Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

In researching UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage I came upon an article by John Bennet (2004) regarding curriculum in early childhood education and it’s importance. It sparked my interest in reading about how other countries are focusing their attention on early childhood curriculum.  John Bennet in his article cited a statement by OCED (2001) saying national or provincial ministries in many countries have chosen to issue short guidelines about early childhood programming, addressed as much to parents and local administrators as to the educators. Essentially, these guidelines or curricular frameworks establish the value base and programme standards on which early childhood services in the country are to be founded (Bennet 2004). Bennet (2004) states that the aim is to encourage a shared sense of purpose between parents and early childhood centres; to promote social and cultural values important for society; to ensure a certain unity of standards; and to inform and facilitate communication between staff, parents and children. Due to new understandings of society, young children and their learning, their has been a reluctance to fixing detailed cognitive goals and content (Bennet 2004). Countries are very respectful of diversity and wish for this framework to build bridges between ethnic and social groups. I enjoyed reading this article because it gave me an insight as to how other countries find the need for early childhood curriculum and how they have chosen to set one up.

Another article on the website that caught my attention was written by Peter Moss (2004) on basic structures and education in the early childhood workforce in developed countries. It was interesting to see the structure of the early childhood workforce in other countries and the history of the educational systems. Two ‘core’ professions have emerged in countries which have gone furthest in integrating early childhood services (Moss 2004). Both work with children ranging from birth to age five, and both undertake a full range of tasks including education and care. One is the early childhood teacher working with children under and over 3 years; by contrast, teachers in divided systems typically only work with children from 3 years upward in schools (Moss 2004). The other is the pedagogue, a profession working with the theory and practice of pedagogy (Moss 2004). Moss quoted a statement by Moss and Petrie (2002) regarding pedagogue, “The pedagogue sets out to address the whole child, the child with body, mind, emotions, creativity, history and social identity.” The workforce in early childhood services in all countries must respond to two related developments: the divide between care and education is breaking down; and the professional role is becoming more complex, with growing recognition of the importance of working with parents and other services and of the competence of young children as learners (Moss 2004). It was interesting to see how different countries split their early childhood workforce like this and what each one, teacher and pedagogue, in a sense used for.

Under the Coordination and integration portion of UNESCO there is a write up on the study on the integration of ECCE (early childhood care and education) within education. This caught my attention because I haven’t really read up on this specific topic before. ECCE usually incorporates two different tradition, care and education. The former was often developed as welfare measures for working-class children who needed care while their parents were at work; the latter as kindergarten or pre-primary education, providing middle-class or all children with enriched educational activities prior to formal schooling (UNESCO 2014). Definitely not how we view early childhood today. This division between care and education has strongly influenced the organization and conceptualization of ECCE, and resulted in split systems’ discontinuities and inequalities between childcare and early education sectors due to differences in access, availability, resourcing and quality (UNESCO 2014). Caring and Learning Together: A Cross-National Study on the Integration of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) within Education, a UNESCO study on ECCE governance, focuses on examining the policy of integrating ECCE within the education systems, which is being adopted by an increasing amount of countries. This UNESCO study offers a rare assessment of the policy of integrating care and early education services within education, and provides key policy insights and recommendations on the subject (UNESCO 2014).

One of my ongoing goals as an educator has been to progress and increase my knowledge in the field of early childhood, although, recently I felt my goal should stretch to knowledge of the EC field in other countries. I have always focused my attention on the U.S., I haven’t opened up my research and education worldwide until starting my Master’s courses. UNESCO has given me much insight into how other countries portray EC and the division of education in some countries.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Moss, Peter. (2004). The Early Childhood Workforce in ‘Developed’ Countries: Basic Structures and Education. UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood. October 2004.  Retrieved from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/ 0013/001374/137402e.pdf

Bennett, John. (2004). Curriculum in Early Childhood Education and Care. UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood. September 2004. Retrieved from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137401e.pdf

Sharing Web Resources- Week 6

With speaking and reading about what the President and our government can do in terms of grants and policies in making early education a priority, I focused my search on the Public Policy link on Zero to Three website. Topics under Public Policy that can be explored are: infant-toddler policy issues, building early childhood systems, federal policy, state & community policy, action center, policy toolkit and webinars & conference calls. When clicking on the federal policy portion you can learn about the federal policy agenda, resources, updates, and a federal policy baby blog. The baby blog keeps you updated on important policy developments impacting babies, toddlers, families and EC professionals. You can also review the state baby facts and see how infants, toddlers, and their families are managing across the U.S.. The action center provides access to resources in advocacy. Advocacy alerts, calendar, federal & state advocacy tools, as well as a place to meet other advocates can be found in the action center.


One of the links I haven’t clicked on yet until this week was the Rally for Babies link. This page speaks about The Strong Start Act. It speaks about supporting the Early Learning Bipartisan Bill and it acknowledging learning needs of babies and toddlers, what’s in the bill, what is in it for babies, why start with babies, and how the media is rallying for them. It is a great page with a wealth of information regarding the need for seeing children as a priority. You are also able to read the Senate and House version of the Strong Start for America’s Children Act. While looking further into the page I came across a section that speaks about the business organizations and their investments into early childhood.

I keep gaining so much more information each day while researching websites and reading articles. Zero to Three seems to provide so much information on mostly all topics that have been spoken about during this class. The reoccurring theme lately in my readings have been the interest by policy makers and businesses in the importance of early education. Our schools need the proper funding in transforming their programs into the quality that is needed in offering our children a proper early education. Our children need to be on the same level when entering Kindergarten and start shrinking the gaps.

http://www.zerotothree.org

Global Children's Initiative & Maysoun Chehab Podcast

In an effort to build an international approach when it comes to child health and development in the early years of their life, the Global Children’s Initiative has been launched as the focus point of the Center on the Developing Child’s agenda. The Center’s commitment to global work represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent (Global Children’s Initiative). In order to meet the Global Children’s Initiative goals they have the commitment of working together with the most creative and the best expertise out there. There are 3 strategic areas that the global program will focus on: reframing the discourse around child health and development, supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects, and building leadership capacity in child development research and policy (Global Children’s Initiative). Within all these areas the program sets their sights high on educating all on the healthy development of young children. Guided by these strategies the Initiative has built a portfolio of activities in the following domains: early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations (Global Children’s Initiative). As part of its Global Children’s Initiative, the Center launched Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância, which is the first programmatic effort outside the United States. This project aims to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families in Brazil (Global Children’s Initiative). Ultimately the Initiative works to help young children and educate parents and communities on how to improve early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations. They are bringing awareness to issues and trends in other parts of the world as well as helping to educate and train others in the early childhood field so they are well prepared to educate these young children.

With little evidence  available on early childhood development in sub-Saharan Africa, the Zambian Ministry of Education, the Examination Council of Zambia, UNICEF, the University of Zambia, and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University launched the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) in 2009, a collaborative effort to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia (Global Children’s Initiative).  A collaborative project in Santiago, Chile called Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start), has been set up to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development (Global Children’s Initiative). These are all examples of the Center’s work on improving and educating others on the importance of child development around the world.

One of the podcasts I listened to that interested me was by Maysoun Chelab, a Regional Early Childhood Care and Development Program Coordinator at the Arab Resource Collective (ARC) based in Beirut, Lebanon. She works with practitioners, policy makers and the community to raise awareness of child rights and EC care and development as well as trains EC caregivers on best practices. They countries that they cover are Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Jordan and Yeman. One of the most rewarding projects she has worked on was a psychosocial support project put together after the war on Lebanon in 2006. Many children as well as their families were affected by this war which left 126 school destroyed. With parents, families and children needing support after the war, she trained parents and teachers on the range of emotional reactions they would see by the children. Her target was the mothers, fathers, and teachers because if they could not support themselves they would not be able to support the children. The training lasted 6 days involving many coping techniques and strategies. Afterwards it made the parents and teachers more comfortable to go back into the field and work with the children.


Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

Link to the podcast of Maysoun Chehab:  http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php

Sharing Web Resources

I wanted to share a topic that I came across on Zero to Three website that was something I wasn’t aware of, maybe because it hasn’t been offered to the states I have currently lived in or because with my research I have not came across it yet. With that said, I learned about the Early Learning Challenge grant program initiated in 2011. This is a joint effort put forth by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ELC was set forth to improve early learning development for young children. It does so by supporting states’ efforts to: increase the number of children with high needs, birth to five, in hight-quality early childhood setting; and build comprehensive early childhood systems (Zero to Three 2013). So far 14 states have received four year grants, ranging in amounts from $20 to $70 million dollars. What I think is great about the ELC is that is was purposely designed to require collaboration within and between state agencies, local organizations and families. Collaboration with families is such an important part of early childhood.

The ELC asks states to develop plans that address the following priorities:
1. Promoting school readiness for children with high needs (this is the absolute priority)
2. Including all early learning and development programs in the tiered quality rating and improvement system
3. Understanding the status of children’s learning and development at kindergarten entry
4. Sustaining program effects in the early elementary grades
5. Encouraging private-sector support

I tried my best to search the website to find information on how economists, neuroscientists or politicians support the early childhood field but was unable to come across anything. But I was happy to see that the ELC grant was put into effect and is helping states little by little improve the quality of early childhood programs and young children themselves.

In our second discussion this week talking about the importance of play, I became interested in the resources Zero to Three had on their website that provides support to parents and educators on play. Providing research and facts to parents especially on the importance of play is crucial for them to realize that this is really a huge part of their development in all aspects. With parents not having the time these days to participate in play with their children I was happy to see Zero to Three providing tips and questions on play for parents to read. Playtime ideas, tips for choosing toys, making the most of playtime and the development of play skills are just a few topics Zero to Three has listed for further investigation for parents and educators. They also have a section for parents to write in with questions about issues or concerns they have regarding their children either at home or at school dealing with play. Some parents may have the same questions and can get answers from other parents writing in.

With so many resources on an enormous amount of topics regarding the care and education of young children, I haven’t really come across anything I would find controversial. To be honest everything I read has made me think about issues in new ways because it gives me so much more information on early childhood.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

When searching for podcasts one really jumped out at me and caught my attention. It was by a woman named Irma Allen who is the Chairperson of the Swaziland Environment Authority (the equivalent of the EPA in the United States), and a member of the World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children. She lives in Swaziland, a small kingdom between South Africa and Mozambique. Irma has a very strong passion for early childhood itself but specifically for the nature dimension of early childhood. One of the challenges in the EC area that she faces is training the community people and teachers to become teachers of the early years. What is different in this area is the fact that there are no classrooms, nature is the classroom. The local environment is the preschool center as well as the materials and everything. In this area they rely vastly on the grass, the trees, the weather more than ever. When there is water and when it is raining they take that opportunity to work on water activities. Doing this creates a greater respect for the environment and conservation, where the environment gives us lessons about life and death and that decomposition leads to new life. She speaks about one of the first students of the early childhood center that joined them for a farewell party they had had for a women there that was a teacher. He spoke during this party about how his early childhood experiences had taught him how to appreciate his home country and his environment and how those experiences gave him strength and determination later on in life. He felt that he had a place in life and a role to play. During his struggles and failures throughout his life he always kept thinking about how important his early childhood was and the experiences he had.

Sometimes we can take for granted the fact that here in the U.S. we have classrooms to teach in, materials such as blocks, puppets, books to use to teach our students. In some places around the world all they have is the nature and environment around them to use as their materials and manipulatives. Having teachers and educators like Irma Allen that spends there time focusing on the children that are less fortunate than the children here in the U.S. is amazing. She is giving the children of Swaziland an amazing early childhood experience using the resources that are available to them.

Since reading this podcast I became more interested in South Africa’s childhood poverty level. I read an article where the title was “More than half of South Africa’s children live in poverty”. This really grabbed my attention. I was unable to link to childhoodpoverty.org, so I had to search out my own resources. Aislinn Laing (2012) the author of this article posted by the Telegraph in the UK gave us some disturbing news, the Unicef report found that 1.4 million children live in homes that rely on often dirty streams for drinking water, 1.5 million have no flushing lavatories and 1.7 million live in shacks, with no proper bedding, cooking or washing facilities. Aida Girma, Unicef's South African representative, said that two thirds of child deaths were preventable with simple improvements in primary care for children and that if "drastic" changes were not made immediately, South Africa would fail to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals of eradicating child and maternal mortality and malnutrition (Laing 2012). Reading this article broke my heart and I can’t fathom what life is like for children in South Africa.

Reading more and more about the poverty levels in children around the world just becomes more disturbing for me. I am actually ashamed that I haven’t realized the severity of these struggles children face sooner. There is more demand now that ever to educate people about childhood poverty here in the U.S. and around the world. I am very lucky for what I have in my life and the materials we are offered here to help in educating our children.

Here is the link to the article about childhood poverty in South Africa.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9280481/More-than-half-of-South-Africas-children-live-in-poverty.html

Sharing New Resources

zerotothree.org

The organization that I chose to focus on is Zero to Three, National center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Zero to Three provides information to parents, professionals and policymakers about the knowledge and know how on how to nurture early development. Their mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers. The Zero to Three site contains information on behavior and development, maltreatment, and the care and education of infants and toddlers. Under each individual section (health & development, maltreatment & care and education) Zero to Three provides articles and readings on each topic in a more in depth look and provides areas of interest that pertain to that subject. In my opinion Zero to Three is an amazing resource when looking for concrete information regarding the development and well being of infants and toddlers.

One of the current issues that caught my eye on the What’s New caption on Zero to Three website is the Child Development Case for a National Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program. This is an important topic to me because of the relationships between parents and children have in the early stages of life and how they shape the developing brain. It is important for parents to be there in the early stages of their child’s life in order to build these experiences needed for proper development of the child. It also gives parents the time they need to chose a proper child care setting to place their little one in when it does come time to return to work. This early bonding experience is something that parents cannot get back and is crucial for them to have. This leave act also gives the parents the opportunity to take care of any early medical needs their child may need at that time. Positive, consistent relationships during a baby’s early years yield confident individuals who are better equipped for success in school and life, paving the way for a higher quality workforce and strong economic growth (Zero to Three 2013).

Getting Ready—E stablishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Unfortunately I have just moved and have not been able to set up internet access yet, so when trying to listen to podcasts where I have had the access to internet connection I have been unable to do so. I also have not had luck with contacting professionals so I have decided to research Save the Children and and The Global Fund for Children. I have signed up for emails for both foundations to receive updates and anything new regarding the foundations and am looking forward to getting mail from both. I am also on my way to contacting professionals from both foundations.

In regards to researching one of the early childhood foundations websites I have chosen Zero to Three, National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. I have always been drawn to the research on the development of infants and toddlers and this is something that is a passion of mine. With my work in the early childhood field it has come to my attention the need to inform parents and educational professionals on the importance of early experiences in the lives of infants and toddlers.

I would love to know how others have done with contacting professionals and any tips they may have regarding this.