Unit 1: Role of family in education of children
1.1 Family; meaning, definition ,structure and characteristics
1.2 Role of family culture and practices on a children s physical and emotional well-being.
1.3 Role of family in developing and implementing IFSP and IEP
1.4 Facilitating and supporting learning at home, school and in after school activities
1.5 Role of family in facilitating inclusive education
1.1 Family; meaning, definition ,structure and characteristics
The family is generally regarded as a major social institution and a locus of much of a person's social activity. It is a social unit created by blood, marriage, or adoption, and can be described as nuclear (parents and children) or extended (encompassing other relatives).
The
family is generally regarded as a major social institution and a locus of much
of a person's social activity. It is a social unit created by blood, marriage,
or adoption, and can be described as nuclear (parents and children) or extended
(encompassing other relatives).
Meaning and Definitions
At the
outset it is important to explain the sense in which the term family is used.
The word family has been taken over from the Roman word, famulus , meaning a
servant. In Roman law, the word denoted the group of producers and slaves and
other servants as well as members connected by common descent or marriage.
(i) Family is a group defined by
a sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the
procreation and upbringing of children. MacIver
(ii) Family is a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood
or adoption; consisting of a single household, interacting and
inter-communicating with each other in their respective social roles of husband
and wife, mother and father, son and daughter, brother and sister creating a
common culture. Burgess and Locke.
(iii) Family is a more or less durable association of husband and wife
with or without children, or of a man or woman alone, with children. Nimkoff.
(iv) Family is a group of persons
whose relations to one another are based upon consanguinity and who are,
therefore, kin to another. Davis.
(v) Family is a miniature social
organisation, including at least two generations, and is characteristically
formed upon the blood bond. Sumner
and Keller
(vi) Family is a system of
relationships existing between parents and children. Clare
(vii) Family is the biological
social unit composed of husband, wife and children. Eliott and Merrill
(viii) Family is a group of two or
more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all
such persons are considered as members of one family. The American Bureau of
the Census
(ix) Family is a socially
recognized unit of people related to each other by kinship, martial and legal
ties. Anderson and Parker
(x) Family is the institutionalized social group charged with duty of population replacement. Green, Arnold
Characteristics
1) A mating relationship:
A mating relationship is the precondition to establish the family, without it family cannot be formed. The mating relationship or marital relationship may be permanent or temporary, it is immaterial but family cannot be thought of without it.
2) A form of marriage:
Marriage is the base of family. Marriage may be monogamous or polygamous or polyandrous and in any form. It is the social institution which helps to establish mating relationship and thereby family is formed.
3) A system of nomenclature and reckoning descent:
Each family is identified by a distinct nomenclature of its own. The members of the family are known by the nomenclature or by a distinctive name. The system of nomenclature involves a mode of reckoning descent. In different societies the descent is traced differently. In matrilineal society it is traced from mother and in patrilineal society it is from father. In some societies it may be traced from both father and mother.
4) An Economic Provision:
Every family has an economic provision to satisfy the economic needs of its members. All the members of the family more or less share with each other. Usually, it is the look out of the head of the family who tries to make all possible arrangement to provide economic comfort to his family members.
5) A common habitation:
Each family has a common home in which all the members can live together. A living or dwelling place is necessary to bear child and care child. Otherwise, child bearing and child rearing cannot be adequately performed in its absence.
Besides the general characteristics, a family possesses the following distinctive features which distinguish it from all other groups or association.
6) Universality:
Family is the most universal of all the groups, associations and institutions in the human society. It has existed in every society ancient, medieval and modern and is found in all parts of the world. Even the animal society is not free from it. In this connection, MacIver has rightly pointed out that, "It is found in all societies, at all stages of social development, and exists far below the human level among a myriad species of animals. Almost every human being is or has been a member of some family".
7) Emotional basis:
Family is based on emotional ties. All the members of the family are emotionally interwoven with one another. The emotions and sentiments of love, affection, sympathy, co operation, friendship etc. find their expressions in the family particularly in mating, procreation and parental care.
8) Formative influence:
Each family has distinctive customs, traditions, mores, norms and culture. This family culture has a great influence on its members. All the members of the family are bound to observe the family rules and regulations. Family also teaches the social qualities like obedience, tolerance, sympathy, love, affection, and sacrifice. Above all, the family socializes the child, which helps in the development of human personality. Thus, family exercises most profound influence on its members.
9) Limited size:
Family is a primary group; as such its size is quite limited. Generally, family includes only those persons who are born in it and are closely related by blood relationship and adoption. In this way it includes father, mother and their children, so its size is small. Although there are groups smaller than family, but they are not so because of the biological conditions. Hence, biological conditions demand that the family should be limited in size.
10) Nuclear Position:
Family occupies a nuclear position in the social organisation. Different parts of the social organisation find its origin from the family. It is the center of all human activities. The social structure is built around it.
11) Responsibilities of the members:
In the family each members has unlimited responsibility. In other words, they have a deep sense of obligation to the family as a whole. They share the pleasure and pain, burdens and difficulties together and discharge their duties and responsibilities with a united spirit. MacIver has rightly pointed out that, 'In times of crisis men may work and fight and die for the country, but they toil for their families all their lives". In fact the members of a family have unlimited responsibilities and they make sacrifices for their families throughout their lives.
12) Social regulations:
Every family has its own customs, traditions rules and regulations. As an important agent of socialization the family teaches the norms and family culture to its members. The members are socialized in such a manner that they never dare to violate the family rules and regulations. That is why it is said that it is easy to establish a family but it is difficult to break or dissolve it.
13) Permanent and Temporary in Nature:
Family is both an institution and an association. As an institution family is permanent. In the family after marriage some members say son or daughter may leave the family of origin, with this the family never totally dissolves rather it continues to exist in some form or other as an institution On the other hand, as an association it is temporary. It is because family is the most changeable of all important organisaions. The family undergoes variations in its structures and functions from time to time.
In India the family is the most important institution that has survived through the ages. India, like most other less industrialized, traditional, eastern societies is a collectivist society that emphasizes family integrity, family loyalty, and family unity. C. Harry Hui and Harry C. Triandis (1986) defined collectivism, which is the opposite of individualism as, "a sense of harmony, interdependence and concern for others" (p. 244). More specifically, collectivism is reflected in greater readiness to cooperate with family members and extended kin on decisions affecting most aspects of life, including career choice, mate selection, and marriage (Hui and Triandis 1986; Triandis et al. 1988).
The Indian family has been a dominant institution in the life of the individual and in the life of the community (Mullatti 1992). For the Hindu family, extended family and kinship ties are of utmost importance. In India, families adhere to a patriarchal ideology, follow the patrilineal rule of descent, are patrilocal, have familialistic value orientations, and endorse traditional gender role preferences. The Indian family is considered strong, stable, close, resilient, and enduring (Mullatti 1995; Shangle 1995). Historically, the traditional, ideal and desired family in India is the joint family. A joint family includes kinsmen, and generally includes three to four living generations, including uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, and grandparents living together in the same household. It is a group composed of a number of family units living in separate rooms of the same house. These members eat the food cooked at one hearth, share a common income, common property, are related to one another through kinship ties, and worship the same idols. The family supports the old; takes care of widows, never-married adults, and the disabled; assists during periods of unemployment; and provides security and a sense of support and togetherness (Chekki 1996; Sethi 1989). The joint family has always been the preferred family type in the Indian culture, and most Indians at some point in their lives have participated in joint family living (Nandan and Eames 1980).
Types of families
(1) Nuclear family marital parents with or without children living in a common household.
Characteristics:
— Decrease control of marriage conducted by the elders.
— Decrease control of men in marital life.
— Economic independence of women.
— Smaller in size.
— Decreasing religious control and increasing secularity.
(2) Joint Family :- joint family is a group of small families usually father s brother and their families live together under a common roof;, sharing a common property, common kitchen and common culture. Father or the oldest brother in this system head of the family, on whom rests the responsibility to make decision for the family members.
Characteristics:
— Large size of family.
— Joint and undivided property.
— Residence under one shelter.
— Common religious practices.
— Bound by responsibilities toward weak and handicapped member of family.
(3) Extended Family: It is an extension of nuclear family. An extended family may live in a single or group of houses within a family compound or the group house can be spread over a place.
Extended family consists of father-mother their children plus close relatives of father and mother who continue to stay with the family.
Extended family secures economy in expenditure and advantage of division of labor.
(4) Single Parent Family: The single parent family consists of one parent raising one or more children on his own. This family may include a single mother with her children, a single dad with his kids, or a single person with their kids.
On the basis of marriage practices sociologist has classified family into following types such as:
This family is based on Monogamy System of marriage, hence known as Monogamous family. This family consists of a husband and his wife. Under this type of family system neither husband nor wife is allowed to have more than one spouse at a time. Both of them are also prohibited to have extra-marital relationship. It has many other advantages because of which it is considered as the ideal form of marriage all over the world.
This type of family is based on polygamy system of marriage. As in polygamy one man marries more than one woman and vice-versa hence two type of family system is found to exists such as polyandrous and polygamous family.
This type of family is based on the endogamic principles of marriage. According to endogamic principles a man is supposed to marry within one s own group i.e. within one s own caste, sub-caste, race, varna and class. Accordingly the family which practices the rules of endogamy in marriage is known as endogamous family.
This type of family is based on exogamic rules of marriage. According to these rules one has to many outside one s own group i.e. outside one s own gotra, pravar, pnida and village. Accordingly the family which practices the rules of exogamy in marriage is known as exogamous family.
On the basis of power and authority family may be classified into following types such as :
The family in which all the power remains in the hands of patriach or father is known as patriarchal family. In other words in this type of family power or authority is vested in the hands of eldest male member of the family who is supposed to be the father. He exercises absolute power or authority over the other members of family. He owns family property.
After his death authority transferred to the eldest son of family. In this family descent is known through father line. In this type of family wife after marriage come to reside in his husband s house. This type of family is widely found all over the world Joint family system among the Hindus is a fine example of patriarchal family.
This type of family is just opposite of patriarchal family. In this family power or authority rests on the eldest female member of the family especially the wife or mother. She enjoy absolute power or authority over other members of the family. She owns all the family property. In this family descent is known through the mother.
Headship is transferred from mother to the eldest daughter. Husband remain subordinate to his wife in a matriarchal family. Daughter after marriage reside in her mother s house and her husband live with her. This type of family is found among the Nayers of Kerala and among the Garo and Khasi tribes of Assam.
The family in which power and authority are equally shared between husband and wife is called as egalitarian family. Both of them take joint decisions or assume joint responsibility. That is why it is called as equalitarian family. In this type of family both son and daughter jointly inherit property equally
On the basis of residence family may be classified into following types:
The family in which after marriage wife comes to reside in the family of her husband is known as patrilocal family. The patrilocal family is also patriarchal and patrilineal in nature.
The family in which after marriage husband comes to reside in the family of her wife is known as matrilocal family. It is just opposite of patrilocal family. This type of family is also Matriarchal and Matrilineal in nature.
In this type of family after marriage the married couple change their residence alternatively. Sometimes wife joins in her husband s house while at some other times husband resides in wife s house. That is why this type of family is also known as family of changing residence.
After marriage when newly married couple establish a new family independent of their parents and settled at a new place this type of family is known as neo-local family.
After marriage when the newly married couple reside in maternal uncle s house the said type of family is known as Avuncu-local family. Avuncu means maternal uncle.
On the basis of rules of descent or ancestry family may be classified into the following types:
This type of family is a common type of family prevalent all over the world. The family in which descent or ancestry is determined through father line and continues through father it is known as patrilineal family. The property and family name is also inherited through father line. The patrilineal family is also patrilocal and patriarchal in nature.
Matrilineal family is just opposite of the patrilineal family. The family in which descent is determined through mother line or continues through mother it is known as Matrilineal family. The property and family name is also inherited through mother line. This right transferred from mother to daughter. A woman is the ancestor of family. The Matrilineal family is Matrilocal and Matriarchal in nature. This type of family found among the Nayers of Kerala and among tribals like Garos and Khashis.
This type of family is the family in which descent or ancestry is traced or determined or run through both father and mother.
The family s role in developing these various indicators of a child s health, especially during formative years, is crucial. The eventual progress of children into successful adults is largely attributed to their innate talent, the educational institutes they have passed out from as well as their propensity to work hard. However, the contribution of one s family structure on the overall health of a child is often understated.
Health does not only mean physical health. In this context, health includes other aspects such as emotional, social and cognitive. The family s role in developing these various indicators of a child s health, especially during formative years, is crucial.
1.2 Role of family culture and practices on a children s physical and emotional well-being.
Cultural background gives children a sense of who they are. The unique cultural influences children respond to from birth, including customs and beliefs around food, artistic expression, language, and religion, affect the way they develop emotionally, socially, physically, and linguistically.
When a child s self-identity is at odds with the social environment due to cultural differences, it can hinder learning. Fortunately, culturally competent educators help children of all cultural backgrounds learn by showing an understanding and acceptance of diverse cultures and how they make each child uniquely valuable.
Because culture is such a powerful indicator of a child s future well-being, those who work with children, including social workers, counselors, and specialists, need to understand the cultural influences on child development and how they impact the way people grow and learn.
Culture influences development from the moment we re born, making an impact on us as we grow. For instance, culture can affect how children build values, language, belief systems, and an understanding of themselves as individuals and as members of society.
Children can receive these cultural influences in different ways, such as through their parents, their environment, and the media. How society shows an understanding of diverse cultures can impact a child s development in many ways, such as how confident in themselves or how comfortable interacting with others they become as adults.
Parents culture can influence their children s development. A 2019 study, for example, found that cultural values often influence the way parents raise their children, including how they discipline and set boundaries. It makes sense that parents raise their children based on cultural influences because they re preparing them to develop behaviors necessary to operate and thrive in that culture. However, when the social environment and home culture clash, developmental issues can arise.
Parents cultural influences can impact how they discipline a child s behavior. This, in turn, can affect a child s development, particularly if those methods of discipline differ from the dominant cultural tradition.
Before delving into the methods of discipline and culture, what do the terms collectivist and individualistic mean exactly? Essentially, a collectivist culture values and rewards the prioritization of community needs over individual needs, as well as generous, kind, collaborative behavior. Collectivism is the norm in Asian, Central American, South American, and African cultures.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, an individualistic culture values and rewards assertiveness and independent action, stressing the importance of the individual over the group. Individualism dominates in North American and Western European cultures.
The 2019 study cited earlier found that parents from individualistic cultures discipline differently from parents from collectivist cultures. The former group of parents might discipline their children by taking something away that matters to them personally. On the other hand, parents from collectivist cultures might tell their children to think about how their behavior affects others.
The study found that children raised in individualistic cultures often described themselves based on their unique attributes, such as I am good at math. Meanwhile, children raised in collectivist cultures were more likely to describe themselves based on their relationships with others, such as I am my mother s daughter.
Child development can be influenced if parents or teachers discipline children according to the dominant culture the U.S. has an individualistic culture rather than the culture of their family of origin. For example, children whose parents have disciplined them to value cooperation over competition might become confused or upset when a teacher urges them to be competitive.
Parental Influences on Children s Social Behavior Varies by Culture
Children learn how to act by interacting with their parents. For this reason, the parents cultural background often influences a child s behavior.
Communication style is a case in point. Children tend to communicate in a style that resembles their parents way of communicating, and diverse cultures converse and explain things in different ways.
Children who communicate based on an individualistic cultural model will often tell long, self-focused stories with themes of autonomy and personal preference. Conversely, children who communicate based on a collectivist cultural model will often tell brief, other-oriented stories with themes of authority and interrelationships.
These cultural influences on children s language development can help or hinder them on the playground, and later in the workplace. If children s culture is respected at school, including the way the children interact verbally with others, then they ll be more likely to experience the acceptance and respect they need to grow and develop. They re more likely to become adults with a healthy self-image who feel understood and capable of confident, fruitful interactions. If not, however, they may become adults who hesitate to raise their voices and be heard for fear of being ridiculed or misunderstood.
Environmental influences on child development can include influences from community and culture as well as from environmental health hazards. Pollution from a nearby power plant, contaminated water, or lead in the home, for example, can cause lasting impacts on children s health. As the CDC reports, environmental contaminants can cause greater harm to children than to adults because children s bodies are still developing.
In fact, children take in more air, water, and food per pound of body weight, making them more vulnerable to health issues from environmental hazards. The health issues might not show up until later in life, causing difficulty in school, work, and socialization. A child exposed to polluted air, for example, might develop asthma as a teenager.
Children of low-income communities are most likely to be at risk of exposure to environmental hazards. As the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) reports, low-income communities may have poor infrastructure, making them more vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters, such as contaminated water and damaged drainage systems. They may also be located closer to factories and highways, both of which contribute to high levels of pollution in the air, soil, and water.
1.3 Role of family in developing and implementing IFSP and IEP
Becoming familiar with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) can become quite frustrating and sometimes even overwhelming because of the various steps and processes involved. For family members, this can be even more difficult as paperwork and meetings include unfamiliar language, acronyms, and goal-setting measures.
In this lesson, we go over the different roles parents can and should take in the IEP process. We also discuss methods for encouraging family involvement throughout the entirety of the process so everyone is on the same page when it comes to advocating for the student's best interests.
The parent's role in the IEP process is extremely important because they are the expert in understanding the student as a person, which is different from how they appear in class or on paper. The parent is there to support not only their child, but also the team members who may not know the child personally.
Throughout the IEP process, the parent's role is to:
The parents' role as committee members and educational decision makers in creating IEPs was established in 1975 by the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Even though parent involvement is a defining feature of IDEA, Congress, as part of the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA, believed that parental involvement needed strengthening. As a result, parents' rights and responsibilities are again in the forefront as a necessary ingredient for appropriate and individualized educational programming, mandating that schools provide an opportunity for active parental participation in decisions about the education of children.
The involvement of parents in the IEP process has many benefits:
Increase the teacher's understanding of the child's environment
Add to parents' knowledge of the child's educational setting
Improve communication between parents and the school
Increase the school's understanding of the child
Increase the likelihood that, with improved understanding between home and school, mutually agreed upon educational goals will be attained.
The Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is both a process and a document intended to assist families and professionals in a community in their combined efforts to meet the developmental needs of a young child from birth to age three with special needs.
The meeting to develop the child s first IFSP (and each annual meeting thereafter to review the IFSP) must include the following participants:
The IFSP assures families:
Parent involvement in early childhood education can extend the experiences that a child has in the classroom to real-world activities that happen in the home. A parent who understands what their child is working on at preschool has a better sense of their child s competency and which areas they need to work on to improve confidence and ability.
One of the most difficult challenges for early childhood educators is figuring out how to better engage parents in their child s learning. By establishing good lines of communication between your childcare center and parents, as well as making a strong effort to involve parents as an important partner in their child s education, you can make a positive impact on their learning ability.
1.4 Facilitating and supporting learning at home, school and in after school activities
Parents are children s first teachers, and many parents are now in that position literally. Below are some suggestions for how parents can support the learning of their children while at home. First and foremost, valuable learning does not have to be in a classroom and students don t have to be in a school to be taught important skills.
Children with complex needs may have a particularly difficult time coping with this sudden change, and that also asks a lot of parents. The focus for learning will need to be different for everyone and, for some, that learning may focus on simply adjusting to the new normal, following simple routines, managing emotions, learning self-regulation strategies, or practicing a life skill such as tying shoes, cooking, or simple household chores. This is all important learning, so parents should embrace what they can and take it one step at a time.
Routine is helpful for most people. Children will be more likely to feel safe and secure in these uncertain times if there is a consistent plan for their learning that they have helped to create. Parents are encouraged to make a schedule with their children and post it in a visible area; this way everyone has the same expectations. However, parents should not feel that their entire schedule has to be focused only on school work. Parents should also plan for relaxation and family time.
All homes are different and each have challenges when trying to organize learning activities. When and where possible, parents should identify areas where children can learn in the best possible way, such as using a kitchen for cooking, a table for drawing or writing, a garage for exploring mechanics, a comfy chair/floor for reading, and the yard or land for exploring outdoors. If possible, parents should try to set up any available technology such as Wi-Fi access, email addresses to communicate with teachers, and set reasonable rules around screen time, instant messaging, video calls and online games.
Parents should understand that it is okay for children to have increased screen time during this unprecedented time; however, they should still be aware of what their children are doing online and ensure they understand basic internet safety rules.
Parents are a child s first teachers and the home is a child s first classroom. As key resources for learning and growth, parents help to shape a child s social, emotional and physical development so that he/she can thrive in school and beyond.
Supporting student success starts with a shared agreement among families, schools and the community to work together and it involves committed actions to make it happen.
As a parent, you can do your part at home to reinforce this important family-school partnership. To help prepare your children for school readiness to stay on track and expand their learning opportunities:
Engaged parents are a key factor in helping students and schools succeed. With families, schools and communities working together as partners, student achievement is enhanced and children are better prepared to do well in school.
1.5 Role of family in facilitating inclusive education
It is an accepted notion that every child is like every other child and every child is unlike every other child. Every child is unique in his own ways. Some are bright, some are dull. But regardless of these differences, everyone has equal right to develop their potentialities. Inclusive Education protects the right of all disabled students by integrating disabled child with non-disabled in regular classrooms with provision for extra help for the disabled. One of the several factors which determine the success of inclusion is family support and involvement. Parents are known to be the first teacher of their children and they continue to influence their children learning and development during lifetime. Family involvement can have a major impact on student s learning, regardless of the social or cultural background of the family.
As we all know that parents are first teacher of student who educates them by all mean so today s requirement is that parents of disabled children have a say in how education should be provided to children with disabilities. It is necessary to involve parents in the planning of the implementation of Inclusive Education Policy. As Parents do not understand what is required of them; they feel inferior and do not understand their role in implementation of Inclusive Education Policy (IEP).
EENET (Enabling Education Network) was established in April 1997 in response to the information needs of inclusive education practitioners, particularly in Africa and Asia. EENET promotes easy to read and relevant discussion documents and training materials. It believes that education is much broader than formal schooling, and need not only take place within the four walls of a formal classroom. The home, family, and traditional and informal systems of education are essential for the educational inclusion of all children. Family members of disabled children often have a great deal to teach the professionals because they have an intimate knowledge of their child and their particular impairment. Similarly the families of other marginalized groups have a great deal to 'teach' the teachers about their way of life and belief systems. Greater family and community involvement in formal education is essential to the inclusion process.
Inclusive education services allow children with disabilities to stay with their family and to go to the nearest school, just like all other children. This circumstance is of vital importance to their personal development. Interrupting a disabled child's normal development may have far more severe consequences than the disability itself. In this context, it is important to stress the role of parents have. They have a right to be involved in all decision-making concerning their child. They should be seen as partners in the education process. Where there is such co-operation, parents have been found to be very important resources for the teachers and the schools.
The parents were also trained to communicate more effectively with teachers and other professionals. They are now confident that their experience of being parents of disabled children is extremely valuable. They did not receive special training to be the parents of disables children, and they don t think that teachers would benefit from special training. They prefer a problem-based approach to training and together with ministry staff they are able to advise teachers in the school setting. None of the teachers has special expertise in a particular impairment or an increased salary. All the teachers are responsible for ensuring that disabled children are included. The teachers in the pilot schools, together with the parents, are a major resource for promoting inclusion in society.