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- Title
The Role of Attachment between Newcomer Child and Teacher: Facilitating School Adjustment in an Unfamiliar Setting.
- Authors
Kyung Eun Jahng
- Abstract
This article examines how the child-teacher relationship, as an attachment relationship, affects a newcomer child's learning in a classroom for the child aged two and older. This relationship with a teacher is seldom considered from the attachment perspective. The discussion uses the cardinal tenets (e.g. an attachment figure's role of a secure base, attachment systems being activated under the conditions of distress and so forth) of Bowlby's attachment theory (1982). The author includes: (a) a child-teacher relationship as an attachment relationship; (b) the teacher as attachment figure, playing the role of a secure base for the child in a classroom; (c) pathways to foster a secure, trusting child-teacher relationship; and (d) child-teacher attachment relationship issues pertaining to newcomer children and their school adjustment. Using anecdotes derived from observations, the author discusses how attachment theory applied to this child-teacher relationship illuminates the important role of teacher as a secure base for newcomer children in the classroom. This article provides pedagogical strategies with an emphasis on the creation of inclusive classroom environments, consistent home-school liaison, open communication between teacher and child, and teacher's emotional support such as responsiveness and sensitivity.
- Subjects
ATTACHMENT behavior in children; TEACHER-student relationships; PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation in children; INCLUSIVE education; CLASSROOM environment
- Publication
Canadian Children, 2009, Vol 34, Issue 2, p31
- ISSN
0833-7519
- Publication type
Article