Since it's founding in 1997, the CYC-Net discussion group has been asked thousands of questions. These questions often generate many replies from people in all spheres of the Child and Youth Care profession and contain personal experiences, viewpoints, as well as recommended resources.
Below are some of the threads of discussions on varying Child and Youth Care related topics.
Questions and Responses have been reproduced verbatim.
Listen to thisHello, my name is Isabel I am a first year
student at Vancouver Island University. I am doing a poster project
about Urie Bronfenbrenner and I would like to know if somebody can help
me with information on how Bronfenbrenner pushed for the understanding
of the "holistic" child?
Sincerely,
Isabel Jarvis
...
Bronfenbrenner pushed for a "holistic" understanding
through what is probably known as his "ecological systems" theory
approach, with the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem,
macrosystem, and added later, chronosystem concept. All these show
how there are multiple interacting systems at all levels of society and
all institutions of society, influencing the development of children.
Two seminal works, although you've undoubtedly found them:
Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American
Psychologist, 1977
The Ecology of Human Development. Harvard U. Press, 1979.
If you google Urie Bronfenbrenner, you should find many valuable
resources, not the least of which is a Wikipedia article.
Many in child and youth work have applied his ecological model to
different areas of the field.
Karen VanderVen
...
Hi Isabel,
From my understanding Bronfenbrenner pushed for the understanding of the
"holistic" child by speaking to the child in all contexts of their lives
(school, family, government etc.). This is known as "An Ecological
Perspective". When viewing Bronfenbrenner's model, it is perceived
that a children experience themselves in relation to others; thus why it
is important to take into account those whom they interract with
(exosystem, mesosystem, microsystem etc.). Therefore, I think that he
"pushed" through educating people via his model and creating a culture
where people understand the "wholeness" of a child.
Hope this helps,
Lisa Azzopardi
...
Hi Isabel
As a second year student I am continually learning more about
Bronfenbrenner.
The main focus would be the ecological systems theory including the micro,meso,exo,macro and chronosystems. In class we have talked a lot about how each of these systems have an effect on a child through each stage. They are bi-directional. One thing that really will be helpful for me to understand Bronfenbrenner and his theory is working with families and recognizing the relationships within a family and how they relate to how a child behaves.
I would suggest reading more of him through
psychology text books and a basic understanding of the holistic child
through wikapedia.
Good luck!
Kelly Adams
...
Jack Phelan wrote a helpful piece:
https://www.cyc-net.org/CYC-Online
/cycol-0904-phelan.html
And Aubey at
https://www.cyc-net.org/CYC-Online
/CYC-Online
-feb2009-families.html
Also enter Bronfenbrenner in the search box on the front page at www.cyc-net.org
– Eds.
...
Hi Isabel,
What makes Bronfenbrenner's model so useful, I think, is its elegance.
While seemingly simple, it really captures the complexity of all of the
different factors that affect a developing person in a way that
encourages, and make more possible, to hold all of it in mind at once.
It's important to consider what's happening for a child in each of the
systems, as well as how the systems affect one another.
To really use this model to benefit kids, one must go beyond merely
cataloguing what is going on for a kid in each system and to reflect on
the implications. What are the implications of these
elements/factors/goings-on on this kid's development (past and present)?
What are the implications in terms of your assessment of need? How
can other models of development (particularly as they are applied to
your kid) be illuminated by considering all of the systems and their
impact on one another? Again, what are the implications for that
kid's development and assessment of need?
Anyway, my thoughts on Bronfenbrenner.
Laura Steckley
...
Wow, thank you for the helpful replies. I am so happy to finally get the
help I needed. I hope you are enjoying your semester as much as I am.
Sincerely
Isabel
...
Hi Isabel
I'm a 2nd year student at Mount Royal University. I'm not entirely sure
if you've received many replies to this question or not, so I thought
I'd have a go at it.
I completely agree with Bronfenbrenner's theory and his views on the
"holistic" child. I think he wanted people to understand that children
are simply not children with mundane experiences. From what I
understand, he wanted us to know that children, and their lives, should
be looked at from all directions. I believe this is where he brought in
the micro, macro, exo and chrono system. He believes that children's
lives are affected by many things including their peers, the
relationship their parents have with teachers, their parents work
schedule, what religious beliefs the child may have, and possibly even a
certain war that occurred many years ago.
Bronfenbrenner wanted us to know that when assessing a child, we should
look at all these systems in their lives, and try to get a better sense
of who they are as a "whole" child.
I hope that made sense! Have a great day :)
Ashika
...
Dear Isabel (and the others that responded),
The thing that I find most interesting about Bronfenbrenner's theory is
its potential to expand Child and Youth Care (cyc) theory, specifically
the concept of therapeutic milieu.
Therapeutic milieu is usually seen as applying to a residence or similar
program where the CYCW is face-to-face with the child. This means
that community and school-based CYCWs, and others who may have a lot
less face-to-face time with kids appear to not be doing child and youth
work or at least not using this fundamental aspect of cyc.
Bronfenbrenner helps to point out that there are levels of
internvention, or
levels of therapeutic milieu, beyond the building that houses the child,
and
that these levels may even have an impact on the part of the milieu
inside the building (e.g., government funding).
And generally, the whole notion of levels of milieu is useful for
explaining
a lot of things in Child and Youth Care work, such as how changes within the building
(e.g., a new director) can have a big effect on how therapeutic or not
the milieu within the building will be.
For an idea of what this view of Child and Youth Care/therapeutic milieu
might look like, have a look at my Child and Youth Care SWAT Team article on CYC-NET in
the March 09 edition of CYC-Online
:
www.cyc-net.org/CYC-Online
/CYC-Online
-mar2009-mcdermottchapter.html
Dennis McDermott
