Viewing Children Holistically

When considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically I believe a child’s biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development should be considered and measured. These three aspects form the basis of child development and affect the continued development as a teenager and adult. In viewing children holistically, biosocial development should be assessed with regards to brain development. Special attention should be give to the child’s selective attention and automatization abilities. Selective attention is the ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others, and automatization is a process in which repetition of a sequence of thoughts and actions makes a sequence routine, so that it no longer requires conscious thought. Selective attention and automatization are key components in early school competence for children. Cognitive development should be assessed with regards to the information-processing theory which is a perspective that compares human thinking processes, by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories, and output. Information processing theory includes two major components, sensory memory and control processes. Sensory memory is a system in which incoming stimulus information is stored for a split second to allow it to be stored Control processes are mechanisms that combine memory, processing speed, and knowledge to regulate the analysis and flow of information within the information-processing system. These two components are critical to process by which a child processes, retains, and memorizes information learned in school. Psychosocial development should be assessed with regards to a child’s experiences with stress and his or her resilience. As with adults, the physical, mental, and emotional abilities become hindered in children who encounter frequent experiences of stress. This could affect a child’s ability to learn and retain information in school without the development of resilience. Resilience is the capacity to adapt well to significant adversity and to overcome serious stress.

In researching ways in which school-age children are assessed in other parts of the world, I chose to further explore the assessment of school-age children in Africa. The Department of Education in Africa created a National Curriculum Statement which included eight learning areas such as languages, mathematics, natural sciences, technology, social sciences, arts and culture, life orientation, economic and management sciences. Each learning area has assessment standards and learning outcomes which are created from critical and developmental outcomes. The learning outcome describes what the learner should know, be able to do, and demonstrate at the end of each appropriate period. The assessment standard describes the extent to which the learner should be able to do the task and the way they can demonstrate the task.