ASSIGNMENT WEEK 2 Impact on a childs self-confidence and how differentiating on

teaching can improve a childs self-esteem

By Antje Mueller

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 3: Learners and Learning

Associate Professor George Oduro, Professor John MacBeath
Commonwealth Education Trust

28.05.2014





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Cultural impact on childrens self-esteem
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is discussed more and more over the last years. It
focuses upon social competencies especially self-confidence and relationship skills which are
very important to cope with challenges in daily life but can also impact massively success in
school and other academic skills specially for children. (Collins, 2014) A lot can be found in
psychological literature about this topic but there is no clear definition of self-esteem.
Lawrence describes it as follows; self-esteem is built of a comparison of self-image and the
ideal-self. (Lawrence, 1988)
Whereas self-confidence is how you feel about your abilities, self-esteem refers to how you
feel about yourself overall. Your self-esteem develops over time from experiences and
situations that shaped how you view yourself today. (Oduro, 2014)
A healthy self-confidence helps children to challenge themselves, take risk in certain
situation, put themselves first or act as a leader to achieve an outcome.
In my home country Germany for example children are taught to speak up, ask
questions and include themselves in discussions from small on. They are used to act and
respond for themselves as opposed to let others do the decisions. (Oduro, 2014)
In Germany already small children are given the opportunity for free deployment through
free play in spacious areas and through working in groups. Children are asked to interact with
others but not forced to. Children learn very early to tolerate other individual decisions and
ideas.
Over the last years I was able to observe childrens development in kindergarten and
University level in Asia. People express themselves in a very different way which might be
closely related to the cultural tradition based on Buddhism. This also means that conflicts,
confrontations as well as arguing in public that could lead into the so called losing-face-
situations are avoided whenever possible. Broadly that means avoiding actions that might
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perceived impolite by others. In school that shows in children and students by hardly ever
starting academic discussions or proposing own ideas to the teacher. In general children are
asked to act calm and quiet. They are rather listener than speakers and mainly inactive. Even
though I really appreciate the value of kindness I believe that interchanging ideas has a
positive effect on developing a healthy self-confidence. Over time I have also observed a
slight change in those fields especially in international institutions, where Asian students start
to speak up and to attend international competition to prove their skills and knowledge.
Working in an international pre-school now and having taught in an Asian University
gives me an insight on how differently Asian students and bilingual children perceive their
environment and themselves. For me it is a great opportunity that bilingual children in
kindergarten are exposed to international competencies and knowledge influenced by other
countries. It gives them an opportunity to decide whats best for them and what to take into
their own future. Having said this it seems that culture has somewhat an impact on self-
confidence of children.
But then again literature also talks about a global self-esteem which includes all
dimension of an individuals talents, capabilities, accomplishments and personality. The
global self-esteem contains of different areas such as an academic self-esteem, social self-
esteem and a physical self-esteem. Even though cultural values may influence how global
self-esteem is perceived, in the long perspective race, social class and gender seem to have
little effect on global self-esteem. (Young, Hoffmann, 2004)
How can teachers support developing a healthy self-confidence?
There are various tasks a teacher can do to support the increment of childrens self-
confidence during normal class activities.
I would like to share some opportunities that I have discovered in different literatures that I
will use for my teaching and that I found the most attractive methods.
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Figure 1: Own graphic, 7 Strategies to improve self-esteem, 2014

All of the above are strategies which can be implemented into the daily routine in the
classroom and support the development of a health self-awareness of children.
Give your children an environment that is warm, welcoming and safe. Tell them when
they do something wrong in order to give them a change for improvement but also stress on
praise which can be very powerful especially for children with a low self-esteem. Present
yourself as a good role-model. Even if you think children might not see it; they have their
eyes everywhere.
We have a show & tell session once a week in my class, where kids bring a theme
related item to school and talk about it in front of their friends. That doesnt only improve
their language and listening skills but also makes them confident and strong by presenting
their ideas and thoughts. Group work is a great opportunity to share responsibilities and ideas.
Children will feel proud of their achievements and own results. Activities in groups may lead
to the children to experience a positive feedback from peers and can support reassessing a
poorly perceived self-image. (Lawrence, 1996)
Create a
Positive and
Caring
Environment

Modelling
Encourage
and Facilitate
Socialization Genuine
Praise

Encourage
Leadership
Opportunities

Utilize School
District/
Community
Resources


Let Children
Make Choices

Healthy
Self-Esteem
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It is a challenging task of the educator while implementing a culturally diverse classroom to
sensibly add a multicultural perspective into classroom management skills (Oduro, 2014),
however it will let your children and their self-esteem grow and experience a bigger and
richer world to live in.
Celebrating cultures and live multiculturalism in school gives an opportunity for children to
be proud of their culture but also creates a multinational union in school. Already in a small
age children learn how to respect and tolerate people from other countries, that also include
tearing down boundaries and judgments and appreciate individuality. Children learn to share
experiences of their personal background and recognize the worth of their own traditions and
customs. They need to know that they are cared for and valued to make them strong and
confident.









Figure 2: Krishnan, E., Rebuilding self-esteem, 2007




Low Self-Esteem High Self-Esteem
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REFERENCES:
Collins, D., (2014) 7 Strategies to Increase Self-Esteem in Children,
http://www.edubabbling.com/7-strategies-to-increase-self-esteem-in-children/
Krishnan, E., (2007) Rebuilding self-esteem, Unlocking children's capacity lies in allowing
them to develop self-worth without too much parental meddling, Bangkok Post
Oduro, G., (2014) Foundations of Teaching for Learning 3, Week 1&2, Lecture 4&1,
Commonwealth Education Trust, Coursera.org website

Pendlington, S., (2004) Low Self-esteem: Its effect on low achievers learners, University of
Bristol

Young, E., Hoffmann, L., (2004) Self-esteem in children: Strategies for parents and
educators, Brigham Young University