Issues and Trends Final Blog Assignment

Issues and Trends

During this course, I have learned so much about early childhood education through a global perspective.  It was not easy to learn about all these issues and how children are being affected in other countries outside of the U.S.  I have gain so much knowledge from the resources that have been provided throughout the class. During the course I was unable to make and international contact, so my many blogs were focused on the Children's Defense Fund website. They provided me with so information about the world around me and especially the U.S., so many efforts have been put into practice to help our children around the world.

Three Consequences of learning about International Early Childhood Field:

1) The lack of early childhood programs in the world.
2) The world is becoming so small in my eyes due to the shared issues that affect us all.
3) The hard work that is being done by so many organizations but yet the need for help is still continuing to grow.

These consequences I will carry throughout my professional career because I never want to forget because they will continue to motive me to make a difference. I hope I can continue to make a difference among the educators that I work with as well as be an example for the children and their families at our child care program.

My goal that is related to the international awareness is to up keep my knowledge about what is going on around the world. I have sign up to receive newsletters and emails from Child's Defense Fund and I hope that as my path to my Master Degree continues, I can use my colleagues as resources to learn about their parts of the world. IT is important to me to know what is going on because I can see we are all contacted no matter where we live. Everyone sees and knows the importance of early childhood education and I am glad to know so many organizations are doing their best to bring awareness and help to all.

Little Extra

I just recently got in contact with my international contact: Her name is Shariffa Keshavjee she was born in 1945 in a town called Kisumu along Lake Victoria, which is the largest lake in Africa. She attended Aga Khan Nursery school followed primary and then high school. She attended school becasue Ismaili parents where encouraged to educate their children. Parents had to chose between boy or girl and they would always chose the girl because they believed when you educate the girl you were educating the whole family (Jamat). The Jamat would be beneficial to the community and society.

After high school she taught in the Sikh Siri Guru Singh Saba community school. After a few years she attended Keele University in order to pursue education. Later she taught at Kianda College.

In 1970, she opened a pre-school facility called "Rosebud Kingarten" at home in Nairobi in Kileleshwa. After that accomplishment she established a Day Care Center called "Bambi Daycare in Canada.

So far, my international contact has given me some amazing details about her life and I felt I should share that. I am looking forward to keeping in contact with her and finishing the assignments from the course so I can get to know more about early childhood education from her.

Thank you to my colleagues and Dr. Parrish for another eight weeks of knowledge and empowerment. 

Exploring and Gathering Ideas/Insights from UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education”

When I started at Walden University, My first course asked me about my professional goals and I shared three of them:

1. Gain the knowledge I need to become a leader in a child care setting. I would love to be a director or principal that can maintain a school and enrich the services we provide to children by gaining the knowledge and credentials I need from Walden University.
2. Create a supportive and effective organization that implements positive reinforcement and personal/academic achievements for staff members. I want to be a person my staff can depend on to help them further their educations and become more confident in their role as teachers.
3. Provide support to families and children by providing programs appropriately to improve the quality of life and ensure achievement of outcomes.

I am very much still proud of the goals I set out for myself because I am well on my way to achieving the standards that I hope will make me a force in the field of early childhood education.

Looking at the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/), I am so impressed to see that organization is in sync with my professional goals. They provide so many opportunities for professionals to learn and acquire knowledge through their site. Individuals who what to learn about the needed skills and new developments in the field can access all that information.

One thing that caught my eye was the http://www.unesco-iicba.org/. This organization’s goal is to strengthening teachers in Africa but focusing on the quality of their educations. Their main focus is providing adequate teaching for their children by improving their teacher’s development. They promote educations and literacy for everyone, so no one is left out. There are reaching out to different developmental building in Africa to assist with the challenging nature to promote training, development and recruitment opportunities for all teachers and facilities. The Capacity Building for Teacher Policy Development and Implementation aims to support the togetherness of all teachers to follow the same policies to have a more unified teaching environment and quality.

Another insight, this organization provided me with is the promotion of redistribution of funds in countries that do not provide for the poor children that have limited access to early childhood care and education. The 1990 Jomtien Declaration for Education reminds everyone that education begins at birth and we must do our best to include all children.  This helps because everyone needs to be aware of the importance in education for children and its benefits.

Another aspiring insight is the global affect that this organization promotes. They have Centre and Institutions around the world the help to promote need educational developments in each region, for example:

International Bureau of Education (IBE), Geneva, Switzerland.
Enhancing curriculum development and educational content.

International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris, France and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Helping countries to design, plan and manage their education systems.

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), (former UNESCO Institute for Education), Hamburg, Germany.
Promoting literacy, non-formal education, and adult and lifelong learning.

Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), Moscow, Russian Federation.
Assisting countries to use information and communication technologies in education.

International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNEVOC), Bonn, Germany.
Improving education for the world of work.

Regional

Africa

International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Strengthening Africa’s educational institutions.

Asia and the Pacific

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development , New Delhi, India

Latin America and Caribbean

International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), (website in Spanish), Caracas, Venezuela.
Developing and transforming higher education in the region.

These help to promote so much development around the world. Looking at my goals concerning myself and my hopes for professional development, I am certain we share the same focus. I would love to be powerful enough one day to share my knowledge and my support to others that can make a difference. I am here to help our children succeed in life with the right guidance and this organization is on the same path as well. Helping our families and communities see the importance of quality EC programs will help bring more involvement and awareness to the development of our children. Professionals are important to the field of ECE because we help to build the foundation for all involved. I have gained so much knowledge by exploring this website; this is an amazing organization that is dedication the field of education for all. 

Sharing Web Resources

Exploring Children Defense Fund


While exploring the CDF website, I have come to realize they are well recognized all over the globe. They continue to support children and their families where ever they can reach by sending representatives that work for their funds to collect information to better assess the individuals that need help.

I decided to check out how many offices that the fund has in order to reach out to so many people. I choose to explore the CDF Texas and see how their site is contributing to Texas needs. http://www.cdftexas.org/. While going through the Texas site my attention was captured by some articles that were present: http://www.cdftexas.org/research-library/documents/children-in-the-states-texas-1.pdf

I looked into the research aspect of the site to find out what is the number of children that are living in poverty in the state of Texas because this situation is so devastating among the world and our 50 states.
I was taken to a fact sheet that was recently updated March 2013, I am listing the information that was provided to me:

6,875,255 children live in Texas:
2,323,123 are White, non-Hispanic 1,959,608 are under the age of 5
841,872 are Black 3,498,153 are ages 5 to 13
3,327,775 are Hispanic 1,502,977 are ages 14 to 17
244,456 are Asian/Pacific Islander 5,001,130 are ages 5 to 17
38,924 are American Indian/Alaska Native
262,972 are two or more races

In Texas:
A child is abused or neglected every 8 minutes.
A child dies before his or her first birthday every 4 hours.

Texas Ranks:*
33rd among states in percent of babies born at low birth-weight.
Best state is Alaska; worst state is Mississippi
23rd among states in its infant mortality rate.
Best state is Alaska; worst state is Mississippi
43rd among states in per pupil expenditures.
The District of Columbia is best; Utah is the worst state
[*1st represents the best state for children and 51st represents the worst state for children in the country]

Child Poverty in Texas
Number of poor children (and percent poor) 1,829,214 (26.6%)
Number of children living in extreme poverty (and percent in extreme poverty) 762,622 (11.1%)
Number of children receiving cash assistance from Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 95,371
Maximum monthly TANF cash assistance for a family of three $260

I could not believe the numbers that were in front of me because of the state of Texas concerning the treatment of children these numbers are unbelievable .

This website exploring shows me how much the world is struggling to deal with equity and excellence in early childhood care and education. To look at one state and see so much devastating is concerning to me because organizations like CDF are doing so much good for these states, but the yet the economic rate of poverty is increasing so rapidly. It is almost like the accomplishments are been outweighed by the persistent situations of poverty. Equity and excellence is goal that will always remain in sight but we have to work hard to get their and when we do get their we have to have the dedication to up keep our goals.

One insight that I gain from my exploration this week was no matter where we are children need to be our first priority because they are our future. Many would state that because they believe our economy is the most important factor but personally for me as I grow older I would like to see a generation that has values instilled in them to help more children become successful adults. Some days I would like to see parents and their children spend more time enjoying each other instead of worrying about the what the future holds. Love is the best medicine for a successful childhood and adulthood.

International Contacts Part 2

 Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative”

Each week, I am introduced to new information about work that aims to promote global awareness to how we can help people all over the world and more importantly help our children. This center is committed to helping nations build themselves up by investing in economic productivity, health awareness and a nation that works together. The center aims to increase the present of quality of life to the whole nation from the poorest to the most influential people. Their attempt is to have everyone work together to reach one unified goal for every one's benefit.

The Center has created three important sections to focus on:

• early childhood development;
• child mental health; and
• children in crisis and conflict situations.

These are the key areas that they would like to focus on in order to accomplish or at begin to move towards their goals.  The more people know about ECD that better they can assist their children to reach their full potential. The center aim which I feel is amazing is to educate the people that are already in power to the benefits of how ECD can help their nation to improve and grow. How the opportunities of providing health can be beneficial to our children and the nation as a whole. 

The new insights that I have gained are the new projects around the world in different countries. Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) of Turkey, Un Buen Comienzo of Santiago, Chile and Zambian Early Childhood Development Project. These projects aim to promote quality and help people to increase their knowledge and understand of the crisis that is going on in their particular country. Zambian ECD helps to children to get the best possible start that they need by getting the assessment that can help them. They are assessed physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their schooling careers. Un Buen Comienzo, looks at the type of education that four to six year olds are receiving. They believe if they improve the teaching standards and concentrate on language development this will create more positive school experiences for children. They also hope to increase school attendance by improving the quality of teaching. The Mother Child Education Foundation is also impressive due to the support they give families and children. They help to improve the quality of living and help to keep everyone informed about the needs of children.

These are just some of the activities that are promoted by the Global Children's Initiative. This organization is so impressive because it allows for so many people around the world to get the help and education they need to make a difference. I am amazed every time I read something new about the help that people are getting around the globe. If we continue to support the work of such organization we can definitely make a difference in the world for our children and their families.

It is plain to see that any organization that aims to support children and their families want to make sure there is quality present so everyone has the best opportunity. Providing quality early child care and educations takes dedication to your job and the children you teach. Teachers should also continue to learn more and more while they begin to teach children what they know.