Learning about issues and trends in the early childhood field has given me great insight into how I am able to play a role in my own community to make positive changes. Learning about international issues affirms that early childhood education is something to be examined and improved in all countries. One of the consequences I learned through international websites is that funding is a major contributor to the issues in early childhood as not all countries value the importance of early childhood education. I have also gained insight into issues of excellence and equity among many countries. There are numerous international organizations, such as UNESCO, working toward advancing early childhood programs and services which stresses the need for high quality in all areas, especially at risk and low income communities.

One of the biggest goals for the field of early childhood education is gaining advocacy for children and their families in all countries. No matter where a family is from, gaining high quality access to early education programs is important for healthy child development. Advocating for families and children to receive these programs and services may help bring awareness and collaboration to these international issues and trends.

UNESCO

In agreement with the readings from this week, the UNESCO website states there are no universally agreed criteria to determine early childhood education quality. UNESCO addresses the concern that pre-primary education is often putting too much emphasis on preparing children for formal education and not enough importance placed on holistic development. However, an early childhood teacher’s training and work efforts can assist in quality transitioning between pre-primary education and the formal school setting.

Access and equity in early childhood services is a great concern discussed by UNESCO. Countries often provide alternative services for poor children while providing more funding to services and programs for privileged children. The lack of universality of services creates a great need for government and policy makers to examine the equity of services to children’s access and quality of education.

Investment and financing through mobilization of resources may be the greatest difficulty faced in other countries as they try to improve and expand on early childhood programs. Early childhood may be overshadowed particularly in developing countries as primary schools are given priority. While government funding may be small, it is my impression that these countries are missing out on crucial years of development and providing children the foundational education necessary for primary school.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Zero To Three Web Resource

One of the outside links offered is to Early Head Start Resource Center. I like that this resource is directly linked to the Zero To Three organization. It shows the collaboration between early childhood organizations and professionals.

A new area that I explored this week was in the Family, Friend, & Neighbor Care section under Care & Education. This area provides a lot of information for caregivers providing early education care within their home to family, friends, and neighbors. This section offers a tremendous amount of support to enable caregivers to provide the best care within the home. The reason I find this interesting is because I have often heard of stay-at-home mothers opening their homes to other families for daily childcare. This resource has great information on how to get things running, keep it running, and to provide education and well-being to the children.

The Zero To Three website listed an article, “Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk” which gave insight into ways to improve access to early childhood education. The article discusses efforts to expand or enhance initiatives with the Early Head Start (EHS) program. Building on the Promise outlined diverse ways states enhanced or expanded EHS services including four approaches:

• Extend the day/year of existing EHS services

• Expand the capacity of EHS programs to increase the number of children and pregnant women served

• Provide resources and assistance to child care providers to help them deliver services meeting EHS standards

• Support partnerships between EHS and center-based and family child care providers to improve the quality of child care

With these approaches being utilized, states have made adjustments that fit the needs of their programs. The article offers these findings for other states to utilize in efforts to enhance or expand their own programs and provides funding information and recommendations to improve access to EHS.

I was impressed as I read one of the recommendations that state the importance of having champions for EHS initiatives. This simple recommendation was all I need to motivate and spark my desire to advocate for early childhood education.

 

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/pdf/expanding-access-to-ehs-paper.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University collaborates between the numerous resources with the school's campuses and hospitals to achieve their mission of "the belief that the vitality and sustainability of any society depend on the extent to which it expands opportunities early in life for all children to achieve their full potential and engage in responsible and productive citizenship."

One of the tools offered by the Center on the Developing Child was the "Decision-Maker's Guide". This tool offers guidelines and explanations through the use of 5 key questions to assist leaders in determining relevance of program evaluations and policy decisions in early childhood. This tool assists leaders in going through many details of programs and policies in effort to put everything together in a step by step manner.

In Santiago, Chile there is a collaborative effort with the "Un Buen Comienzo" (A Good Start) project. The project is striving to improve the quality of early childhood education through professional development of teachers. While working with 4-6 year-old children, the project focuses on language development while also intervening in health areas and including family involvement. Through incorporating a comprehensive evaluation tool, the project will put Chile at the forefront of demonstrating the impact of quality early education in Latin America.

Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância is a program in Brazil that is working toward guiding better policies and investments in children and families through the use of science of child health and development.

Each of these efforts shows how a university in America is working collectively with local professionals and leaders in other countries to work toward a common goal of improving child helath and development. Each organization is striving for excellence while providing information to assist professionals in achieving success in policies and practices in the eraly childhood field.