Historical Childhood Influences Through the Lens of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Over the last 20 to 50 years, Australian children have experienced major changes because of changes in society, technology, families, and world awareness. It is pointed out in the Early Years Learning Framework that children today experience a digital world. Many devices allow them to communicate online. By using digital tools, children can learn, get involved, feel good, and interact socially (AGDE, 2022). While the engagement is enhanced today due to digital access, in the past, children used to depend on more personal and face-to-face interactions that built their social and emotional resilience. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, these changes can be examined. As Bronfenbrenner believed that many different environmental systems play a big role in children’s development, and highlights the role of proximal processes, which can be defined as interactions between people and their environment, continuing over time, that are the major causes of human development. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems include five major systems, which are microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem, which define the different environmental levels that can affect development (Rus et al., 2020).

Within the microsystem framework, students are involved in networks of people, roles, actions and places. Talking with peers, teachers, and parents directly helps students feel more included and get more motivated at school. The microsystem consists of the nearby environments in which these key interactions take place (El Zaatari & Maalouf, 2022). Spending a lot of time watching TV or using tablets can reduce a child’s cognitive, language, social, and emotional growth. While watching TV, playing on screens, or using the computer may assist learning, having too much screen time may cause children to interact with caregivers less, result in poorer academic results, and develop more sleep and mental health difficulties (Muppalla et al., 2023). In contrast, the children in old times used to play more outdoor games and had direct family conversations, which supported their physical development as well as social and communication skills

The mesosystem, which brings interactions between microsystems like family and educators, is now advanced to help promote children's growth and create more support (Rus et al., 2020). Competing demands in the work lives make it hard for some parents today to get involved with their children’s education. However, contemporary educators work to develop close relationships with families so they can better look after children as a team and help support the children's development (AGDE, 2022).

At the exosystem level, external influences like government policy and contacts between family social networks and parental workplace can influence how the individual develops. For example, when internationally competitive outcomes are focused by national education systems, policies at the school exosystem often lead educators to emphasize exam-oriented approaches which affect teaching strategies, student evaluations and sense of belonging at school (El Zaatari & Maalouf, 2022).

As a result of cultural norms and social beliefs in the macrosystem, childhood is now seen more as a time for action and asserting children’s rights. In earlier times, children were usually seen as just receiving what adults taught them. The Early Years Learning Framework (AGDE, 2022) confirms that children are now considered active citizens who have rights and can take action. Childhood development is now seen through the ideas of Belonging, Being, and Becoming, recognizing the diversity of cultures, social as well as familial experiences, which help in the development and shaping of identity.

In addition, the chronosystem covers changes or constant factors from the past or from the future. As an example, the COVID-19 pandemic had a big influence on the chronosystem and has affected child development in each of the five Bronfenbrenner levels. The problems caused by changes in time, such as the pandemic, have made young children more susceptible to anxiety and stress from a lack of social interaction (Stienwandt et al., 2022).