ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the significant ways in which author continued to develop and update his theory up to the time of his death in 2005. Bronfenbrenner identified some interesting concepts regarding the multifaceted systems of influence on children’s lives. The bioecological model of human development emphasises the importance of interaction between person and context; the personal characteristics and dispositions of the child elicit responses from the environment, and these responses influence the personal characteristics of the child and elicit further responses from the child. According to Bronfenbrenner, “ecology implies an adjustment between organism and environment”. The first ‘version’ of an ecological model of human development conceived of the development of the individual within the environment characterised as four systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem. Partnership with parents in the early years context provides a good illustration of two microsystems interacting with each other.
