Topic 2 Bronfenbrenner’s hierarchy

Hierarchy on how the relations between the child and the world happen

Microsystem (nuclear relationships)

  • It concerns the closest people and institutions

  • “The infant at first becomes conscious only of events in his immediate surroundings […]. Within this proximal domain, the focus of attention and of developing activity tends initially to be limited even more narrowly to events, persons, and objects that directly impinge on the infant” (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 9-10).

Exosystem (community)

  • Places and people outside the household but with direct contact with the infant

  • Friends of the family, neighbours, extended family, media, among others

Concluding thoughts

It is without much effort that we all understand that the environment in which the child is brought up will contribute to his/her development: “Stated simply, young children learn best in an interactive, relational mode rather than through an education model that focuses on rote instruction”
(NSCDC, 2004, p. 5)