Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Part 1 Learning and development in play
- Part 2 Cultural–historical theories of play and learning
- Part 3 Learning and development as cultural practice
- 11 Views on child development matter
- 12 A revolutionary view of child development
- 13 Children's development as participation in everyday practices
- 14 A cultural–historical view of play, learning and development
- Glossary
- References
- Index
11 - Views on child development matter
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Part 1 Learning and development in play
- Part 2 Cultural–historical theories of play and learning
- Part 3 Learning and development as cultural practice
- 11 Views on child development matter
- 12 A revolutionary view of child development
- 13 Children's development as participation in everyday practices
- 14 A cultural–historical view of play, learning and development
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
We already know that the child's chronological age cannot serve as a reliable criterion for establishing the actual level of his development.
(Vygotsky, 1998: 199)INTRODUCTION
Karpov (2005), in noting Hetherington and McIntyre's (1975) ‘expansive review of development’ (p. 2), suggests that dissatisfaction among scholars and practitioners has resulted from a longstanding reductionist research tradition. In contrast to this research orientation, he argues that
The kernel of any theory of child development is the description of the determinant of development (that is, the major factor that leads to development) and the explanation of the mechanism of development (that is, the analysis of how the suggested determinant of development leads to development) (p. 2; emphasis in the original).
He also notes that different theoretical perspectives on learning (e.g., Piaget, Erikson, Freud) focus on only one aspect of the whole child, such as cognition or moral development. Even expanded developmental models (e.g., Kohlberg's use of Piaget's theory of cognition) ‘have not resulted in a holistic view of child development because they do not describe interrelationships of different aspects of child development’ (p. 8). This problem has also been identified by Kravtsova (2008c). Not only has Vygotsky (1998) studied the complexity of the many dimensions of development but his research also foregrounded the dialectical relations between the social situation and the biological child and the changing nature of the child's relationship to the material and social world (see Kravtsova, 2008c).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Early Learning and DevelopmentCultural-historical Concepts in Play, pp. 155 - 164Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010