Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The international organization examples listed for us are somewhat familiar to me already and have reviewed some for previous courses. Knowing this, I wanted to make sure that I really dug deep and found organizations that are truly new for me and ones that could potentially bring me and others new knowledge and information. These are a few I found.

Association for Childhood Education International - ACEI

ACEI has a commitment to “support and advocate for access to education, equity in educational settings, quality educational content, and the child’s right to education” (ACEI, 2015). I feel that ACEI is a great organization because it pieces together all the parts that children need in order to be successful. “ACEI members have acted as social change agents,  involving themselves in various critical societal issues in their efforts to ensure that children around the world are protected, supported, and educated in ways that allow them to reach their full potential” ( ACEI, 2015). I love how ACEI promotes intercultural understanding in order to reach a mutual respect.

I did not find any open job opportunities while searching ACEI’s website, although I found a job that If able to work for ACEI I would love to have. It is the Director of Advocacy and Outreach. With this job I could assume that I would need the knowledge of other organizations and community programs, officers, board of directors, and so on in order to get ACEI’s misson and commitment across.

International Child Art Foundation – ICAF

Alongside my passion for children and early childhood education, I have had a lifelong passion for art. I feel bringing out the creative and imaginative side of children is important and can sometimes be a coping mechanism for children that are going through challenging times. With that being said, the ICAF stood out to me as a wonderful children’s foundation with a great cause. The ICAF’s key programmatic objectives are” to cultivate children’s imagination, reduce violence, and remediate suffering” (ICAF, 2015). On this website you are able to view children’s artwork from around the world and appreciate the creativeness of all children. There are also resources for kids, teachers, and professionals with opportunities to subscribe to children’s art magazines and be involved in the World Children’s Festival. “Our mission is to enhance academic performance and imbue global citizenship by nurturing children’s creativity and developing their empathy-key attributes of 21^st century learners and leaders” (ICAF, 2015).

Although I did not find any open employment opportunities on ICAF’s website either the job of Creative Advisor is one that I would love to be involved in. Even with having no open positions you can still be involved in ICAF by volunteering and interning at their organization. This would be a great chance to be a part of a great organization while working with wonderful individuals that are involved in making a positive change in the lives of today’s children.

Education International – EI

EI is not an organization that is focused primarily on children, rather it is an organization that is comprised of education employees and is driven by educating teachers in order to provide children with the best possible education. In order to meet the needs of our children and guide them to meet their fullest potential our educators needs to have the knowledge and training to do so. “It is the world’s largest federation of unions, representing thirty million education employees in about four hundred organisations in one hundred and seventy countries and territories, across the globe” (EI, 2015). Education International (EI, 2015) promotes the principle that “quality education, funded publicly, should be available to every student in every country”. Also with my challenge for my capstone project being the importance of anti-bias education, I was drawn to EI because they “advocate for equity in society; it combats racism and xenophobia; it challenges discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and racial or ethnic origin or characteristics”.

Education International does have the position of Program Officer open in their organization. I liked this position because they are to provide professional support in relation to education and employment issues. A Program Officer would also coordinate advocacy meetings, liaising with intergovernmental organizations, as well as prep and organize campaigns and conferences. The skills and abilities I would need to conduct this job is knowledge and experience with trade unions, fluency in French, Spanish, German or Russian would be an advantage, and knowledge of the workings of international institutions.

Resources

http://www.acei.org/

http://www.icaf.org/

http://www.ei-ie.org/en/