Characteristics of the family. Sample characteristics per family

In their work, teachers, psychologists, social workers are constantly faced with a variety of documentation. Every year it is supplemented, mutated, and sometimes it is difficult to keep in mind all aspects that need to be described. Characteristics of the family is one of such basic documents. In order not to ask questions about how to start describing a family, what data it is necessary to collect, in what sequence it should be formalized and correctly formulate the conclusions, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the structure of this document and create a sample of the characteristics for the family.

Characteristics of the family: where to start?

Before the characteristics of the family are compiled, a number of preparatory steps must be completed, as a result of which information will be collected for the document:

1. Conduct a conversation with the student, observe his behavior, use psychological methods aimed at studying the child's perception of his family, assessing the psychological climate within the family.
2. Visit the place of residence of the child and his family, draw up an act of examining housing conditions.
3. Chat with parents about the relationship with the child. Assess the degree of participation of parents in the student's school life by participating in parent meetings, checking his diary, attending an educational institution on his own initiative.

To get a more objective picture, it is better not to spend studying the place of residence of the family alone. You can attract a representative of the parent committee, social teacher or psychologist (especially in the case of disadvantaged families).

Primary (formal) family information

Characteristics of the family should begin with the basic, primary data on its members:

1. Name, year of birth, education, place of work and position, contact phone numbers of the mother, father or people who replace them.
2. Information about other family members (name, who the student falls in, scope of activities, contact details): grandparents, brothers, sisters and others.
3. Information about other people who are not family members, but live in the same house for a long time (name, scope, who belongs to the rest of the family, contact details).
4. The address where the family members live.

Housing and household characteristics of the family

The next stage will be a description of the housing conditions in which the family lives. On their basis it is necessary to draw a conclusion about how comfortable it is for a child to be there, to what extent his basic needs are realized.

1. Number of rooms, the availability of a separate room for the child, the availability of a separate place for recreation.
2. Compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards of housing: regular cleaning, littering of premises, etc.
3. Availability of necessary furniture, places for educational or play activity of the child, equipment and educational supplies or toys.
4. The conclusion about how much the place of residence affects the success of the child's development.

Social characteristics 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 characteristics of the family include:

1. Status: complete, incomplete, having many children or with one child, data on adoption or custody of the child.
2. Material security of the family: how stable is the earnings, on what factors does it depend on (alimony payments, seasonal work, unemployment or disability of family members), does the child have pocket money, as far as he is provided with the necessary things (food, clothing, school supplies), does Family financial difficulties, how the material condition affects the psychological climate in the family (satisfaction, feelings of inferiority, conflicts).
3. Social stability / instability of the family, addiction to addictions (alcohol, drug, gambling) or delinquency.
4. Distribution of duties and basic functions (household, financial, emotional-therapeutic, educational, etc.).
5. Who owns a formal or actual role in the upbringing of the child. Not necessarily it can be performed by the same people. For example, parents abroad working abroad are formally the educators of their child, and in fact these functions are performed by another relative (grandmother, grandfather) who is in close proximity to the child.

Psychological characteristics of the family

The psychological component, which includes the characteristics of the family, includes such key points:

1. Type of education (authoritarian, democratic, liberal) and its subspecies: hyperopeak, connivance, rejection, demanding, love and others.
2. Description of the psychological climate in the family: stability, tension, stability of the situation, prevailing emotions and states (joy, aggression, apathy, indifference, fear, tranquility, etc.).
3. The degree of interest of parents in the child's relationships with peers, his achievements, success in educational activities.
4. The availability of joint activities with the child, how to spend leisure time 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.

Assessing the impact of the family on the child

In this block, the characteristics of the family include data on the participation of parents in the school life of the child and general conclusions are drawn.

Educational activities parents can monitor constantly, periodically or not at all interested in this issue. They can motivate or treat indifferently the child's desire to learn and develop their interests. The frequency of visits to meetings is also different, the nature of the reaction to the recommendations and remarks of teachers (adequate and inadequate).

The general conclusions are made on the basis of the data obtained: how successful or unhappy the family is in the material, social and psycho-emotional terms, what aspects and how it affects the development of the child, which will be recommended to pay attention to parents or other caregivers.

Description of work carried out with the family

In this block, the description for the student's family includes a description of all the works that were carried out by specialists of various backgrounds with the family: conversations, consultations of a psychologist, social or medical employee, trainings, seminars. It is worth mentioning all the cases when and by whom visits were made at home, whether the family members themselves applied for help and what changes occurred (did not happen) as a result of all activities.

This sample of the characteristics of the family is the most complete, because it covers all spheres of life, the characteristics of upbringing and the conditions in which a child develops.

Features of family characteristics in the work of a psychologist

Psychological characteristics of the family in addition to Mentioned aspects of the style of upbringing, the psychoemotional state can be supplemented by other data:

• Who performs the role of head of the family (matriarchal or patriarchal decision-making style);
• Family structure: open (allow other people in the social circle of the family), closed (communicate mostly only with each other), mixed;
• The presence of traditions;
• Who and how has the greatest impact on the child in the family, how much is realized his need for protection and love;
• Compatibility of family members by main parameters (temperament, nature, orientation).

For this type of activity in the school psychologist's arsenal, it is desirable to have the "Parent relationship test" questionnaire, Varga and Stolin.

Student Family Survey Card

A shorter and simpler one can be a characterization of the family. A sample of it is a form that includes such basic points:

1. Data on parents and other people living with the family.
2. Address and general characteristics of the premises.
3. The social status of the family.
4. Material security of its members.
5. What help is needed (material, psychological, medical).
6. What kinds of work with the family were conducted.

The survey map is also a characteristic of the family. The sample differs only in the absence of data on the moral and psychological appearance of the family and conclusions about the socio-psychological comfort of the student.

Characteristics of disadvantaged families

Characteristics of a dysfunctional family include the same basic data concerning the age, employment, material well-being of all its members, the status of the place of residence, the socio-psychological image, methods of working with the family and conclusions.

However, in this case, emphasis is placed on what type of disadvantaged families this is, the reasons for the emergence of difficulties, the specific features of their influence on the development and upbringing of the child. If the family is poor in the material plan (loss of breadwinner, large families with the impossibility of full material support of all members, etc.), the corresponding proposed assistance (repair, free meals of the child in the canteen, etc.) is described.

If the family is socially or psychologically ill (dependencies, violence, serious illness of significant close ones), then the characteristics of disadvantaged families should be supplemented by information on what kind of help was provided to the child, what did the services for working with a minor, to help him cope with complex Life circumstances.

What does the description of 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 follow the characteristics of the family itself . This is due to the fact that such a child may experience significant difficulties in adaptation in an educational institution, which will naturally affect the 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 describes in this case the causes and development of the difficulties with which its members are confronted, the characterization of the child should show how these difficulties are reflected in it. This is the prevailing mood, personality traits, motivation for learning, neatness, organization, the desire to communicate, the presence of friends, discipline, attitude to assignments and social activities, attitude to criticism, status in the team, the presence of bad habits and other aspects.

Characteristics of the pupil's family should be the resource by which not only to identify, but also prevent possible difficulties in the development of the younger generation.