Bronfenbrenner’s

Ecological Systems
Theory

Credits to:
MaKenJi
Urie Bronfenbrenner

• Born in Russia
• Immigrated to the US at age 6
• Enlisted in the US army immediately after
completing his PhD
• Co-founder of the Head Start program
Designed to serve at-risk nursery
students to prepare them for school
Ecological Systems Theory
• Development is the result of the relationships between people and their
environments
 Cannot evaluate a child’s development only in the immediate
environment
 Must also examine the interactions among the larger environments
that a child develops in
• Key Question: How does the world around the child help or hinder
development?
• Four layers of relationships that influence a child’s development
 Microsystem: Relationships with direct contact to the child
 Mesosystem: Connection between relationships of child’s
microsystem
 Exosystem: Structures in which child the child does not have direct
contact
 Macrosystem: Cultural context
 Chronosystem: time and historic influences
Microsystem
• Microsystem: Variables that the child is directly exposed to
 Relationships: Family, school, religious institution,
neighbors
o Family: Most influential and durable influence on child
 Environment: Geographic, Material structures
 Child’s body
o General health
o Brain functioning – physiological and psychological
o Emotions
o Cognitive System
Microsystem
• Most of the child’s behavior is learned in the
microsystem.
• The microsystem consists of bi-directional influences
 Parents actively shape the development of the child
 Children actively shape their environment
o Personal attributes influence responses from other people
o Children actively select and avoid specific environments
 Bi-directional relationships are the foundation for a
child’s cognitive and emotional growth
Mesosystem
• Mesosystem: Interconnections between the
microsystems
Examples
o Interactions between the family and teachers
o Relationship between the child’s peers and the family
Exosystem
• Exosystem: Institutions of society that indirectly affect a
child’s development
Examples
o Parent’s workplace
o Funding for education
• Impacts a child’s development by influencing structures
in the microsystem
Macrosystem
• Macrosystem: Cultural context
Provides the values, beliefs, customs, and laws of the
culture in which a child grows up
o Influences how parents, teachers, and others raise a child
o May be conscious or unconscious
Influences the societal values, legislation, and financial
resources provided by a society to help families
function
Influences the interactions of all other layers
Chronosystem
• Involves the dimension of time relating to the child’s
environment
• This means that as the child gets older, the way they react to
the environment is going to change.
Ecological Systems Theory
• Instability and unpredictability in modern family life is
the most destructive force in child’s development
 Because of demands within the workplace, children
do not have constant mutual interactions with
important adults that are necessary for development
 If relationships in the microsystem break down, the
child will not have tools to explore other parts of the
environment
 Children without a strong primary relationship will
find affirmation in inappropriate places, particularly
in the adolescence years
Ecological Systems Theory
• Technology has changed society
 Society does not provide resources to protect
children and adults from the potential negative
outcomes of technology
 The best interest of society is to lobby for political and
economic policies that support the importance of a
parent’s role in their child’s development
Critique
• Strengths
Integrates multiple influences on child development

• Weaknesses
Does not provide detailed mechanisms for
development
Implications for Education
• Primary relationship must be intended to last a lifetime
 Teachers need to work to support the primary child-adult
relationship
 Schools should create an environment that welcomes and
nurtures families
 Education should foster societal attitudes that value all work
done on behalf of children
• More research is needed to examine interactions between
different levels of relationships in a child’s development
 Bronfenbrenner states that there is little conflict between
families and the school.
…thank you! 