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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated there were over 9.6 million refugees living worldwide in 2003. That same year the Global IDP estimated that nearly 25 million people were internally displaced in approximately 50 countries. Most of these individuals were children, forced to live for months, sometimes years, in camps. [1] According to Grace Michel over 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict. At least 6 million children have been permanently disabled or seriously injured, and more than 1 million have been orphaned or separated from their families. [2] . Although numbers are difficult to verifade because of the ‘illegality’ of much of the cross-border movement of children, as well as lack reliable registration system of refugee children. These figures only account for those who are caught and repatriated but the majority of children go undetected. In addition many countries are unwilling to accept the scale and nature of the problem. Refugee children And yet despite importance of the refugee children situation only in 1993 UNHCR introduce Guidkine on protection and care refugee children In order to improve and enhance the protection and care of refugee children, UNHCR has adopted a Policy on Refugee Children, endorsed by the UNHCR Executive Committee in October 1993. The UNHCR Guidelines on Refugee Children, first published in 1988, have been updated in the light of the new Policy and are presented in this document. At their core lays the realization of the need which children

Refugee children definitely face dangers to their safety and well being than the average child. The brutal interruption of they family life and disruption of community structures by the conflict or natural disaster can deeply affect the physical and psychological well being. Children must also cope with the trauma of loss -of their family members, schools, neighborhoods and communities. In addition, millions of children have been forced to witness or even take part in horrifying acts of violence Sexual abuse and violence is another experience of many refugee children. Children are dependent on adults help, international organization and host countries generosity. Refugee children need to be providing with the basic needs like the nutrition, water and sanitation, suitable shelter and health care including health education. Also for many refugee children the basic need is accessing education to provide better future job opportunities. Many children especially on a first instance need food and urgent shelter, sleeping outdoors exposed to higher risks of contracting malaria or infections, not to mention the feeling of safety. They need safeguard against economic exploitation as they often are forced to work in fields belonging to host communities in exchange for food or low pay. Refugee children need a governments protection against ethnic and religion discrimination from host countries population and protection against sexual violence, especially refugee ophrense. . Finally

Children need to help with tracking separated family.

“A number of children called for the authorities to stop abusing, imprisoning and repatriating them to their home countries, while others said they should be entitled to free education in the host countries.”

Southern Africa Child migrants tell all 29 April 2008 Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Southern Africa Child migrants tell all, 29 April 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/48200579b.html [accessed 3 December 2009]

Health SUMMARY OF
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES TO

PROTECT CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT Internet: http://www.unicef.org United Nations Children’s Fund

UNICEF House, OPSCEN

Health is the basic need very important aspect of refuge children well-being. First instance is to secure for refugee children to basic needs like access to clean water, nutrition, sufficient shelter, and access to medical services including hospitals and psychological and professional therapy assistance.

I terms of water and shelter important is to organize a safety zone where children can fell comfortable and have access to food and clean water any time of the day and night. The emergency hospitals should provide necessary help in terms illness and injury and technical assistance for expectant mothers and maternity cases, and nursing mothers. More difficult cases should be direct to local hospitals. Good step in prevention of diesis, HIV/Aids spreads among children is health education. As well develop preventive health care and abolish harmful traditional practices, especial toward young girls comment among Africans tribes.

The disruption and insecurity in refugee situations can harm children’s physical, intellectual, psychological, cultural and social development. In addition, children suffer or witness the torture or murder of family members or other forms of abuse or violence. Unaccompanied children are particularly vulnerable.

First and foremost, the emotional well-being of children is influenced by the protection and care they receive from their families and communities. Adults often suffer greatly in refugee situations; this can

Influence their ability to provide for their children. Sometimes parental distress results in child abuse, abandonment, family strife and other forms of family disintegration.

During refugee situations, children face greater risks to their psychological development. Hardships in refugee situations are chronic. Children may be living in constant fear or anxiety; parents may be too stressed or traumatized to give good care; children may suffer from malnutrition and illness. Children are affected not only by what happens to them, but by what they are deprived of, for example missing out on developmental essentials such as play and school.

Children need more than services which are directed just to them. Preschool play groups, for example, serve an important purpose, but if a parent cannot meet the child’s emotional needs because the parent is too physically weak or emotionally stressed, then the child’s greater developmental need is for the parent to receive help.

First objective must be to restore normalcy, that is, to help the family function as normally as possible ensure existing a daily routine which increase they security and feeing of prediction. When life becomes stable, when they can rely on good things happening on a predictable basis, such as eating, going to school, playing, the sense of normalcy gives psychological security. Important from point of psychosocial well-being of refugee children is long assistance with information regarding they situation, rights and responsibilities as well as future possibilities.

Education is a basic service which should be provide to all children, including refugee children. Unfortunately this service is less reachable for them despite fact that many young people believe that education is essential to their survival, protection and full recovery from their experience of armed conflict and disasters. They see in education the answers to their need for self-respect, economic and job opportunity and the voice in society. Education also represents an essential condition to peace and security of community and family. Yet, despite of central role in their lives, refugee children find quite often difficultly to access education. While the primary school education is more accusable for children, younger people find more difficult to get into higher education The major barriers to enter education can lay in sort of obstacles like is high cost of attending school and transportation problems, language and custom barriers, especially for girls. For example in Uganda, although Universal Primary Education was instituted for all children including refugee, costs for materials and uniforms remained out of reach for most young people in the war-torn north. Non-tuition costs for primary school in northern Uganda averaged $120 per year, and secondary school costs were about $350 per year in a country where the estimated annual per capita income was $140 in 2001

Competing responsibilities are next major obstacles to enroll education. Teen parents, heads of households and orphans have particular difficulties obtaining education because, in addition to caring for themselves, they had the added responsibilities of caring for younger siblings and sometimes their own children. On the top of this obstacles there is the lack of facilities accommodate children and teaching staff, lack of flexible hours to accommodate work and family responsibilities and/or vocational and skills training linked to jobs . Sierra Leone is a good illustration of this problem where young people viewed education as a way to establish the peace, and said that access to education opportunities would help them feel less excluded from society, especially for demobilized soldiers who need to gain skills and access trainings to help them in job market. Educational opportunities and jobs are denied to girls who drown them into commercial sex work market or early marriages.

The barriers can lay also in the host country policies. In Albania during the refugee crisis of 1999, Albanian Kosovars were welcomed to take refuge in camps and urban areas in Albania, but the government did not allow all young people immediate access to public education. Some refugees entered public schools, and some did not. Some refugees set up their own schools without initial external support and still others were attracted to schools opened by religious groups during the crisis.

Girls’ situation is even more dramatic, despite commitments to gender equality in education. Girls don’t have equal access to education, compared with their male refugee. For instance, 60 percent of girls in Sierra Leone were not attending primary school, and at least 76 percent did not attend secondary school, compared to 71 percent of boys. In northern Uganda, boys were more likely to complete primary school and did better on Primary Leaving Examinations than girls, and fewer girls went on to secondary school. Most girls and boys in each region agreed that, in general, parents valued boys’ education more than that of girls. Girls also said inadequate clothing, security and sanitary supplies kept many out of school.

According to UNHCR approximately 1 million refugee children are enrolled in UNHCR education support program. 40 percent of enrolled are girls and adelnece women, 8 percent are enrolled at pre=school, 82% are attending primer school and 9 percent benefit from secondary school. Only 1 percent is attending higher education system. Page 7 Document Summary note on UNHCR ‘s strategy and Activities Concerning refugee children Geneva may 2002 http://docstore.ingenta.com/cgi-bin/ds_deliver/1/u/d/ISIS/53779900.1/oup/reflaw/2003/00000015/00000001/art00149/08C6A8EBB1C9214B1259885548168C930EA581BF55.pdf?link=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/error/delivery&format=pd

The major solution to education problem is ensuring that all refugee children have access to primary and basic education and where possible secondary and professional education will help reduce the risk of exploitation. Special programs should be tailored to the needs of girls who have dropped out of school to reduce the risk of violence abuse. Children not only refugee should be educated on their rights. Various forms of social and life skills training will help young people to make better life choices and help them protect themselves from exploitation. Equal participation of girls in school should be actively promoted. The community also should be involved in recruiting and managing teaching staff and educators whom they feel they can trust, as teachers can also be sexual abusers. Cancellation of school fees or low cost of education should be placed. Furthermore, the clubs and counseling after school offering support and relax.

Ensure Access to Education SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Disp

Important is to mention of education for disable refugee children who quite often safer isolation from community due to their conditions. Children with disabilities often do not get any support and services they need like physical rehabilitation, specialized education and social integration are sometimes neglected. Some times families, health workers and teachers have not understood the importance of including disabled children in normal patterns of activity. In some refugee situations, rehabilitation services are not provided because nationals do not have access to such services but still teachers should be encouraged to include disabled children in their classes whenever possible. Clear guidelines should be given on the physical needs of children with various types of disabilities. A positive attitude towards children with disabilities must be encouraged.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Refugee children, particularly unaccompanied and separated from families children often can find them at risk of sexual abuse and violence. Their limited ability to protect themselves and limited protection or lack of protection from the law of the host countries and international institution make them varounable to sextioal explotaion.

In many cases, trafficking may involve payment to child family or even child themselves Child abuse and exploitation within the family is much more complex challenge as sexual violence within the family is almost always seen as a private matter that should not involve outsiders; as a result, an abused child may be blamed for the incident and be further victimized. Also the abuse is cared by the person responsible for protecting and caring for the child.

The teenage mothers especially described pitiful and harsh lives: “I have to sleep with so many men to make 1500, so that I can feedmyself and my child. They pay me 300 each time, but if I am lucky and I get an NGO worker he can pay me 1500 at one time and sometimes I get 2000” (girl mother in Guinea) or “I sleep with different men but mostly NGO workers because I have to eat and feed my child” (girl mother in Liberia) Guinea

“It’s difficult to escape the trap of those [NGO] people; they use the food as bait to get you to sex with them.” (refugee child)

page 17 Protecting children from the protectors: lessons from West Africa by Asmita Naik 15 october 2002 Force Migration review

Displaced children and adolescents: challenges and opportunitiesPer

Protecting Children in Emergencies Escalating Threats to Children Must Be Addressed VOL.1, NO.1 SPRING 2005 Safe the Children SC-glob-apr05.pdf

Although numbers are difficult to estimate because of the ‘illegality’ of much of the cross-border movement of children, as well as lack relaible registration refugee children. These figures only account for those who are caught and repatriated but the majority of children go undetected. In addision many countries are unvilling to accept the scale and nautre of the problem

The children who told their stories in the book called for better protection in host countries, teaching children and communities about the dangers of travelling to and living in foreign countries, and for a halt to the abuse, imprisonment and forced repatriation often inflicted on them.

Refugees from armed conflicts worldwide increased from 2.4 million in

1974 to more than 27.4 million in 1996, with another 30

million people displaced within their own countries. Children

and women make up an estimated 80 percent of displaced

populations.*

Children are affected by war in many ways, but one of the

SUMMARY OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES TO PROTECT CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

At any one time, more than 300,000 children worldwide

are fighting as soldiers with government forces or armed

opposition groups,13 accounting for 10 percent of the

combatants in ongoing conflicts.14 Children under the

age of 18-some as young as seven-are actively

participating in hostilities in 27 countries worldwide.15

Since 1990, over 2 million children have died as a direct

result of armed conflict. At least 6 million children have

been permanently disabled or seriously injured, and

more than 1 million have been orphaned or separated

from their families. 1 Graca Machel, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, delivered September

2000, www.unifem.org/index.php?f_page_pid=97, accessed 11 March 2005.

In 2003, the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR) estimated there were over 9.6

million refugees living worldwide.24 That same year the

Global IDP Project estimated that nearly 25 million

people were internally displaced in approximately 50

countries.25 Most of these individuals were children,

forced to live for months, sometimes years, in camps.

When disaster strikes, families suffer multiple and severe

disruptions: not only do they lose their homes and

livelihoods, but they often lose their autonomy,

livelihoods, and dignity in the camps that are supposed

to provide humanitarian relief and protection.

Protecting Children in Emergencies Escalating Threats to Children Must Be Addressed VOL.1, NO.1 SPRING 2005 Safe the Children SC-glob-apr05.pdf http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/OCHA-6BCNE8/$file/SC-glob-apr05.pdf?openelement

SUMMARY OF
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES TO

PROTECT CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT Internet: http://www.unicef.org United Nations Children’s Fund

UNICEF House, OPSCEN

In the past decade, two million children have been killed in armed conflict. Three times as many have been seriously injured or permanently disabled. Armed conflict kills andmaims more children than soldiers. Civilian fatalities in wartime have climbed from 5 percent at the turn of the century

to more than 90 percent in the wars of the 1990’s. Refugees from armed conflicts worldwide increased from 2.4 million in 1974 to more than 27.4 million in 1996, with another 30 million people displaced within their own countries. Children and women make up an estimated 80 percent of displaced populations.*

Children remain susceptible to the physical dangers, as well as to the lasting psychological and social effects of war, once a conflict has ended. Children are vulnerable to physical dangerfrom millions of existing landmines and unexploded ordnance. Children must also cope with the trauma of loss -of their family members, schools, neighborhoods and communities. In addition, millions of children have been forced to witness or even take part in horrifying acts of violence. One UNICEF survey in Rwanda found that nearly 80 percent of the children had lost immediate family members and more than one-third of these had actually witnessed their murder.

Children have become targets, not incidental casualties, of armed conflict. War violates every right of a child -the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health and education, the right to the development of the personality, and the right to be nurtured and protected. It is a

basic need of children to be protected and cared for when conflicts threaten, and the implementation of international human rights and humanitarian law addresses these needs. A number of international treaties exist to provide for the legal protection and care of children. Too often these treaties are

ignored, and the world community must do everything possible to see that these treaties are complied with in all areas of the world.

*

Education is a basic service which should be provide to all children, including refugee children. Unfortunately this service is less reachable for them despite fact that many young people believe that education is essential to their survival, protection and full recovery from their experience of armed conflict and disasters. They see in education the answers to their need for self-respect, economic and job opportunity and the voice in society. Education also represents an essential condition to peace and security of community and family. Yet, despite of central role in their lives, refugee children find quite often difficultly to access education. While the primary school education is more accusable for children, younger people find more difficult to get into higher education The major barriers to enter education can lay in sort of obstacles like is high cost of attending school and transportation problems, languge and custom barriers. especially for girls. For example in Uganda, although Universal Primary Education was instituted for all children including refugee, costs for materials and uniforms remained out of reach for most young people in the war-torn north. Non-tuition costs for primary school in northern Uganda averaged $120 per year, and secondary school costs were about $350 per year in a country where the estimated annual per capita income was $140 in 2001

Competing responsibilities are next major obsticuls to enroll education. Teen parents, heads of households and orphans have particular difficulties obtaining education because, in addition to caring for themselves, they had the added responsibilities of caring for younger siblings and sometimes their own children. On the top of this obticols there is the lack of facilities accommodate children and teaching staff, lack of flexible hours to accommodate work and family responsibilities and/or vocational and skills training linked to jobs . Sierra Leone is a good illustration of this problem where young people viewed education as a way to establish the peace, and said that access to education opportunities would help them feel less excluded from society, especially for demobilized soldiers who needs to gain skills and access trenings to help them in job market. Educational opportunities and jobs are denied to girls which drow them into into commercial sex work market or early marriages.

The barires can laiy also in the host country policies. In Albania during the refugee crisis of 1999, Albanian Kosovars were welcomed to take refuge in camps and urban areas in Albania, but the government did not allow all young people immediate access to public education. Some refugees entered public schools, and some did not. Some refugees set up their own schools without initial external support and still others were attracted to schools opened by religious groups during the crisis.

Girls’ situation is even more dramatic, despite commitments to gender equality in education. Girls don’t have equal access to education, compared with their male refugee. For instance, 60 percent of girls in Sierra Leone were not attending primary school, and at least 76 percent did not attend secondary school, compared to 71 percent of boys. In northern Uganda, boys were more likely to complete primary school and did better on Primary Leaving Examinations than girls, and fewer girls went on to secondary school. Most girls and boys in each region agreed that, in general, parents valued boys’ education more than that of girls. Girls also said inadequate clothing, security and sanitary supplies kept many out of school.

According to UNHCR approcimetly 1 million refugee children are enrold in UNHCR education support program. 40 precent of enlode are girls and adelnece women, 8 pecent are enrold at pre=school, 82% are attending primeryschool and 9 precent benefict from secondary scholl. Only 1 precent is attending higher education system. Pade 7 Document Summary note on UNHCR ‘s strategy and Activities Conserning refugee children Geneva may 2002 http://docstore.ingenta.com/cgi-bin/ds_deliver/1/u/d/ISIS/53779900.1/oup/reflaw/2003/00000015/00000001/art00149/08C6A8EBB1C9214B1259885548168C930EA581BF55.pdf?link=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/error/delivery&format=pd

The majjoir solution to education problem is ensuring that all refugee children have access to primary and basic education and where possible secondary and professional education will help reduce the risk of exploitation. Special programmes should be tailored to the needs of girls who have dropped out of school to reduce the risk of vailence abuce. Children not only refugee should be educated on their rights. Various forms of social and life skills training, will help young people to make better life choices and help them protect themselves from exploitation. Equal participation of girls in school should be actively promoted. The community also should be involved in recruiting and managing teaching staff and educators whom they feel they can trust, as teachers can also be sexual abusers. Councelation of school fees or low cost of education should be placed. Furthermore, the clubs and counseling after school offerring support and relax.

Ensure Access to Education SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Important is to mention of education for disable refugee children who quite often saffer isolation from community due to their conditions. Children with disabilities often do not get any support and services they need like physical rehabilitation, specialized education and social integration are sometimes neglected. Some times families, health

workers and teachers have not understood the importance of including disabled children in normal patterns of activity. In some refugee situations, rehabilitation services are not provided because nationals do not have access to such services But still teachers should be encouraged to include disabled children in their classes whenever possible. Clear guidelines should be given on the physical needs of children with various types of disabilities. A positive attitude towards children with disabilities must be encouraged.

Futhermore access to secondary school was nearly impossible for most young people in Sierra Leone and northern Uganda, virtually guaranteeing that they would not have the skills necessary to contribute to the economic development of their communities over time. While young refugees from Kosovo attended secondary school more often over all, they still faced major barriers. Fearing overcrowding, the Albanian government delayed entry into secondary school, and mandated that a summer school program be set up for refugee adolescents seeking to enter secondary school in the fall-a policy decision that left many young people idle. Later, Albanians returned to “normal” secondary schools in Kosovo after years of participating in a parallel school system, but the schools were in bad condition. Many young people in rural areas, especially girls and minority Romas, could not complete or move beyond primary school. Under very difficult security constraints, many Serb young people separated from family members in order to complete their secondary education. Internally displaced young people often face even higher barriers to education than do refugees. For example, some young Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda fared better than Ugandan internally displaced youth because the refugees had help from UNHCR. By contrast, no international agency was charged with the protection and care of all IDPs. Less than 30 percent of school-age children in IDP camps were enrolled on a full-time basis, compared with the 93 percent primary school enrollment rate in other parts of Uganda. Despite the same security constraints, 77 percent of refugee students in northern Uganda were enrolled in primary school in one settlement that also benefited local Ugandan children. At the same time, both IDPs and refugees had equally poor access to secondary school. Young people who were able to attend school said it was difficult to learn. Their classrooms were often overcrowded and broken down or even without walls and a roof. In the Achol Pii refugee settlement in northern Uganda, each teacher served a class of 110 children in their primary school. In all areas, paper, pens and books were lacking. Many teachers had been killed or had taken other jobs for their own economic survival. Those who remained, according to young people, were often unsupportive and badly prepared. Young people disliked teachers talking at them and called their methods old-fashioned and boring. Young people asked for more participatory approaches to teaching and for more opportunities to learn practical and vocational skills. They also asked for more support to help teachers. One young person said, “We bring our teachers lunch, so that they will come back to us eac

YOUTH SPEAK OUT:
New Voices on the Protection and Participation
of Young People Affected by Armed Conflict
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
January 2005

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

Refugee children often can find themselves at risk of sexual abuse. Their limited ability to protect themselves and limited protection or lack of protection from the law of the host countries law and international institution make them varounable to sextioal explotaion.

Refugee children, particularly unaccompanied and separated

from families children often can find them at risk of sexual abuse and violence. Their limited ability to protect themselves and limited protection or lack of protection from the law of the host countries law and international institution make them varounable to sextioal explotaion.

In many cases, trafficking may involve payment to child family or even child themselves Child abuse and exploitation within the family is mauch more complex challenge as sexual violence within the family is almost always seen as a private matter that should not involve outsiders; as a result, an abused child may be blamed for the incident and be further victimized. Alsow the abuse is cared by the person responsible for the protection .

since the person who is responsible for protecting and caring for the child, in many cases a male relative, is doing neither. Sexual violence within the family is almost always seen as a private matter that should not involve outsiders; as a result, an abused child may be blamed for the incident and be further victimized

The teenage mothers especially described pitiful and harsh lives: “I have to sleep with so manymen to make 1500, so that I can feedmyself and my child. They pay me 300 each time, but if I am lucky and Iget an NGO worker he can pay me 1500 at one time and sometimes I get2000” (girl mother in Guinea) or “I sleep with different men but mostly NGO workers because I have to eat and feed my child” (girl mother in Liberia) Guinea

“It’s difficult to escape the trap of those [

The purpose of this report is to provide an analysis of a company which operates in the global medical devices industry and its employees, in order to assist the Director with the decisions he needs to take regarding the extension of the company’s offshoring operations.

The report covers four areas. Firstly, an external analysis examines the key factors for the management of people and organizations affecting the global medical devices industry. To identify the key factors and the implications for people and organizations in this industry, a PEST analysis is also conducted.

Secondly, using relevant MPO concepts, a critical analysis of the internal environment of the company under consideration is provided, focusing also on the key implications for the successful future management of the company and its employees.

The impact of offshoring on employees’ motivation and commitment is the third point being discussed, with reference to the company’s desire for further offshoring its operations into other markets. The key implications for the successful future management of the company and its employees are also being examined.

Finally, this report provides the company’s Director with recommendations on whether the company should enter the Chinese market in the near-term through a major offshoring project, or whether it was better to concentrate first on its internal organizational challenges. Based on the previous analysis, the report recommends that before taking the next step in a major offshoring project to China, the company under study, should first tackle the internal organizational issues that might otherwise become more complicated and complex in the future. Details on why and how the company should deal with the internal organizational challenges are provided.

Introduction

Coloplast A/S is a multinational company which operates in the global medical devices industry and specializes in the manufacturing of ostomy and urology and continence care, as well as breast care, skin health and wound care products. It also provides associated, medical services that aim to contribute to the improvement of the people’s quality of life.

Coloplast was founded in 1957 in Denmark and soon established a strong worldwide presence. In 2005, 97% of the Company’s sales were generated outside Denmark with Europe and the Americas being its largest geographical markets. Coloplast, has a vast number of subsidiaries, and the manufacturing of its products takes place in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, the United States, Costa Rica and China.

In 1999, searching for ways to cut expenditures, and as a result of the increased economic expansion and globalization, the Company decided to undertake a major offshoring project and relocate part of its production to a low-cost area. In 2001, Coloplast’s first offshoring project was implemented in Tatabanya, Hungary. During the relocation process, the Company encountered many internal challenges requiring significant changes to be made in order to exploit the full potential of the foreign production unit. Implementing these organizational changes and dealing with the challenges effectively, would enable the company not only to exploit the full potential of the Hungarian unit but to take the next step in a bigger offshoring project to China.

External environment of the global medical devices industry

Increasingly, organizations have become aware that, in order to survive and prosper, they must constantly evaluate both the internal and external environment in which they operate, so that they obtain a clear picture of the pertinent components surrounding their situation.

The concept of “external environment” is a key consideration for an organization as it comprises of all the forces that exist outside its organizational boundaries but have a considerable effect on its organizational performance. An analysis of the external environment is of pivotal importance because it enables the organization to recognize these forces and identify which of them provide facilitating or inhibiting influences on its survival and growth. However, due to the fact that the organization has little or no influence on these forces it needs to constantly monitor the environmental domain for changes and take appropriate actions to adapt its strategy and behaviour to these external changes.

Figure 1: External factors that influence an organization

In order to recognize and examine the external forces that influence the global medical devices industry, a PESTLE analysis will be developed. Detecting and identifying the broad, long term trends will provide an understanding of the risks associated with the market and will be the basis of determining the medical devices business structure.

Political Factors

The medical devices industry is a sector that political factors have significant implications for its performance. Healthcare reforms, which are any changes of governmental policy that affect healthcare delivery in a given place, influence this industry significantly. Companies operating in this sector depend indirectly on public reimbursement schemes and possible policy changes that concern reductions of reimbursement schemes have a negative impact on their profit margins. Harmonization of healthcare systems also poses a risk factor at the macro level as it affects the profitability by pushing the prices of the medical devices down.

Economic factors

Companies operating in such dynamic and competitive sectors like the medical devices industry, seek to lower their costs by offshoring some of their operations in low-cost regions. Potential benefits of offshoring to low-cost regions include lower wages resulting in increased profitability and lower prices for customers, increased productivity and quality, and increased innovation which can lead to the formation of new markets and thus, create new jobs. In addition, when companies operating in the medical devices industry relocate part of their operations abroad, they improve margins and make available cash for activities like R&D.

Socio-cultural factors

Another important factor is the growing share of ageing population in society which is advantageous for the medical devices industry. As the number of elderly people increases, the demand for medical devices and healthcare products increases too. Generally, socio-cultural factors are not considered to be influential for the business of medical devices industry, as most of the developed products are necessary for every patient in spite of their social or cultural backgrounds.

Technological factors

Medical devices industry is highly dependent on technology, as technological advancements continue to increase demand for advanced medical device products. Technological innovation has also enabled companies to uphold their operating margins since new products carry high unit prices. Unit prices are introduced into the marketplace at a higher price since device manufacturers need to recoup their investment in product development for the initial early adopters of new products. In addition, patent-protection can sometimes lead to abnormally higher pricing in some markets (Medical Equipment Industry Report, 2003) [1] .

Legal factors

The sector of medical devices is characterized by various rules and regulations which ensure that best practices are being deployed and people are being protected from the risks of unsafe technology. An EU regulatory framework has been in place since 1990, with a number of key Directives, supported by a series of amending or implementing Directives (Balcerowicz, 2009) [2] . Current standards are voluntary and non-binding, and despite the broad range of products covered, these Directives have generally worked well, although some weaknesses could be improved (Balcerowicz, 2009) [3] . Countries are urged to establish national standards management systems and, where possible, to adopt international standards and to participate in their development and amendment (World Health Organization, 2003) [4] . Effective national policies have a legislative base and although this is regrettably not always the case, they still serve as a framework of rules for decision-making and guidance (World Health Organization, 2003) [5] .

Environmental factors

Environmental factors affect the medical devices industry to the extent that environment has a direct relationship with health issues. In countries or regions with poor environmental conditions (e.g. heavily industrialized, populated, polluted regions etc.) the need for medical devices and health care products may be higher than in regions with good environmental conditions.

Internal environment and key implications for the successful future management of Coloplast A/S and its employees

In order to improve its capability for meeting the increasing global demand as well as reaching its growth and profit objectives, Coloplast undertook a major offshoring process which concerned relocation of volume production for mature product lines to Hungary. Moving part of the volume production to Hungary would enable the Company to access low-cost resources (e.g. human labour, favourable corporate tax of 16%), take advantage of the economies of scale and increase productivity. Although the relocation enhanced Coloplast’s opportunities to achieve its strategic goals, it generated a number of issues that had to do with the internal environment of the company and also brought serious organizational challenges into focus.

One of the main issues which Coloplast had to deal with was the reconsideration and optimization of its organizational structure. As George & Jones [6] (2005, p.538) suggested, “organizational structure is the formal system of task reporting relationships that controls, coordinates, and motivates employees so that they cooperate and work together to achieve the organization’s goals”. A correct organizational structure determines how the decision-making is implemented at all levels of the business, allows the effective allocation of responsibilities for all tasks and processes to the employees, facilitates working relationships between different sections of the organization, retains order and command while at the same time promotes flexibility and creativity. Thus, it is imperative for an organization to have an efficient organizational structure in order to accomplish its strategic objectives.

Coloplast, like several other global organizations, had a decentralized organizational structure which means that decision-making power was delegated from higher to lower levels, relatively away from the central authority. In this kind of organizational structure, there is a high degree of autonomy and subordinates are expected to demonstrate initiative and managerial efficiency while in a highly centralized authority structure, only a few powerful individuals or groups retain decision-making power and subordinates are likely to operate within relatively narrow latitudes.

The optimal degree of centralization of authority depends upon a complex array of interrelated factors (Wexley and Yukl, 1977) [7] . Generally, maintaining a decentralized structure enables decisions closer to the operational level of work, increases responsiveness to local circumstances (Mullins, 2005) [8] , promotes managerial efficiency and improves employee satisfaction (the result of giving people greater opportunities to take responsibility for their own actions) (Delta Publishing, 2006) [9] . However, problems in coordination of individual entities and loss of control may occur.

On the other hand, centralization has the advantages of easier implementation of a common policy, more consistent strategy, improved economies of scale, improved and faster decision making and greater use of specialization (Butler, 2008) [10] . According to Connors et. al [11] (2005), centralized structures are more desirable to the extent that “(1) there were good communications with subunits; (2) higher-level managers have access to staff specialists or other information sources which are not readily available to lower-level managers; (3) higher-level managers have the same knowledge of local conditions as do lower-level managers; and (4) decision speed is only a minor consideration”. However, the fact that it encourages the authoritative leadership style, and the fact that its use may limit the response of an organization to an external environment, is the main disadvantage of a highly centralized organizational structure.

Figure 2: Centralized vs. Decentralized Organizational structure

The reason why Coloplast encountered organizational structure issues was the large distance between the new production facilities in Hungary and the other plants located in Denmark. The fact that Coloplast had a decentralized organizational structure worked very well for its Danish production facilities (the distance between them is short and the communication is relatively easy), but when the Hungarian plant was added, major problems occurred in terms of control and communication between the different production units and the management. Decentralization of the production facilities, combined with the lack of fixed procedures and structured interfaces, complicated the tasks of documentation of planning and standardization of production systems. Furthermore, the lack of documentation of the company’s production techniques and equipment operation (due to the fact that the Danish process operators knew how to handle inconsistencies in operation of equipment but this knowledge was not documented in manuals) had serious effects on the operational performance of the Hungarian unit and needed to be tackled.

Another internal organizational issue that Coloplast had to deal with was the effective transfer of knowledge from the Danish to the Hungarian employees. Transferring knowledge regarding the Company’s production systems and techniques to new employees was a very challenging and complex procedure that required great deal of human interaction and a lot of time devoted to training. Nevertheless, it was particularly important for the Company’s management to create avenues for exchanging knowledge, so that it was accessible and useable by everyone in a way that it would positively affect the overall organizational performance.

Although, Coloplast solved the problem of transferring knowledge by sending Danish operators to Tatabanya to train their Hungarian colleagues, it faced a new challenge, which thus threatened the company’s future growth. In particular, the problem was that there were natural differences between the organizational culture of the Danish employees – which had evolved and successfully served the company over time – and the organizational culture of the Hungarian employees. The unsympathetic approach of these differences by the Danish workers combined with the lack of communication (due to the language barrier) created misunderstandings and some underestimation of the Hungarian workers’ skills, despite the fact that they were technically proficient. Due to this challenge, the Danish workers also failed to learn new, useful skills from their Hungarian counterparts.

Coloplast management sought to deal with this organizational challenge – and at the same time prevent conflict from occurring – by creating a forum where all employees could share their opinions and openly discuss their views. This approach was very effective since all employees had the chance to exchange interesting ideas, get to know each other, and hence understand each other better. The management also could become involved with the various issues that employees faced and could therefore formulate solutions to the problems.

Critical analysis of the employees’ motivation and commitment

When Coloplast took the decision to offshore part of the volume production to Hungary, this posed a serious threat to employee motivation and a major challenge for the company’s management, since many employees were not familiar with the consequences of such change. Being aware of this fact and in order to remove the uncertainty among the employees, Coloplast’s management carefully involved them in the process and ensured that all of them had access to a high level of information from the start. Communicating directly and clearly while being honest and open, the management also ensured that it obtained feedback from employees on their opinions and questions for the forthcoming relocation. This was very important in avoiding a negative impact on employee motivation and commitment, which would negatively affect their performance and the overall productivity of the company.

It is widely acknowledged that companies find it hard to adjust to any organizational change due to the fact that many employees become de-motivated and therefore resistant to change. This behaviour of scepticism, hesitation and resistance to adapt to new work conditions is typically based on the fear of increased tasks, demotion or even loss of jobs and often causes tension between management and employees. These tensions, if allowed to continue, usually have as a result decreased company productivity and loss of competitive advantage.

Employees’ attitudes towards change are decisive to whether an organization’s efforts for change are either successful or unsuccessful. “When employees possess a strong, positive attitude towards change, they are likely to behave in focused, persistent, and effortful ways that support and facilitate the change initiative being implemented. However, when employees possess a strong, negative attitude towards change, they are more likely to resist, oppose, scorn, thwart, and attempt to sabotage the change initiative” (Lines, 2005) [12] . Therefore, it becomes clear that in order to ensure a successful organizational change, a company must focus on the human side of change, by influencing the employees’ behaviour, keeping their motivation and commitment high, giving them the drive to change, and aligning their goals with those of the company.

Motivation has no standard definition. It has been defined as: “the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction” (Kreitner, 1995) [13] ; “those psychological processes that cause an arousal, direction and persistency of voluntary actions that are goal oriented” (Mitchell, 1982) [14] ; “a person’s unique set of needs in relation to particular situations. These needs explain what drives a person, what his or her reaction will be to various stimuli, and the strength of behaviour, its consistency and persistency based on conscious decisions” (Winfield et. al., 2004) [15] . Employees’ motivation is a key concept for any business because it strongly affects the organizational performance and, thus, the survival and success of the business. Understanding what motivates employees and what boosts their morale will not only help their individual goals to be achieved but it will ultimately help the organizational objectives to be accomplished.

Communication plays a vital role in maintaining or even increasing the employees’ motivation. Sharing the decision making and allowing real participation in the problem solving, heightens the employees’ commitment and reinforces their confidence. When it comes to change, effective communication involves gathering important information in relation to the change process and distributing this information to everyone affected. Clear, frequent, honest and timely communication is crucial because it allows the employees to understand how these changes will affect them personally. Furthermore, the development of an efficient feedback system that measures the success of transition not only through the eyes of management, but also through the eyes of employees, is one of the most important components in the motivation cycle.

From the above analysis it is clear that in relation to the impact of offshoring on its employees’ motivation, Coloplast dealt with the challenge appropriately. The management used communication very effectively by providing all the necessary information to its employees, developed an efficient feedback system where they could express their opinions and questions, and generally ensured the involvement of all employees in the change process. Furthermore, it lessened their reasonable concerns over layoffs by offering new positions and additional training to those who were about to be affected by the relocation. This approach, improved the employees’ morale, strengthened their commitment and maintained their motivation at a high level.

The fact that Coloplast approached this challenge effectively, identifying employee motivation and commitment as key factors to the successful implementation of organizational change, will help the company achieve its future plans for growth. Having the view that employee commitment, and thus performance, comes via consistency in communication, motivation and leadership is a strength that will most likely lead to success.

Recommendations

Having analyzed the internal environment of Coloplast and the challenges that the Company had encountered during the relocation to Hungary, it is advised that Coloplast should concentrate first on dealing with its organizational issues before proceeding with the offshoring project to China. Of course, a future move is not ruled out but unless some major changes happen, taking the next step would be very dangerous.

Coloplast should primarily focus on redesigning its organizational structure in a way that it reflects and supports its organizational strategy. As previously discussed, the company’s Denmark-based facilities are characterized by a decentralized, less formal organizational structure while in Hungary the workers learned to work under more standardized procedures and a more centralized structure. By centralizing its organizational structure and maintaining a high level of authority, the company will achieve uniformity and consistency of the organizational procedures and will ensure that the overall control and coordination of its different production units is effective and efficient. In addition, the fact that the senior management will be the only responsible for setting the overall goals of the company will ensure that every production unit is aligned towards the same organizational goals. Coloplast can achieve the coordination and control through building an Information System that would link all its production units together, as well as organizing frequent meetings and webinars between the managers of the different plants and the senior management.

Another challenge that Coloplast has to tackle is the effective knowledge transfer from Denmark to the foreign production units. In the case of the Hungarian unit, Danish employees were sent to Hungary in order to train their colleagues. However, this solution may not be efficient in future offshoring projects because the distance may be an obstacle. A different approach to this issue would be to assign the training of the employees to a local company which specializes in relevant professional training; however, this option would probably be more expensive and not compatible with Coloplast’s philosophy and culture. Documenting all production techniques and equipment operation, standardizing this documentation and translating it into the offshoring countries’ languages would be the first big step towards the solution. Uploading this documentation on the aforementioned Information System (that would link all the production units together), and providing detailed, translated, up-to-date webinars that would explain any operational inconsistencies and special uses, would effectively and permanently solve the knowledge transfer issue.

The purpose of this paper is for prospective teachers to reflect on major issues that are associated either with positive or negative behaviour management. I have chosen to focus on the topic of behaviour management problems in a classroom setting, based on the particular experiences of an eight-year-old Afro- French boy called Dean, who grew up in a two-parent household in an urban neighbourhood. The case scenario presented in this assignment took place at The Kingston Primary School in London [1] where I did my eight week school placement. The observation took place in a third grade classroom, which consisted of about 26 pupils.

The first question that this raises is why focus on behaviour management problems? The answer lies in a multitude of observations I have made in most schools I have worked in. Educators face a variety of challenges in the classrooms. Behaviour management is a major issue they are confronted with. Disruptive pupils are ubiquitous in a classroom setting. These pupils come to school with all sorts of emotional and behavioural problems ranging from defiance, attention deficits, aggression and hyperactivity, resistance to authority, temper tantrums and low motivation, which may cause them to be inattentive during lessons.

No matter how well organized, interesting or thought- out a lesson is, it is difficult to hold their interest. Inappropriate behaviour is dealt with by using different methods of interventions to promote development and learning opportunities which enhance pupils’ self-control while promoting their positive achievement.

The incident was as follows: Mrs Bucks has been a teacher at the school for 30 years. Dean, one of her pupils has a reputation for disrupting lessons. Whenever the whole class is on the mat, Dean has difficulties paying attention so he distracts himself with looking about the classroom instead of at the teacher or Smartboard. When a topic captures his attention, he is very alert and interrupts the lesson by shouting out the answer, mainly because he is too impatient to wait for his turn. Mrs Bucks is firm with him and disciplines him as a result of his behaviour. She sternly tells him to go move his name onto the Red Light Traffic System from the Green Light Traffic System. Annoyed she adds “Don’t you ever learn to raise your hand?” With his head down he does what he is told, and calls her a “stupid cow” under his breath. Several of his peers hear this and giggle. Unfortunate for him, Mrs Bucks hears him too and sends him to stand outside in the corridor. In addition she angrily says “I have had enough of you, I do not think I want you in my class anymore”. Defeated the boy walks out of the class with his head hung even lower. Dean disturbed the class with his hyperactivity. Surprisingly enough his inability to behave did not come into conflict with his academic performance. He was a very intelligent boy, and he proved this in oral and written work. He also was placed in the high attainer group.

Different teachers interpret a child?s action as a’ breach of discipline’ depending on who misbehaves, where it happens, when the incident took place, why it happened and so on. Age, class, gender and ethnicity may also play a role in judging the incident. Steed, Lawrence and Young (1983) suggest that educators perceive the incident more seriously if the pupil?s misbehaviour recurs on a regular basis. (Watkins & Wagner, 1987; pg 9). Although Mrs Bucks shouted a lot to get the children?s attention, she was not quick to discipline her other pupils as often as she did Dean. In an attempt to explain why her pupils misbehave Mrs Bucks said “Back in my day corporal punishment was used to keep pupils in place. Children had more respect then.” That explanation gave me an insight into her personality. She had lower tolerance for him and labelled him as one of her “problem children” Was it an urgent need to try to cope and carry on with school life although she feel powerless with using the school disciplinary system? After 30 years of teaching, and with retirement looming, she openly admitted that she was ready to start a new chapter in her life.

Unfortunately the strategies where largely ineffective as evidenced by the fact that Dean repeated the same disruptive behaviour every time he was under Mrs Bucks’ supervision.

Some pupils are definitely harder to manage than others but teachers have to stay calm at all times. Pupils bring their own diversity into the classroom. Mrs Bucks should have regained her composure before she responded to Dean. Secondly she should have avoided humiliating, intimiding and isolating him from the rest of the class.

Mrs Bucks is a very good teacher but the vital key that she was missing was building relationships with Dean. I had a feeling that after she had labelled him as a problem child she treated him thus.

Disciplinary systems are applied in the classroom setting by educators in order to enable effective teaching and learning. Maintaining good discipline controls student behaviour which leads to the establishment of a healthy learning environment. In 1987, the Secretary of State Lord Elton, created a legislation (Discipline in schools, Reports of Committee of enquiry) for classroom teachers who were facing difficulties in the area of discipline (Adams, 2009).The publication of the Elton Report on Pupil Behaviour was altered however in 2005, by Sir Alan Steer who conducted a review (Learning behaviour) which put emphasises on how ‘the quality of learning, teaching and behaviour in schools are inseparable issues’ (Ibid). The legislation was guidance to schools on procedures to overcome disruptive behaviour, which includes mild behaviour (interrupting the teacher, entering the classroom late) and aggressive behaviour (bullying and verbal/physical abuse) (Blandford, 1998). The legislation also advices each school to formulate a whole school plan that includes a code of behaviour that encourages students to develop a strong sense of personal responsibility towards others and towards attending and participating in classes on a regular basis. The legislation emphasizes the role parents play in moulding the attitude which produces good behaviour in school, therefore it is very important that educators, parents and pupils communicate and work together on a regular basis (National Educational Welfare Board).

Reacting to a student’s disruptive behaviours seems to have the effect of reinforcing that behaviour. This is evidenced by the strategy implemented a couple of days later when a substitute teacher, Mrs Hartbrot, takes over the class for the duration of the morning. The very first thing she did when all the pupils sat on the carpet was place Dean at the very back where he did not come into contact with any one of his peers. He was fidgeting about, shouting out answers, moving the nearby chairs about, but he got no response from her, so eventually he calmed down.

Mrs Hartbrot took the time to understand Dean’s behaviour. As a result, she was in a better position to avoid or prevent any negative behaviour. Even when he shouts out the answer she praises him for saying the correct answer but will kindly remind him that he should raise his hand or if it recurs too often he is ignored, but once he actually raises his hand he is praised for it. Many teachers would agree that to prevent misbehaviour is by encouraging good behaviour. Certain behaviours are not harmful to others but rather annoying for educators, but they should take the time to decide whether or not to intervene or not. (Wright, 2005)

Looking at Dean?s home situation might explain a few things about him. Dean lives with both of his parents and 3 siblings, 2 older brothers and a baby sister. His father works and his mother is a housewife. Often he would come to school in the morning exhausted and bragging about how he spent the night playing with the Wii box accompanied by his teenage brothers or how his new puppy would cry all night so he would have to comfort him. It is questionable whether he suffers from middle child syndrome, a syndrome which generally arises when parents give the oldest and youngest child more attention than the middle child. Could lack of attention or sleep be the root cause of the problem? Whatever the case, Mrs Bucks could have diffused his inappropriate behaviour by meeting his needs.

In 2005, the psychologist David Wright drew on the theories of Abraham Maslow to explain personality and human motivation. Maslow developed a theory called the hierarchy of human needs which include general types of needs such as physiological, safety, love, and esteem that need to be met. As long these needs are met, individuals can move towards growth and towards self-actualization. Maslow’s ideas can be applied to the classroom. Maslow would probably explain Dean?s behaviour as seeking to fulfil the need to feel safe. The behaviourist strongly believes that humans are good hearted and that instead of making violence (or lying, stealing and cheating) they want love and peace. Violence is only used when their human needs are hindered. By Mrs Bucks saying that she does not want him to be part of her class anymore she excluded him, making him feel alone, unaccepted, and unsafe. That sense of belonging was thwarted. One of a teacher’s main responsibilities is to make a pupil feel safe and comfortable in their environment and she emotionally or physically abandoned him, leaving him to feel unloved and unworthy. Although he did wrong, belittling him in front of his peers was not necessary. Regardless of any behaviour issues, the boy should still have the feeling that he is a valued part of the class, that he is unique, respected and appreciated. Naturally children who experience traumas such as sexual/physical/ verbal abuse, neglect or in some cases those that are victims of war may experience a blockage in their mind that prevent them from functioning “normally”(Wright, 2005). Many children who are unhappy fail to inform us what is troubling them; instead they show us through their behaviour that they are unhappy, scared or troubled about something. Is Dean?s constant disruptive behaviour a cry for help? Behaviourists, B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura, also established different theories on the learning behaviour of human beings: the theoretical perspectives of Operant Conditioning Theory developed by B.F. Skinner and Social Learning Theory developed by Albert Bandura. The behavioural theory, which was promoted by Burrhus Frederic Skinner (originated in the first part of the 20th century), indicates that a person’s behaviour is influenced by the environment. This is called “operant conditioning”, which is based on the idea that actions taken by a person have consequences, which can either result in reinforcement or punishment. The concept of reinforcement is rewarding desired behaviour with a stimulus (sweets or money) and this process encourages behaviour to be repeated. On the other hand, undesired behaviour is punished (McLaughlin &Muncie, 2006). Skinner demonstrated the idea of operant conditioning through experiments involving animals (rats, dogs and pigeons) in which they were taught to respond by using food as positive reinforcement as a result of the response. In this way he trained or “shaped” animals into what he wanted them to become. Skinner transferred this knowledge to explain human behaviour. Unlike animals, however humans have the freedom to make choices of their own and can choose not to be easily manipulated. The main weakness in Skinner’s behaviourist model is the dismissal of the human variable. In “Beyond Freedom and Dignity” the psychologist (1972) reduces behaviour strictly to stimulus and response. Skinner fails to acknowledge that human beings have thoughts and feelings that influence them to react the way they do in certain situations. In Dean’s situation Skinner would have probably claimed that his behaviour was reinforced by his peers giggling, and that punishments would discourage from such misbehaviour in the future, but that was not the case. Dean got himself into trouble on a daily basis, and mostly for the same reasons such as interrupting lessons by being disruptive, defiant, and disrespectful. The boy was repeatedly disciplined whether it was moving his name on the Red/Green light traffic system, missing out on his break, or standing in the corridor. In the course of my eight week placement it appeared that he was becoming more and more rebellious with each punishment that he received. I realized that he was experiencing a sense of a sense of low self-esteem and worthlessness after he had been sent into the corridor. After the incident I approached him to see how he was doing and he told me he wanted to be moved into another classroom. Clearly, he knew he was not wanted and may have acted the way he did so that his chances of being moved into a new classroom were higher. He was hoping to receive some type of response, and he did although it was in the form of punishment. Dean was definitely seeking attention.

At the age of four, D was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For that reason he was identified as a perfect candidate for an Individualised Educational Plan (IEP).The rude disruptive behaviour was unjustifiable, for children should know that all people should be treated with respect. However, if Mrs Bucks had taken the time to accept that he learns differently, and accommodated the differences, like Mrs Hartbrot did, she could have avoided the situation from escalating. All she saw was a child who failed to respond to her behaviour management methods and whose misbehaviour persisted over time.

ADHD is also known as minimal brain dysfunction or hyperactivity. ADHD is a common behavioural disorder, which is recognized as an important social-medical problem among children but also found in adolescents. An estimated 3% to 5% of school aged children are diagnosed with the disorder, but boys are more likely to be affected than girls (Porter, 2003). Hinshaw (2000) states that having ADHD

‘ leads to a lack of emotional regulation, poor judgement, lack of organisational skills, problems with self-monitoring, a high rate of accidental injuries, impaired relationships with peers and family, emotional difficulties including depression and anxiety, and learning difficulties such as poor phonological awareness (despite having average intellectual abilities overall) ‘ (Porter, 2003; 152).

Neuropsychological researchers imply that the cause of ADHD could be the result of family environment, the mother’s health during pregnancy or genetic processes in the body. The use of medication such as Ritalin is an intervention that is used to help reduce the severity and frequency of challenging behaviour. Due to side effects (loss of appetite, nausea and headaches) other forms of non- medical intervention such as behavioural therapy or Individual Behaviour Plan (IBP), are also used to discipline behaviour with controlling discipline methods (Porter, 2003, Wright 2005). Skinner’s idea of negative and positive reinforcement is used in these therapy sessions by therapists to help patients overcome maladaptive behaviour. (Rabiner, 2010)

Wright (2005) states that ADHD is not a learning disability but it will limit the child’s school performance. The child may say something hurtful or act before s/he thinks about the consequences of her/his actions. Southall (2007, pg. 64) claims that often teachers, physicians and parents misdiagnose children with ADHD. They tend to forget that behaviour is a result of adapting to their environment they live in and things that they experience. Along with genes researchers believe that environmental factor contribute to children`s mental health. Southall (2005) suggests that in the 21st century there is a decline in families spending time together. Parents seem to have less time to monitor or teach their offspring. Parental involvement and lack of communication is affecting many families. Children are not encouraged to play outside anymore instead many hours are spend with the children glued on video games, on the computer or television screen, which with their fast pace tend to overload their senses. It is not surprising then that their ability to focus in school is limited and that they have short attention spans. The brain gets used to being overstimulated by the flickering lights and the loud noises and fast moving action on the screen. By comparison school life is boring so they seek to create the same level of stimulation by being hyperactive and impulsive. (Southall, 2005)

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, also called observational theory, derives from Skinner?s learning theory. The theory states that children learn by observing then imitating their models (peers, parents and teachers). In many cases children imitate their “models”, even behaviour that the latter would like to discourage such as smoking or cursing. Children are constantly learning whether it is good or bad behaviour by observation. Unlike the counterpart theory the learner has a more active role and it singles out self-regulation in explanation of behaviour. Rosenthal and Bandura (1987; 80) acknowledge in their theory that ‘learning occurs through direct experience; a large body of research across different contexts and populations has supported the idea that observation of others influences individuals’ self-referent thoughts. Lickona (1991) points out that teachers should be role models, who exemplify the qualities they wish their pupils to follow such as responsibility, tolerance, fairness, honesty and respect. (Earl, 2008) When trying to explain why Dean was disrespectful one has to consider his peers and the adults that influence him. If he is treated with little or no respect, he will probably not know how to treat others with respect. If for example his father or his siblings dismiss him as unimportant or belittle his mother, he too will see no wrong in disrespecting women in general. He needs someone to display good character, but if his teacher also belittles him, then the message that he gets is that it is fine to behave in that manner.
Basically all children look to teachers who are fair, who admit when they are wrong and who are honest; all these qualities are ones that can be easily imitated by children. The influence of teachers can be life changing or damaging.
Behaviour will always be an issue of concern, but it is our job as teachers to establish a supporting and trusting relationship with our pupils and their families in a collaborative manner. Only by promoting pupil`s self control and self esteem teachers can positively influence their learning, well being and academic achievement.
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In this research paper I will be explaining all the different psychotherapy theories and practices from the past to the present. Theories researched consist of psychoanalytic therapy, Alderian therapy, existential therapy, person-centered therapy, gestalt therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, reality therapy, feminist therapy, and family systems therapy.

Psychotherapy Theory and Practice 3

“Psychoanalytic therapy seeks to help the patient understand unconscious past forces which affect emotions and behaviors.”(www.depression.about.com) A patient meets with their therapist at least once a week and ranges from several weeks up to years.

The founder of psychoanalytic therapy was Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s. People who would benefit from this therapy are people with a depressed mood, anxiety, and repetitive patterns of behaviors that result in a sense of limited choices and enjoyment.

Alderian therapy is named after its founder Alfred Adler in the early 1900s.” Alderian psychotherapy takes the early view that we are all in control of our own destiny and not subject to the whims of fate.” (http://whatispsychology.net/what-is-adlerian-therapy/)

Alderian therapy is used for individuals, groups, and families. It is used to increase interest in social interaction, reduce or modify self-destructive patterns of behavior, and to help them solve problems in a more positive manner.

Existential therapy was founded by Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, and Victor Frankl in the early 20th century. ” Existential psychologists believe that it’s not only important to identify and reduce the systemtomatology of mental illnesses, addiction, relationship issues, and other psychological issues, but to go beyond the symptoms, addressing how a person defines meaning, purpose, and a life well lived.”( http://www.allpsychologycareers.com/topics/existential-psychology.html)

Psychotherapy Theory and Practice 4

“Person-centered therapy, which is also known as client-centered, non-directive, or Rogerian therapy, is an approach to counseling and psychotherapy that places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a nondirective role.” (http://www.minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Person-centered-therapy.html) Person-centered therapy was founded by Carl Rogers in the 1930s.

Rogers believes that you need to create a close personal relationship between the client and the therapist. The client determines the general direction of the therapy. In person-centered therapy, the therapist should seek to increase the client’s insight through informal clarifying questions. Rogers believed the most successful therapy was the therapist’s attitude.

“Gestalt therapy, which was founded in the 1940s, is a form of experimental psychotherapy in which the patient is encouraged to become aware of his/her emotions as they exist in the present moment.”(http://www.crchealth.com/types-of-therapy/what-is-gestalt-therapy/) Gestalt therapy was founded by Fritz and Laura Perls.

Gestalt therapy is successful in adults and teens that are being treated for substance abuse, addiction, behavior disorders, mood disorders, grief, trauma, sex addiction, compulsive gambling, bipolar, and depression. It promotes a focus on the present and an awareness of the mental and emotional processes that impacts a person’s decisions, actions, and behaviors.

“Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors.”

Psychotherapy Theory and Practice 5

(http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/a/cbt.htm) The founders are Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis in the 1960s.

Cognitive behavior therapy is short term. It is used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, and phobias. This therapy is not expensive because of it being short term.

“Reality therapy is a therapeutic approach that focuses on problem-solving and making better choices in order to achieve specific goals.” (http://www.crchealth.com/types-of-therapy/reality-therapy/) It was founded by Dr. William Glasser, MD in the 1960s.

The goal of reality therapy is to solve problems and rebuild connections. It is focused on the here and now instead of the past. This therapy is effective in resistant teens struggling with substance abuse, defiance, and manipulation.

“In a world where the male sex dominates, feminist therapy realizes that a woman is affected by social pressures which reveal themselves through her identity,” (http://www.goodtherapy.org/feminist-therapy.html) It was founded by Olivia Espin, Jean Miller, Carolyn Enns, and Laura Brown in the 1960s.

In feminist therapy clients are encouraged to take social action. The therapist is to help the client understand the impact of gender roles in their lives and help them recognize different kinds of power that they possess.

“Family systems therapy is a type of psychotherapy which involves family members or people in a close relationship rather than just individual clients. “(http://www.disorders.org/what-is-family-systems-therapy/)

Psychotherapy Theory and Practice 6

Family systems therapy is a talk therapy. They talk about boundaries and how someone crosses those boundaries. The key to changing an individual’s understanding is working with the entire family.

Psychotherapy Theory and Practice 7

REFRENCES

http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/a/cbt.htm

What is Adlerian Therapy?

http://www.allpsychologycareers.com/topics/existential-psychology.html

http://www.crchealth.com/types-of-therapy/reality-therapy/

http://www.crchealth.com/types-of-therapy/what-is-gestalt-therapy/

http://www.disorders.org/what-is-family-systems-therapy

http://www.goodtherapy.org/feminist-therapy.html

http://www.minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Person-centered-therapy.html

www.depression.about.com

Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany. His original name was Erik Salomonsen. When he finished studying school, he attemped to study painting for an year, and that played a big role in his life. While painting children, he had been offeredn a job as a fill in tutor at the Hietzin School by Anna Freud. Soon after his start working there, it was realized his depth of his compatibility with the children and was offered to be teached a child analyst. It’s important to say that that school was organized aˆzorganized according to psychoanalytic principles and geared to cooperation with the analyst”. His teacher was Anna Freud, who was the sixth and last child of Sigmund Freud. At the same time he attended a Montessori school to get a degree, together with visiting the meetings of Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, where he bacame a member in 1933. His most important work actualy is in United States, where he wrote his books, and most important – his theory for psycho-social development. There he also became one ot the first child psychoanalysts and a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association. (Jessica McComas ’00).

Erik Erikson had accepted all the theories of Freud. He also added the Oedipal complex to his theories. Erikson’s work was more oriented to the culture and the society as it seems in his theory of the psycho-social development. His theory is based on eight stages. In them hi expands and refines the Freud’s theory. He claims that we pass from one to other stage because of our success, or lack of one in the previous. That he calls the “epigenetic principle”. In his theory he has so called “tasks” and “crisis”. The tasks are those things, which we have to achieve during the stage, and uses the crisis in Freudian tradition. He also has an optimal time to pass through one stage to another. When the person is obsessed with the success he could miss some stages, i.e. to go through stages without completing them all. Erikson also tells us about the virtue. That is when we manage one or another stage well.

Dr. C. George Boeree putted the eight stages of Erik Erikson in a charge which looks like that:

Stage (age)
Psychosocial crisis
Significant relations
Psychosocial modalities
Psychosocial virtues
Maladaptations &malignancies

I (0-1) —

infant

trust vs mistrust

mother

to get, to give in return

hope, faith

sensory distortion — withdrawal

II (2-3) —

toddler

autonomy vs shame and doubt

parents

to hold on, to let go

will, determination

impulsivity — compulsion

III (3-6) —

preschooler

initiative vs guilt

family

to go after, to play

purpose, courage

ruthlessness — inhibition

IV (7-12 or so) —

school-age child

industry vs inferiority

neighborhood and school

to complete, to make things together

competence

narrow virtuosity — inertia

V (12-18 or so) —

adolescence

ego-identity vs role-confusion

peer groups, role models

to be oneself, to share oneself

fidelity, loyalty

fanaticism — repudiation

VI (the 20’s) —

young adult

intimacy vs isolation

partners, friends

to lose and find oneself in a

another

love

promiscuity — exclusivity

VII (late 20’s to 50’s) — middle adult

generativity vs self-absorption

household, workmates

to make be, to take care of

care

overextension — rejectivity

VIII (50’s and beyond) — old adult

integrity vs despair

mankind or “my kind”

to be, through having been, to face not being

wisdom

presumption — despair

He adapted it from Erikson’s “Identity and the Life Cycle”.

The first stage is first year and a half from child’s life also known as “Oral – sensory stage”. The task is forming of trust. The parents ‘part here is very important because they have to learn the child to trust his own body and what to do with his/her biological needs. But the problem is that if the child is given everything he or she may starts thinking that the world is such a safe and happy place, where everything is given to you. So that the child (baby) could misunderstand that everyone is as kind, good and loving as the parents.

Otherwise, if the parents don’t give enough to the child, developing mistrust is possible. It means that the child will be suspicious around people. But that doesn’t mean that they have to be near the child all the time because a sensory maladjustment may appear. The child may develop malignant tendency or even a psychosis.

The parents need to find the proper balance. Then the child will develop virtue hope. He/she would know that even it’s going bad; they would help him for a better end. The sign that the first stage is passed well is that the child is not overly upset, when it doesn’t get what hi/she wants immediately.

The second stage, also called anal-muscular stage. It between 18th month up to the third year. The main task to achieve is autonomy and to minimize the feelings of doubt and shame.

The parents have to be “firm but tolerant”. That means that they don’t have to discourage their child, but at the same time they don’t have to push it. The balance between them is required. If it’s so, the child will develop both self-control and self-esteem.

This is a difficult, because for the child is easier to develop sense of doubt and shame. The parents have to be very careful, because even a simple laugh in front of child’s efforts may cause doubts in his/her own abilities.

Erikson also talk about Impulsiveness, which is a sort of shameless willfulness, that leads the child, to jump into some things that the child don’t have the proper consideration of his abilities.

Compulsiveness is worse than impulsiveness. That is too much doubt and shame. Everything they do must be perfect and all the mistakes must be avoided at all cost.

Stage three is also called genital- locomotor stage. It’s from three-four to five-six years and the child has to learn initiative and have to avoid the guilt.

The term initiative means “positive response to the world’s challenges, taking on responsibilities, learning new skills, feeling purposeful” (Dr. C. George Boeree). In this stage the parents have to encourage their children to try out their ideas. This is the period where the imagination of the child is greater as never before. This is the time for games, playing, not formal education. But together with the games parents have to be careful of what their children are doing, because they are not capable of planning their own future. It the time where the moral judgment has to arrive. They have to develop guilty for their actions.

When there is too little guilt and more initiative, Erikson calls it ruthlessness. This people make their own plans and don’t care what’s around, no matter of the school or their career. They don’t care who they step on for achieving their goals.

Stage four or latency stage is the period from six to twelve years. The task is to develop industry and avoiding sense of inferiority.

In the life of the child appear teachers and other member of the community. They must learn the feeling of the success, no matter where they are – in school or on the playground. They must learn the rules of the society – how they have to behave and that the success comes because you try hard to achieve it.

The Narrow virtuosity appears when the child is not allowed to be a child, i.e. when parents push their children into one area of competence, without letting them to become competent in other areas.

Inertia includes all who suffer from the “inferiority complex” ( if at first you don’t success don’t ever try again).

The best is to develop the proper balance between industry and inferiority. This is called competency.

The adolescence or stage five begin with the puberty and ends around 18 or 20 years old. The achieving of ego identity and avoiding role confusion are the tasks here. In fact exactly this stage interested Erikson the most.

In this stage you have to understand who you are and how you fit in to the rest of society. You take all you have learned about life and yourself and put the knowledge into practice in the society.

The society provides clear rites of passage to help distinguish the adult. Those are the tasks and the tests in the primitive societies. Without this we will be confused about our own place in the society we live in and will ask to ourselves the question “Who am I?”.

There is a problem with the ego identity- fanaticism and repudiation. When there is too much it’s fanaticism. They believe that this is the only way, everything I black-and-white. When there is lack of identity is repudiation. Those people repudiate their need for and identity. Some of them allow themselves to “fuse” with a group and could involve in destructive activities, drugs and alcohol.

The next stage is the sixth – young adulthood. It’s between the 18 and about 30 years old. The task is to achieve degree of intimacy rather than isolation.

Intimacy is the ability to be close with the others – friends, lover and as a part of the society. You already know who you are and what is your place in the society, so it’s easier than in childhood. There is a problem called “fear of commitment” – an example of immaturity in this stage. “Everything will be all right when I finish school, start a job, get married” etc.

The main problem comes from the fact that our society hasn’t done a lot for young adults. When you get to that age, everyone start having troubles with the isolation of urban living and lack of idea of real sense of community.

When there is no depth in your intimate relationships and the relation with your friends and neighbors it’s called promiscuity. Exclusion is the tendency to isolate ourselves from love and friendship. But if you successfully negotiate this stage you will get a psychosocial strength – love. In the context of Erikson’s theory this means being able to put aside differences and antagonisms through “mutuality of devotion””.

The middle adulthood stage is the next one. It’s difficult to pin a time for it, but it include the period in which we are actively involved in raising children.

Generativity is an extension of love into the future. The parents don’t have to be “selfish”. There is a reality that if we love someone, and he/she doesn’t return the love we don’t consider this as true love. It’s the same with the parents, who have great ambitions for their children and expect a “return on their investment”.

The other aspect – stagnation – is self-adsorption, caring for no-one. That kind of person is a productive member of society. These people care about their problems and their life.

This is also the stage of the “middle crisis”. The most common question in that case is “What am I doing all this for?”. The focus is on themselves, they are asking for whom are they doing all that. Most of the times people separates searching for the answer of that big question.

The last stage – late adulthood or maturity comes after the kids have gone, at about 60. The task is to develop ego integrity and minimal amount of despair. It is the most difficult stage of all. Retire from your job, sense of usefulness and biological uselessness and most of the parents are coming too close to their children (becoming annoying). The ego integrity means coming to terms with your life, and thereby coming to terms with the end of life (Dr. C. George Boeree).

Those who approaches death without fear, that strength Erikson calls wisdom – because “healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death”. He suggests that a person must be gifted to be wise.

Erikson makes a revision of Freud’s theory for the stages. They both say that the child have to achieve each stage (according Erikson – tasks) to be part of the society. The difference is that Freud made his theory on the base of clinic research and interviewing parents and talks about the crisis of self-recognize. In his theory he also talks about the problem with the parents, not because of them and the complex, which may appear during growing up. Erikson gives prominence to the role of the parents in children’s life. Both theories have certain period of time for each stage and explain what kinds of problems may appear during that stage and how to avoid that. In both theories by adolescence, individuals are asked to form a sense of identity. Finally, toward the end of the life, one is asked to form a sense of ego integrity according Erikson. Freud gives prominence to the id, ego and superego.

Behaviourist theories might say Katya has turned out the way she has due to the way she has been treated by her father. Katya did not get the love or attention she needed as a child, and because of this when her father sexually abused her, she saw it as a reward by showing her love. Her father also had a drug problem, and as a reward could have possibly given them to her, and is why she deals class A drugs. Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist came up with the classical conditioning theory. This involves putting an unconditioned response with a conditioned stimulus, which is the new learnt behaviour from putting the response and stimulus together.

As Katya has been sexually abused at such a young age, she thinks that being sexually active is a normal thing to do at her age. This possibly has lead her to become a prostitute, which is extremely dangerous fro a girl of her age, due to catching STD’s and not knowing the people she is sleeping with. Katya has never gone past the psychosexual stage of the 3-5 year olds. This is when children start to realise about sex. During people’s life stages, there are different psychosexual stages they go through. If they don’t go through those stages, problems will occur in a change in personality. Sigmund Freud came up with this theory. He believed the mind can be divided into 2 main parts; the conscious mind, which is everything we are aware of, and memory is a part of this as we can retrieve information once it is made aware of again. This is also known as the preconscious mind is unpleasant, such as feelings, thoughts, urges. Most of the unconscious mind is unpleasant, such as feeling of pain, conflict, anxiety. It influences behaviour even though we are unaware of it. Erik Erikson agreed with Freud’s theory, but Erikson also believed that we move through a series of psychosocial crises with a different social focus at each stage, e.g. between the age of 0-1 the life crisis concerns developing thrust or mistrust in self or others. The social focus in this stage is the mother.

The biological approach can make us understand how Katya has developed due to the environment she has been brought up in, (nurture) and her genes/behaviour (nature). Nature may have made Katya the way she is from the genes that have been passed on to her. Therefore, Katya may have got her father’s tendencies towards drinking and drug taking. Arnold Gesell (1880-1961) believed children went through development norms, which meant at a certain age they should be able to learn and understand certain things. Nurture could have influenced the way Katya behaves, as she does not really understand about certain things in life from not being told by role models, e.g. father, and does not know what her boundaries are. She also has not had any proper love, so that has leaded her to do other things, and from seeing what her father does, influences her to do things she should not.

Task 2

The Social Learning Theory was developed by an American psychologist called Albert Bandura. He recognised that we learn things by observing people, also known as observational learning.

Katya’s assessment will be based on the impact in has on her life. Katya’s emotional development has been because of seeing what her father has done to her as a child. Her father has been violent, and has locked her in the bathroom, so has not had good visible care, and does not understand how important it is and reacts against what people see. This is because she has seen her father act in this way and has copied him, as she sees him as a role model. For Katya’s care plan, it would involve looking at different role models, as it can affect behaviour, as shown by Katya.

In health and social care provisions, in order to promote anti-discrimination practices and behaviour, messages must be put forward which maximise attention. This can be done by using positive images, for example, people we admire like celebrities with messages which help promote anti discriminatory behaviour, so we copy what they do.

The humanistic approach focuses on the idea of free will and the belief that we are capable of making choices. The 2 psychologists that approached this theory were Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Abraham Maslow believed that every human being require certain basic needs before they can approach the next level. This can be shown on the hierarchy of needs. Firstly, basic physical needs have to be met before progressing further, for example, food and water, well housed, and once those have been met, we then focus on our emotional needs. These are things such as feeling loved, high self-esteem and feeling or belong. Once all the needs are met, we strive to self actualise, which means reaching full potential in life.

Carl Rogers was more interested in the concept of self. This is how we view ourselves. If children get praised, encouraged to succeed, and told they are valued, their self-concept will be positive and see themselves as someone who is worthwhile and competent. If they are told they are naughty or no good, it will have a negative affect and will affect part of their self-concept aspects.

For Kayta’s assessment, the humanistic approach can be applied on how it affects her life. Katya got treated badly as a child, making her feel not wanted by her father and un-loved. He would often shout violently at her, and if she cried or complained, and once Katya’s father calmed down he would sexually abuse them. This will affect her self-concept as she has not been valued enough, and also it has affected her self-esteem as she has not had the love from others and does not know how to look after her appearance due to not being taught. On Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Katya has not been able to progress further from the basic physical needs. This is because she has not been cared from properly, and is unable to move to the safety and security needs due to her father not being there for her.

The humanistic approach can be applied for to health and social care provisions to help the problem. Unconditioned positive regard refers to a totally judgemental way of being with or viewing a client. The therapist supports client’s feelings, beliefs and emotions un-conditioning. This means without judging whether their emotions are good or bad.

Empathy is also used in helping others. It requires care workers to listen to clients, and respect them for whom they are and any emotions they have had to deal with.

Jean Piaget came up with the cognitive theory, saying that cognition develops through a series of stages building on the previous stage, and so on. He believed we can only achieve certain things in certain stages in life, for example, a baby is only able to experience the world through sense perceptions (smell, touch, sight) and motor activity. This will then develop into the next stage which involves language, memory and thought and so on.

For Katya’s assessment, this theory has an impact on her life as she grew up to fast. This means that she has to cope with things at a certain age which her brain could not deal with. Am example of this would be her father’s behaviour towards Katya, not allowed to have any creative play by making things or decorating a dolls face and playing with its hair.

In health and social care provisions, keeping a diary or record of negative thoughts and feelings can help to identify why they are feeling like the way they are. By identifying why they are feeling like that, care workers can help support the individuals through their problem.

Task 3

The psychological perspectives I have chosen to analyse are the behavioural theory, biological theory and social learning theory. I have chosen these theories because they apply more for the way Katya is behaving.

Psychological Perspectives
Katya’s Challenging Behaviour

Behaviourist Theory

Ivan Pavlov-reward good behaviour

Ignore her bad behaviour that she shows. Is used to being rewarded for bad behaviour so when shouts and screams walk away.

Make sticker reward chart, so when Katya shows good behaviour gets a sticker and when completes chart gets a reward, e.g. money.

Biological Theory

Arnold Gesell

Nature/Nurture

Katya may possibly be more sensitive to drugs because if her mum took drugs whilst she was pregnant with Katya, she may have been born a ‘crack baby’

Could put Katya into rehab to get her weaned of the drugs and alcohol.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura

Observational Learning

Remove or separate Katya away from those who are a bad influence towards her, e.g. father. This is the responsibility of a social worker.

Arrange for Katya to see/meet a person who experienced and went through the same issues as her, and speak to her about how they have dealt with it and how they have turned out today- can be seen as a role model for Katya to help her deal with the problem she went through

Health and Social care organisations can help Katya’s behaviour through different types of therapies. The therapies that will help Katya come under the Psychodynamic theory (child psychotherapist), humanistic theory (child therapist), and cognitive theory (CBT-cognitive behavioural therapy).

Psychological Therapies
How it will help Katya

Psychodynamic theory

Child psychotherapist

Help her to manage her difficulties with behaviour

Help Katya develop new skills

Help resolve her issue that she has dealt with

Boost communication skills

Lets her play and do activities and then once comfortable help her problems

Humanistic theory

Child Therapist

Form strong relationships with the therapist- ‘mode of communication and type of relationship facilitates change and growth in children experiencing emotional distress’ http://www.bapt.info/playtherapycareers.htm

Cognitive Theory

CBT

Helps Katya make sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller parts

Focuses on the cause of her distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve her state of mind now.

Identify Katya’s individual patterns of thoughts, emotions, bodily feelings and actions and keep a diary record

Help Katya to work out how to change her unhelpful thoughts and behaviours

Helps Katya to replace unhappy thoughts with positive thoughts

Discuss with reference to curriculum documentation and relevant research literature the importance of effective provision and planning for outdoor play and exploration in UK early years settings.

In this assignment I am going to look at why it is relevant for effective provision and planning for the outdoor environment in the early years in the UK. Outdoor play is a vital element of young children’s physical, social and emotional development. Play is a young child’s activity for learning. Therefore making the most of outdoor play is essential, providing plenty of experiences in a varied manner for children, early years settings are in a unique position to offer these, fully integrated with the indoors.

The four aspects of Birth to Three Matters Framework include examples of experiences that very young children should have both indoors and outdoors. Similarly, the curriculum guidance for the foundation stage includes many ideas for taking learning outside. All six areas of learning can be effectively promoted, from the earliest stepping stones through to the early learning goals at the end of foundation stage.

The statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation stage: setting and standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five. (DCSF 2008) states the following in relation to the outdoor environment;

‘Wherever possible, there should be access to an outdoor play area and this is the expected norm for providers.’

‘The indoor and outdoor environments (should be linked) so that children can move freely between them.’

‘A rich and varied environment supports children’s learning and development. It gives them the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe yet challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces.’

‘Children must have opportunities play indoors and outdoors. All early year providers must have access to an outdoor play area which can benefit the children. If the setting does not have direct access to an outdoor play area they must make arrangements for daily opportunities for outdoor play in an appropriate nearby location.’

‘Being outdoors has a positive impact on children’s sense of well-being and helps all aspects of children’s development.’ (See EYFS Statutory Framework (p.35 and 37); EYFS Practice Guidance (p.7) and ‘Principles into Practice card 3.3: Enabling Environments- the Learning Environment’).

The EYFS statutory framework for the EYFS is put in place so that every child in a setting environment has the best possible experience of the outdoors, as so much learning and development goes on within the outdoors and to cover the six early learning goals.

The outdoors offers a unique environment, which is very different from the indoors. It offers space and freedom to try things out, to explore and experiment without the constraints associated with an indoor environment (Tovey 2007). Some opportunities for learning can only happen outside. The experience of a change in the weather, finding insects, making a large scale construction/painting – all of these motivate children into mental and physical engagement, and can only be done outside. In fact all learning goals can be achieved outside while the children’s health and well-being are also being boosted. Outside children can run fast, shout and squeal and find out what their bodies and voices can really do (Ouvry, 2008). The space is more open, less confided and the greater space; the more unrestricted the movement possibilities. Indoors is a space where adults are in control, but outdoors as fewer restrictions, where children can escape the controlling eyes of adults (Stephenson 2002).

The four main thinkers of early childhood towards the curriculum, advocating outdoor provision as essential for children’s learning and development are; Friedrich Froebel , Margaret McMillan ,Susan Issacs and Maria Montessori. “These four all held the view that the young child is first and foremost a whole person, with thoughts, feelings and imagination that need to be cared for and cherished” (Curtis 1986. P.5).They all believed in a child centred approach and free-flow play. Young children are motivated and wish to learn, they don’t have to be sat at a table quietly (Curtis 1986).

Friedrich Froebel argued that play was a serious and significant activity for the young child. David Cohen (1987) suggests that Froebel was the first educator to use children’s play for practical purposes. In order to help children learn through play Froebel devised series of playthings and games (Bruce 1991). As Curtis (1986 p.6) points out, he used the ‘timeless playthings of childhood’ in his curriculum. ‘Balls, boards, sand, clay, for example, have made up children’s play throughout the ages’. The role of the adult is crucial in Froebel’s approach to play. Cohen however doesn’t agree that children should learn particular things, as that would be to advocate play as preparation for life. Froebel valued play because it helped children to make meaning, and as Janet Moyles (1989 p.168) points out the importance of adults and children being ‘equal partners in play, as in conversation’ (Bruce 1991).

Janet Moyles (1989, p.24) points out that Froebel pioneered the theory of firsthand experience as the basis of play, but this was entirely different to that, Seguin (1812-1880), who developed learning though the senses for disabled children. This curriculum was aimed towards a particular direction. However, Froebel’s approach to play was targeted at all children’s needs, rather than Seguin, who concentrated on disadvantaged children (Bruce 1991). As Yvonne Conolly (1983) points out (OMEP), ‘A good Curriculum is a good curriculum for all’ (in Bruce, 1987, Ch.9).

Margaret McMillan, pioneer of nursery education campaigned for an education centred on the garden. She was the first person to model a nursery with children flowing freely between the inside and outside environment she quoted; ‘The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed by the sky.’ She put so much emphasis on the outdoor environment that it has been recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in its good practice guidelines for the early learning goals, which repeatedly stress those young children, should have access to a well-planned outdoors (Ouvry 2008).

McMillan expanded on the ideas of Froebel, to see children playing as the integrated activity. It was through the garden that we see her begin to develop the free-flow play side of the curriculum. It is interesting to see that for Froebel, McMillan and Issacs, it was the child’s free play in the outdoors that led to their greatest contributions to the early childhood educational curriculum (Bruce 1991). Issacs valued free-flow play because it gave children freedom in their actions, thoughts and emotional expression. Issacs further stressed that play also meets the emotional needs of a child, as they express all emotional during play (Bruce 1991).

Montessori, who was also a pioneer for education, she thought it was an insult to children to suggest they should play. Montessori provided children with specific sense training apparatus which she expected them to use in an exact manner within the classroom, whereas McMillan believed children gained better sensory experience by playing in the garden (Bruce, 1991).

Surely if practitioners are planning and setting up the activities that a child plays outdoors it is not really the child’s freedom of choice, in a way it is still like the Montessori approach. Both Sylva and Bruner argued, in the 1980s, that structure is a characteristic of materials and activities themselves. Structured activities such as construction are the most challenging and unstructured materials, such as sand and water, and open ended resources, outdoors lack any clear goal structure and, therefore, do not challenge children’s minds (Bruner 1980; Sylva et al 1980).

Ouvry (2008) suggests making the most out of the outdoor area is also important, so that the children in that setting have the best opportunities possible and the changing of resources provided should be different daily. Also, it is important that the children have the opportunity to explore different resources and not stick with their favourite all the time i.e. bicycles. So Bruner and Sylva’s research isn’t very clear as all settings have a number of different opportunities for children to do in the outdoors environment, structured and unstructured. Children learn from them all in different ways and they are all targeting the six areas of learning.

Piaget saw movement and physical development as the provision for higher levels of thinking. However Smith (p.68) argues this point and believes ‘it is stillness we have to justify, not movement’. Early Years children can’t be sat down all day they need freedom to express themselves and explore their environment in order to learn new things, sitting down is going to make them more likely to disengage with what is going on. If movement is such an important aspect of a child’s development, access to outdoor space must be part of a daily routine in order to nurture this mind-body growth.

‘Children want space at all ages. But from the age of one to seven, space, that is ample space, almost as much wanted as food and air. To move, to run, to find things out by new movement, to feel one’s life in every limb, that is the life of early childhood.’ So said Margaret McMillan (1930)

Children’s entitlement to high quality outdoor play experiences is strongly supported throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and early years providers have a statutory duty to facilitate daily outdoor opportunities all year round for the children in their care. (See EYFS Statutory Framework (p.35 and 37); EYFS Practice Guidance (p.7) and ‘Principles into Practice card 3.3: Enabling Environments- the Learning Environment’).

When children are denied adequate space they often feel desperately frustrated and this can lead to uncooperative behaviour. Research has shown that in environments that enable children to move about, to collaborate with others and take frequent breaks during calm activities, the behaviour of children who have a tendency to lose their temper or get over excited is less disturbing (Berk, l. E and Winsler, A 1995). This therefore shows that the tendency for children to shout and squeal and run around and be very ‘hyperactive’ is taken outside there that type of behaviour is accessible (Ouvry 2008).

Ouvry (2008) states that boy’s brains mature in a different sequence to those of girls and in some areas, at a slower rate. Boys first develop the parts of the brain for knowing about movement and space in which they have to move themselves and other things. Other areas of the curriculum then arise meaningfully out of play. Girls, stereotypically like playing imaginatively in the home corner and working with and alongside adults. Girls come to an understanding of adult world through domestic play and talk; they use reading and writing in their play because their brains are more developed for language at the three to five year old stage.

The whole emphasis on activities that focus on children who are good at talking, fitting in, quick at learning and understanding other people’s intentions. Boys can tend to feel uncomfortable because they tend to feel more secure in the outdoor environment, where they can be themselves and still learn from their experiences just in a different manner. By the setting giving less attention to the outdoors environment and quality of outdoor play, they may be denying access to education to a significant number of boys (Bilton, H. 1998).

The outdoor space must be viewed as an essential teaching and learning environment which is linked with the learning that goes on inside, but with even greater status because it allows for children to learn through movement. If we believe that young children learn through play and that play is thought in action- then offering children a playing space outdoors would seem the most effective means to fulfil their need to play, learning through first hand experiences and cooperate with others, that also cover the six main learning goals (Ouvry. 2008).

Despite the much higher profile given to outdoor play in recent years with the introduction of the Curriculum Guidance for the foundation stage (QCA 2000), there is still evidence that the ‘purpose and value of outdoor play is not well understood'(Tovey. 2007). Many practitioners have an unconscious belief that effective learning only happens when children are still, quiet and calm, with a pencil and paper at hand and with a teacher nearby to offer instruction. The idea that when children are physically active, many people believe they can’t be learning anything to do with the curriculum (Ouvry 2008). But then what about forest schools, they are based outside all of the time and are still based on the curriculum and the learning intentions are still met and this is all due to planning for the six areas of learning.

It is certainly true that if the outdoors is not well planned and the setting does not have clear aims for the children’s learning outside, then practitioners may find it difficult to see any worthwhile learning going on outside. This is however true when considering any environment for young children inside or outside. Without clarity of aims and learning intentions for children in play situations, it is impossible to know what to look for when observing the children or to know how to further the children’s learning. Structuring the environment and supporting children’s learning is as important outside as in (Ouvry 2008).

The key person working with a four-year-old child may have observed on several occasions that the child is rather unsteady when moving around the outside area. The practitioner then plans to build an obstacle course to give the child lots of opportunities to use a wide range of physical movements. These then support the planning for enhanced provision. In many cases, this planned adjustment and enrichment of some aspect of the setting’s provision will also be relevant to other children in a group. Many of the other children in the group will enjoy helping to build and develop the obstacle course and will join the focus child in actively using and enjoying the challenges it offers.

‘The right of the child to rest and leisure and engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and arts.’ (UNICEF 1989).

There are constraints and fears that limit children’s opportunities for play particularly outdoors, deprive children of essential childhood experiences and opportunities- opportunities to develop friendships and to make relationships, to experience all emotions, to take risks, have adventures and misadventures, to have contact with nature and the environment (Casey, T. 2007). Children need to climb, run, jump, an bash balls against walls (Lewis Howdle, lecture, RIHE,1980).

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/83976

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/childrens-services/childcare/providers/childcarepublications/horizons/horizons-issue-16/outdoor-learning-and-the-eyfs.htm

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/151379 http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/132681 http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/planning-quality-provision-early-years-5276

The principle of providing an enabling environment is that children learn and develop in enabling environment, the environment plays a vital role in supporting children’s individual needs in learning and development, strong partnerships between practitioners and parents is a positive start to providing an enabling environment. The health and safety of the environment is vital to ensure the safeguarding and wellbeing of the children. Babies and children will feel emotionally safe and secure and will develop and learn most effectively. A truly enabling environment provides the stimulation and the positive relationships that support children to feel safe enough to explore. A good early childhood environment meets the child’s basic needs and supports and encourages children to engage in activities that implement the program’s curriculum. Further, the environment is designed to enable staff to facilitate the optimum learning for their children. Finally, the environment makes parents and guardians feel welcome, involved, and empowered.

In this essay I will look at how to organise a safe, but challenging environment for children. Explain the practitioner’s role within the wider multi-agency environment. Describe the regulatory requirements that must be followed when organising an environment for children in the early years. Evaluate the effectiveness of the environment in meeting children’s individual needs.
There are a number of important principles to think about when you are planning for a safe environment for children and young people. When preparing environments for children, it is important to consider their age and stage of development. We also need to consider whether the environment meets the needs of the individual children. Children develop at different rates. Some children need more challenging activities while others may need a different type of activity or different resources observing individual children to see how they engage with the environment will help us to plan appropriately. Every child is an individual with different needs depending on their age and abilities. You must think about this when planning activities, for example when they involve physical play, or if more consideration must be given to the needs of a child who has just become mobile than to an older child, when planning room layouts. Some children have specific needs such as sensory impairments; for example think about the challenges to a child with limited hearing understanding explanations about safety. The different needs of families and carers must be considered. You should always consider the child’s safety and welfare in your mind when planning.
Every child and young person has a right to a safe and secure environment. Before starting any activity it is important that you take into account the health and safety requirements of all children, ensuring that the environment is free of any hazards and it is safe for children to play. Health and safety is the most valuable factor to consider when planning a safe and challenging environment for children’s learning and development to take place. Developmental needs of children are also a factor to consider; as children grow and develop in different stages, so it is important to consider the developmental needs and abilities of children when planning an environment for children.
Things we should consider when planning is:
Physical
Emotional
Social
Intellectual
Accessibility
Safety and supervision of infants and toddlers is a key role to providing a safe environment. “All registered providers must meet the minimum requirements for space within their environment and staff ratios. Meeting staff ratios ensures the safety of children, failure to meet these ratios could cause accidents and injuries”(Open Study College Early Years Level 3 PG50) By following all these points we abide with the legal obligation to the duty of care.
Staff ratios as follows:
1:3 children under 2 years
1:4 children aged 2 years
1:8 children aged 3-5 years
When planning for a healthy and safe indoor environment rooms should be organised to limit the safety, space is also a vital factor to consider, by ensuring there is sufficient space in relation to the number of children who will be using it within the environment. This allows children to move around easily and comfortably.
Children from birth to two years require 3.5m2 space per child, children aged two to three years old require 2.5m2 space per child, and children aged three to five years require 2.3m2 space per child. (Open Study College Early Years Level 3)
Multi agency working is when a number of professionals work together to provide support in meeting the individual needs of children. The wider community plays a vital role in children’s learning and development. Practitioners need to work together across services for example working in partnership with health visitors, general practitioners, social workers, physiotherapists, and speech and language therapist. To best support children and their families all these groups need to communicate well, listen carefully to all concerned and to put the children’s needs first. (Open Study College- Early Years Level 3 -V1.0 PG 40, 66)
According to (The CAF process 26 April 2012) “The CAF is a four-step process whereby practitioners can identify a child’s or young person’s needs early, assess those needs holistically, deliver coordinated services and review progress. The CAF is designed to be used when
a practitioner is worried about how well a child or young person is progressing (e.g. concerns about their health, development, welfare, behaviour, progress in learning or any other aspect of their wellbeing)
a child or young person, or their parent/carer, raises a concern with a practitioner
a child’s or young person’s needs are unclear, or broader than the practitioner’s service can address.”
The EY. Statutory framework provides regulations that all early years setting must comply with when providing an environment for children. Health and safety legislations play a key role on the provision of an environment and must be followed by all employers with the setting.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974- all employers have legal responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work at 1974. Employers must meet certain rules to ensure that health and safety is implemented and to make sure everyone at work is safe within the environment. As practitioners everyone in the childcare setting must know what their health and safety policies in the settings are. In a childcare setting the following guidelines apply: buildings should be in good condition and designed with the safety of users in mind buildings and surroundings should be clean and safe and equipment must be safely used and stored. This act helps maintain healthy, safe and secure environments as is safeguards both the children and the adults working with them.
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) COSHH is the law that all employers must follow in regards to harmful substances. (COSHH Regulations 1999) states “Hazardous substances are anything that can harm your health when you work with them if they are not properly controlled.” Most settings use cleaning products or have other products that are hazardous. While caring for children early year’s workers may have to handle nappy changing, or clean up after toileting or other accidents. In order to minimise the risk to health, it is important to be aware of hazards in the environment. It is essential to use protective equipment such as gloves and masks, if using hazardous substances.
All products that are used by children, including toys, must be in a good condition and reasonably safe to use. All children are protected by safety laws. Various symbols are used to indicate toys and equipment are safe and suitable for children of particular ages. The kitemark symbol is used in the United Kingdom to ensure that products are safe and suitable. According to Author: John Rowlinson 21 December 2012) “when you see a toy or product with a Kitemark this means that the British Standards Institution has independently tested it, has confirmed that the product conforms to the relevant British Standard” “The CE Mark symbol includes the name and address of the first supplier, was required by law to appear on all toys placed on the market in the European Union on and after January 1990.” “The Lion Mark was developed in 1988 by the British Toy & Hobby Association as a symbol of toy safety and quality for the consumer.” “The lion mark for retailers – By displaying this sign the retailer is saying that all products in the shop meet a certain standard of safety. This symbol displayed in the shop, in catalogues and in retailer advertising, indicates that the retailer has agreed to the Code of Practice.”
Practitioners need to consider that the toys they provide for children to play with meet their requirements of their individual age and stage of development. Practitioners should consider when taking donations or buying second hand toys, extra care is needed to ensure that they are safe and meet the current regulations. Avoid toys which are a risk to children choking e.g., toys with small components or parts which detach, avoid toys with sharp points, and edges or finger traps, also check toys have not become dangerously worn.
Safety equipment is used within the early year’s settings to promote the safety and wellbeing of the children. Regular check on all safety equipment should be carried out, and the manufactures instructions should be closely followed. It is considered as good practice to buy new equipment, as it will confirm with the latest safety regulations. Below is a list of the safety equipment commonly found in the early year’s settings:
Stair gates- prevent babies and children from falling down the stairs.
Electric plus covers- prevent children from putting their fingers or objects into sockets.
High chairs- helps young children to sit safely at mealtimes, they will have safety harnesses to keep the child secure.
Window locks- prevent children from falling out, opening or leaving the premises.
Radiator covers- to prevent children from touching the radiators when switched on and burning themselves.
Early years premises should ensure high levels of security around the building to keep children safe at all times. Entrance doors should be kept locked at all times and controlled by staff members to ensure the safety, settings are required to keep a record of visitors, making sure they are signing in an out at all times staff should fully supervise visitors at all times whilst on premises. Children should only be allowed to leave the setting with an authorised individual that has been identified by the child’s parents prior to starting the setting. In my setting where I previously worked we had to ensure that all children in our building are safe and have a secure environment, we had certain security arrangements in place, we had two mechanical doors which can only be opened from the inside of the building and as a security alarm system fitted which sounds whenever the door opens, we also had a policy about getting information from parents who can collect the child, names and pictures were taken prior to the child starting the nursery.
Environments need to be appropriately heated and ventilated to prevent the spread of infection and to ensure a good supply of fresh air to children. Lighting should be appropriate for clear visibility and to enable children to work in comfort.
The organisation of the furniture and activities is important in promoting the safety of the children and providing an enabling environment. When planning the setting of the environment fire exits should be clear of obstacles to enable safe evacuation if necessary, the layout of the environment should be adaptable for children with disabilities, the layout of the furniture and resources should allow sufficient space around the setting for children to move around more easily.
Risks and hazards – risks and hazards are found within all workplaces; within an early years setting there can be risks and hazards for children, staff members and visitors. A hazard is something a child does not see, is something that has the potential to cause harm, whereas a risk is a challenge a child can see, and chooses to undertake it or not, risk is the likely or possible outcome of the hazard. A risk assessment is a legal requirement which is used to identify potential hazards within the environment. Risk assessments are important within the early year’s settings to ensure the safety and welfare of all the individuals in the setting of children. Risk taking is important for children it gives them a chance to take on a personal responsibility when children learn how to take risks; they also learn how to think independently. The role of the practitioner in risk taking is decide what is safe for the children and then to supervise the children in taking the risk. As children become older practitioners can encourage children how to keep themselves safe. Practitioners working with children need to be the ones to control the risk, taking account the individual needs of children.
Babies and young children have basic needs that must be met for them to develop and mature. For children, these essential needs include warm, caring, and responsive adults; a sense of importance and significance; a way to relate to the world around them; opportunities to move and play; and people to help structure and support their learning.
The emotional environment is more than physical space because it contains the emotions of the children who spend time in it, the staff that work there and the parents who leave their children. Maintaining positive feelings is important for children to feel safe in the emotional environment. The emotional environment plays a key role in meeting children’s individual needs. Practitioners within the setting should ensure that the setting is warm, loving, secure and accepting place to be for everyone, not just for children. Practitioners should encourage children to express themselves by giving them chance to talk and by actively listening to them. According to (Martine Horvath Sunday March 03 2013) “When children know that their feelings are accepted, they feel safe.”
The indoor environment will have an immediate effect on children learning and development. The indoor environment should be well equipped with high quality resources; indoor space needs careful planning as it needs to be flexible to accommodate children’s individual needs. Environments should be attractive and make children feel safe and secure and happy to be there. Children learn through play, exploring their environment and beginning to find out about the world around them. Play theorist Bob Hughes identified 16 different types of play. Early years settings need to provide a separate room for babies, but should be given regular contact to see older children to help promote their social and emotional development, as children some older, they require a balance of structured activity as well as the ability to initiate their own play.
The outdoor environment holds equal value to the indoor environment and provides many opportunities for learning and development. Children gain enormous benefits from learning outdoors, ideally they should have access to outdoor space on a daily basis, not all children will gain access to a garden or outer space within their home, and therefore they should be given the opportunity to explore the outdoor environment whilst at their setting. The outdoor can provide development opportunities for children socially intellectually, physically, and emotionally. Being outdoors supports confidence and self-esteem. Outdoor play opportunities will be different depending in the age of the child.

Child development theorist Jean Piaget (1896-1980), believed “Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment” ( by Saul McLeod published 2009, updated 2012)

Conclusion
When it comes to children and young people, both the safety and the stimulating aspects of the environment should be considered at the same time. Every child and young person has the right to a safe environment and children must have the opportunity of growing up and developing in an environment that is as healthy and safe as possible. An enabling environment will support and facilitate learning and development for children. Children within the early years settings are actively encouraged to explore the indoor and outdoor environment equally, conscientious practitioners and key workers will support learning as children freely engage and interact with their surroundings.
Referecences

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Development-Matters.pdf

Greenman, J. (1988). Caring spaces, learning places: Children’s environments that work. Redmond, WA: Exchange Press. Available online:http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=294

By Martine Horvath Sunday March 03 available online: http://eyfs.info/articles/article.php?Enabling-Environments-64

The CAF process updated 26 april 2012 available online: http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/strategy/integratedworking/caf/a0068957/the-caf-process

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/design4health/outputs/d4h_main_home/Intro/Legal/COSHH/coshh.html

OPEN STUDY COLLEGE EARLY YEARS LEVEL 3 STUDY GUIDE NCFE INVESTING IN QUALITY

http://www.practicalpreschoolbooks.com/Content/Site120/FilesSamples/742978190724118_00000000380.pdf

Author: John Rowlinson – Updated: 21 December 2012 Safety Marks: What Do They Mean?

online http://www.safekids.co.uk/toysafetymarks.html

A large majority of the Indian children continue to remain in distress and turmoil. The problem of emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children in India is increasing; child abuse is usually classified into three major types: physical, sexual, emotional. The public and the government also are yet to recognize it as a serious problem. Public indignation and professional concern is yet to be translated into positive and realistic action.

CHILD ABUSE

The major cause of child abuse is adaption or environmental maladjustment mostly on the part of adult perpetrators but some extent on the of adult responsible for family socialization as well. Most child abuse occurs in a child’s home which a smaller amount occurring in the organization, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: Neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, sexual abuse

NEGLECT

Child neglect is where the responsible adult fails to provide adequately for various needs, including physical: failure to provide adequate food, clothing, emotional: failure provide nurturing or affection, educational: failure to enroll a child in school, or medical: failure to medicate the child or take him or her to the doctor.

PHYSICAL ABUSE

Physical abuse is physically aggression directed at child by an adult. It can involve punching, striking, kicking, showing, slapping, burning, pulling ears or hair, stabbing, choking or shaking a child. Shaking child can cause shaken baby syndrome. Boys are more battered than girls, the transmission of toxins to child through its mother (such as with fetal alcohol syndrome) can also be considered physical abuse in some jurisdictions.

SEXUAL ABUSE

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation. Girls are victims of sexual abuse than boys a high proportion of children become victims of sexual abuse when they are fourteen or above 14 years of age. Form of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities, indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, physical contact with the child’s genitals, viewing of the child’s genitalia without physical contact, or using a child to produce child pornography.

Effect of child sexual abuse include guilt and self-blame, flash back, nightmares, fear of things associated with the abuse , self- esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, chronic pain , addiction, self-injury, depression, anxiety

EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Emotional abuse is the hardest to define. It could include name-calling, ridicule, degradation, destruction of personal belongings, torture or destruction of a pet, excessive criticism, inappropriate or excessive demands, withholding communication, and routine labeling or humiliation. A large number of parents who ill-treat their children are those who are aggressive, irritable and domineering in their behavioral characteristics: fickle-minded, inflexible and less tolerant in their emotional characteristics: and have low-esteem, feeling of alienation, and lack of ability empathize in social characteristics.

CHILD LABOUR

Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries Child labourers are exploited, exposed to hazardous work conditions and paid a pittance for their long hours of work. Forced to forego education, shouldering responsibilities far beyond their years, becoming worldly wise when their peers have yet to leave the cocoons of parental protection, these children never know what child hood is.

CHILD WELFARE

Children’s Development is as important as the development of material resources and the best way to develop national human resources is to take care of children. India has the largest child population in the world. All out efforts are being made by India for the development and welfare of children specific concentration is being given to the efforts to improve the life and opportunities of the Girl Child.

Significant progress has been made in many fields in assuring children their basic rights. However, much remains to be done. The country renews its commitment and determination to give the highest priority to the basic needs and rights of all children. Children are most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. A lot more has to be done for the health, nutrition and education of children. It is unfortunate that girls in particular face debilitating discrimination at all stages.

JUVENILE JUSTICE (Care and Protection of Children) Act

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was enacted in discharge of the Constitutional mandate that it is the primary responsibility of the state to ensure that all the needs of children are met and that their basic human rights are fully protected

The Act further provides for the establishment of Juvenile Justice Board to deal with the Juvenile in conflict with law.

The Act further provides for punishment of person who commits an offence against the juvenile. In case a juvenile is assaulted, abandoned, exposed or neglected in any manner so as to cause unnecessary mental or physical suffering, by any person in custody of the juvenile, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term up to six months with or without fine

Child in need of care and protection

Child in need of care and protection means a child who:-

Is found without any home or settled places or abode and without any ostensible means of subsistence,

Is mentally or physically challenged or ill, suffering from primary diseases or incurable diseases having no one to support or look after,

Is a victim of any armed conflict, civil or natural calamity or is being or likely to be abused for unconscionable gains.

The Act further provides for the constitution of the Child Welfare Committees for every district or group of districts for exercising the power and discharging the duties in relation to child in need of care and protection. The committee shall consist of a chairman and four other members, of which one shall be woman and another, an expert on matters concerning children. The committee shall function as a Bench of Magistrates and shall have powers conferred on a judicial Magistrate of the 1st class under the code of Criminal Procedure.

The committee is the final authority to deal with matters of care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of the children so produced.

Legal Right and Provisions to Protect the Rights of Children
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

Article 14: Right to equality-equality before law and equal protection of law

Article 15: No discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, sex or place of birth. Gender discrimination still exists.

Article 21: right to life.

Exploitation of children in any form is curbing their right to life.

Right to education is also considered as a right to life after the 86th amendment in 2002

Article 23: Right against exploitation-prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour.

Article 24: prohibition of employment of children in children in factories, etc-no child below the age of 14 shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or any hazardous employment.

Article 45: Provision for child hood care and education: establishment of anganwadi’s, adolescent clubs are established on this basis.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENANTS ON CHILD RIGHTS

United Nations Convention On rights, 1989(ratified by India in 1992)

Article relevant for protecting children:-

Article 19 makes provision for state parties take protective measures for protecting children from all forms of mental, sexual and physical abuse.

Article 20 & 21 provides for alternative care (adoption, foster care) etc for children.

Article 32 recognizes the need for protection of children from economic exploitation and from performing hazardous work.

Article 33 provides for appropriate measures including legislative administrative social and educational measures to protect children from illicit use of narcotic drugs.

Article 34 urges the state to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse.

TWO OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD:-

Optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Optional protocol on the sale of children, prostitution and pornography.

SAARC Convention on Preventing and combating Trafficking in women and children.
Penal provisions to protect children.

366a IPC – Buying minor children, non bail able offence- 10 years imprisonment.

366B IPC- Importing minors for the purpose of the prostitution.

372- Buying or selling any girl below 18 for the purpose of prostitution.

376- Rape of minor girl below 15

377- Unnatural sexual offence.

354- Outraging the modesty of women.

We don’t have special provisions to protect children from child sexual abuse; we usually make use of these provisions to charge the case against the culprit.

SPECIAL ENACTMENTS TO PROTECT CHILD RIGHT

1. Child labour(prevention and regulation) act 1986.

2. Child Marriage Restraint Act 1978.

3. Immoral traffic prevention act 1956.

4. Pre-natal diagnostic techniques regulation act 1994.

5. Juvenile Justice Act 2000.

CONCLUSION

The political and social problems of Indian children become increased phenomena. The Child problems or child right violations increasing day by day.

There are several written laws to protect their rights, but unfortunately most of them are violated. The state itself is a child right violator. The labour ministry of India has analyzed that it is not easy to prohibit child labour, in such a situation of child right crisis, the government, social agencies, social workers has to go miles through the path of elimination process of social problems of children

In every part of the world, children are particularly vulnerable beings thus they should be in contained of every rights that recognize their need for protection and harboured away from any intentional and unintentional harm. Littlechild (2000) construe ‘child protection’ as children requiring proper protection from their states and agents, because they are not up to power in protecting themselves. It is fundamental children should be nurtured in a safe and healthy environment, benefitting them in all areas of development and future progress. Siraj-Blatchford and Woodhead (2009) shared, a child’s progress and success in life depends primarily on the earliest experiences of a child’s learning. It is the responsibility and duty of care of the stakeholders to safeguard children by creating a positive and responsive environment for them.

O’Donnell and Seymour (2004) analysed issues of children’s disadvantages in unfavourable situations are due to economic factors, poverty, social values, norms and traditions. These adversities put children at stake of education disadvantages and impairment in aspects of physical, intellectual and social-emotional development. These consequently escalate later in life to unemployment, violence, crimes, poor housing, poor health and illness hence shortening lives and poor parenting skills to provide for the younger ones. Davis (2011) identified these conditions persist from childhood to adulthood and transmit across one generation to another. He added that intervention services are needed for these people so as they can better provide and equip themselves with common necessities and break the cycle of poverty. Laming (2009) acknowledged the same to protect children at risk and actions to be taken at soonest. It is necessary for stakeholders with authority to interrupt the chain of negative effects by investing early and intensively in children’s rights and wellbeing.

Outlining UNCRC, Britto (2012) noted it has incorporated fifty-four articles, categorized into three focuses: key principles, humanitarian rights, and means of monitoring the convention. Lundy, McEvoy and Byrne (2011) suggested areas in humanitarian rights which children should be entitled on are education, play, privacy, health and healthcare as well as adequate standard of living and protection from harmful influences. UNCRC establishes on three main fields of children’s rights: protection, provision and participation (Leer, 2009). In Winter (2011), Alderson (2008) exemplified an insight to each field. He addresses on protection (in forms of abuse, harm, exploitation, neglect and violence), provision (of services, support, guidance and information) and participation (whereby children being fully involved in family, cultural and social life). UNCRC aims to help children in meeting necessity basic needs and expanding opportunities that reaches out in developing children’s full potential. In doing so, UNCRC brings a community together in creating a protective environment for their children.

Saffigna et al (2011) noted intricacy in defining every child’s experience of community as all of them differ. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory identifies a child is influenced indirectly and directly by five intersecting systems. These environmental factors can be people, neighbourhood, home, traditions, schools, cultures, laws, services, policies, ministries and relationships. Woodhead (2006) detailed with microsystems being closest to child, everyday settings usually home and school, and relationships with people in there. Mesosystems are interrelationships between microsystems, exosystems refer to strong influences acting indirectly on the child such as local government, welfare services and polices, and last but not least, macrosystems ‘acknowledge the mediating influence of dominant beliefs and values around children’ (Woodhead, 2006). Drawing from there, the UNCRC is logically to be field in the outermost layer of the ecological system theory as Vaghri et al (2011) defined, articles 42-45 of the Convention accedes in assisting state parties to better comprehend, administer and monitor the implementation of UNCRC in their respective countries.

UNCRC influences the composition of society’s image on children, early childhood and the practices. They increase awareness all over the world to provide a fair ‘level playing field’ for protecting children from disadvantages (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009). Article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC, 1989) adjure governments in undertaking ‘all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures’ to ensure children achieves equality, receives protection and the rights to survival and development in all areas. The convention requires governments undertaking all measures to greatest extent pertaining to their available resources complying with UNCRC. For instance pledging children’s rights to the fullest potential of mental and physical health (Fortin, 1999). According to Welbourne (2002) by Shier (2001), it is mandatory that all authority and organizations signatory to the UNCRC ought to be committed in making them part of their laws and to ensure that their practices should be all time consistent and conforming with the standards set on protecting the rights and intended benefit of children. Mekonen (2010) derived state parties’ efforts in meeting the convention’s obligations to children reflect children’s significance on their policy agendas hence is creating a child-friendliness state. This indicates UNCRC’s power to drive on state parties on to take on different views and perspectives in making differences to better quality welfare for best interest of children. That being said, there remain concerns of to what extent does UNCRC protect children and making differences in their lives.

Across to the Committee on Rights of the Child (1989), articles dealing specifically on the protection of children comprises of extensive areas. The focus areas decided upon on are: child labour and education. The programme shares how UNCRC was beneficial to the children who fall through the cracks in Paraguay.

Article 32 of the CRC commits state parties in protecting children from economic exploitation and labour that is prone to hazardous or interference to children’s education and overall development. Children who are actuated to labour are derived of opportunities, development and childhood (Dukess, 2006). Poverty is a potential cause that drives children to labour (UNICEF,2012). To break the cycle, it is to ensure children get access to attend school and receive a quality education.

In Paraguay, UNICEF (2007) analysed that in 2001, there were 1 in every 5 children who were economically active, some beginning at an early age and those working daily shown poorer academic results. Searching for attempts to eradicate child labour in these communities, the government initiated Abrazo Programme in 2005 based on the methodology developed by UNICEF (UNICEF, 2010). ESC (2010) briefed Abrazo Programme as a blanket that provides care and attention, such as healthcare access, education support and other benefits for children and their families. It is inclusive of financial support via conditional cash transfers. This policy instrument renders cash transfers directly to households, however as programme’s requirement, parents are expected to send their children to school in return (Fors, 2012).

Being part of the Abrazo Programme, Cabrera (2010) noted that presences of community centres in the neighbourhoods are safe havens for children. Providing them with education reinforcements, playgrounds, lunch and social assistances. Children have access to education and are provided with one healthy meal per day. The Social Welfare Institute contributes food supplies, benefitting children with necessary nutrition yet also creating jobs for mothers preparing meals. Children from other schools are welcomed to the centre after their classes, thus cases of children facing abuse and exploitation on the streets becomes less likely.

Though education is an significant factor in terms of enriching children’s life-long skills to future engagement (Mekonen, 2010), qualities of education centres are vital tools to children’s learning, containing: teachers, lessons, resources and materials. Rivkin, Hanushek and Kain (2005) highlighted that teachers’ effectiveness determines school’s quality. To hire and retain teachers, the Houston Independent School District (2008) established the Abrazo New Teacher Induction Program providing grade-level trainings and mentoring for beginning teachers with the veterans. Expanding the concept, they work together towards a new scheme compromising of professional development trainings for all teachers. Though workshop opportunities and community support groups for upgrading, equipping teachers with better knowledge and practices in classrooms. The program ensures teachers’ learning and teaching in constant betterment in order to provide productively for children. Teachers are necessities for schools’ functioning, hence the importance on their quality. Dale (2004) analysed to acquire phenomenal transformation experiences; these outcomes have to go through commendable interagency bundles with assessment and proficient professionals.

Paraguay raises profiles of children’s rights significantly with support and guidance of UNCRC. As poverty is a major challenge to child vulnerability, the Abrazo program was formed intended to reduce poverty in the long run to improve lives of children. Although it benefitted Paraguayans, there is lack of accurate statistics that track progress on child labour. Explained by Joleby and Konstadinidis (2008) the difficulty faced while collating findings was some children were never registered in Paraguay’s records, whereas UNICEF only provided general look with no specific data.

To evaluate phenomenon of UNCRC, Mekonen (2010) discerned it is measured by the state parties’ effort of inputs that they channelled for the benefit of children and outcomes they achieve. It is more helpful if stakeholders within states are in conjunction with the UNCRC and play by the laws and policies in attaining child’s well-being. Noted by Axford (2008), anything that ‘contributes to the development and sustenance’ of child’s well-being and growth plays a role: these involve the whole Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System. Despite commitment of multisectoral strategies and plans of actions, approaches to protect and up bring a child is to broad extent depending on the caregivers in the microsystem as they have closest interaction with the child. The caregivers’ behaviour, imparted knowledge, traditions and cultures affect their practices with children. Hence, O’Donnell and Seymour (2004) determined that it is substantial for frontline staffs to be equipped with the skills in recognizing and knowing how to respond to children in need. The UNCRC acts as a push factor for people to have more awareness on the importance of early childhood and encourages stakeholders to invest in early childhood sector. As discussed before, investing in early childhood breaks poverty in distant future. Children are more competent of success in life through good health and nutrition, and quality education programmes with appropriate stimulation and interaction with others (The World Bank, 2011). The UNCRC advocates encouragement and support for countries to invest in the future workforce thriving the lives of children generation after generation as a society.