Child development in context

The purpose of this book is to give particular attention to the role of environment, or context, in children’s development: how do the circumstances and social conditions of a child’s life influence their learning, behaviour, and growth? In this chapter we aim to set the scene for the chapters that follow. We will present the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner, one of the major developmental theorists on the role of context in child development, and discuss the relationship between the expression of genes and environmental contexts. We will then examine the role of neuroscience and brain plasticity, and introduce the concepts of risk and resilience