Week 6 -Sharing Web Resources

On the ACEI website that I have been exploring over these past 5 weeks, there are a few interesting quick links that covers many topics.

Childhood Education, Journal of Research, Childhood Explorer, Focus Quarterlies, Early Years Bulletin

Research Round-Up, Books.

The section of the ACEI site that I have searched thoroughly is The Global Gateway. This week the featured article was on Education around the World. This is considered the place where we can look into global education at the various levels ranging from early childhood through primary. It allows you to see the diversity of the countries and the uniqueness of their education systems. One of the many regions that was highlighted is Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is reported in this article that the Caribbean and Latin America has a very good education access rate at the primary school level. The reported level of enrollment is an average of 95.3%. Even though education is an important aspect of the culture, there are still issues of quality education and barriers for children with special needs, however there are regional plans in place to deal with these. One big issue that concerns the region is that the indigenous children are marginalized and disadvantaged. More and more they are losing interest in education because they do not believe it is not practical to their existence for example, they do not see the need for bilingual or bicultural programs in their culture. This has really sparked my interest and so I will be looking more into the education and culture of the indigenous people. Another area of great concern in the article is the high rate of violence in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. The murder rate is considered to be alarming especially among the youth and is highly gang related. The link to find out more is at: http://acei.org/global-gateway/americas#latinamer

Engaging Effectively With the UN

As a member of the United Nations Association Council of Organizations (COO), ACEI is active in promoting the collaboration of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with the United Nations and its various agencies. As a part of that effort, ACEI recently supported the United Nations Association in presenting "The UN and You: Guiding Effective Engagement."(ACEI, 2014).

One insight that I have gained over this week is that there are many barriers to ensuring quality education for young children ranging from poverty to language difficulty or lack of qualified teachers. However, there is much that can be done to eliminate most if not all of those barriers and it begins with awareness.

http://www.acei.org/ 

Getting to know your international contacts- Part II

As I explored The Harvard University’s center on the developing child website, I realized that there is a number of different types of resources available there. I found very interesting information that are research based and current. One important fact I gathered is that the topic of Child development seem to be taking new turns globally. More countries are paying attention to the importance of investing in early childhood and are raising the bar on early childhood education. A fitting example is that The center on the developing child, Harvard University (2014) reports that Brazil is making new strides with the knowledge of the science of early childhood. After sitting together for an executive leadership course in early childhood development, hosted by Harvard University in 2012, politicians, policymakers, public managers and civil-society leaders got new insights and tools to design and implement more effective public policies and social programs. 

Mary E young, course director, explained that the purpose of this course, is aimed at helping policymakers “to acquire a common knowledge on the importance of the early years, so that they will be able to translate that knowledge into practice to close the gap between what we know and what we do”( (Harvard University, 2014). Those attending the meeting realize the challenges they will encounter in working with the cross-section of stakeholders. However the attitude that they are taking is outlined in the Global children’s initiative strategic goals that states:

•reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;
•supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and
•building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children."
(Harvard University, 2014)
                                    

Harvard University, (2014). Center On The Developing Child. Retrieved from
     http:/developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global initiative

Sharing Web Resources

The section that has much relevance to my professional development this week is the article on education for sustainable development. This got my attention because we know that children are the future and it is necessary that we invest in them in a sustainable way, for example making quality early childhood education accessible to all of the world’s children. This is in harmony with the organization’s banner “Bright futures for every child, every nation” (ACEI, 2014). Therefore as early childhood professionals, we are called upon to teach children resilience, and how to become responsible contributing citizens to the society they will grow up to be a part of.

There is a large number of children in the world who are living in poverty, and have no opportunity for education. If these families are given the opportunity to receive quality education, it would turn their lives around for good. ACEI (2014) states that “sadly, sixty-one million children of primary age are out of school, suffering the acute and long-term effects of poverty and ill-health.  Increasing the number of in-school children with the capacity to learn is necessary to reduce poverty and ensure that all children can partake in education and learning opportunities that secure a sustainable future for our world”.(p.1).  

The idea that I found controversial, came from The Global gateway section of the ACEI website. The highlight was International comparisons and scenarios in which a number of studies that were designed to provide information about the education system of different nations around the world, were examined. Some competitiveness came into play because of the results of these studies. Countries began to show interest in using them, desperate for improvement in their education systems. However, there must be caution taken in ensuring that the data is not used to generalize sweeping outcomes. There are some important factors that have to be taken into account, based on the origin of the studies and the context in which the research was done.  ACEI (2014) explains that “Despite the common goal of providing equal access to quality education to all students, national and regional contexts and instructional situations can differ dramatically depending on a country's resources, culture, demographics, and education philosophies. Even though studies are very valuable to the improvement of quality, the results do not dictate that education for all children across the globe is a one size fits all.

The Childhood Explorer is an online publication of ACEI, it is very informative and shares experiences of children in various parts of the world. It also tells about the different projects that are being sponsored and what is being done in an effort to improve the lives children globally. This week there was an article “Hope in the mountains heights” about the life of children living in Haiti’s, their resilience even in the heart of poverty. I look forward to reading this article and increasing my knowledge of how children survive in the clutches of poverty and what I can do to help.

Reference

http://www.acei.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part I

It was nearing the end of this week that I got an email from one of my international contacts,the Early Childhood Commission of Jamaica. Dr Joan Reid the director of the commission, informed me that she has passed on my name and email address to a colleague of hers who will be in touch with me soon.(Reid, Early Childhood Commission). I did not get the name of my partner as yet but I look forward to the conversations that we will have. I will be sharing what I am learning, the insights and challenges as we progress over the next few weeks.

I have been waiting for a response from my connection in Sweden and also a possible connection from Belize. I will share as soon as I know what is happening. Later in the coming week, if I do not connect with the second person by then, I will email a friend in Europe with whom I have already spoken.

In the meantime, I have researched on the issue of poverty and its effects on early childhood in Jamaica. I found a very interesting report on an academic publication that is a 20-year follow-up to an early childhood stimulation program. This was a randomized intervention carried out one hour per week by Jamaican community health workers. They would administer psychosocial stimulation to developmentally delayed toddlers who were living in poverty. This was carried out over a 2-year period where the mothers were taught about the benefits of playing and interacting with their children, to help in developing their cognitive and personality skills. The authors (Chang-Lopez, Girtler, Grantham-McGregor, Heckman, Pinto, Vermeerch, Walker & Zanolini, July 2013) re-interviewed the participants 20 years later and found positive results. You may find the article at; http://www.povertyactionlab.org/publication/labor-market-returns-early-childhood-stimulation-20-year-follow-experimental-intervention. I will be discussing more about this project with my partner and share more from what I will learn from time to time.
                                                                             

 Reference

Reid, Joan.Re: Early Childhood professional connection. Retrieved from email message to Sherron McFarlane. May 21, 2014.

Sharing Web Resources

The international website that I chose to know much more about is; Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI). Their web link is http://acei.org/.

ACEI is a charitable organization whose mission reads; “Our 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, this was established by educators who were worried about the training and professional preparation of kindergarten teachers. They got the attention of other like-minded entities and in 1931, the National Council of Primary Education joined with the IKU, changing the name to the Association for Childhood Education (ACE). In 1946, having realized the critical need for advancing childhood education throughout the world, association for childhood education added "International" to its name, making it the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI).( http://acei.org, 2014).

The association’s areas that they are focusing on 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. (acei.org, 2014).

As I explored the ACEI website, I came across many articles on current issues that are impacting education and the early childhood field. One current issue that caught my attention, which I believe is of serious global concern is; “Worldwide Teacher Shortage: Regional and Global Implications”. The opening statements of this article highlights some facts that lead to this shortage. It stated that “This issue brief sheds light on the teacher shortage as a global crisis, although this crisis does not occur uniformly across different regions of the world.Teacher shortages can be the result of varying socio-political, economic, and educational infrastructure conditions. Therefore, the recommendations suggested here indicate the importance of addressing the crisis in a context-sensitive manner”.(acei.org, 2014).You can also see this information and much more at: http://acei.org/global-action/worldwide-teacher-shortage-regional-and-global-implications#sthash.6ABqjHg1.dpuf.

Establishing Professional Contacts:
Part I
Our blog assignment for this course is very interesting and exciting, connecting globally with other early childhood professionals. I am so excited about making a connection with early childhood professionals in Jamaica. It will be very interesting to share and compare notes about trends and issues in early childhood especially as it relates to culture and practices.

At first,I went to the resources to make a connection through the Global Alliance NAEYC link. I was disappointed when I did not find Jamaica listed. I checked out the UNICEF link and was satisfied to find them there. I explored the cite and tried to email but the address would not open for me so I moved to my personal connections. This was more fruitful, I spoke to a few people who gave me some connections. I am waiting for feedback from one person.

I have emailed the director of the Early Childhood Commission and is now awaiting her response. I did not think that , having being a Jamaican teacher myself, that I would have such difficulty getting off the ground with this process. I will give updates on how that worked out. I really do want to establish a connection with the Jamaican link.

I have also emailed a past colleague in Sweden to see if I can find a connection there. We worked together a while back and it was very interesting to hear her speak about their elementary system, it will be very interesting to learn about the trends and issues in the early childhood system there. I am working on other sources as well so that I will have options open to me, now that I am aware that getting started can be challenging.

Part II:Expanding resources:
I chose to look at: Association for Childhood Education International( ACEI:)
http://acei.org/
I thought that since I am learning from international resources , I may as well get to know something about other international organizations that are available to me. I am drawn by their mission of "Bright futures for every child, every nation". I have signed up to receive their e-news of program and events, education grants, advocacy, global news and research. I look forward to getting informed at the global level and broadening my horizon on global early childhood happenings. i swill be sharing much of this exciting journey as I blog, watch out and return often to share along with me.