UES Model : Understanding the child at school and home

Education discussed without keeping the child in mind will be of limited use. The child is at the centre of educational process and thus s/he should be the centre of discussion when talking about educational reforms too. However, quite often we will find lot of educationalists, teachers, reformists talking a great deal about education without really focusing much on the child. They will change curriculum, improve processes, reduce fee, increase schools and do all sort of things (often with very good intentions) but ignore the child. While all this is going to affect the child and it can be argued that all these things are “for the child”, but “for the child” is quite different from “of the child” and “with the child”.

In this post, I am proposing my understanding of the child as a model. Now, I am not an expert on the subject or a child psychologist. What this model contains is my observations and my experience. I’ll keep my description short and if you’ve any questions or criticism – do write to me.

UES Model

U stands for Understanding, E for emotions and S for Stimulus and it tries to understand the actions of a child at home or at school. Once we have a good understanding of “why the child is doing something”, we are in better position to intervene in order to help the child.

[caption id="attachment_438" align="aligncenter" width="502"] UES Model - Understanding the Child[/caption]

A word of caution, like majority of the work on child behaviour – this should not be used “control” the child inspite of our temptations. It should rather be seen as a tool to understand child better in order to improve our responses to her/him. Here is a brief explanation of the model as shown in the diagram above :-

• A child’s (perhaps event adult’s) actions are influenced by 3 key components – her current understanding, his present emotional state and available stimulus in the environment.


• In order to effect the actions of child, we can intervene at any of the 3 points.


• Understanding has a lot of influence of past, requires more time to change.


• Change in stimulus can show change in actions immediately but this change is usually temporary


• Emotions will fall between two. They take longer time to intervene than stimulus but less than changing understanding


• As a teacher or parent, we must understand which intervention will be best suited for any particular time, with the child’s welfare in mind


• Changing understanding is usually the most effective and helpful way for the child, but it requires time and planning

Example

Lets take an example. A child is disturbing other children by hitting them or teasing them in a classroom and a teacher wishes to alter this action in order to continue the class.  

Ancient punishment or reward method is detrimental in most cases. Thus, the teacher must try to understand all three sides of the action and find answers to following questions by talking to the child, other teachers, classmates or parents :-

1.)  U - What is his understanding of hitting others? Does he believe that it is fun, it is allowed to do so; is it a display of power, a way to get pleasure? Does he watch lot of action movies?

2.)  E -What is the emotional situation of the child? How does he live at home? Does he see his parents fighting? Does he himself gets beaten up?

3.)   S – What are the stimuli in the classroom? Do other children tease him or reject him from the group? Does he have any interest in the subject and they way it is being taught? Did he get beaten up by someone recently? Do his friends also beat and tease others?

Applying the model

Once we have looked at 3 key sides of the actions, we will have a deeper understanding of the child and his actions. For e.g. if we can have answers to all the questions above, we can decide what needs to be done to alter his actions. Thus, we will better positioned to intervene in order to help the child. This model requires probing but goes a long way and is very effective. As parents and teachers we must put energy and time in order to understand the child better. We must be very careful of our prejudices and biases. Personally, my efforts in understanding the child has not only help me improve my interactions and relationships with my students but has also made me better human being.