Attachment

Participation in Relationships that Promote Learning

In discussing early relationships, it is important to begin with an overview of key concepts of attachment theory, as applicable to educational contexts. First, for [Page 74]the purpose of research, attachment relationships are classified into distinct categories based either on a laboratory separation-reunion paradigm (Strange Situation Procedure) or observation of the child and a caregiver in naturalistic context (the Attachment Q-Set), both with strictly defined scoring systems. Broadly, attachment is viewed as secure when the child responds with warmth and trust to a particular caregiver. Attachment is viewed as insecure when the child responds to a care-giver in either cool/avoidant or overly dependent/ clingy ways. Because attachment relationships are considered to be unique to each child–caregiver dyad, children are thought to have the possibility for secure relationships with the different adults in their lives, particularly during infancy but also into the school years as children meet new teachers and have the possibility to enjoy trusting relationships with them, even if they did not arrive at early care or education settings with that trust in a prior caregiver. Thus, while parent–child relationships are considered to be most salient for a child's development, a child can have unique attachment relationships with different adults and, thus, unique relationships with each teacher. The security of these relationships may be different from the child's relationship with his or her parents.

For the most part, however, children have relationships with others that are similar to the relationships with their principal attachment figures at home, mainly because children form ‘internal working models’ about relationships based on these early experiences. According to this important attachment concept, individuals use a frame of reference from which to view new experiences. Related to learning and, in particular, the academic environment, an individual's internal working models will affect the way new information and experiences are filtered, the responses an individual evokes from others, and the niches they develop for future experiences. Thus, a child enjoying a secure relationship with the mother is seen as more likely to establish secure and nonconflictual relationships with teachers. Similarly, a child enjoying a secure relationship with the mother is seen as more likely to establish secure and nondependent relationships with teachers. Thus, internal working models are thought to create templates for the quality of future relationships with other attachment figures. Although infants, school-age children, and adolescents may evoke relationships that are similar to what they have experienced, early care professionals and educators can respond to insecure children in ways that they are not accustomed to, thereby providing the opportunity for insecure children to experience secure relationships, perhaps for the first time.

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