Since my international contacts are not able to dialog with me on a regular basis I choose to do the alternative assignment. I explored the UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education" web page and found some ideas that related to my professional goals.
In looking at the UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education" web page I was able to correlate information that related to my professional goals. My first goal is to help support young children in the classroom. On the web page I found a link that led me to Curriculum in early childhood education and care which talks about the importance of curriculum and implementing it to meet the needs of the children through educated trained early childhood teachers.
My second goal is to get more involved in my community to help provide young children with the opportunity to have early learning experiences. When I was reading about what is happening around the world in how much access children have to early education it seems that the wealthy have more opportunity to place their children in high-quality learning programs and the poor do not always have access to these services or the services are not able to meet the needs of all the children. I read through the Access and equity section of the web page and some of the links. Most countries see the importance of early education but have a hard time funding it.
My third goal is to be able to provide teachers and families with the tools to help support young children so that they can have a good start in building the foundation of learning. On the web site it states that parents involvement and relevant leaning materials ensure that early learning materials remain relevant to the needs of the children (UNESCO, nd.).
I have learned from exploring the UNESCO'S web page on early childhood that their are many organizations that are partnering with them to get the conversation started about early childhood issues and to start making changes in other countries that will benefit young children and their families. The process takes time but if everyone can become one voice for early childhood them change will happen. Some of the other organizations are:
Bernard van Leer Foundation is based in the Netherlands and funds and shares knowledge about work in Early Childhood Development (ECD) to support programmes that create significant positive change for children up to the age of eight.
Our mission is to improve opportunities for children up to age 8 who are
growing up in socially and economically difficult circumstances. We see this
both as a valuable end in itself and as a long-term means to promoting more
cohesive, considerate and creative societies with equal opportunities and rights
for all.
The World Bank helps countries integrate education into national economic strategies and develop holistic education systems responsive to national socio-economic needs and being conscious of the powerful economic and social justifications for early investment.
There are many more organizations around the world that are involved and it makes me realize that there are possibilities that can open up for early childhood so that young children can have access to quality preschool, families can have access to services to help support early learning and for their children and early childhood teachers can also receive the support and training they need to be able to provide a quality preschool program.
In reviewing the information like that presented on the UNESCO it is encouraging that a large number of organizations around the world are joining forces to ensure the continued progress towards equity in early education. Of the information that I read, though, I didn't seem to notice that there was very much involvement from the US in many of these efforts - I wonder if this is due to the focus at home or because we have limited input.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering.
I also found the information from The World Bank to be very informative!
Thanks,
Hi Julie,
ReplyDeleteGreat and detailed post on UNESCO. I find that in our nation, at least, the biggest problem when it comes to providing quality early childhood care on the parental side and the organizational side is funding. Parents oftentimes find themselves with limited access to quality care because of limited funds. Likewise, many early childhood centers struggle to provide quality care, programs and staff because of the lack of funding. So many people tout that they are supporters of ECE and education, in general yet are ignorant to the fact that like any other business, it takes money to make it work. We pride ourselves on success, yet don't realize the foundation for success is laid pretty early in life. If we don't help with the basic foundation, we can't expect them to go far in the future.
Dear Julie,
ReplyDeleteYou were so detailed in your discussion and I appreciate your thoughts especially in explaining your goals.UNESCO site made it possible to know that help is available and are willing to partner with the countries that need help especially in developing countries. More importantly, there are many more organizations through the world bank that offer assistance and many African countries are taking the advantage. I think the greatest challenge is for the nations to see the importance of early childhood education in nation building.
I also enjoyed the website it was a wealth of information. Its good to see that thw world is becoming so invested in the early education of children. There are so many effort to educate children it gives me hope for a better world. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete