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:
- Teacher shortage: By bridging the teacher gap in priority countries, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa
- Teacher Quality: Improving teaching quality
- 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
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot from your post. World Teacher Day sounds interesting and I am going to research more about this. I agree that the world needs to learn more about the role teahers play in building the future!
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteYour information was very informative. I enjoyed reading it. I'm very amazed that their local environment is their preschool. I bet can be so much fun.
Thanks Tiffany for the new post. Learning outside through exploration sounds exciting and interesting, but I'm not sure if that would be the only available option to early learners. From a safety perspective, what happens when the weather doesn't permit or if a child has sever allergies, or if their is an outside threat/attack? The nature/environment approach is impressive but it does sound limited and insecure.
ReplyDeleteWow that is an extremely interesting post. I had no idea so many teachers were needed in the sub-saharan African desert. 1.8 million teachers. It is so sad to think of what the children in that area must be going through. education could be there way out and with such a high demand it is not likely that it will be completely achieved.
ReplyDeleteI have really learned something from reading your blog. I didn't know in other places people are teaching outside. That has to be very interesting for the children because they are learning about the environment and nature around them.
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