Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The international websites that appeal to me are; Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), Children’s Defense Fund and, Division for Early Childhood (DEC).

ACEI is a charitable organization whose mission is; “to promote and support the optimal education, development, and well-being of children worldwide”. This organization was first started as the International Kindergarten Union (IKU) in 1892, and was established by educators who were worried about the training and professional preparation of kindergarten teachers. In 1931, the National Council of Primary Education joined with the IKU, hence the name change to the Association for Childhood Education (ACE). Then in 1946, the need for advancing childhood education throughout the world was realized, thus association for childhood education became the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI). (http://acei.org, 2014).

The association’s focus area for all children in the world includes; access to education, equity in educational settings, quality educational content, and the child's right to education.

ACEI’s main purpose is to promote international and intercultural understanding through much dialogue while showing respect to all people. The members of this organization have pledged to be agents of social change, addressing critical issues in society, in an efforts to ensure that children everywhere are protected, supported, and given the educational opportunities that may help them reach their full potential.

The second organization website that I chose is Save the Children Fund (SCF). As you open the website the most touching statement pops out at you, it reads; “Every child has the right to grow up happy and healthy. The SCF invests in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future”. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. By transforming children's lives now, we change the course of their future and ours. Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with a staff of more than 14,000 people working in over 120 countries, including the United States. SCF says that their aim is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives by improving their health, education and economic opportunities.

Career opportunities- One position that I found available, for which I feel am qualified is: Education Specialist, Head Start. The job requirements and skills are a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, 3 years’ experience supporting teaching staff, supervision skills, strong interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills.

The third organization that I found that touched my heart with the work that they are doing is The Children Defense Fund (CDF). Their mission of ‘No child left behind’, is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. The CDF has a campaign going against child poverty: ‘Ending child poverty now’. It was alarming to me when I read a statement that said, “report shows that by investing an additional 2 percent of the federal budget into existing programs and policies that increase employment, make work pay, and ensure children’s basic needs are met, the nation could reduce child poverty by 60 percent and lift 6.6 million children out of poverty” (CDF, 2015). It is heartbreaking to learn that we are reported to have the second the second highest child poverty rate among 35 industrialized countries despite having the largest economy in the world. You can read more about this at: http://www.childrensdefense.org/#sthash.NGXijjHW.dpuf

References

http://www.acei.org/

http://www.childrensdefense.org/   http://www.childrensdefense.org/#sthash.NGXijjHW.dpuf

http://acei.org/global-action/worldwide-teacher-shortage-regional-and-global-implications#sthash.6ABqjHg1.dpuf.