Issues and Trends-Final Blog

I am so grateful for this class exposing me to issues and challenges faced in the early childhood field in other countries. Though, I was never able to connect with professionals in other countries, I have been able to learn through reading my classmates blogs and listening to podcasts. 

The first consequence of researching and learning about the international field has been making me grateful for the education opportunities we have available in the United States. Sometimes we forget that there are those who suffer so much more and have less than we can even imagine. The education system in our country needs improvement so we can learn from other countries policies and practices and work together to improve early education for children worldwide. 

The second lesson came from a podcast by Irma Allen who is the chairperson of Swaziland Environment Authority which is similar to the United State's EPA. She is also a member of World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children. Mrs. Allen spoke of the importance of nature in the education of children in her country because nature was their classroom. Listening to her helped me realize the importance and necessity of incorporating more nature into classrooms and lesson plans. Schools are pushing for more academics so children in every grade are losing their outside time and their interaction with nature. Due to the increase of technology children are losing outside time at home too. We need to develop and nurture a love of outside early to help children appreciate nature. 

The last consequence has been opening my eyes to the many different facets and issues in the early childhood field. I am guilty of living in my own little bubble of world and so have not been aware of the extent of many of the topics discussed in this class. Researching poverty in my area showed me a whole new level of poverty in my area that i was not aware existed. I also gained a much better understanding of the complexities for ensuring all children have an equity of care and excellence in their education. 

Our field serves children and families and this means there are issues we must deal with beyond just making lesson plans and teaching children ABC's. Children and families are complex and unique and as teachers and professionals in the field we must be aware of the many issues to serve and help to the best of our abilities. My goal is to continue to educate myself on international organizations and organizations in our country as well as issues out and inside our country.

Getting to know your international contacts-Part 3

I listened to the podcast of Maysoun Chehab. Maysoun Chehab is the Regional Early Childhood Care and Development Program Coordinator at the Arab Resource Collective (ARC), a not-for-profit non-governmental organization based in Beirut, Lebanon. Ms. Chehab spoke of her work with a psychosocial intervention program after the war in Lebanon. This program worked to provide support for children and families. I was impressed with her statement that before they worked with the children, they trained the families and teacher and provided them with support and coping techniques. She stated that if the parents and teachers are not supported, they could support the child. This is important for all early childhood professionals to remember because the family is the primary environment and support for children. 

I explored the website http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/. I read an article about the Big Push Initiative which is working to increase early childhood care and education in Africa. This is a much needed program because according to the website only 1 in 4 children between the ages of 0-8 attend preschool. This varies depending on the region with the average enrollment in West Africa around 19%. The other shocking statistic I read was the fact that sub-Saharan Africa needs one million teachers. UNESCO has a training initiative to help with training quality teachers. There has been a lot of progress with increasing early childhood education in Africa, but there is still a long way to go. 

Sharing Web Resources

The NAEYC website has a link for families. This link gave a wealth of information for families providing article on several different topics such as biting in children, sibling rivalry, and even on coping with tragedy. There is also a place for parents to search for NAEYC accredited programs in the areas and also provided tips for what to search for when looking at child care programs for children of different ages. This website is a great resource to provide for parents. I spent a lot of time reading articles that pertain to me as a parent. 

I signed up for the newsletter, however for some reason I have not received one yet. I read through some of the updates for federal developments. I was very interested in the update on the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG). The last time there were changes to CCDBG was 1996 (http://www.naeyc.org/policy/federal/3_25_14). This amazed me that in almost 20 years we have not changed the standards or qualifications. The Senate recently passed a reauthorization bill which does have changes to health and safety requirements, eligibility, and training, but this bill does not provide the funding for the program (http://www.naeyc.org/policy/federal/3_25_14). It is important to contact our representatives to inform them of the benefits CCDBG has for our children and why this program needs these updates, but also still needs funding. 

Getting to know your international contacts-Part 2

This week I listened to a podcast by Irma Allen who is the chairperson of Swaziland Environment Authority which is similar to the United State's EPA. She is also a member of World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children. Mrs. Allen is very passionate about early child education, especially nature's involvement in classrooms. Nature is very important because in Swaziland there are no classrooms and the lesson plans are very dependent on nature. Mrs. Allen mentioned there is not always water available so when there is water they do water activities. This is extremely different than here in the U.S. because water play is part of every day play. I was extremely moved by a story she shared of a young man who spoke at a retirement party for a teacher. The man said he was an orphan was one of the first children of the her preschool and he learned to appreciate his country and the environment. I feel many of the children in our country are losing the appreciation for nature as more focus turns to technology. I wonder how this will impact the fight for recycling and saving our environment. This podcast made me ask how can children who have never climbed trees understand the need to save them, will children who never fished in creeks feel upset by their pollution, and will children who never play outside see and want to put a stop to littering? Without exposing children to nature and all it has to offer, can our children appreciate the need to protect our environment?

I explored the website http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/. I went to the link for the Mother Child Education Foundation (ACEV) of Turkey. There was an article about a panel held for working on gender equality in Turkey. This is an important issue in many countries and affects the education of girls. I also learned about a study that followed children who had been abducted into armed groups in Sierra Leone. These children were 10-17 years old when they were released and able to return home. This study will help to better understand the impact of toxic stress experienced in childhood later in life. Both of these are issues that most people do not even realize occur in the world and it is easy to live in denial that children face these circumstances every day. We need to do better educating people in the United States and exposing our children to information about other countries so our children today can continue the work of others helping children in other countries.