Sharing Web Resources

I can't believe it's already week 4 of my Issues and Trends class! This week's questions are are about the newsletter I've been reading through Early Childhood Australia Web Watch. 

• What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

In this week's newsletter there is a section on debt help for early childhood teachers. In Australia if you work in a school with high needs the government will help you pay off your student debt. What a great idea! That would be a great perk for early childhood teachers in the U.S. This makes me curious about if any such programs do exist in the US to help teachers in my field. 

• Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways? 

The newsletter talked about fighting e-bullying by educating early childhood students early on. In the article they explained how technology is being used by younger and younger children. Teaching children early on to make kind choices will help them throughout their lives. I can see how this may be controversial because many people don't believe that young children should be have much or any screen time. 

• What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

In this newsletter there is a report on nutrition in early childhood education. This article talks about the future benefits proper nutrition has on children even when they became adults. This is information that economists, neuroscientists and politicians would take into account when looking at early childhood education as an "investment" for our economy. 

• What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

In Australia February 21st is National Day of Action against Violence and Bullying. I think this is a great idea to raise awareness about these topics. Any opportunities to focus on reducing violence can greatly help our young children. I gained a lot of great information from the newsletter this month!

International Contacts

This week I had the opportunity to listen to a podcast from the World Forum Foundation Radio (http://sarah-dev.worldforumfoundation.com/world-forum-radio/). Episode 3 was a talk by Delfena Mitchell who is the Director of Liberty Children’s Home near Belize City. She works with young children who have been abandoned or abused. During her talk, Delfena tells a story about a little boy named Joseph. Joseph had been abused by his grandmother and hadn’t talked in over a year. After spending a couple of weeks with him in the gardens, horse backing riding and homeschooling him Joseph began to talk again. In just a matter of weeks in a loving environment, Joseph would open up and talk about his experiences. Delfena helps many children like Joseph each day at Liberty Children’s Home. To learn more you can visit her website http://www.libertychildrenbelize.org/ .

Unfortunately I have not yet heard anything else back from the e-mails I sent to other early childhood professionals around the world. In the mean time I have been learning about the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIPS). CHIPS is a joint effort between Save the Children and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre. Together they are working to end childhood poverty and educate people about the problems and causes associated with poverty.

From reading a report of childhood poverty in Rajasthan, India I learned:

1.  India accounts for the majority of the poor in South Asia. There were 260 million people living in poverty there in 2000.
2. 28% of homes in Rajasthan used pipe drinking water compared to 89% in urban areas 
3.  Rajasthan has been prone to water scarcity and drought

I am thankful that CHIPS conducts reports such as this to take a close look at the needs of a country in order to best support the people. 

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I have chosen to follow is Early Childhood Australia (ECA). ECA is an Australian early childhood advocacy organization.  From their website (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/) I found the following information:

OUR VISION: Every young child is thriving and learning

'Our role in achieving this vision is to be an effective advocate for young children and a champion for quality outcomes in early childhood education and care'

From reading the latest ECA VOICE newsletter I learned about a Productivity Commission inquiry which is connecting with the Australian early childhood learning community. They are looking at ways of achieving a more productive community. Some factors related to early childhood education included…

·         Quality programs best support children and the outcomes continue until adulthood

·         Early childhood education allows parents to work which increases workforce participation

The goal of the ECA is to reach 90% early childhood education attendance by the year 2020. They are also working to supplement out of pocket costs to low income families and increase subsidies for middle class families. If you’d like to read more about these issues you can view this newsletter at http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Voice_1401_screen.pdf

Good news! This week I received an e-mail from Éva Izsák from the International Step by Step Association (ISSA). She said the following:

I will get back to you soon with details of your Friends of ISSA registration and let you know as soon as I have a contact person regarding your questions.

I am really looking forward to connecting with an early childhood professional from the ISSA (probably from the Netherlands). Good luck to my colleagues this week as you’re making international connections as well!

Establishing Professional Contacts

Monday marked the first day of my fourth course in my Master's program. EDUC 6162 is called Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field. One of my first assignments is to begin making connections with early childhood professionals and organizations around the world. Here's a quick glimpse of my progress this week...

Thursday, March 6th:

• Through the Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children I found resources for the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) which originated in the Netherlands.

• I sent an e-mail to membership@issa.nl requesting to have access to the ISSA website and to become a member. I also asked if there were any early childhood professionals that would like to connect with me via e-mail.

• Sent an e-mail to the Director of the Network Early Childhood Program with a request to connect through e-mail. This e-mail, unfortunately, was sent back to me saying "delivery to the recipient failed." 

• Subscribed to the National Institute for Early Childhood Research (NIEER) online newsletter 

Friday, March 7th: 

•  Subscribed to the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) newsletter. I also received an e-mail confirming my subscription 
• Subscribed to Early Childhood Australia (ECA) Web Watch

• From the UNICEF website I found contact information for representatives in the Philippines. I sent an e-mail asking if someone would consider connecting with me through e-mail. 
• Through the Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children website I found information about a school called Ajoke International School in Nigeria. I e-mailed the director asking if she would answer a few of my questions through e-mail. 

It is now Sunday and I haven't yet heard back from any of my e-mails. If by next week I still hear nothing, I will subscribe to some podcasts through the World Forum Radio. I have now subscribed to two different newsletters and haven't yet received one. By next week I will decide if I am going to focus more on the EECERA or the ECA. I'm looking forward to learning about the issues and trends that are going in in early childhood programs around the world!