Week 8 Reflection

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for your professional and personal development. Well let me first say, I couldn't get into contact with any international early childhood professionals, the one that did finally send me an e-mail was already contacted by another student. That was very frustrating for me, but that didn't stop me from learning.

1. My knowledge about international education and professionals has been enhanced.
2. Learning about other countries and how they handle education, poverty, and diversity has been life changing.
3.  No matter the country or state there are issues in education, community, and families dealing with how to or what to do regarding children, resources, and learning.

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

• My goal for international awareness is to keep track of what's going on in other countries and seeing how I can help.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The following information was taken from the following website: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/education_of_roma_children_among_the_subjects_of_world_conference_on_early_childhood_care_and_education/

Education of Roma children among the subjects of World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education

• With more than 10 million members, the Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Despite the efforts to expand and improve education for Roma children, as many as 50 per cent of those in Europe fail to complete primary education.

• Children are our most precious resource, and education is a basic right” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova prior to the Moscow meeting. “The denial of this right leaves everybody much poorer. It creates exclusion. It creates unacceptable inequality. It nurtures social tensions. Let us seize the opportunity this conference offers to renew and expand our commitment to a healthy, happy start for all children – including and especially those who are currently being left behind. Everybody will reap the benefit.”
• According to the Regional report for Europe and North America, “among all the European populations, the Roma are at greatest risk of being poor, uneducated and unemployed.” It points to European and national opinion surveys that show many European citizens have negative views about this group that are often based on stereotypes and prejudice dating back several centuries.
• To meet the challenge of Roma exclusion and continuing deprivation,” the Report states, “governments need to employ upstream fiscal, social and labour policies to reduce family poverty and give young children a fair start in life.”

Reference
UNESCO.org (2012). Education of Roma children among the subjects of World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education. Retrieved fromhttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/education_of_roma_children_among_the_subjects_of_world_conference_on_early_childhood_care_and_education/

 

Harvard's Children's Global fund

From the Harvard website

3 new ideas or insights
1) To address the knowledge gap, the Zambian Ministry of Education, the Examination Council of Zambia, UNICEF, the University of Zambia, and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University launched the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) in 2009, a collaborative effort to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia (developing child, 2012).
2) In order to measure the full impact of the anti-malaria campaign on Zambia’s human capital development, the ZECDP created a new comprehensive instrument for assessing children’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their schooling careers—the first assessment tool of its kind in Zambia (developing child, 2012).
3) The early stages of the project demonstrate that comprehensive child assessments are feasible within standard population-based household surveys (developing child, 2012).




Reference
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

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

Behavior and development; care and education

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?

http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/earlyliteracy2pagehandout.pdf?docID=2681&AddInterest=1145&JServSessionIda004=9ahkme3kp1.app212c This resource talks about the literacy and language develpment of children. There wasn't controversial, but it did give me more ways to help my childern succeed in their language and literacy skills. Since babies can't talk for almost 1 year, sounds are all they rely on.

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?

The site posted a blog titled: "Obama’s Second Inauguration: Seizing the Moment" (zerotothree, 2013). They relive the speech made by President Obama and included some of his concern's about the people. Just as the title of the blog, we need to seize the moment and teach children the proper language and literacy skills.

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

There was nothing else gained

Reference
Zero to three. (2012). Baby policy blog: Obama's second inauguration: seizing the moment. Retrieved from
http://www.zerotothree.org/.