Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Three stages can be identified in the mental growth of school going children.
Generally, the school going age is considered to be five years. The stages
are:
a. Primary Childhood
The following characteristics can be observed in children of this age
group. They expect to be loved all the time by everybody at the
school. The teacher must be aware that the child had been plucked
from the family where there had been a lot of love.
• The children in this age group need a lot of physical activity.
By nature they are playful. Playing is a psychological need as
well as a physical one.
• It is observed that children who belong to primary childhood
are not much conscious about the sex they belong, therefore,
they feel at ease with the opposite sex.
• At later stages, they begin to have a repulsive attitude towards
the opposite sex.
• The children of this age group are very observant and tend to
follow or imitate adults.
C. Adolescence
This is a difficult time the children pass through. A lot of physical
changes occur in the body which is visible by others and the children
become very conscious of them. They become very inquisitive about
the other sex too.
• Girls experience the above changes earlier than boys. The boys
get these feeling at the age of 16, 17 and 18 while girls develop
them during 13, 14 and 15 of age.
• There is a lot of attraction towards the opposite sex during the
ages given above and love affairs are common among them.
However, these feelings fade away when they step into
adulthood. Teachers must be aware of this feature and provide
Apart from the psychological needs given above, there are some needs
common to everybody – young and old.
i. Need to be loved
Every person needs love and affection irrespective of his or her age.
From birth to death, love is the most sort after thing in life. People
forgo many things for love. They even risk their lives to get love, and
to prevent losing one’s love. Teachers should understand this fact
well and try to making use of it at teaching, maintaining discipline and
encouraging students to do better.
Every time one does something well, one thinks that he or she also
should verify that by way of appreciation by another person. This
natural need can be made use of by teachers to encourage students to
do more and more good work.
The teacher should learn the psychological needs of their students before
deciding on any matter pertaining to the student as the teachers are such
close to the students and that their influence will be felt for a long time in a
student’s life.