ABOUT PANCO

Rapid brain development takes place in the early stage of life. Neuroscience suggests that about 80% of brain development occurs in the first five years. This phenomenon takes place rapidly but in different forms and ways. For this, an appropriate course of stimulating, activating, and responding to their behaviours by parents or others is vital. Many children spend most of their active time in non-parental care, mostly in ECEC services. This intensifies the role early childhood professionals play in a child's life. 

 

Early Childhood professionals working in ECEC services establish certain expectations for the pragmatic functionality of the class. Some children experience trouble meeting these expectations for various reasons. As a result, they exhibit different or adverse behaviours, which are generally considered challenging. Statistically, more than 15% of children aged 0-5 exhibit challenging behaviour, which tends to be greater in low socio-economic and vulnerable communities.

 

Children's inappropriate behaviours are one of the four most prominent challenges and extensive areas to work on by early childhood professionals directly working with children. However, fresh graduates need more preparation to address this, and some veterans also need help to address it appropriately. Research shows that the challenging behaviour of children plays a significant role in teachers experiencing a lack of accomplishment at work, emotional exhaustion, and burnout, leading to the intention to leave the service or even sector. 

 

Children exhibiting challenging behaviour is not only a problem for ECEC professionals. It is also problematic for the child and the other children in the service. The child gets a negative and sometimes punitive response or is excluded from the activities. This limits the current and future learning and development of the child. A teacher trying to address these behaviours cannot run the planned program as expected and spends more time and effort on THE child. Consequently, other children in the class also suffer. To prevent this situation, addressing unexpected behaviour is important.

 

Children's behaviour needs to be addressed individually because of the nature, underlying source and intensity of the behaviour and the children's unique personalities. A child should be included in regular activities to support current learning and future development. Therefore, there is no alternative to addressing children's behaviour. While addressing these behaviours, strength-based approaches are proven more effective in comparison. Furthermore, involving parents and children in the design and implementation of the intervention strategy, consistency in practice, reflecting, and re-planning after implementation help to maximize the effectiveness. 

 

 Working with ECEC professionals to maximize the learning outcomes by responding to children's behaviour in an appropriate manner is the main motto of PANCO.