International Contacts- Part III

This week I listened to podcast participant Irma Allen. Mrs. Allen in the chairperson of Swaziland Environment Authority in South Africa. Ms. Allen moved to Swaziland during college and has resided there ever since in addition to chairing the Environment Authority, which is the equivalent to the EPA in the United States, Ms. Allen has a passion for the earl childhood field and trains the community people on becoming early childhood teachers in the community. Nature is a big part of the early childhood classroom since there are no traditional classrooms the children are taught outdoors. The local environment is the preschool center and out in the nature is the children's class. Ms. Allen states that "nature is the medium, materials and everything; never before have we had to rely on so much on every bit of grass that is in the area or every tree, or the weather. When there is water we do activities with water when there is no water er don't do them then" (World Forum Radio, 2013). Ms. Allen creates a great respect for the environment because the environment has always provided lessons to teach the children. At a farewell party to a staff member a young man stood up and stated that he once attended the early learning center in Swaziland and due to his attendance there he has developed an appreciation for his home, country and environment.

In researching the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) website I focused on a topic that related to my professional goal which is adequate training for teachers. I was surprised to see the UNESCO's facts and figures on teachers, some of them are as follows:

• A total of 6.8 million teachers are needed by 2015
• Sub-Saharan African countries need to recruit 1.8 million teachers

The UNESCO is working to address the challenge of achieving quality education for all, by calling for more and better trained teachers. The UNESCO is working to mobilize and assist member states in the design and implementation of viable national training, recruitment, retention, status and working conditions. The areas that will be focused on to meet the challenge of quality education are:

1. Teacher shortage: By bridging the teacher gap in priority countries, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa
2. Teacher Quality: Improving teaching quality
3. Research Knowledge Production and Communication: By informing the global debate about teaching with comparative evidence

To inform the world about the importance of teachers the UNESCO formed "World Teacher Day" held on October 5th "to call attention to the need to raise the status of the profession- not only for the benefit of teachers and students, but for society as a whole, to acknowledge the crucial role teachers play in building the future" (UNESCO, 2013).

Reference
UNESCO website (2013). Retrieved from http://www.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002177/217775E.pdf

World Forum Radio (2013). Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org

Sharing Web Resources

In following some of the outside links to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)  website I found many interesting blogs about early childhood education, policy matters, and classroom struggles. There was also a link to the Preschool Matters...Today! newsletter that had articles about the recent State of the Union address that was given. In searching one of the areas of the NIEER the section called Early Education in the news it lead me to a site called Education Week: Politics K-12. This site had open discussion forums for early educators, advocates, or anyone else interested in the education of children. The forums have various areas in which you can participate in from testing and accountability, professional development, teaching profession, to current events. In following the e-newsletter the new information that I discovered was areas where various upcoming conference updates are posted along with early education news articles from around the United States. There were also resource postings for teachers, advocates, and families.

The e-newsletter had an article called Governor's Early Childhood Education Investment Plans in which six state governors were highlighted due to their proposed early childhood education funding. Another article worth mentioning was regarding how Mississippi legislature has approved proposals to introduce a Pre-K program for 4 year olds using public-private partnerships and local matching funds. This weeks search through the NIEER website just exposed me to more of the politics that are occurring around and about early childhood education which is something that I need to be more aware of as I continue on in my professional journey.

International Contact Part II

The podcast participant that I listened to was Delfena Mitchell the director of Liberty Children’s Home. The children’s home is in located in Belize in Central America as which has the number one cases of child abuse. Physically, and sexually abused children as well as abandoned or neglected children reside in Liberty Children’s Home. The home is a place that is committed to giving children time to heal before going to school like other children. Ms. Mitchell discussed a child who needed time to heal before going back into the school system. The child had not spoken in over a year but when he came to the school he was home schooled then enrolled in school in town. The child was unfortunately kicked out in first week but with more time at the children’s home he progressed. Ms. Mitchell spent time with this child and took him horse back riding where he began to open up about the abuse he had encountered such as getting beat with a stick and having to eat under his bed so others would not take his food. In the course of speaking with the child Ms. Mitchell noticed that the child was regressed in his age and she found it hard to understand what he said. Over a period of weeks the child said a few words and enjoyed spending time in the garden because he enjoyed being there and he was taught at the Children’s Home. The child was placed on medication and after time there was a difference in him and he began to talk more and was able to move into the traditional school setting with the other children in town. Ms. Mitchell’s work with children that have been abused is much needed and the special attention and time allowed for children to heal in a safe place is crucial to their development and recovery.

One of the initiatives that the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child is involved in globally is children mental health. The website stated, “There is an urgent need to identify the scope of the problem within and across countries and to develop evidence-based approaches in policy and service delivery that are responsive to diverse cultural contexts. To respond to this challenge, a working group of Harvard faculty is developing a focused agenda in research, education, and public engagement to address significant gaps in knowledge and service delivery” (Harvard University, 2013). Not only is the Harvard University focusing on children’s mental health but also on children who have experienced a crisis. The organization also has initiatives by states in Washington there is an initiative called Innovation by Design (IBD) “at a state or provincial level which aims for policy change that benefits young children and their families on a population basis by reducing barriers to learning and strengthening the foundations of health” (Harvard University, 2013).

Harvard University Global Children's Initiative website : http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative

Sharing Web Resources

The web resource I am studying is the NIEER. Some of the information that is relevant to my professional development are the online newsletters featuring the current hot topics. These topics keep me up to date with what is occuring in the early childhood field. The information that this website adds to my understanding is up to date information of current and developing policies as well as scientific studies and research that the early childhood field is doing

 In researching the site I found an article called A tough critique of Common Core on early childhood education (2013) by Valerie Strauss in which it explores the committees that make up core standards for K-12. I found this article interesting because in the creation of standards for children no one on the committee panel was a K-3 classroom teacher or early childhood professional, and the committee panel consisted of 135 people. Strauss stated, "The early childhood teachers and child development experts were excluded from the K-3 standards- writting process" (Strauss, 2013).

Strauss, V. (2013). A tough critique of common core on early childhood education. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/29/a-tough-critique-of-common-core