Using A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) to build relationships through talk to mobilise attachment theory to develop security attachment capital for good choices that regulate continued good lives

This study is a Ground Work Case in Albania which aims to reveal how adults talking with children can build relationships between the adult and the children to support the children’s appropriate development through the four phases of Bowlby’s attachment theory. If trauma is experienced, which is not the fault of the child or the preferred caregiver, the child can become stuck and unable to develop the mental models required to become self-determining and live a good life with the conditions for homeostasis (continued life) with good faculty of judgement. This has implications for adults who may have experienced trauma, through no fault of their own, who have not passed through the phases of attachment theory. These adults are expected to support children through the phases of attachment theory, with no working mental model of what that looks like. A survey of 863 kindergarten teachers with a response rate of 78% revealed i) the curriculum of kindergarten staff’s qualification did not include attachment theory, ii) kindergarten staff were unaware of attachment theory. Findings reveal the Covid 19 pandemic has caused trauma that is preventing children from passing through the phases of attachment theory leading to children’s poor working mental models and poor mental health. A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) is presented as an incremental model to enable adults and children to evaluate progress through the phases of attachment theory and move from ‘fear’ of the self, the other and the environment to ‘good faculty of judgement required for self-determining homeostasis’. Our new contribution to knowledge is how the innovative ABCDE builds ‘attachment security capital’ by developing teachers' culturally responsive self-review of their knowledge of attachment theory and how to apply it through talk. This needs to be coupled to an informed historical and cultural consciousness of the impacts of trauma and the impacts of trauma on the children’s previous generations (ancestors). This is important because if previous generations have experienced trauma, they may not have passed through the phases of attachment theory and will not have a working model of what security attachment looks like. Without ‘security attachment capital’ gained from passing through all phases of Bowlby’s attachment theory, individuals will not be able to guide their children to gain attachment security capital’. Attachment security capital is required for developing good faculty of judgement required for self-determining homeostasis. The talk between the adults and the children needs to build ‘rich vocabulary-emotional life capital’ linked to cultural, and textual literacy and building of ‘security attachment capital’ to support education for democracy.