Week 8

Looking at the Early Childhood field in other countries has made me realize that so many parts of the world have a long way to go.  Some of the consequences are:

1.  There are so many poor countries that do not have the resources to provide quality child care.  Resources  are used for food and housing.

2.  In some countries children are not able to get an education because their family needs them to work to help out the family.  There are 75 million children excluded from education (http://www.unesco.org/).

3.  There are many world wide organizations to help developing countries but without the support from the public there won't be enough funds to continue to support them.

One goal I want to work towards  is helping children in poverty in this country and learning more about what I can do to help across the world.

Resource

UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/),

Week 7

The world has never been as rich as it is today, yet over one billion people suffer from extreme poverty. (www.unesco.org).   UNESCO is committed to raising awareness to the fact that freedom from poverty is a fundamental human right.  (www.unesco.org)

Today, 75 million children are excluded from education. 60% of them are girls living in Arab States and 66% in South and West Asia. The main reasons for exclusion are poverty, gender inequity, disability, child labor, speaking a minority language, belonging to an indigenous people, and living a nomadic or rural lifestyle (http://www.unesco.org/).

I also thought this was interesting.  There are 2 ethics Teacher Training Courses being held at the beginning of this summer.  One of the courses will take place at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade (Serbia) from 27 June to 1 July 2011. The other course will be hosted by the Inter-University Center in Dubrovnik (Croatia), from 4 to 8 July 2011. The courses have been designed to provide training to ethics teachers with the purpose to enhance their skills and abilities (www.unesco.org).

Resource

UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/),

Learn about the Zero To Three website

On the Zero to Three Website you can look up information on how to support school readiness:

- School Readiness Interactive Birth to 3 -

- Information on Early Learning for Your Baby or Toddler’s Child Care Provider

- Getting Ready for School Begins at Birth

- Everyday Ways to Support Your Baby's and Toddler's Early Learning -

- Learning to Write and Draw Developing Early Math Skills


You can also learn about Toddlers and Challenging Behavior:  Why They Do It and How to Respond


You can also sign up for an e-newsletter
It is an e-newsletter that showcases how children learn and grow each month from birth to 3 years.

Reference

http://www.zerotothree.org/

Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative"

The Center has a commitment to working around the globe for children.  These are some of the projects they are working on:

Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), “A Good Start,” is a collaborative project in Santiago, Chile, to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development. The idea is to improve the quality of educational offerings for four-to-six-year-olds, particularly in the area of language development. This project is also designed to intervene in critical health areas that improve school attendance as well as socio-emotional development, and it seeks to involve the children's families in their education. (www.developingchild.harvard.edu)

The following three initial projects have been selected to launch this effort, subject to funding:

1.   Assessing the state of child mental health services in China;

2.   Developing and evaluating family-based strategies to prevent mental health problems in children affected by HIV/AIDS in Rwanda; and

3.   Addressing child maltreatment and mental health outcomes in three Caribbean nations (Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname). (http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu/)

This is a wonderful program.  It helps so many children around the world.

References:

www.developingchild.harvard.edu

NAEYC website

The website I chose was www.naeyc.org.  It is the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  The entire website is relevant to y job.  I work in a Child Care Resource and Referral Agency.  There are resources and up-to-date policies.  Also NAEYC advocates for early childhood programs and knows the importance of high quality child care.

There is a link to public policy on the website.  This is very important for people to look at to see what policies are being introduced.  It is important for everyone to ask question if they do not understand what the policies mean.

There isn’t anything on the website I find controversial.  I find all the information very pertinent,  There are some things you can get for free (newsletters) and if you become a member you can get a deal on their other resources.

Poverty in China

China's poverty rate has declined in recent years due to their economy except in Western China.  Western China has higher poverty rates because the econmic growth has been much slower.  In 1998, people in the West were 6 times more likely to be poor (http://www.childpoverty.org/). There are not enough new jobs in the West so many are without a full-time job (http://www.childpoverty.org/).

In 1999, the national mortality rate for children was 32 per thousand but 47.9 in the West (http://www.childpoverty.org/).


In 2001, China had a popoulation of 1.27 billion.  4.2 million Chinese children live in absolute poverty and 8.7 million live in disadvantaged conditions (http://www.childpoverty.org/).

Resource

http://www.childpoverty.org/

Web Resources

I subscribed to a newsletter through the www.zerotothree.org website.  It is a website that is researched based about infant and toddler development.  It works to make sure policies are based on best practices and current research.

I like that the web site because it has a link for all the most recent policies.  Also that it offers tips on finding child care.  Another great tool on the web site is an interactive tool for parents and caregivers to encourage early learning.

One of the policy recommendations is to support educators in addressing diversity of the families they serve.  It also suggests colleges diversify their staff and increase diversity issues in class work.  I really like the fact that they are addressing diversity at the college level.  I think this is important.

I also subcribed to www.naeyc.org.  It is another great website for early childhood information.  I am also a member.