United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

Having still been unsuccessful in making contact with professionals in other countries, for this week’s post I explored the website of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

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

The UNESCO advocates for holistic development in early childhood children.  They also encourage and support programs that attend to health, nutrition, security, learning, and inclusive education.

In a recent news post by the UNESCO, the organization advocates and pleads for all children to attend a high quality early childhood program.  As they describe, it is the best insurance against poverty, and the best way to ensure that a child’s development and life is on the right track.

Another post discusses the need for all children to have access to early childhood education.  As do many, the UNESCO believes that quality early childhood education should be a right, rather than a privilege.  In our country, the privilege goes to those who can afford it.  In many countries, enrolling boys in early childhood is a higher priority than girls, so while early childhood education may be free or more reasonably priced than in America, it is still not available to all.  It was very surprising to me to hear of this.  Living in America, it is easy to forget that there are still countries that value men as superior to women, even in the earliest stages of life.

Diving Deeper into the NAECTE Website

This week I continued to explore different sections of the website for the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators:  http://www.naecte.org/

One link that I had not yet searched was ‘Books Published by NAECTE Members.’  Members of this organization post on this section any published books that they have written.  There are currently 13 books listed, the wide range of topics of these books include issues faced by immigrant children, current theories and innovative strategies in early childhood education, reaching out to struggling learners, and even textbooks about teaching literacy and dealing with challenging behaviors.

A section of the site that I had not yet explored was the links to related organizations.  This section contained 18 different links to other organizations or informational websites.  Some were national websites, even some I was already familiar with such as naeyc’s website.  Other websites includes certification information and educational programs for early childhood educators.  The most interesting to me were the 2 links that directed me to information about other nations and their early childhood programs; Canada, Australia, and Europe.  Unfortunately so of the links I explored were inactive.

Unfortunately due to high fees, I do not subscribe to this site’s newsletter.  While they do publish quarterly newsletters to be viewed on the site, they have not yet released their summer issue.

As for equity and excellence in education, this organization gives awards to those in the early childhood field who are working to improve the equity and quality of early childhood education.   

Harvard University: Center on the Developing Child

This week I explored Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website in search of new information, ideas and/or insights.  Here is what I found:

·         One section of the website was a National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs.  This forum was established in 2006, and focuses on why investments should be made, what investments should be made, and how it could be gone about.  The forum is made up of scholars from Universities across the nation.  These scholars use behavioral and neuroscience research to guide policy and program decisions.  Currently they are working to build a comprehensive meta-analytic data base about intervention services for babies in the prenatal period through the age of 5.  A goal of this forum is to inform civic leaders, policy makers, and business executives about the basic science of early childhood and brain development.  I was pleased to learn that scholars at such prestigious Universities as Harvard are working to improve the development and education of young children.

·         I also found and learned about the Global Children’s Initiative.  As is obvious from the title, this initiative focuses on building an internationally integrated approach to improving the health, development and survival of babies and young children.   Their goals are to educate and inform global policy and decision makers about the science of behavior, health and learning that begins in the earliest years of life.  They also aim to educate those around the world on how healthy development occurs, how it can be derailed, and if necessary how to get it back on track.  They are especially working to inform those in middle to lower income countries so that they can advocate for their children.  In my opinion, the way a child is raised can be based on culture and/or personal lifestyle choices.  However, the science behind a child’s health and development is consistent throughout, and improving the development of our world’s children will in turn benefit us all.

·         There are several resources available from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child.  Resources range from paid, undergrad or graduate courses, to free information and lectures to the community, and a free newsletter which I have signed up for.  I commend Harvard in working not only on the science of young children’s health and development, but also focusing on getting that information to their students and community, other communities and countries, as well as policy and decision makers.

There is a wealth of information, facts, initiatives and suggestions on this website that I plan to further investigate and report on.

Web Resource

As those who follow my blog may already know, I have been studying the website of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATORS (NAECTE).  This is a national organization that strives to improve early childhood education in several different ways.

The information from the NAECTE website which pertained most to the work I am currently doing is their goal to improve the quality of education for children of low economic status.  Currently, Headstart programs provide early childhood education to those whose parents fall below a specific income rate/economic status.  However, the quality of education in many of the Headstart programs around my area is very poor, and the current system for qualification excludes many who’s families cannot afford quality early childhood education.  This is becoming a major problem in the area where I work.  My kindergarten team is attempting to reach out to the community Headstart programs, daycare centers, and even families who keep their children home with them through those crucial first five years of development.  Our goal is to provide the information and training throughout the community needed so that children are being challenged and engaged during the first five years of life, therefore coming to kindergarten better prepared rather than behind those in more affluent areas and school districts.  We will begin this quest this summer by hosting community education nights and visiting local Headstart and daycare centers.

One controversial issue that the NEACTE takes a stance on is requiring certification of early childhood educators.  It seems that this should be an obvious requirement, as these are the teachers who educate children at their most critical stage of development.  However, due to lack of funding to early childhood education, many programs do not poses the financial means to hire quality, well educated teachers.  This is a problem which economists and politicians address in their stance on investing in early childhood education.  These are the people who see children as future payback.  However due to the state of the economy, the funding is still not there.  Because of this there is currently very little happening nationally to move forward in this effort.

Podcast Review

As I was unable to establish any contacts with early childhood professionals working in another country, I chose to listen to the podcasts, and found them very informational.  The first podcast I listened to was that of an early childhood professional named Susan Lyon, who is the Director of the Innovative Teaching Project in San Francisco.   Years ago, Ms. Lyon was in Italy, and observed the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.  This is a philosophy which allows children to have some control over the direction of their learning.  The approach focuses on children using multiple experiences to learn such as touching, movement, listening, seeing and hearing.  Parents are also a large part of this philosophy.  They are seen as partners and advocates for their children’s learning.

After seeing this philosophy in action, Ms. Lyon decided to bring this style of teaching back to Northern California.  The Innovative Teaching Project consists of a network of teachers which allows a network of schools and early childhood professionals who utilize the Reggio Emilia approach.  These professionals gather to have round table discussion groups about their experiences with the approach.  It was important for Ms. Lyon to include both public and private school professionals in this group.  She strongly believes that this approach can be attained in the public setting.

In thinking back a few years, I remember working in a public early childhood center which served a very low income area.   As a professional development opportunity, we went to observe a school which uses this approach.  Initially, our reaction was, “This could never work with our kids.”  However, after much debate and discussion, we worked to find ways to incorporate the approach into our center, and found it to be very successful.  Hearing about this network of teachers, I believe it would have, and would still be much easier to incorporate and feel supported in our attempts.  I really think that having a network and/or roundtable groups would be beneficial in many areas of our field of work.  It is always helpful to learn from others in our field by working together and hearing about their experiences.

Early Childhood Organization

The name of the organization I choose to become more familiar with is
The National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators:

http://www.naecte.org/

This organization connects early childhood professionals throughout the country and around the world who share the common interest of improving and advocating for early childhood education.  Through this site, they share information, concerns, opportunities, ideas, and experiences.

One issue that this organization is working on is to align curriculum from Pre-K to 3^rd Grade.  As a kindergarten teacher, often Pre-K and Kindergarten both stand alone in their standards and curriculum.  Coordinating and creating alignment throughout grades will improve student achievement.

Another stance that this organization takes is the need for quality early childhood to be available to all children, regardless of economic status.   This is a serious need of our country in our pursuit to improve our educational system.  Research shows that the majority of brain development occurs within the first 5 years of life.  Many children are not being receiving quality care and education during these years due to lack of funding and/or resources.  These children are falling behind others in our country and around the world before even reaching kindergarten.

Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Steps for establishing an early childhood contact in another country:

I first looked at the resource lists, and decided which countries I would be most interested in communicating with to expand my professional knowledge.  I immediately thought of the world renowned success of education in the Asian nations.  I contacted an early childhood professional in China and Japan.  I also thought that learning about early childhood education in Canada may be interesting since it is our neighboring country.  I am hoping to hear back from these contacts, but have not yet.  I may need to consider the alternate assignment.  Has anyone else had success with contacting someone from another country?  If so, how did you go about this?  I think it would be a valuable learning experience.

For the second part of this assignment, I chose the National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators- http://www.naecte.org/.  As a kindergarten teacher, this is the site that seemed most applicable to my career (with the exception, of course of naecte website which I am already familiar.)  Unfortunately the membership has a high fee, so I cannot become a member, but there is a wealth of information on the site, as well as access to newsletters which I believe will be a valuable resource.