours’, but his understanding will be poor. The teacher will help him to share, but also he needs to learn to respect other people’s property and work. Sometimes a child takes something from another because he is jealous. Perhaps you have neglected him and he is trying to get your attention. Sometimes he may take things because he is unhappy, because his parents do not seem to care for him. Try to let the child know you like him, and help him to return what he has taken. Again make as little fuss as possible, because at this stage of moral development the child does not understand why it is wrong.

                An infant child often seems to appreciate beautiful and wonderful things, and we must foster this aesthetic development. Try to have beautiful flowers, copies of famous pictures and examples of good local crafts in your room. Make attractive displays, and change them every fortnight. Display the children’s own work neatly. Show them charts with careful, even printing. Encourage them to enjoy beautiful music and movement; invite local bands and dancers into the school, and help the children to make their own music and dances. Help them to enjoy the feel of things, rough, silky, spikey; and the smell of things, sweetly perfumed flowers, food cooking, refreshing rain. The classroom should be attractive and tidy, as well as being interesting.

                Intellectually the child can be helped to develop his potential ability. Intelligence grows through understanding and experience. The primary class should be full of activities. An intelligent active mind is one which asks questions, and tries to solve problems, looks at the problems in as many ways as possible, considers relationships and all the possible answers to the questions or problems, and using experience chooses the answer which seems best. At the same time an intelligent mind realizes that with more experience a better answer may be found. The infant teacher can help to develop this kind of intelligent mind.

                The infant child needs to do things for himself. He needs to see, hear, touch, explore, act, dance, paint, move, experiment, make things, take things apart and put them together again, and try to find things out for himself. In this way he will gradually understand more about the world, and through understanding he will think intelligently.

                There should be little telling in the infant classes, but there should be a great deal of discussion about what the children are doing. Through language the child is helped to remember what he has done, think about what he is doing, and plan what he will do next, or what he will do later on in the day, or tomorrow, or next week. This thinking ahead is an important part of intelligent thought. The teacher should not tell the child much, but help him to think through asking the correct kind of question. (see notes on questioning.)

                Many educationists think that the early years are the most important in the child’s whole life. If he is happy and likes school, he will continue to like the junior and the secondary schools. We know that if a child is not happy, he will learn little. If he is stimulated by the infant teacher and develops every side of his personality well, he will continue to be an interested, keen learner in later years. As a house cannot be built without good foundations, so junior and secondary teachers can only build on the good foundations laid by the infant teachers. An infant teacher’s work is very, very important, and he should make a special study of child psychology to understand the development of the young child.