Education Article

Psychosocial Development
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The treatment of mental health issues through the use of theories and therapeutic techniques related to the unconscious mind, or what is sometimes termed psychoanalysis has been the subject of many a debate. Some scholars have attempted to demystify this concept entirely, and this includes Joan Erikson and Erik Erikson. Cordially, they developed a timeline of psychosocial development, which highlighted an individual’s progress from birth to their sexagenarian years and beyond. From a reading of their theory, the Erikson’s developed a nine-stage theory explaining human psychosocial development as they grow and develop. The stages usually produce the following virtuous outcomes; hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care and wisdom (Dunkel et al. 2017).
As a sixth-grade math teacher, it is likely that a vast majority of the students are aged between eleven and twelve years. Thus they fall squarely under the fourth stage of psychosocial development where the virtue to be attained competence. Here, the main question guiding their cause of action is, whether or not they can hack worldly complexities and human interaction. The growing child is struggling with the inferiority of childhood and a desire for productivity and industry (Knight, 2017). It is also at this stage that the moral values of a child start taking root.
This unprecedented change is not easy for children at this stage. Usually, some children may fail to strike a balance between the forces of industry and inferiority.

This will result in a child assuming an aura of timidity going forward owing to their unfulfilled desire for approval and recognition (Knight, 2017). Also, seeing as it is at this age that children discover their talents and ability, a child who fails to find a middle ground for the opposing forces risks having their talents and skills going undetected.
In light of the preceding, it is imperative that tutors take the necessary steps to ensure the children go through this stage with ease. An exemplary step that a tutor may take is to provide an easily manageable class size to maximize opportunities for direct engagement with all students alike. In this way, the teacher will be closer to the child, to not only offer accolades for the industry but also guide them in their path to self-discovery, including but not limited to the discovery of talents and abilities. Further, a tutor may help a child make the best of this stage through the application of a proper reward system (Martin-Joy et al. 2017). Here, the students who exhibit positive progress towards the attainment of the virtue of competence will be rewarded and encouraged to do even better. This is a multifaceted approach which will not only be beneficial to the student at hand but will also serve the purpose of encouraging their peers even to come out and be just as appreciated.

References
Dunkel, C. S., & Harbke, C. (2017). A review of measures of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development: Evidence for a general factor. Journal of Adult Development, 24(1), 58-76.
Knight, Z. G. (2017). A proposed model of psychodynamic psychotherapy linked to Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 24(5), 1047-1058.
Martin-Joy, J. S., Malone, J. C., Cui, X. J., Johansen, P. Ø., Hill, K. P., Rahman, M. O., … & Vaillant, G. E. (2017). Development of adaptive coping from mid to late life: a 70-year longitudinal study of defence maturity and its psychosocial correlates. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 205(9), 685-691.