Understanding Child Development
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Understanding Child Development

Updated Aug 21, 2019

Course Overview

The aim of this course is to give learners an awareness of child development and the opportunity to begin to think about how an understanding of how children and young people develop impacts on practice.

Gain knowledge of the theories from key figures including Maslow, Piaget, Levin, Vygotsky and Erikson.


Target Audience

This course is intended for all children’s workforce practitioners, i.e. all staff who work with children, young people and their families.

Although this course forms part of an induction programme for new starters, it is also intended for all practitioners who want to improve their knowledge and continue their professional development.


Learning Objectives

Once you’ve completed this course, you’ll have a knowledge of:

  • The benefits of studying the development of the child or young person
  • The key questions in child development
  • The basics around how babies and children form attachments
  • How attachments can affect boundary formation and the social, emotional and behavioural development of children and young people
  • Maslow’s hierarchy of human need
  • Levin’s theory of child development
  • Piaget’s cognitive development theory
  • Vygotsky’s social learning theory
  • Erikson’s theory of psycho-social development