Social adaptation is the natural state of the individual, manifested in adaptation to new activities, to contacts, to roles. The significance of the period when a child goes to school is expressed in the ability to prepare him with unusual losses for unusual conditions, a team of classmates, relationships with a teacher, new rules and requirements. From this will depend on his attitude to school, to study, and even his state of health.
The adoption of a new role is achieved by a number of conditions. Below is a list of them.
- The development of the ability to listen and adequately respond to the actions of the teacher, analyze, plan their activities and objectively evaluate the results. This will help to quickly and effectively "integrate" into a complex educational process.
- The development of skills that help to establish interpersonal relationships with the teaching staff and peers.
- The formation of a sustainable educational motivation, which is expressed in the ability to correctly assess actions (one's own and classmates), use assessment criteria.
Social adaptation is the most important stage in the life of a first grader, depending on adequate self-esteem. At school, you have to compare yourself with other children, which leads to the formation of an opinion about their own abilities and capabilities, as well as about human qualities. The process of forming self-esteem begins in early childhood, when in a family the child begins to realize whether they love him, whether they accept him. Even in preschool age, there is a persistent feeling of well-being or dysfunction in the family. In the event that at these stages there was a sense of psychological comfort, then adequate self-esteem can facilitate the process of adaptation to school.
However, even if social adaptation is successful, it is worth remembering that a schoolchild cannot cope with some tasks on his own. So, for example, if parents have increased requirements for learning, he may have increased anxiety, a fear of doing something wrong.
Social adaptation is a complex process, because at this stage the child cannot fully realize the need to obtain school knowledge. Therefore, the main task of the teacher and parents is the desire to interest him, to attract him to the process. The result of the successful completion of this stage is adaptability (the emergence of a system of qualities that provide the subsequent successful socialization of the individual).
Social adaptation of children during this period may take different times. The most stressful are the first four weeks of training. This period is usually designated as acute. In most cases, it does not have the most positive effect on the psyche of the student. An interesting fact is that the social adaptation of prisoners (at the stage of getting used to a new situation) carries a similar psychological burden. Children have a rather mobile psyche. Therefore, noticeable shifts in the process of adapting to new conditions appear already in the first academic half-year. This is very important for a first grader, as the foundation is laid for the entire subsequent period of training and education.
Social adaptation is a period that depends on a large number of factors, and the success of its course is individual for each child. G.M. Chutkina identified three levels that characterize adaptation to the learning process :
- Tall. The child has a positive attitude towards school, adequately perceives material and easily masters it, shows interest in social life, willingly fulfills public assignments.
- Average. The first grader has a positive attitude towards learning. He well understands school material with a detailed and clear presentation of it, solves typical problems. The orders are carried out in good faith.
- Low. The child is indifferent or negative to school, often complains about health, depressed mood prevails. The material is absorbed by fragments, independent work is difficult.
It is worthwhile to understand that the wrong methods of upbringing, conflicts in the family, and inadequately high / low self-esteem have a negative impact on the period a child enters school life. A prerequisite is the interaction of parents with teachers.