EDCI 276: Child, Family, School & Community Partnerships

January 19, 2010Self-Reflection: Where do I fit in?

Urie Bronfenbrenner

1917 – 2005

Cornell University, Professor of Psychology

“Father of Head Start”

Ecological Systems Theory

• Benefits children• Short- & long-term

development• “Families who become

involved in parent-education programs gain a sensitivity to their child’s emotional, social, & intellectual needs.”

• Children are also affected by society-at-large.

Family Involvement Beyond the Immediate

Microsystem• The immediate environment in which a

person is operating, such as the family, classroom, peer group, neighborhood, etc.

Mesosystem

• The interaction of two microsystem environments, such as the connection between a child’s home and school.

Home system <---> School system

Exosystem

• The environment in which an individual is not directly involved, which is external to his or her experience, but nonetheless affects him or her. An example of an exosystem is the parent’s workplace.

Macrosystem

The larger cultural context, including issues of cultural values and expectations.

Chronosystem• Events occurring in the context of passing

time. These events may have impact on a particular birth cohort.

Development, it turns out, occurs through this process of progressively more complex exchange between a child and somebody else—especially somebody who's crazy about that child.

Bronfenbrenner