International Early Childhood Education

In Africa:

Education is Africa’s Road to Salvation

                One of UNESCO’s close partners (Triennale), heads of African states, as well as sixty Ministers, plan to transform education and the training systems that will benefit the African continent. This will also help Africa become a part of the global community. Africa wants to transform into a peaceful and prosperous land. They want to improve quality and efficient of Africa’s educational system. Millions of people in Africa are uneducated. Imagine if this program takes off and is successful the amount of brilliant minds working together. Africa can also gain global existence and be seen as an intellectual population.

In Afghanistan:

UNESCO Equips Afghan Police with Literacy Skills

                Three quarters of Afghanistan’s population is illiterate and UNESCO launched a program in June 2011 titled: Literacy for Empowering Afghan Policy or LEAP. Founded by the Japanese government, it hopes to increase literacy rates in over three thousand Afghan policemen. They are also hoping this will help bring safety and peace to Afghanistan.

In Cuba:

UNESCO Education Authorities to Visit Cuba

                Ministry of Higher Education in Cuba has asked UNESCO to visit Cuba. The selected qualified individual will be giving presentations and visiting education centers and schools. Cuba has hopes to strengthen their education system with the help of UNESCO.

Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

            One link on the www.childhoodpoverty.org website is the Chronic Poverty Research Centre. This program is funded by the UK International Department for Development. The CPRC tackles the issues of chronic poverty and pursues to address them. This site explores the concepts, the inequalities, the intergenerational risks of poverty, and many other issues that are a cause of chronic poverty. The policy of the CPRC is to understand the four main themes of why chronic poverty exists in a certain community. These themes are gender, growth, social conflicts, and conflict and fragile states. By tackling chronic poverty, the CPRC supports the growth of economics, human development, social protection and progressive social change.

Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?

            In one particular area of the CPRC site, the site informs browsers about the key messages of supporting this program. Throughout the past six weeks, as a class, we discussed and explained the importance of these issues and how important growing in these areas for individuals is, especially if they are young children. In this particular area, each of the key messages are addressed and as well as exemplified throughout the page. It shows the importance of each of the key messages and why these growths lead to a better life for people. Unfortunately, it is the children who receive the largest of the impact when living in poverty.

If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

            I do not receive any e-newsletters. I do however, explore the site frequently, and I enjoy the information it provides.

Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

            The website includes a large amount of information that deals with chronic poverty. It reiterates all the important issues that we have discussed in this online class and the importance of each person to live in equality and proper care. Without these two key elements, the development of any individual can be impacted. In this site under human development, there is a lot of information to be gained about this issue. One that particularly caught my eye was about human development and this following statement: “Living in chronic poverty increases the likelihood of poor health, illiteracy, reduced functioning/disability and preventable deaths. Improving health services to reduce substantial household expenditure on ill-health is required to facilitate exit from poverty.” By clicking on the following links, information is provided about quality care and the importance of education.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?

            I gained insight about the importance of giving each individual the quality care and education that should be provided to them. As an early childhood educator we must advocate for the existence of the opportunity for each individual to receive these benefits. As it says on the CPRC’s website, many of these improvements can be done, but it takes the advocation of many individuals to carry this out.

Resources:

Retrieved from www.Childhoodpoverty.org

Retrieved from www.chronicpoverty.org

Global Children's Intiative & George Forman Podcast

Global Children's Intiative

3 New Insights gained about Early Childhood Systems around the globe:

v  Un Buen Comienzo ~ “A Good Start”

Ø  This program takes place in Santiago, Chile

Ø  Mission

§  improve the quality of education through teacher professional development training

§  Each school will receive 2 years of extensive training in Early Childhood Development

Ø  Expanding resources & Success

§  This is the only early childhood program that deals with child development intervention

§  Activists and leaders in this program hope to expand this to over 60 sites in the course of over a few years

v  Creating a New Measure of Child Development in Africa

Ø  Anti-malaria initiative

§  Have found positive effects on children’s health since this program was implemented

§  Less cases of malaria have been recorded

Ø  Started by Fink and colleagues

§  These advocators realized that Zambia, Africa was far underdeveloped and needed to gain capital resources

§  Advocators  assessed physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development in children at age 6, and followed this group of students through their school years

§  These advocators made an assessment based on their culture with the appropriate benchmark levels

·         (In their part of Africa, there are over 70 languages studied. Fink and his colleagues determined the prominent language to go forth in study)

Ø  Expanding Resources & Success

§  Since these efforts, children have grown in the three major areas,( socio-emotionally, cognitively, and physically)

§  They are growing in height as well, 8% of children are taller than previous years since the monitoring of this cohort has taken place

v  Global Children’s Initiative ~ Brazil

Ø  Mission

§  By using science of child and health development, this program in place, hopes to receive stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families

§  In the long run, they hope for a prosperous, sustainable, and equitable society.

Ø  Expanding Resources & Success

§  This program offers an internship opportunity for young educators to help those in Brazil

§  It’s goals are to succeed in the following 3 activities

·         Implement a proper scientific agenda centered around Early Childhood Development

·         Communicate the science of Child Development in the Brazilian Culture

·         Strengthen leadership for policymakers and lawmakers, and familiarize them with Childhood Development

Global Children's Intiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Podcast

In this podcast, George Forman, author of book about Piaget, professor at University of Massachusetts and the Cofounder of Vidaetives, explains the importance of allowing children to explorative play. Forman became interested in how children think, through observation of play. He did this by observing children on playground and their interest in play and used Piaget’s theories as a guide. Forman’s epiphany sprung when he observed a young boy dragging a huge log. The child let go off this log vertically, rested it and realized it stood on its own. The log was not falling and the child was amazed by this! He saw this log as standing, not naming it a tower. He noticed that the child saw this situation as a verb not noun, or seeing the world as how things change or stay the same, not how they are. Piaget wants us to see how things change. For example, you can show children red and pink and tell them that those are the colors (noun, or naming) or you could ask them “what do you add to red to make it pink?” Helping children how to change one thing to the other creates solving problem and hierarchical thinking. In Italy, the school reflects this pedagogy, and taking play, drawing, music, by helping children think about their thinking. By using symbols to show children their thinking and setups to help children solve problems at higher levels, will create an independent, explorative student.

World Forum Foundation Radio. Retrieved from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php

Early Childhood Advocaters: CHIP

What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

As an educator in a Title I school, more than 60% of our students live in poverty. I realized the comment that “poverty denies our children opportunities,” true but unsettling. As educators, we cannot settle for this. As budgets get voted down, and extra money is not coming to districts, we must put in our extra time to help these children before/after school. We cannot allow our children living in poverty become the future’s poor adults. Creating paths and glimpses of hopefulness to children, gives them a reason to look beyond their horizons.

Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

Although I do believe it, I just cannot reason with myself how impacting living in poverty can be for children. It’s upsetting to me that malnutrition, and other factors can affect a child’s development and can damage the rest of their lives. It is imperative to me, that all children get the equal opportunities in my classroom, so as their teacher I need to start going the extra mile. Not only do I have to make sure educationally they are being provided fairly, but now at home I must check with them. Many parents may not have the money to put food on the table, so how do I make sure my student is eating a well-balance meal at home, or getting the proper amount of sleep? Students of all kinds deserve a fair childhood and the chance at a fantastic future ahead.

What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

Through research, CHIP hopes to reach policy makers and advocates, to support their efforts to stop the spread of childhood poverty worldwide. The website hopes through policy makers, they can receive the proper support and have these policy makers spread the efforts of CHIP. Economically, CHIP supports a case study that supports the efforts of economists to invest in early childhood education and poverty support groups, to control various economic policies, such as inflation.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

When reading a few of the publications, I found that CHIP advocates for poverty all over the world. When browsing these published readings, I found it astounding that even though these children are from opposite parts of the world, they all are dealing with the same factor and feelings, poverty, and the lack of opportunities that lay ahead. I find that as poverty resides in 1 in 4 children throughout the world, we cannot allow the children to continue in this life cycle. It is important as educators, to invest as much time as possible to create opportunities for them.

Retrieved from www.childhoodpoverty.org

100 Languages & Childhood Poverty in China

Podcast Alternative:

            I listened to the Podcast, Episode 10 with host Michael Kalinowski and guest Susan Lyon on the World Forum Radio. I would like to comment on the brave and challenging step that Susan Lyon took to bring the 100 Languages of Children from Italy to San Francisco. As the Director of Initiative Teacher Project, Susan invested a lot of time to a gather up a network of schools, both private and public sector and successfully implement this program. This program, which is based on learning through children’s environments, as well as seeing the world through their eyes, has been successful in the San Francisco Bay Area.

            I also can relate to Susan Lyon, as she said at the age of twenty-two she was working with a young boy who had special needs. She ended up telling him an answer to the question. When she gave him the answer: “city,” he responded with a comment she will never forget, “small word for such a BIG place.” If only as educators we can start to put ourselves in the students’ shoes then maybe we can connect and teach more effectively. I commend Susan for making the brave move and exploring education to better the lives of young students. I think it is wonderful the efforts she has made.

Childhood Poverty in Urban China:

Unfortunately, after E-Mailing the professionals at the World Forum, I researched the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s webpage:  http://www.childhoodpoverty.org.  I chose to study poverty in urban China.

       I.            I was amazed to read that 45% children in China living in poverty were not completely vaccinated due to financial troubles. Since medical expenses are so high in China, many parents cannot fully vaccinate their children. This seems extremely upsetting, since many of these vaccinations keep children alive and well, and due to their parent's financial burden, their health is threatened.  Compared to the United States, all children are given the chance to receive vaccinations, and are safe from those unfortunate diseases (Benyon, et. al… 2005).

    II.            It is clear that in the report, rural education is a lower in standards, than urban education.  Parents are forced to pay tuition and other fees to send their children to these schools. This is said to be because in urban schools, there is opportunity for the students to get a better education.  To solve this problem, the schooling should be fair, with equal teacher training, comparable curriculum, and clearing away the tuition fees for those who are in poverty. All children should have the opportunity to receive fair education; they should not be deprived because of their family lives in poverty (Benyon, et. al… 2005).

 III.            The amount of social support for those living in poverty in China, makes it difficult for them to gain any sort of help. Many of them go on living with serious illnesses, due to the high cost of medical expenses, or many of them go without food. Having social programs in place for those living in poverty should be implemented more for these people, especially with children involved. Unfortunately, there are not enough social reform programs for those living in poverty for them to take advantage of and many are living in these unfortunate conditions (Benyon, et. al…).

Benyon, Lousie., Mahar, Katie., Wei, Chen., CHIP Report 14: Poverty Among Children in Urban China: A Survey of Poverty Affected-families in Three Cities (2005).

About Me

My name is Stephanie Forino and I am currently a teacher in upstate NY. I love children and seeing the world through their eyes. Being a teacher is one of the best steps I could have taken in my life. Every morning when I wake up, I'm excited to go to work and see what a new day will bring.

I have a lot of support at home, including my fiance, my sister, my mother, and my family. My friends are also a wonderful part of my life.

Right now, I have one course to take (this one) and I will be certified to teach all grades through 6th grade. I'm extremely excited to see what this course will bring, and the doors it will open up.
I am currently planning a wedding, which is extremely stressful at times, but I am enjoying it, and I have a ton of support around me that help. We will be married July 20th, 2012 in upstate NY.

Expanding Resources

 

I have E-Mailed two professionals; one from China and one from Ghana. I look forward to hearing back from them. I'm hoping we can communicate effectively, as I feel this step is interesting and resourceful. Although, I will fall back on the alternative if needed.

I have selected this website. I work in a school with various ethnicities, and I find this website to be the most resourceful for me.

National Black Child Development Institutehttp://nbcdi.org/
(Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ )

NBCDI Organization

The website I chose to study is the National Black Child Development Institute:

National Black Child Development Institute
http://nbcdi.org/
(Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ )

Brief Description of the NBCDI:

During the time of social reform in America the National Black Child Development Institute was developed. This time was in 1970. During the 1960’s the people of the black community rallied to gain equal rights. The significance of this post, is the great reminder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who helped blacks all over America gain fairness and equal rights. On Monday, we celebrate him, and all the opportunities he gave to the black communities.

This organization was made by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation whose concerns were the protection and the health of young mothers and babies during this time of social reform. As the Institute was incorporated, groups were organized within communities as a basis to create a better way of life for the Black child who was not old enough to have a voice in this particular issue. This group focused on children from early childhood education to secondary education.

NBCDI’s Mission Statement is “to improve and advance the lives of black children and their families through education and advocacy.” The organization has improved the quality of life for millions of children from providing proper foster care, adequate adoption policies, fairness of healthcare and education bills and funds for College. The NBCDI has changed the lives of many children, and continues to. Support in this organization should not be overlooked and continues to be encouraged.

One issue/trend from the website that caught my attention:

Closing the achievement gap has clearly been one focus of the NBCDI. It is clear that this organization is honest when it says that there is still some work that needs to be done on the national level to close the achievement gap. The states that have mastered at doing this are Alabama, Hawaii, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Texas. There are still a lot more states that need to get on board with doing so. These states can share their methods of investing time and money into childcare and education, as well as, the preparation for reading and math. Another bit of good news, is the performance of low income students in 2011. These students have performed better compared to other years. Since 2009, there have been no changes in the fourth grade reading scores and there is a twenty-five point score gap between Black and White students. Only fourteen percent of black students scored proficient, as fifty percent scored below grade level. At the advanced levels only two percent of black students scored at this level, as eleven percent of white students scored at advanced level. Thirty-three percent of white students scored proficient on the fourth grade reading test and only twenty-two (compared to black students fifty percent) scored below grade level.

What I learned from this posting by the NCBDI:

I learned that despite in a couple of categories the scores are fairly equal, on a national level we still have a long way to go to close the achievement gap. This unfortunately means it still can take decades. I think as an educator it is important to find the reasons for these unfortunate differences in test scores. As a reading teacher, reading is extremely important and must be done at home, as well as in school. Monitoring this can be difficult for the teacher, but the teacher could make it easier by monitoring this through parent/guardian communication and comprehensive worksheets or reader response journals. Also, I would be eager to learn how the states that were successful implemented their reading program and successfully closed the achievement gap.