Adolescent development:

Kate Domaille

October 2007

Everyone hates teenagers!

Teenagers get very bad press; In 2007 huge attention on adolescent

violence (knives and guns) and gang membership;

Youth is to be feared

A more benign view

Vicky Pollard (‘yeah but no but ..’ or Catherine Tate’s schoolgirl, Lauren (‘am I bovvered, does this face look bovvered’?)

These representations do have some foundation in fact ..

8% of teenage males are convicted with indictable offences at 18 and may head for prison; (Head, 2004)

Mental Health Problems have risen (Institute of Psychiatry, 2004);

Anxiety and Depression are on the increase (Observer, 2005)

More than 10,000 pupils were excluded from school in 2005 (79% boys)

13/14 year olds most likely to be excluded.

Toward successful management

Understanding/empathising with aspects of adolescence will help you to manage some of the ‘storm and stress’ of the classroom

Task: Memory Lane

What is adolescence?

Physical maturity begins at age 9 or 10 years. Social maturity – the march toward independence,

(think of the ECM agenda – economic wellbeing, emotional health, safe…)

A period of emotional growth, emergence of adult identity

Cognitive development – ability to think in new ways and manage information in new forms

Physical maturity

Height, weight, body changes Hormonal shifts Emergence of sexual identity Voice changes, hair growth .. Clear expressions of cultural interests e.g. in

music, fashion - rehearsal of multiple identities;

Social context of adolescence

What’s the definition of adulthood? Age? Independent living? Financial

independence? Responsibility? Psychologically these uncertainties can be

felt in oscillations between rights and responsibilities

Intellectual development in adolescence

Intellectual change is taking place against a changing background of biological, social and psychological factors

However, it is vital that teachers understand and take steps to address the very real intellectual changes going on

Development of thinking and reasoning Piaget’s stage theory

“children are seen as qualitatively different types of thinkers from adults”

- children’s thinking develops from ‘concrete’ operational thinking to ‘formal operational thinking’.

- In order to get from ‘concrete operational’ thinking to ‘formal operational’ thinking pupils need to be involved in active, experiential learning; students excel when they build the knowledge for themselves rather than having it given to them

Piaget’s theory

A ladder – moving up incrementally but By the age of 16 only a small minority have reached

the most advanced level of cognitive development (10% in some studies)

Piaget’s model doesn’t address social, emotional, linguistic, cultural interruptions to that development;

Under pressure we can regress to an earlier stage (primary/secondary transition studies have focused on this problem)

Intellectual development theorists

Vygotsky: the ‘spiral curriculum’ – not new content necessarily but a deeper understanding

And Vygotsky identified the ‘zone of proximal development’ – the space between what is known and what can be known with further support and help);

Bruner (1960s) : cognitive development – greater language development (more vocabulary and complex language use) enables conceptual leaps

Both Vygotsky and Bruner argue for classrooms rich in talk opportunities and ‘guided discovery’

–Sternberg: attention improves in adolescence – better memory, better organisational abilities

Theory vs. practice tension

Effective ways of learning (based on Research by the National Literacy Trust)

Rank these into top method and least effective? Reading Listening Learning by doing Explaining to others Discussion Audio-visual Demonstrations

The answers

Explaining to Others – 90% Practice by Doing – 75% Discussion – 50% Demonstrations – 30% Audio-Visual 20% Reading 10% Listening 5%

How do teachers encourage intellectual development?

Give time for independent learning; Work in different groupings: pairs, groups,

whole class learning Use question-and-answer sequences not just

to test knowledge,but also to guide the development of understanding.

Not just what to learn but how Learning is a social, communicative process

And appeal to different learning preferences ..

Visual Audio Kinaestethic

These methods exploit the best potential of pupils

Cognitive Growth is challenged by

Behavioural issues Emotional issues Social issues Pupils understanding of ‘social’ learning may

not match our understanding of it Do you put management of behaviour before

management of learning?

Emotional stress/behaviour challenges

“I’m not working with her/him”“I can’t be bothered to talk today … I’m tired”“I will work with her but I am not reporting back”

“I don’t want to have to stand up in front of everyone and give my answers”

Silence or resistance.

Social pressures

Schools (and some parents) want outcomes that are immediate and measurable! Don’t necessarily worry about processes

Teachers want and need pupils to act like “grown-ups”,

but they aren’t

So there’s much conflict here

Head (1985) describes adolescence as a moratorium

teenagers expend much energy in avoiding the discomfort of self-examination and commitment to adult choices and secure identities

Every Child Matters – competing aims

Moratorium is essential for healthy development (good for them to focus on their self and identity) , emotional well-being

But to leave them there to figure it out without our guidance would challenge ultimately their economic wellbeing

Along the way we need to support them to enjoy and achieve;

hence the combined roles we have to provide intellectual challenges and support their emotional growth.

Good Luck!

Further Reading

(For a good summary of Learning theories see Capel S, Leask M, Turner T (2002) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School, London:Routledge, chapter 5