Final Blog

Over the course of the past eight weeks, I had not been able to establish contact with professionals from other countries.  However, by researching various websites, listening to podcasts, reading and responding to my classmates’ posts I have gained new insights and knowledge about early childhood issues and trends around the world.

This learning has resulted in the follow consequences:

• The realization that in most countries around the world the issues are similar as it pertains to the EC field.  However, different organizations, cultures, governments work to resolve the issues in different ways.  Nonetheless, having a wealth of resources from website such as ACEI, NAEYC and UNESCO’s early childhood care and education and making connections with professionals gives us an opportunity to see what works and use it to inform our own practices.

•  The development of a deeper passion which resulted in self-reflection.  This reflection has altered my perspective on life, education, children and their families and society at large.

• Living in a small Caribbean country, I was unaware of the extent of these many issues affecting children.  This opened my eyes to these issues and allowed me to gain a better understanding of the complexities of these issues giving me the desire to advocate for equity and excellence of care for every child.

I have endeavored to accomplish the following goals as it relates to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations;

• continue to utilize the resource and websites made available through this course as it will enable me to keep abreast with global perspectives of critical issues affecting early childhood.

•  To collaborate with teachers at my school and other early childhood professionals in my country.  I am of the view that every professional should have an awareness of the issues and we can then brainstorm on possible was of remediating and eventually finding a solution.

• To continue to try to forge relationships with international EC professionals.  This would give me a broader sense of the issues and trends and we can share ideas on best practices.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you, my classmates for your continued support throughout this course.  I have enjoyed learning from and with you.  Your discussions, blogs and responses to my discussions helped enriched my learning. I wish you all the best in your future classes.

Getting To Know Your International Contact - Part 3

 Not having heard from an international contact, I explored the website of UNESCO.  UNESCO is an organization which leads the international policy drive for an integrated ECCE system that embraces both the well-being and holistic development of children.  They are of the view that ECCE is not merely a preparatory stage for transition to formal schooling but rather looks at it in a broader context of social development, gender equity and poverty reduction.  During my exploration I gained the following insights in relation to my goals.

·         UNESCO strives to promote access and equity in the EC field.  Many participating countries are committed to ‘expanding and improving early childhood care and education especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children’.  Likewise governments are being urged to extend equitable access to quality early childhood programs making policies favourable to poor children.

·         UNESCO promotes quality education.  They are of the view that ECCE programs should emphasize children’s holistic development.  Additionally, they believe that high quality child care especially for the disadvantaged children fosters motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development.

·         Many participating countries face challenges as it relates to investment and financing.  Countries have difficulties in expanding and improving the quality of ECCE due to limited resources.  This is more daunting in the developing countries as EC is more likely to be overshadowed by priorities such as universal primary education.

These relate to my professional goals as I live in a developing country where funds are very limited and my ultimate desire is to provide children with the best opportunities so that they will thrive and develop to their optimum so that they can make positive and meaningful contributions in society.  However, in order to achieve this every child must have access to high quality early childhood care and education.


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

Sharing Web Resources

My search on the website of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) revealed that one of the four core values of ACEI is equity.  The association is of the view that “all children should be educated in environments of fairness where there is freedom from bias or favoritism and where access to, and participation in, educational experiences are the cornerstone of the home, school and community.” According to ACEI, this statement does not only speak to their beliefs about equity and equality issues in education, but also to their perspectives on equity and equality in all areas of life.  ACEI believes that issues such as income inequality have a direct link to educational access and opportunity.  To them the rise in income inequality is propagating more inequality in educational opportunity, resulting in greater inequality in educational attainment.  This situation then undermines mobility and perpetuates income inequality from generation to generation.  Oxfam International released a report titled ‘Political Capture and Income Inequality’ which stated that if “ left unchecked, the effects of income inequality are potentially immutable, and will lead to ‘opportunity capture’ in which the lowest tax rates, the best education, and the best healthcare are claimed by the children of the rich. This creates dynamic and mutually reinforcing cycles of advantage that are transmitted across generations.”

The Oxfam International report is available www.oxfam.org

Further analysis of the ACEI website led me to the Fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which highlights that the close link between education and culture should be understood as an opportunity to promote human rights, which also incorporates cultural rights.  The Fourth Session of the UNGA took place in June 2013 as part of a series of meetings for conceptualizing SDGs, the SDG process, and poverty eradication to inform the post-2015 development framework.  The brief accentuates a rights-based approach to both education and culture.  According to the brief, education is a means by which the culture of a particular society or social group as well as the development of global citizenship and respect for cultural diversity can be transmitted.  Equally, “…culture is the soil in which education must grow.” It serves as a means through which young generations can learn about themselves and can only flourish and develop through education. The issue brief points out that, five years ago, culture was mentioned in less than 30% of United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) at the country level; now, it is mentioned in 70% of them. For the post-2015 development framework, it proposes that culture should be acknowledged as an enabler and driver of sustainable development.

Highlights from the Fourth Session of the Open Working Group (OWG) of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Additionally, I found out that the International Inclusive Education Institute, hosted by the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, which will be held on 3-11 August 2014 has a mission to strengthen the capacity of pre-service teacher education programs through dynamic development training that will provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop teacher education programs that are focused on models of inclusion. The organizers of the International Inclusive Education Institute have planned the event with the goal of building a sustainable collective of inclusive teacher education professionals who will work to overcome the obstacles to providing all children the fundamental human right to a quality education.

http://www.acei.org/global-news/inclusion-focused-education

Getting to Know Your International Contact-Part 2

Not having received a response from an international contact, I reviewed I reviewed the Global Children's Initiative of The Center on the Developing Child of Harvard University's website.

The Global Children’s Initiative focuses on three main objectives: educating professionals about issues related to learning, behavior, and health in the early years of a child’s life; to raise global understanding of how to foster healthy development; and to build leadership by joining voices globally about efforts to raise healthy children in low and middle income countries.  The Center’s key components towards tackling their objectives for improvement are the domains of early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations.   

The Centre on the Developing Child through the Global Children’s Initiative, is working in collaboration with Brazilian policy makers to provide stronger policies and greater investments in the early care and development of children and their families. This will certainly provide a stronger, more affluent and sustainable society in the future. Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), which means “A Good Start”, is a collaborative project in Chile, which endeavors to improve early childhood education through the professional development of teachers. The notion is to improve the attendance, language development, and social-emotional development of children ages four to six years of age. Family involvement is a fundamental component of this project, which helps in fostering the healthy development of children.  There is an immediate need to identify problems and services between the countries that are related to the research, education and public awareness of children’s mental health issues and its effect on society as a whole, in the mental health field.  Projects in this area will assess services in China, Rwanda, and the Caribbean countries of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname. 

Issues of equity and excellence are evident in the efforts of the global children’s initiative because children and families are receiving expert advice, healthy living conditions, and knowledge about learning environments on an international level.  By educating others and working on a global level, more children and families are supported ensuring that equity and excellence are being realized by all children worldwide.

Additionally, I listened to the podcast: Episode 1 by Barnabas Otaala, who is the Dean of Education at Martyr’s University in Uganda.   He was awarded a World Forum networking grant to study the impact of HIV/AIDS on young children in Namibia.  He spoke about a child in his village who was HIV positive and the parents were afraid to tell the villagers as they feared that the they would hate them. Nonetheless, Mr. Otaala suggested that they take the child to a doctor. The parents eventually took the child to the doctor and listened to what the doctor had to say. The doctor gave the child ARVs and the parents took the child home and followed the doctor’s instructions. Mr. Otaala was elated that he was able to partner with the parents and the doctor for the best possible outcome for the child. He feels it is imperative that those involved with a child partner and find the best ways to help the child.

Reference

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/globalinitiative/

http://sarah-dev.worldforumfoundation.com/world-forum-radio/