In their activities, teachers, psychologists, social workers are constantly faced with a variety of documentation. Every year it is supplemented, modified, and sometimes it is difficult to keep in mind all the aspects that need to be described. Family characterization is one such core document. In order not to ask questions about where to start describing the family, what data needs to be collected, in what order it should be drawn up and correctly formulated conclusions, you need to familiarize yourself with the structure of this document and create a model for your family characteristics.
Family profile: where to start?
Before the characterization of the family will be compiled, you need to go through a number of preparatory stages, as a result of which information for the document will be collected:
- Conduct a conversation with the student, observe his behavior, use psychological techniques aimed at studying the child's perception of his family, his assessment of the psychological climate within the family.
- Visit the place of residence of the child and his family, draw up an act of inspection of housing conditions.
- Talk with parents about the relationship with the child. You can evaluate the degree of parents' participation in the school life of a student by their participation in parental meetings, checking his diary, and visiting a school on his own initiative.
To get a more objective picture, it is better not to conduct a study of the family’s place of residence alone. You can involve a representative of the parent committee, a social educator, or a psychologist (especially in the case of dysfunctional families).
Primary (formal) family data
The characteristics of the family should begin with basic, primary data about its members:
- Name, year of birth, education, place of work and position, contact numbers of mother, father or people who replace them.
- Information about other family members (full name, who the student belongs to, area of activity, contact details): grandparents, brothers, sisters and others.
- Information about other people who are not members of the family, but have lived in the same house for a long time (full name, field of activity, who the rest of the family members are, contact details).
- Address at which family members reside.
Housing and household characteristics of the family
The next step will be a description of the living conditions in which the family lives. On their basis, it is necessary to draw a conclusion about how comfortable the child is there, how much his basic needs are realized.
- Number of rooms, availability of a separate room for a child, availability of a separate place for relaxation.
- Compliance with sanitary-hygienic norms of housing: regularity of cleaning, cluttering up the premises, etc.
- The presence of the necessary furniture, a place for the child’s educational or play activities, equipment and training supplies or toys.
- The conclusion about how much the place of residence affects the success of the child’s development.
Social features of the family
The social and psychological characteristics of the child's family are the most important and massive part of the entire document. The social features of the family include:
- Status: full, incomplete, having many children or with one child, data on adoption or custody of the child.
- Material security of the family: how stable is the income, on what factors does it depend (payment of alimony, seasonal labor, unemployment or disability of family members), does the child have pocket money, how much is he provided with necessary things (food, clothing, school supplies), does he family financial difficulties, how the material condition affects the psychological climate in the family (satisfaction, sense of inferiority, conflict).
- Social stability / instability of the family, a tendency to addictions (alcohol, drugs, gambling) or offenses.
- Distribution of duties and basic functions (household, financial, emotional-therapeutic, educational, etc.).
- Who has a formal or factual role in raising a child. Not necessarily the same people can do it. For example, parents working abroad are formally the educators of their child, but in fact these functions are performed by another relative (grandparents) who are in the immediate vicinity of the child.
The psychological characteristics of the family
The psychological component, which includes a characteristic for the family, includes such key points:
- Type of education (authoritarian, democratic, liberal) and its subspecies: hyper-custody, connivance, rejection, exactingness, love and others.
- Description of the psychological climate in the family: stability, tension, stability, prevailing emotions and conditions (joy, aggression, apathy, indifference, fear, calmness, etc.).
- The degree of parental interest in the relationship of the child with their peers, their achievements, successes in educational activities.
- The presence of joint activities with the child, how leisure time is spent in the family, how parents react to the successes and failures of their son or daughter.
Based on these data, we can conclude how effective and correct are the methods of raising a child, whether he has pedagogical neglect.
Assessment of the influence of the family on the child
In this block, the family profile includes data on the participation of parents in the school life of the child and general conclusions are drawn.
Parents can monitor educational activities constantly, periodically or not at all interested in this issue. They can motivate or be indifferent to the child’s desire to learn and develop their interests. The frequency of meeting attendance, the nature of the reaction to the recommendations and comments of teachers (adequate and inadequate) are also different.
General conclusions are drawn on the basis of the data obtained: how prosperous or dysfunctional the family is in material, social and psycho-emotional terms, what aspects and how affect the development of the child, which will be recommended to pay attention to parents or other carers.
Description of work carried out with the family
In this block, the description of the student’s family includes a description of all the work that specialists of different profiles conducted with the family: conversations, consultations with a psychologist, social or medical officer, trainings, and seminars. It is worth mentioning all the cases when and by whom visits were made at home, whether family members themselves sought help and what changes occurred (did not occur) as a result of all the events.
This sample characteristics for the family is the most complete, because it covers all areas of life, especially the upbringing and the conditions in which the child develops.
Features of the characteristics of the family in the work of a psychologist
The psychological characteristics of the family in addition to named aspects of the style of education, psycho-emotional state can be supplemented by other data:
- who performs the role of the head of the family (matriarchal or patriarchal style of decision-making);
- family structure: open (other people are allowed into the family circle), closed (for the most part they communicate only with each other), mixed;
- the presence of traditions;
- who and how has the greatest influence on the child in the family, how much his need for protection and love is realized;
- compatibility of family members in basic parameters (temperament, character, orientation).
For this type of activity in the arsenal of a school psychologist, it is advisable to have the Varg and Stolin methodology “Test-Questionnaire of Parental Relationship”.
Student Family Examination Card
A shorter and simplified description of the family may be. A sample of it is a form that includes such key points:
- Data on parents and other people living with the family.
- Address and general characteristics of the premises.
- The social status of the family.
- Material security of its members.
- What kind of help is needed (material, psychological, medical).
- What types of work with the family were carried out.
Survey map is also a characteristic of the family. The sample differs only in the absence of data on the moral and psychological image of the family and conclusions on the socio-psychological comfort of the student.
Characteristics of dysfunctional families
Characterization of a dysfunctional family includes the same basic data regarding the age, employment, material well-being of all its members, the state of their place of residence, socio-psychological image, methods of working with the family and conclusions.
However, in this case, the emphasis is on what type of dysfunctional families this is, the causes of difficulties, and the features of their influence on the development and upbringing of the child. If the family is financially unsuccessful (loss of a breadwinner, having many children with the impossibility of full material support for all members, etc.), the corresponding help offered is described (repair, free child nutrition in the dining room, etc.).
If the family is socially or psychologically disadvantaged (addictions, violence, serious illnesses of significant relatives), then the characteristics of disadvantaged families should be supplemented by information about the help that was provided to the child, what the services for working with the minor did to help him cope with difficult life circumstances.
What does characterizing a student from a dysfunctional family include?
It should be added that if a specialist deals with a child from a dysfunctional family, the characteristics of the student should be followed by the characteristics of the student. This is due to the fact that such a child may experience significant difficulties in adapting to the educational institution, which will naturally affect academic performance and relationships in the team. Such a child needs special attention from the teaching staff and, possibly, the help of related specialists.
If the characterization of the student’s family in this case describes the causes and development of the difficulties that its members have encountered, then the characterization of the child should show how these difficulties are reflected in it. This is the prevailing mood, personality traits, motivation to learn, tidiness, organization, desire to communicate, having friends, discipline, attitude to assignments and social activities, attitude to criticism, status in a team, bad habits and other aspects.
The characterization of the student’s family should be the resource with which you can not only identify, but also prevent possible difficulties in the development of the younger generation.