My Personal Research Journey

The topic that I chose for the research simulation is “Does educating families about vaccines play a role in preventing childhood diseases”? This is an interesting topic for me because I have often heard parents and even families discussing their fears of letting their children be vaccinated. At one time I was even challenged on the question of having my second child vaccinated. There are many arguments supporting the potential of the child getting certain diseases after being given shots. There are many parents who have taken the decision to not have their babies vaccinated and it is believed that this will endanger many children lives.

I came across an interview article on Scholastic (2014) that was done by Parent and Child magazine, with a public health expert entitled “The vaccine debate” and the opening paragraph grabbed my attention, and I quote “The number of young children who are not fully vaccinated for preventable diseases has been steadily increasing over the last decade. More and more, parents are claiming non-medical exemptions from routine vaccinations — leaving their children, their children's classmates, and other children in their communities vulnerable to diseases”(para.1). This has increased my interest because as an early childhood professional, I know I will meet families with this challenge. I would love to be able to give them resources to consult and therefore make informed decisions in regards to their child’s well-being.

My personal experience with the simulation process is the growth that I am experiencing in looking at research as a tool, in improving my knowledge and skills as a professional in the early childhood field. The research chart is a great idea, it aids my maneuvering the language of research that is still considered a little challenging for me. I am reading for wisdom and guidance as we travel this journey. We are a great source of help and support to one another in this course. I truly appreciate your help everyone, please feel free to give me ideas and suggestions as to where am going with this topic. I have been learning so much from all of you and I am truly grateful for the experience. I      want to encourage every one of us to keep going because we are all in this together and so, we will all get through this.

I found a research process flow chart that was very helpful to me as well when I was anxious about research and the complexities of doing one. I know that everyone has formulated their questions but I still included it.

References

The Research Process Flow chart. (2004). Retrieved July 8 from http://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/documents/research_flowchart.pdf

The Vaccine Debate. (n.d.). Scholastic.com. Retrieved July 12, 2014, from http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/parent-child/vaccine-debate

Week 8, International Connections- Final blog

The consequences I experienced learning about issues and trends around the world, is that being able to communicate with an international professional was not as easy as I thought it would be. I really did not truly establish a connection even though I spoke with someone. However, It was really surprising to me to know that there are so many issues facing early childhood even in first world countries. Poverty is so prevalent and quality and excellence in jeopardy the world over. I am encouraged that there are advocates and various organizations that are working tirelessly to help and support the cause for quality and excellence in early childhood around the globe.  I have great respect and admiration for agencies like the NAEYC, Zero to Three, UNICEF the ACEI, just to name a few. Their websites are informative and up to date with research and reports that are very useful in helping to keep professionals abreast of new and ongoing developments in the education field. I believe that as a professional I should visit these sites regularly and recommend them frequently to my colleagues and other professionals.

Another consequence is that I read much more than usual before I tried to make contact with international professional. I felt that I did not know enough about policies, issues and trends to have an on-going professional interaction with other professionals. I tried to contact a Jamaican professional, I wish I did, and I know how critical Jamaicans are when interacting with other professionals. Their expectations are very high and so I was a little apprehensive about what our conversation would be like. Even when I sent out the emails to the Jamaican early childhood commission I realized that I was nervous and was so tongue-tied when I phoned the office. I did not hear from them again, in and was disappointed because I am very interested in the Jamaican system because of my commitment to poor children there.

 I am grateful to my classmates that made connections and shared from what they found out, very informative and enlightening information. My personal goal is to become an advocate for quality education for families in need and a voice for their cause. I will continue to follow trends and issues around the world and see how they impact early childhood.

 I am presently in Jamaica and have visited two early childhood institutions. It was wonderful to see the children engaged in play and learn. There are 67 children on roll, 65 attending regularly, ranging from ages 3 to 6 years old. I was moved to see the teachers’ hard work as they try their best to bring quality to those in their care. Most of the resources were hand made from used packaging and the charts were hand written. Every bit of the resources reflected the hard work, creativity and originality that was put into them because of a deep commitment. I spoke with the principal and I asked what could someone do to help the efforts and she said that they would be grateful for one computer. I promise her that I will seek contributions to get them a computer that their tiny dream will come true. This is the beginning of my promise to make a difference in the lives of young children so that they may reach their full potential.

St John's Infant School

Principal Mrs Perrin

One of the teachers Mrs Mc Donald

Getting to know your international contacts- Part III

I must say that I am disappointed that I have had no further correspondence from my international professional contacts, especially the Jamaican link. However, I must say that I am in Jamaica for a private matter but I am scheduled to visit an early childhood resource center which I am very excited about.

In the meanwhile I visited the UNESCO website and is glad to be able to view it when I wish. 

The United Nations Educational and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has an amazing  website that is excellent for finding information on the issues and trends in early childhood across the globe. It informs the reader not just about issues but also what is being done to bring equity and quality to all children. I have acquired very useful information and insights from exploring the website.

 One such insight I have gained is that parents and all levels of care givers can gather much information and guidelines to help to ensure the quality of service that is given to the families we serve. For example, the fact that the early years (age 0 to 8) are crucial to brain development, and that this is the time that the ground work is done for future learning and development processes. This is why the UNESCO advocates for “programs that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning, which provides for children’s holistic development and lay the foundation” (UNESCO, 2014, para. 1-2).The first years are very important to successful early childhood development.

Another insight I gained is that after organizing the first world conference on early childhood care and education (ECCE) in September 2010, the UNESCO joined forces with other entities to rally together in an effort for young children all over the world to achieve their full potential. This is done through the Moscow Framework for Action and Cooperation: Harnessing the Wealth of Nations. The Muscat group which represents 300 global organizations, are advocating for and supporting education. They have specific target areas which are seven at the moment, the aim is to reflect diversity on the social, political, economic and cultural perspectives. This was developed by the UNESCO, and is the foundation for Action, in continuous discussion with all of the EFA partners. The 7 areas that are of paramount importance are financing, basic education, teachers, skills for work, skills for citizenship, youth/adult literacy and early childhood care and education (UNESCO, 2014).

The insights that I am gaining from this interesting and informative website has caused me to rethink my position as a professional in the early childhood field. I am truly seeing that it is being much more than a teacher. 

Reference

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2014). Early childhood care and education. Retrieved June 19, 2014, fromhttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

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/