Childhood development and career development in eight year-old South African girls
- Authors: Van der Westhuyzen, Nicole Tamsin
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Childhood development , Career development , Griffiths scales of mental development , Early childhood education -- Vocational guidance -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012969
- Description: Although it is generally acknowledged that critical career-related concepts and attitudes are first formed in childhood, research has focused little attention on this developmental stage. Statements about children‘s career development as an integral dimension of human development date to the early 1950s, yet limited research has investigated this interrelationship. It is imperative to gain a greater understanding of childhood career development in order to better prepare children for their future. The overall purpose of this study is to explore the interrelationship of childhood development and childhood career development. An exploratory-descriptive quantitative research method was used. Thirty participants (all eight year-old girls from a middle class, English speaking background) were selected through non-probability purposive sampling. Data were gathered from the Griffiths Mental Development Scales – Extended Revised (GMDS-ER) and the Childhood Career Development Scale (CCDS) and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated a correlation, although not statistically significant, between childhood development and childhood career development, thus indicating a weak positive correlation between the two variables. Statistically significant relationships were established between certain subscales of the GMDS-ER and CCDS, namely Language and Exploration, Eye-Hand Co-ordination and Key Figures, and Practical Reasoning and Planning. The results from this study, although not conclusive, are groundbreaking in this neglected area of research as they indicate an interrelationship between childhood development and childhood career development. This research is an initial step in investigating this interrelationship and it is the hope of the researcher that it will stimulate further research in this area.
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- Date Issued: 2011
A revision of a section of the hearing and speech scale of the Griffiths Scales of Mental Development
- Authors: Kotras, Nicole
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Griffiths scales of mental development , Psychological tests for children
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11022 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/350 , Griffiths scales of mental development , Psychological tests for children
- Description: Since the introduction of the Griffiths Scales of Mental Development (Griffiths Scales) in the United Kingdom (1950) and South Africa (1977) they have become widely used and researched, both at a national and international level. Studies completed in South Africa have demonstrated the invaluable role the Griffiths Scales have fulfilled in the assessment of South African children of all cultural and socio-economic groups. However, research has indicated a need for the revision of the scales specifically relating to social and cultural factors that influence performance. The aim of this study was two-fold , namely: (i) to revise the 20 small pictures and the large picture of the Hearing and Speech Scale of the Griffiths Scales, making them more culturally relevant for the children of our contemporary world, and especially in South Africa; and (ii) to describe the performance of South African children, between 60 and 83 months of age, utilizing the revised pictures. For the qualitative component of the study a questionnaire pertaining to the small and large “Experimental pictures” was completed by the participants. The participants consisted of the executive committee members of the ARICD in the United Kingdom. Additionally 17 “expert “ Griffith's users and “lay-experts” working in early childhood development throughout South Africa, were included. Their responses were content analyzed and incorporated into the Experimental pictures. This resulted in the development of the Revised Griffiths pictures. The quantitative component of the study utilized two sample pools. Sample 1 (n=204) and Sample 2 (n=180) were comprised of pre-school children aged between 60 and 83 months. Sample 1 was utilized for the 20 small revised pictures and the large revised SA picture, while sample 2 was utilized for the 20 small revised pictures and the large revised United Kingdom/ European/Australian picture. Furthermore, both samples, consisted of children from all cultural, socio-economic, language, and gender groups. x The major findings of the present study were as follows: 1. Referring to sample 1, only the White and Indian pre-schoolers correctly identified a mean number of small pictures above that which was proposed by Griffiths (1960). The Coloured pre-schoolers almost identified Griffiths (1960) proposed number. 2. Referring to sample 2, all excepting the Black pre-schoolers correctly identified Griffiths’ (1960) proposed mean of small pictures. 3. All children from sample 1 and sample 2 were able to identify more stimuli from the large revised pictures, than was proposed by Griffiths (1960). 4. All four cultural groups from samples 1 and 2, elicited a mean number of descriptive words below Griffiths’ (1960) proposed criteria. 5. White pre-schoolers from sample 1 elicited a mean number of descriptive sentences above Griffiths’ (1960) proposed criteria. 6. White and Coloured pre-schoolers from sample 2 elicited a mean number of descriptive sentences above Griffiths’ (1960) proposed criteria. 7. All four cultural groups from sample 1 and sample 2, elicited a mean number of personal or possessive pronouns below Griffith's (1960) proposed criteria. 8. A general trend noted for the four cultural groups of both samples, was that the percentage of children who passed successive age-appropriate items, did not decrease stepwise as would be expected from the placement of items in order of difficulty. In view of the latter finding, it is recommended that for South African children the placement of the items for the small and large pictures of the Hearing and Speech Scale should be revised in terms of their order of difficulty. It is furthermore recommended that separate norms for South African children be established for the Hearing and Speech Scale
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