Final Blog/ Saturday, August 20, 2011

FINAL BLOG

Post at least three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for your professional and personal development (any format, any length)

In completion of the course the three consequences professionally and personally include; greater awareness of issues and trends in the early childhood field.  I am now more aware of the effectiveness and benefits from establishing international contacts, the global issues and trends in Early Childhood, and the importance of being culturally aware.

Another consequence is maintaining those international contacts in future efforts for advocacy to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of young children.

Finally, collaborating to develop and implement effective policies that reach out to all the children and families ensuring that children are physically healthy, and developmentally ready for learning. The important issues are ensuring equity and excellence, supporting parents and families and developing standards and indicators for effective planning, monitoring and documentation of the progress in Early Childhood Development.    

Post one goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations

My goal is to promote early childhood networking and partnerships among international contacts. It is my hope to stay abreast of the issues and trends and work towards that change in early childhood which is constant.

 Thank You!!!

 I now say thank you to all my international friends and colleagues working in the field of early childhood education and care who enriched the course, took part in the interviews and answered the questions.  We hope to continue our connections for the well being of the children and families we work with.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The questions were asked to Mrs. Lucy Felix, a pre-school teacher, in Grenada, West Indies.

What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals  are  being discussed where you live and work?  

·        Lack of passion for children and the early childhood profession

To improve the quality of early childhood education (ECE) we need to show passion and enthusiasm to work with children for on-going success.

·        Lack of knowledge in the field.

Some teachers may have the experience but lack new and existing skills, practices/knowledge especially those relating to children with disability

What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist

·        Professional development is an on-going process. It occurs whenever there is a  need for enhancement in any developmental domain.  However, there is a yearly early childhood educational training focusing on  tertiary level nationally. Teachers are not selected to attend. It is made mandatory for all teachers who are not yet qualified in the early childhood field.

What are some of your professional goals? 

   To complete my Bachelor's degree in early childhood educati

 To open my own early childhood center (Long Term)

                     To be more committed to the profession and to prepare the children 

                      to  face the future with resilience, self motivation and discipline.

What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

My hope is that many policy makers and government officials will regard early childhood education as the basic foundation for long life learning. They would establish policies which take into account children and families especially those who are vulnerable and physically challenged thus providing services that will cater for their all round development.

The biggest challenge we face is finding the funding for the program. Some government officials do not agree that early childhood education matters. They do not see the benefits economically and thus may not want to invest in the program.

Sharing web resources

National Black Child Development Institute

 http://nbcdi.org/

Equity
I have chosen the National Black Child institute since I have exhausted the many resources from Center for childcare workforce.

The National Black Child Institute has its focus on improving the lives of all children and families through advocacy and education. It is critical that we continue to dedicate ourselves to giving every child a chance. We believe that such a vision should recognize the pivotal role that all members of our community must play if equity and access are to become a reality for our children. This includes parents, the faith community, social and civic clubs, barber shops, and schools – all of us must become part of the mobilization on behalf of our all children. 

 EQUITY AND DIVERSITY WORK The Build Initiative in collaboration with the National Black child  Institute is working to ensure that issues of equity and diversity are addressed within all early childhood systems development work. BUILD’s Equity and Diversity Working Group oversees BUILD’s efforts and includes state and national leaders on early childhood. This includes development of policy briefs describing best practices and policies, state learning experiences, and key challenges and opportunities for the field in meeting the needs of all children in our multi-ethnic society.

BUILD also seeks to partner with other leaders, researchers, and organizations in strengthening understanding in the field on the need to address issues of equity and diversity throughout systems building.

There are other initiatives on equity and diversity which include;

• Reaching for quality: Addressing issues of ethnicity, language, and culture need to be part of all aspects of early learning systems building. They draw on states’ experiences—particularly states that have taken a lead in tackling important early learning system building issues—and describe critical issues, opportunities, and lessons learned in developing an early learning system for America’s multi-ethnic population.
• Build's Early Childhood system in a multi- ethnic society: The series will describe pioneering efforts within states to address racial/ethnic disparities and promote equity, assess the current state of the field and the research and information available that should undergird state strategies.
• Crafting Early Learning Standards for a multi-ethnic society: This Build report is the first in a series of briefs on diversity, equity and systems building.  Early learning standards are at the core of society's defining how and what children need to learn, what is expected of them at different developmental stages, and what caregivers and educators are expected to do to help them learn.  Child learning involves cultural learning; it is essential that early learning standards be developed responsively--with diverse cultural and language groups in mind.

There are other valuable resources to help in the line of equity in early childhood care and education.

Recources
Build strong foundations for our children. Retrieved from
http://www.buildinitiative.org/content/early-learning-challenge-collaborative

National Black Child development Institute: Retrieved from http://nbcdi.org/

http://www.buildinitiative.org/content/diversity-and-equity