Personal Statement:Early Childhood Studies 1

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Early Childhood Studies Personal Statement

Jesuit says ‘Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man’

Of all the work experience I have done there is one particular experience that has stuck with me. While spending seven weeks at a local pre-school I met a young boy who didn't interact with anyone, none of the children or the staff. I was asked if I could spend some extra time with him. Over the course of the seven weeks, I managed to draw him away from the cars that he was so fond of playing with, and encouraged him to do his first drawing, which then led to his first painting. This was my biggest achievement and one that gave me immense satisfaction.

This experience made me question a child’s development; how do they draw? What do they draw? Can we tell anything about a child's life from their drawings? How do children perceive the world around them at various ages? Are there aspects of our modern world that affect young children’s development? Such questions fascinate me and the more I study them, and the more complex I realise a child's development is.

From reading the work of Victor Lowenfield and Betty Edwards my first question can start to be addressed. They believe that you can tell a child’s level of development by the way that they draw. The one stage that really caught my eye was at three years which is known as the ‘the pre-schematic stage’ they are beginning to form people. I think this has a lot to do with who they socialise with, as children are always surrounded by people and are rarely left on their own. They draw what they know and at this age all they really know is people. Young children are social beings; they develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially, increasingly in socialising and becoming less solipsistic.

I have enjoyed my range of A-level subjects. I currently study health and social care, which relates well to an early childhood studies course. It has allowed me to study a unit in early childhood development where I learnt about factors that affect a child’s development, as well as a topic about caring for the elderly. The Communication topic has allowed me to study the different ways that people communicate and how some people struggle with communicating effectively. I feel that this has given me a general idea of the care required for people of all ages.

As well as health and social care, I’ve studied psychology, where I have particularly liked the units on attachment and certain behaviours and where they come from. This has given me a good understanding of how important early childhood experiences are on our adult personalities and emotional and psychological wellbeing.

I feel that I am an organised person and although I like to have fun, I can be serious when it comes to completing work and meeting deadlines.

In the future I aim to work with children with disabilities as this is where I am most interested; I look forward to studying a course that will provide me with the opportunity to do this and give me the opportunity to the progress to a really fulfilling career.

Universities Applied to:

• Portsmouth (Early Childhood Studies)

Grades Achieved:

• Unknown

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