CHILD AND ADOLESCENT

LEARNERS AND
LEARNING PRINCIPLES
(EDUC 101)

Module I
 2

Lesson 4

 TASKS AND EDUCATION (HAVIGHURST)

In this lesson, we shall learn what developmental task means and how
important it is in education. Robert L. Havighhurst (1953) stated: “a
development task is a task which arise at or about a certain period in the life
of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and
to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness and difficulty
with later task. It implies that it is a task which an individual has to and would
like to perform in a specific period in life. Havighurst further writes, “a
developmental-task is the midway between an individual need and a social
demand. It assumes an active learner interacting with an active social
environment”. Taking from an educational and scientific perspective, the
concept of developmental task is in a lot of ways helpful in education. Its
implication is that children and/or young people are active learners who
desire to learn themselves. Physical maturation process together with socially
influenced development must be considerations in applying the theory in
education. The assertion of Havighurst agrees with behavioural principles that
social and educational arrangements do obstruct or reinforce the learning
process.
Developmental tasks arise from three different sources (Havighurst,
1948, 1953). First, some are mainly based on physical maturation (e.g.,
learning to walk). Another source of developmental tasks relates to
sociostructural and cultural forces. Such influences are based on, for instance,
laws (e.g., minimum age for marriage) and culturally shared expectations of
development e.g., age norms (Neugarten, Moore, and Lowe, 1965),
determining the age range in which specific developmental tasks have to be
mastered. The third source of developmental tasks involves personal values
and aspirations. These personal factors result from the interaction between
ontogenetic and environmental factors, and play an active role in the
emergence of specific developmental tasks (e.g., choosing a certain
occupational pathway).

EDUC 101 – The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles
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Six Stages of growth and development (http://faculty.mdc.edu).

Stages of G & D Developmental Tasks
1. Infancy and 1. Learning to walk
Early 2. Learning to take solid foods
Childhood 3. Learning to talk
4. Learning to control the elimination of body wastes
5. Learning sex differences and sexual modesty
6. Forming concepts and learning language to describe social and
physical reality.
7. Getting ready to read
2. Middle 1. Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games.
Childhood 2. Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing
organism
3. Learning to get along with age-mates
4. Learning an appropriate masculine or feminine social role
5. Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing, and calculating
6. Developing concepts necessary for everyday living
7. Developing conscience, morality, and a scale of values
8. Achieving personal independence
9. Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions
3. Adolescence 1. Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both
sexes
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Accepting one's physique and using the body effectively
4. Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults
5. Preparing for marriage, family life, and an economic career
6. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to
behavior; developing an ideology
7. Desiring and achieving socially responsible behaviour
4. Early 1. Selecting a mate
Adulthood 2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Learning to live with a marriage partner
4. Starting a family
5. Rearing children
6. Managing a home
7. Getting started in an occupation
8. Taking on civic responsibility
9. Finding a congenial social group
5. Middle Age 1. Achieving adult civic and social responsibility
2. Establishing and maintaining an economic standard of living
3. Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy
adults
4. Developing adult leisure-time activities

EDUC 101 – The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles
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5. Relating oneself to one‟s spouse as a person

6. Accepting and adjusting to the physiologic changes or middle
age 7. Adjusting to aging parents
6. Later 1. Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health
Maturity 2. Adjusting to retirement and reduced income
3. Adjusting to death of a spouse
4. Establishing an explicit affiliation with one‟s age group
5. Meeting social and civil obligations
6. Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangement
Due to conforming empirical researches on Havighurt ‟s theory, the
developmental-tasks concept gained gradual acceptance in pedagogy.
Pedagogical contexts imply that while children are challenged to acquire new
learning tasks and abilities, their existing skills must be recognized and
accepted. An ideal pedagogical environment provides a variety of opportunities
to developing young persons to utilize their already acquired knowledge and
skills and to win social recognition when they are confronted with novel tasks.
The pedagogical environment must consist of the school or learning center and
the family. The developmental-tasks concept thus assumes the likelihood that
social and educational arrangements support or hamper the corresponding
tasks.

THINK!

1. What does developmental task mean?

2. How can a teacher use practically the concept of

developmental task? Illustra te by giving a specific
situational classroom example .

EDUC 101 – The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles