Learning About the International Early Childhood Field

Learning About the International Early Childhood Field

The learning experiences have aspired me professionally and personal by

1). Gaining information about different cultures on Early Childhood Education.  It helps me to be

knowledgeable of different skills and to understand more issues of child development. The

international contacts help me to gain valuable information and to develop new ideas. 2). It gave me

the opportunity to view public information, many resources and tools, in early childhood that will

help allow me to learn from and support one another as we develop and apply programs, services and

systems to develop the lives of young children and their families because the children are the main

focus and our FUTURE. 3) Being able to sign up and contact the source and read their newsletters

and learn about what is going on in the early childhood field and related events and materials. It helps

you to stay globally involved in the field if education. ` My goal is to stay in touch with the

international source so I may continue use this valuable information to help me with my professional

growth in a cultural diversity. Those in the field of early childhood education can stand out for

quality services for all children.

To my collegues, I wish you the best in the future and lets continue to strive, speak out and make a

difference for our children of the future.

UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education”

Internationalization of teacher education

Teachers and teacher education are high on the agendas of international initiatives, efforts at international cooperation, and national policy-makers alike. Many of the projects and programmes that aim at educational development and reform borrow successful policies or standards from other countries and teachers often receive further foreign-funded training or undergo training in a foreign country. However, both practical experience and evidence in the literature suggest that implementing sustainable processes for teacher training can be difficult, especially as programmes often fail to sufficiently acknowledge the diversity of local policy and teaching contexts. This focuses on specific cases in the internationalization of teacher education, discussing trends in several countries and the role that international actors and discourses play in teacher education policies and practices.

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/global-news-archive/single-news/news/internationalization-of-teacher-education-prospects-161/106.html

Socio-Cultural Diversity through the Curriculum

A curriculum that addresses diversity meets the diverse needs of ALL learners. Socio-cultural diversity in this context includes ethnicity, race, religion, values and beliefs, nationality, cultural background, age, gender, class, physical ability, different learning conditions and styles, sexual orientation, and other dimensions that make up the identity of the individual student and affect his or her learning experience. The goal is for participants to become aware of and learn about different educational contexts, issues and discuss different approaches and strategies to address socio-cultural diversity through curriculum around the world.

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/global-news-archive/single-news/news/addressing-socio-cultural-diversity-through-the-curriculum-e-forum-2011/3475.html

Preparing teachers for inclusive education

One of the main challenges for teacher education is posed by the demands of inclusive education but little attention has been paid to this important topic. Global disparities in educational provision, and differences in teacher education and teacher qualifications within and between countries, exacerbate inequality in educational opportunity. While the form and structure of teacher education may vary from one country to another, some common issues and challenges in providing a good quality basic education for all remain largely unaddressed. This article focuses on theoretical issues of curriculum, assessment, and teaching, and on issues of teacher professional learning. They explore how theoretical concepts associated with the development of inclusive practice are being addressed in different world regions. The issue will be of particular relevance to teachers, teacher educators, and policy makers around the world, as the role, value, and relevance of teacher education is being questioned, not only in terms of teachers’ professional preparation, but also because of questions about educational outcomes for students and the extent to which teachers are able to meet the needs of all learners.

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/global-news-archive/single-news/news/preparing-teachers-for-inclusive-education-prospects-159/3571.html

References

Internationalization of teacher education (Prospects #161). http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/global-  news-archive/single-news/news/internationalization-of-teacher-education-prospects-        161/106.html

Addressing Socio-Cultural Diversity through the Curriculum (e-Forum 2011).             http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/global-news-archive/single-news/news/addressing-socio-      cultural-diversity-through-the-curriculum-e-forum-2011/3475.html

Preparing teachers for inclusive education (Prospects #159).             http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/global-news-archive/single-news/news/preparing-teachers-            for-inclusive-education-prospects-159/3571.html

Extending Web Resources

The link I followed was Zero to Three.

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/

 ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit organization that informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.  Neuroscientists have documented that our earliest days, weeks and months of life are a period of unparalleled growth when trillions of brain cell connections are made. Research and clinical experience also demonstrate that health and development are directly influenced by the quality of care and experiences a child has with his parents and other adults.

ZERO TO THREE mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.  We know that as babies, the way we are held, talked to and cared for teaches us about who we are and how we are valued. This profoundly shapes who we will become.  Early experiences set a course for a lifelong process of discovery about ourselves and the world around us. Simply put, early experiences matter. We encourage you to learn more about very young children, early development and the work of ZERO TO THREE by exploring our site.

http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Healthy_Beginnings.pdf?docID=9822

Equity and excellence in early care and education

From birth, babies look to trusted adults to meet their needs.  When their needs are met, babies thrive. When their needs are not met, their social-emotional development (mental health) is compromised. In either case, babies’ brains are learning what to expect from the world, and whatever happens during the first three years becomes part of the brain’s hard wiring. The zero-to-three age range is the time when the greatest amount of development occurs in the brain.

Even though the brain is constantly growing, changing, and forming new connections during early childhood, recovering lost connections becomes much harder with age. Babies are born with just a portion of the connections they will later develop. Through their relationships with caregivers and trusted adults who talk to, play with, and comfort them, the brain will build many connections. In fact, a newborn’s brain produces many more connections than will be needed during childhood. The connections that are not used or needed become weaker and are eventually tossed away, or pruned from the brain.

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/training-and-professional-development/forging-a-new-framework-for-professional-development-2.pdf

Issues and trends in the early childhood field.

In 2007, ZERO TO THREE was awarded an ECEPD grant for Project CLICK (Cradling Literacy in Children in Kentucky), a partnership of ZERO TO THREE, Save the Children, and the Eastern Kentucky Child Care Coalition. Over the course of three years, and using ZERO TO THREE’s Cradling Literacy:  Building Teachers’ Skills to Nurture Early Language and Literacy from Birth to Five professional development curriculum, the project trained and mentored early childhood educators in enhancing language and literacy development in children ages birth-to-5 years who were located in six high-need counties in Eastern Kentucky. The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina served as the project’s independent evaluator.

References

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/training-and-professional-development/forging-a-new-framework-for-professional-development-2.pdf

http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Healthy_Beginnings.pdf?docID=9822

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/

Issues of Equity and Excellence

Equity and Excellence

Equity and excellence is strongly associated with poverty and social disadvantage. Meanwhile, many affluent parents pay to send their children to private schools, which is not only expensive but saps the state funded sector of many able pupils and aspiration parents, both of which could act as peer role models for other students and parents.

UNICEF is profoundly committed to securing safe, rights-based, quality education for each and every child, irrespective of his or her circumstances.

For UNICEF, quality education is education that works for every child and enables all children to achieve their full potential. With this in mind, we have worked to create a rights-based, comprehensive educational model that embraces a multi-dimensional concept of quality and addresses the total needs of the child as a learner. Child Friendly Schools are now the major means through which UNICEF advocates for and promotes quality with equity in education (http://www.unicef.org/education/bege_61667.html).

Quality of education and child-friendly schooling

On any given day, more than 1 billion of the world’s children go to school. Whether they sit in buildings, in tents or under trees, ideally they are learning, developing and enriching their lives.

For too many children, though, school is not always a positive experience. Some endure difficult conditions, like missing or inadequate teaching materials or makeshift sanitation facilities. Others lack competent teachers and appropriate curricula. Still others may be forced to contend with discrimination, harassment and even violence. These conditions are not conducive to learning or development, and no child should have to experience them.

Access to education that is of poor quality is tantamount to no education at all. There is little point in providing the opportunity for a child to enroll in school if the quality of the education is so poor that the child will not become literate or numerate, or will fail to acquire critical life skills (http://www.unicef.org/education/bege_61667.html).

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Two weeks ago a UNICEF and World Health Organization report showed conclusively that poor people in rural areas are overwhelmingly those without these most basic necessities for life. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs food, water and shelter is the most important necessity that one requires for survival.

UNICEF appealed for the inclusion of nutrition security as an essential element in every national development plan – as critical as clean water and indispensable as education as one of their goals by 2015. It was recorded that 20 million children under the age of five, around the world suffer from severe acute malnutrition. In the report UNICEF identified some of the effects of malnutrition beginning with pregnancy and stunting growth and development. Since children are our future, we must advocate for them, because they are not able to speak for themselves. UNICEF really works hard to help families that are in need and the funding for education for our youth. Organizations like this one is very great for many states and we as teachers should be total involved and should get the parents involved as well.

　

References

http://www.unicef.org/education/bege_61667.html

http://accordcoalition.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Lib-Dem-89_- Equity_and_Excellence.pdf