Final Week of 6162

By learning about the international early childhood field during this course, I have learned….

• that all countries around the world struggle with poverty
•  some areas value and fund early childhood education more than others
•  there are people in every area around the world who are working to be advocates for our young learners.

I have really enjoyed learning about early childhood organizations from around the world through this course. My goal for the field of early childhood education (internationally) is to work towards closing the poverty gap to give children the best possible start to their lives.  

UNESCO Website

This week I spent some time exploring the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) website. UNESCO advocates for early childhood care and education programs related to health, nutrition, safety and learning which contribute to holistic development.

Three Things I Learned:

1. Under the Investing and Finances tab the author explained how difficult it is for countries to expand and improve early childhood programs. Early childhood education is often overshadowed by universal primary education. Countries should view early childhood education on the same level as basic education.  
2. Gender equality is a high priority for UNESCO. The website explained that even though gender inequality affects both genders, women are often more disadvantaged. Some of the obstacles in women’s way include minority status, poverty, early marriage and pregnancy and traditional attitudes about the status of women.
3. The Global Education Skills Forum was held in Dubai just last month. A new campaign called Business Back Education was launched at the Forum challenging businesses to commit 20% of its global Corporate Social Responsibility spending for educational purposes. The goal is for this to happen by the year 2020.

These items relate to my professional goals because investing in early childhood education is a high priority for me. I also think it’s important to help eliminate many of the inequalities facing the field of education, including inequities relating to gender. I found the UNESCO website to have a lot of valuable information which is contributing to my global view of early childhood education. 

Sharing Web Resources - Early Childhood Australia

This week I answered questions based on the organization I have been following - Early Childhood Australia. 

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

I clicked on the mychild.gov link and learned about the Australian online child care portal. This website is a great tool for educators and families and contains a number of resources to best support young children. On this site there are links to finding preschools and Kindergartens, ways to get “fee assistance” and guidelines for quality education and care. All of this information can be found at http://www.mychild.gov.au/

Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?

One tab of the ECA (Early Childhood Australia) website I found interesting brought me to the position statement on children of asylum seekers. One part read

“Refugee children share certain universal rights with all other people, have additional rights as children and particular rights as refugees.”

This is an issue that I’ve only thought about from the view of the United States. It was eye opening to read about this issue from Australian educators. This position statement lists a number of principles that will support the best interests of children when dealing with asylum issues. To view this page visit http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/position_statements/eca-position-statement-children-of-asylum-seekers.html

If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

There has been a number of articles on the ECA website recently about e-bullying. The ECA has called for education on online safety to begin in the early years. They believe that as soon as children are old enough to use technology they should learn about positive online behavior. One quote I’d like to post is as follows:

“A greater focus on socio-emotional skills like resilience supports children to better manage relationships with their peers and resolve conflicts which may include future incidents of cyber-bullying.” To read more about this issue visit http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_news/early_childhood_news/march-media-release-fight-against-e-bullying-needs-to-start-early.html

Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

One section of the website was about AEU (Australian Education Union) has been reviewing a report called “Equity, Excellence and Inclusiveness in Education.” The report looks at the negative effects of disadvantage for school performance and stresses the importance of equitable school funding. I read parts of the report and was especially interested in Chapter 5 which is about ways to create an equitable, excellent and inclusive education system. A few of the suggestions include hiring qualified teachers, allocating resources equitably, making pre-primary education accessible to all and more. This report fits exactly into the readings for this week.

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

Childhood obesity is one issue that is discussed throughout the website and newsletters. According to ECA) there is no early childhood issue that is covered more widely in the media than childhood obesity.  The ECA website has a number of quality resources for educators, families and children on this issue.

Early Childhood Systems Around the Globe

Since I have not yet heard a response from my international contacts, I have been spending time studying the Global Children’s Initiative’s website. The Global Children’s Initiative was launched by Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Children. Through this website I have learned:

• 1.      This initiative helps support child mental health which they view as a highly under addressed issue. Projects have been launched to focus on this issue in China, Rwanda and in three Caribbean nations.
• 2.      The Global Children’s Initiative is exploring child well-being in a range of natural and man-made disasters. This focuses is immediate circumstances and also long term adaptations.
• 3.      The Global Children’s Initiative is focusing on providing leadership training for teachers, policymakers and researchers around the world.

Harvard’s Global Children’s Initiative is so much more than I initially thought. Their mission to support young children around the world is benefiting thousands of people. I am so glad to learn that such initiatives exist. 

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!