ISSUES AND TRENDS

Over the past weeks, we have had the opportunity to explore the early childhood field from the views of other organizations in the United States and across the world.  In the beginning of the class, I tried to contact several individuals who are in the early childhood field that are internationally abroad.  Unfortunately, none of the individuals responded to my request of personal contact so that I could learn about early childhood education from their own country and personal knowledge.  However, I did experience a wide variety of knowledge from websites that focus internationally on the early childhood field.These websites have been so beneficial for me in learning about other countries and how important early childhood education is in their country.  The website that I focused on was NAEYC which is the acronym for National Association for the Education of Young Children and the UNESCO.

The three consequences of learning about the international childhood field for my personal and professional development are:

1.   I had the opportunity to learn about poverty across the world, but it had an impact on me when I realized how many people in my own community who were struggling with the issues of poverty.  It also was a major reality check for me because these people were my neighbors and I never knew how they were being affected physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally with the stressor of poverty.

2.   I also learned that many people across the world do not have access to education.  The lack of access can be directed to diversity in language or families needing their children to work, rather that have a good education.

3.   I also learned that equity and excellence plays a role in the education that a child receives.  The UNESCO believes that all children should receive education across the world. 

My goal is to continue to establish international contact from an international professional so that I can obtain knowledge about the poverty issue in that particular country.  I believe that as an early childhood professional, it is my goal to advocate against the issue of poverty, therefore I want to be supportive and productive in declining poverty for young children and their families across the world.  I believe that by having collegial relations I will be able to gain more insights about poverty from other individuals in the early childhood field.

Furthermore, I have really enjoyed reading all of your blogs, insights, and comments over the past several weeks.  I wish all of you success as you journey toward your educational goals.

Best of Luck!

SHARING WEB RESOURCES: INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS, PART 3

The three insights that I gained from this website is:

1.       There is a major push for promoting literacy in Nigeria.  "Reading materials which promote local knowledge and values as well as cultures and traditions should be developed to promote a multilingual literate environment at home, community, learning centres and work places," stated by the  Representative of the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Bergudo (UNESCO, 2011) . Literacy needs to be established to help meet the developmental and educational goals of the children and their families.

2.       On the week of April 22-28 it will be Global Action Week.  This organization promotes education for all children.  There are six goals that the organization has established.  These goals include (UNESCO):

Goal 1
Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children

Goal 2
Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

Goal 3
Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.

Goal 4
Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

Goal 5
Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

Goal 6
Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills (2011).

3.      In the article, Education of Roma children among the subjects of World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, it focuses on the educational and learning benefits that the Roma children receive. Despite the efforts to expand and improve education for Roma children, as many as 50 per cent of those in Europe fail to complete primary education (UNESCO, 2011).

Resources: 

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/education_of_roma_children_among_the_subjects_of_world_conference_on_early_childhood_care_and_education/

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/world-conference-on-ecce/single-view/news/get_ready_for_global_action_week_23_29_april_2012/

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/dakar/about-this-office/single-view/news/major_push_for_adult_and_youth_literacy_in_nigeria/

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

Equity and Excellence is an important ingredient for the success of the NAEYC.  The NAEYC focuses on the well-being of the child.  NAEYC promotes quality and care for all children. The NAEYC states:

Several decades of research clearly demonstrate that high-quality; developmentally appropriate early childhood programs produce short- and long-term positive effects on children's cognitive and social development. NAEYC believes that our nation is at a crossroads. We must develop an integrated system of early childhood care and education that includes comprehensive approaches that directly involve families and communities in program design, implementation, and evaluation. We can invest now in our children and families and enjoy long-term savings, with a more vibrant nation of healthy, achieving children and more stable families. Or, we can fail to make the investment and pay the price: increased delinquency, greater educational failures, lowered productivity, less economic competitiveness, and fewer adults prepared to be effective, loving parents to the next generation of children. Federal, state and local government, communities, parents, and the private sector must share in the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of children and families (2006).

The NAEYC believes that all children should have access to educational programs.  Furthermore, teachers and professionals must have continuous trainings to help meet the needs of the children and their families.  The NAEYC also believes that in order to achieve these goals at the national, state, and local levels, policies and decisions must be guided of principles of Excellence, Access, Equity, Diversity, and Accountability. If all of these principles are implemented, then the future of all children will be promising.

On the National Association for the Education of Young Children website, it discusses how next month the NAEYC is focusing on mental health for young children.  This is an issue that has been gain momentum over the past years. As early childhood professionals, we have to become educated on the types and treatments of mental health that affect our children, as well as their families.  Activities will raise awareness of effective programs for children’s mental health needs; demonstrate how children’s mental health initiatives promote positive youth development, recovery, and resilience; and show how children with mental health needs can thrive in their communities (NAEYC, 2012). In our Early Head Start program, we have a mental health specialist that focuses on behavioral issues that affect young children.  If a problem is diagnosed then the mental health specialist will make a referral to an outside agency.  As a teacher, we have to be prepared to deal with any issue that may affect a child’s educational process.  Children need to be treated with respect, regardless of what kind of issue they may incur. I am very passionate about mental health awareness in my community, because I have seen from experience, what happens when a person does not receive the appropriate treatment from the educational system when they are suffering from a mental health issue.  Therefore, I believe that teachers should attend workshops or trainings that reflect mental health.

Also, this week on the NAEYC website it focuses on Earth Day, which is Sunday, April 22, 2012.  The website has articles that give teachers or parent’s ideas on projects and activities that they can do with young children.  In the article, “Ensuring that all Children Can Spend Quality Time Outdoors” discusses the importance of children experiencing nature.  One of Children Nature Network goals is to reduce the disparities in children’s outdoor play and the health and mental health outcomes associated with a lack of outdoor experience (Erickson, 2008).  Young children need to engage in outdoor play because it increases their knowledge about nature.

While reviewing the NAEYC website this week, I increased my knowledge on the well-being and development, equity and excellence, and quality education for young children.

References:

Erickson, M. 2008. The Children Nature Network. Ensuring that all Children Can Spend Quality Time Outdoors”. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200801/BTJNatureErickson.pdf.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 2008. A Call for Excellence in Early Childhood Education.  Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/policy/excellence

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 2012.  National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/children-mental-health