3.1 Introduction
3.2.5 Chronosystem
Bronfenbrenner (1994, p. 40) states that:
A chronosystem encompass change of consistency over time not only in the characteristics of the person, but also of the environment in which that person lives (e.g. changes over the life course in family structure, socioeconomic status, employment, place of residence, or the degree of hecticness and ability in everyday life).
According to Swart and Pettipher (2011) the chronosystem summarises the length of time and how it relates to the interactions between micro-, meso-, exo- and macrosystems, and their influences on the growth and development of a child. An example of this would be the apartheid system and how its history has impacted on many children in many different ways in South Africa (Swart & Pettipher, 2011).
71 Bronfenbrenner’s model provides a good theoretical framework to analyse the influence of the environment on a developing child (Hook, 2009). The model seeks to explain the development of humans by taking into consideration the existing various levels of systems which are in the environment (Smith, 2002). Figure 3.1 illustrates the social ecological model. It shows the systems and the way they interact and influence the growth and development of a child.
Figure 3.1 Bronfenbrenner’s Social Ecological Model
Health Politics
Local healthcare Social services
Family friends Education
Workassociates
Neighbours
Other parents
Extended family Mesosystem
Economics
Source: Adapted from (Swart & Pettipher, 2011, p. 13)
Microsystem Microsystem
Child Microsystem Macrosystem Exosystem
Local community
Society
Social values
Chronosystem
72 3.3 Critical Reflections on the Bronfenbrenner Model
Sudbery (2010) asserts that practitioners and researchers using many different approaches have no difficulty using the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. The model is user-friendly and its systems directly apply to experiences that children encounter in their different environments. The model significantly influences the way in which children interact, use language and grow in different contextualised ways (Newbury, 2011).
Tomovska (2010) contends that the model is useful in trying to understand how children from poor families may negotiate their educational endeavours to attain resources. Sheafor, Horejsi and Horejsi (2000) argued that the ecosystem’s perspective is a conceptual lens that adds to understanding of the various ways children may adapt to a changing environment in order to cope, survive and compete for resources in schools. The model illuminates children’s barriers to learning and it is inclusive in nature. Swart and Pettipher (2011) contend that Bronfenbrenner’s model is inclusive in the sense that it provides a framework for the interaction of parents and teachers about children’s education. Despite strengths of Bronfenbrenner’s model, it has some notable criticisms.
According to Hook (2009) the social ecological model can be criticised because it may be difficult to apply and to measure. It is difficult to measure whether children can indeed be affected by the mesosystem or exosystem in a way that Bronfenbrenner says they will. It is also difficult to determine the applicability and measurability of the extent in which a child may be affected by his parents’ social areas (Hook, 2009). Sudbery (2010) argues that although the model outlines the grand schema, it has not told us anything about the strength of micro versus meso influences, of parental influence in comparison with peer influence, and neighbours in comparison with the school. In other words, the model is criticised for not adequately explaining the extent in which the mesosystem affects children’s development. It is not very clear how mesosystems interact in children’s growth and development.
73 3.4 Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model and Refugee Learner Experiences
Bryant and Ahearn (1999, p. 85) said: “Bronfenbrenner's work on the understanding of a child's development within the context of family, neighbourhood, and community has potential applicability to the study of refugee children”. According to Serdarevic and Chronister (2005, p.
25) Bronfenbrenner’s social ecological framework can be applied to the study of refugees and other immigrants because it provides:
i) A visual representation of how different individual and contextual variables are related to immigrants’ development;
ii) A framework for examining multiple individual and contextual factors affecting immigrants’ acculturative adjustment and mental health; and
iii) The impact of larger social contexts on individual immigrants and vice versa. The impact of immigrants on larger contexts, include their families, communities and the host
society.
The model can reveal how refugee children are influenced by different systems during their migration process. Anderson (2004a) states that the development of the refugee child is influenced by the ever-changing ecologies that surround and interact with the child. For the refugee child, the potential for major changes in the nature of, as well as the presence or absence of systemic influences within the ecologies can occur due to pre-migration, trans-migration and post-migration factors (Anderson, 2004a).
According to Pinson and Arnot (2007) Bronfenbrenner’s model is suitable for establishing good practice and interventions which are very essential to refugee children in order to rebuild their social support systems. The approach can be used to develop a comprehensive understanding of a refugee child’s experiences and how to address the needs of every child in school. Pinson and Arnot (2007) contend that the social ecological approach can assist in the understanding of complex relations of refugee experiences, education and environment.
74 It is imperative to study refugee learners’ experiences by examining their context and environment when they are in their home countries, during flight and when they settle in a host country. Bronfenbrenner’s model provides a platform in which one can examine the psychological consequences of displacement and trauma which many refugee children encounter during the migration period (Bryant & Ahearn, 1999).
Drumm, Pittman and Perry (2004) claimed that in addition to the traumatic experiences faced by refugee children, understanding their surroundings is crucial in determining their outcomes.
Thus, the need for a model which considers refugee learners’ environment. The social ecological model is directly related to refugee learners’ experiences because it considers a person’s development from the environmental and contextual points of view (McBrien, 2011).
The model “provides a useful conceptual framework for considering the needs of refugee children as it allows us to consider the impact of personal and environmental factors on the development of refugee children” (Anderson et al., 2004, p. 4). It enables readers to have a comprehensive understanding of the growth and development of refugee children as well as what happens in the environment that surrounds them. The model conceptualises development as a social interaction that occurs in a person’s life and helps him/her to adapt to changing environments (Anderson et al., 2004). Refugee children need to abruptly adapt to the changes that occur in the environment. This is different from other people whose adaptation to a new environment would be gradual (Anderson et al., 2004). Thus, understanding refugee children’s environmental processes enables researchers to comprehend their adaptation capacities to a new place.
Hamilton and Moore (2004) proclaimed that through the use of the ecological model as the theoretical framework, one is able to understand the significant role played by families, schools and other helping services in the adaptation of refugee children to their new host country as well as to monitor their educational progress. The model can help conceptualize different factors that may lead to the successful or unsuccessful adaptation of refugee children in a particular setting (Hamilton & Moore, 2004).
75 Harney (2007) asserts that an ecological perspective provides a framework that helps in the understanding of complex ways of macro-and-micro level contexts which shape the psychological processes which improve or hinder refugee experiences. Refugee children’s experiences may be imbedded with cultural shock when they find it hard to acculturate in a new society (Harney, 2007). Children may face discrimination from people that they interact with in all systems.
McBrien (2011) asserts that refugee children can experience discrimination at many levels of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model: from one’s immediate contacts (microsystem), from networks of microsystems, such as schools (mesosystem); and from one’s experience with the community (exosystem) and society at large (macrosystem). Refugee children encounter discrimination at school, with peers, in the community and society at large (Marar, 2011). The ecological approach allows researchers to look at refugee learners’ experiences through its lens and get a better understanding of how the different overlapping and interacting systems influence the refugee child’s development (Anderson et al., 2004).