Module 3 Child Study written in 1st person
Module 3 Child Study written in 1st person
Assignment 1 question
Produce an essay which reviews the chosen child study/pen portrait to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of services for children and a multi-agency approach to support a childs health and development.
Learning outcomes below must all be covered.
Ensure all have been covered in full
L0-1-Apply your knowledge of growth and development to child-centred practice.
LO-2- Demonstrate your understanding of how professionals from other disciplines can contribute to a unified approach to children and young peoples health and development.
LO-3 Explore and evaluate the holistic needs of children and young people, considering the need for and importance of childrens rights to a voice.
Your Task - Study of an individual child, their family and the issues/worries or concerns that need to be addressed.
You will refer to your pen portrait/ observations throughout your essay.
You will refer to legislation, that is relevant within your role and workplace.
You will identify the importance of observations and what role they have in your work.
You will be collating background information, which will be used to identify and assess areas of concern.
All contributors to the study must be anonymised. (Data Protection/ GDPR must be applied and referenced)
You will consider the importance of the childs voice. (This will also need to be referenced UNCRC/ The Children Act)
You will produce a summary of the childs growth and development, drawing a clear conclusion as to the future needs of the child/ young person. (Make recommendations)
You will consider the holistic development of the child and clearly summarise the childs individual needs to ensure appropriate development and growth.
You will need to think about predicted sequences and patterns of development.
Ensure that you provide focused and relevant information.
Consider how to support the child and family in conjunction with other professionals. (Thinking about the importance of multi-agency working)
The essay will evaluate findings and enable you to collate all information.
You will evaluate the findings and then show whether the child/YP is adhering to growth and development norms and is receiving the most appropriate level of support for their individual needs.
Findings will be related to theory, where appropriate and you will plan and support the family to take a tangible role in the child/YP future development and make recommendations going forward.
Some examples
Bandura - Social learning theory
Vygotsky Social development
Piaget Cognitive development
Bowbly & Ainsworth Emotional development/ attachment theory
Gessell Physical development
Skinner - Positive reinforcement is a basic principle of Skinner's operant conditioning, which refers tothe introduction of a desirable or pleasant stimulus after a behaviour, such as a reward.
Chomsky Language development
Bronfenbrenner - The Ecology of Human Development
Assignment Guidance:
Ethical considerations: Before conducting any observations ensure that ethical considerations have been addressed. This includes gaining consent from the parents of the child that you intend to observe and the permission of the setting where the observations will take place. A consideration of the childs age may require you to gain consent from them too.
A letter should be included in the appendices to demonstrate you have gained ethical consent for the observations.
Observations: Conduct a minimum of three observations over a period of three months.
The observations should focus on the growth and development of the identified child.
The observations should be evaluated and included in the appendices.
Pen portrait: Learners will choose a child to study from a case study one which best represents the age range of children and young people in their practice.
Using the chosen study, learners will produce a Pen Portrait identifying issues of concern for the child, young person, and their family.
These could include Health and Wellbeing, Education, Development, Partnerships working, as relevant to the case.
Learners will choose a maximum of four main areas to explore, relevant to their study.
Using these main headings, learners will further explore each area in depth to identify issues which need to be addressed for this child / family.
Theoretical perspectives, of child development will be considered throughout, both phycological and sociological aspects will be explored.
Once complete the Pen Portrait will be included as an appended item to be referred to within the assignment and to demonstrate your thought shower.
Add other relevant information in the appendices if needed and relevant.
Essay guidance: No subheading should be provided within your essay this is just for guidance
Introduction: 10% of your wordcount. 250 words
What is your assignment about? (It is good practice to refer to the assignment question, and learning outcomes, to give the reader insight on what the assignment will be about).
Provide some context on the child/family you are observing, perhaps a reason why you have chosen the specific family. Provide brief background information about the child and the family.
Structuring an introduction
An introduction is like a guidebook to your whole assignment. It gives background
information into your topic area and outlines all the ideas you are going to present.
Remember that most introductions will be about 10% of the final essay and will
include some or all the following:
An introduction to the context or background of the topic (you could include
interesting facts or quotations)
The reason for writing about this topic
Definitions of any complex terminology that will be referred to throughout
the assignment (note that definitions are not always necessary)
Introduce the main ideas that stem from your topic/title and the order in
which you will discuss them?
Main body: 2,000 words
Structuring a paragraph in the main body of your assignment
What is a paragraph?
Paragraphs in the main body of your assignment usually contain a number of
sentences which develop new ideas or expand upon existing ones. You may also
need to construct paragraphs which offer contrasting views on the ideas you have
already developed. A succession of well-structured paragraphs can help to create a
coherent and logical argument.
You need to consider the purpose of each paragraph:
Is it developing a new idea?
Is it expanding on an idea already mentioned?
Is it offering a contrasting view on an idea already mentioned?
What did you find out about your chosen child?
A discussion on the analysis of the observations/ pen portrait ensuring that there is a focus on child development with key theory relating to child development for example:
What did you find out about your chosen child /case study subject?
A discussion on the complex needs of your child study and an identification of areas for concern with regard to their, health, wellbeing, safety and development. You will need to identify a range of services which may be required to come on board to support the child / young person and their family, referring to legislation and policy. An evaluation of the effectiveness of these services in relation to a multi-agency approach will be required. You will also reflect on your role and responsibilities in supporting the diverse needs of children, young people and their families.
What is the role of observations to support children, young people and families in community work practice?
A consideration on the role of observations in community practice:
Why are observations important? - a consideration of the different types of observations that can be used.
Justification for the ones you used within your identified child
How do they support children, young people and families and those that work with them?
How will the observations conducted help to support your chosen child?
Reflect on the information gathering process in order to assess personal development in the following areas:
Communication in a professional context
Presentation of information in a concise and accurate manner
Working within the boundaries of the community practitioners role
Working within a multi-agency team
A consideration on the information gathering process to conduct the observations, the communication that took place with other professionals and how this supports multi-agency working.
A consideration of the boundaries of your role as a community practitioner for example what are your limits when you need to refer a case to other professionals.
Then conclude (10% of your word count, 250 words) the assignment based on your findings, next steps for improvement or recommendations.
Structuring a conclusion
Your conclusion is the final paragraph in an assignment.
It must summarise (very briefly) every important idea you have discussed in your work as well as draw conclusions based upon the evidence you have presented.
You need to make sure that you have directly answered the question.
It is always useful to link your conclusions back to the essay title.
Summarise each of your points in the order in which you have presented them.
State your main conclusions based upon the evidence you have presented.
Link your conclusions back to the title make sure you have directly answered the question and that you have clearly presented your viewpoint on the topic.
Your conclusion should be 10% (250 words) of the whole assignment
You should not include any new information in your conclusion.
Reference list
Appended to your essay should be a list of all the sources you have referred to within the TX of your essay (a reference list) the references used should be presented in alphabetical order by author. Using Harvard referencing style.
https://vle.dmu.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-5790859-dt-content-rid-11610854_1/courses/CYPF1003_2122_516/Harvard%20referencing%20guide..pdf
Followed by the Pen Portrait/ observations
Permission letter
Any other relevant items you feel will support the content of your essay and they are going to be discussed.
Your wordcount 2,500 words - 250 introductions -2,000 main body -250 conclusion
