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.