‘The main beliefs of Bandura’s theory are that:
- People learn by observing others
- The same set of stimuli may provoke different responses from different people, or from the same people at different times
- The world and a person’s behaviour are interlinked
- Personality is an interaction between three factors: Environment, behaviour and a person’s psychological processes. ‘
()
Bowlby’s theory of attachment had a major influence on practice and has now been developed into the key person within settings. A key person was developed so that babies and young children can make the transition of their attachment from primary care giver to practitioner. They key person becomes the person who knows the child best, they spend time with the child and with the parent. The child can then turn to the key person when feeling distressed, happy or needing reassurance. The key person plays an important role in encouraging children to learn how to be independent.
When settling in a child to a new setting, practitioners have a transition or settling in plan they follow, this includes, making sure the child visits the setting and meets the new teacher before actually joining the setting, and this will ensure that the child is happy in their new setting. The setting may give the parent a copy of its daily schedule so that the child can see what things they may be doing in the day so the parent can then incorporate it into their routine to get used to it. The practitioners will talk to the parent to learn things about the child e.g likes, dislikes, allergies, routines, background information. This will then help the practitioner ensure that they set out games that the child might like to do when they’re at home. Practitioners may follow the Reggio Emilia approach, by creating an enabling environment. The child will then feel more comfortable whilst in the setting, therefore will not realise that he has left his mother/father.
If a child uses a transitional object (dummy or blanket etc….) they feel that they are cuddling their mother, and thus feel more comforted. Taking away this object from the child can cause great anxiety as they are now truly without their mother and suffer feelings of loss and aloneness. The reason children adopt the transitional object is because it relives stress.
If a child becomes distressed the key person will reassure the child and make sure that the child is comforted. As the child’s key person it is your duty to ensure that the child feels secure and safe and that the child can come to you when they have a problem or feel distressed. As the key person when the child becomes distressed you must make sure that they understand that they are in a setting and you are there to help them through it. You as the key person should encourage the child to play with games/ do things that they like doing to take their mind of the thought of being distressed. Keeping them busy would help them, and as the key worker you must ensure that the parent is informed about this and tell the parent what you have done with the child to help them through being distressed.
The key person will know most about the child and act as a link with the parents because when a child goes into a new setting they will not have a feeling of safety and security so it is important that the key worker ensures that the child is safe. As the parent is not in the setting with the child, you as a key worker should ensure that you watch the child closely and inform the parent if anything unusual or different has been happening. The parent trusts you as the key worker because they are making sure that you are the one who makes sure that their child is looked after correctly, and as the parent cannot be with their child all the time you must act as a link with the parent.