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/.

Getting to know your International Contacts

I never got an answer from my contacts and I can't get any communication from the podcast, so I will have to commet on what I have learned from the podcast and the website.

From listening to my podcast, I have learned that there are many individuals who really care about children in poverty and are actually doing something about it. There are schools in California and organizations that are dedicated and designed to help children living in poverty.

According to the website these are the 3 insights I gained:

1. Over 600 million children world-wide live in absolute poverty - an estimated 1 in 4. In many countries, rates are much higher with over 60 percent of children living in households with incomes below international poverty lines. Over 10 million children under five still die every year from preventable diseases - the vast majority of them in developing countries. As one of the most powerless groups in society, children often bear the physical and emotional costs of poverty.
2. Today's poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents. Poverty can be passed on from generation to generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families and of society as a whole. Tackling childhood poverty is therefore critical for eradicating poverty and injustice world-wide.
3. Children in poverty are often seen as one of many disadvantaged groups, all competing for resources, or they are characterised as children with special needs such as streetchildren orphans, or child workers

( items 1-3 are from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/)

Reference
CHIP. (n.d.). Knowledge for Tackling Childhood Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Zero to Three

Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families http://www.zerotothree.org

Zero to three has three goals they work toward: Training professionals and building networks of leaders, Influencing policies and practices, and raising public awareness of early childhood issues (zerotothree, 2012). 

 ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit that informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers (zerotothree, 2012).

Our mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers; we achieve this by translating research and knowledge—specifically information about the kinds of early experiences that help children thrive—into a range of practical tools and resources for use by the adults who influence the lives of young children (zerotothree, 2012).

We have evolved into the organization that plays a critical leadership role in promoting understanding around key issues affecting young children and their families, including child care, infant mental health, early language and literacy development, early intervention and the impact of culture on early childhood development (zerotothree, 2012).

I haven't received my newsletter, so I picked a subject from one of the subjects at the top that intrigued me.

Temperament & Behavior
Temperament describes how a child approaches and reacts to the world; it is her personal "style;" in this section you will find information and tools for tuning in to children’s temperament, a key factor in understanding their behavior and the way they interact with others(zerotothree, 2012).

I agree with this 100%. Working with children for almost 12 years, I have seem all types of temperments from them. It completely changes their environment and their view of you, when they are in this state. I believe the best thing we can do as educators is all them to have this temperment, but teach them to control what they say or do during that time. I always tell my students it's okay to be angry or mad, but it's not okay to hurt someone or yourself when you are angry or mad.

Reference
http://www.zerotothree.org

Establishing Professionals Contacts and Expanding Resources

I have tired to contact four Early Childhood Professionls from The Global Alliance of NAEYC. I had e-mailed Singapore, Netherlands which came back undelivered, then I e-mailed Dr. Eric Atmore in South Africa and San Salvador in El Salvador, but I have yet to hear back from them. I feel I am going to have to use the alternative to part one.

The early childhood organization I have choosen to study is Zero to three. I love working with young children and be able to learn about young children are around the globe intrigues me.

My supports

At my job my co-workers support me during my daily work, questions I may have, and when I need help in my classroom. My mother supports me by accepting and helping me with life decisions I have made and she gives me support in my choosing what career path I want to take. I believe it is important to have people support you in life. Life is challenging and when we have to face things alone, we become afraid and unsure of what to do. Having someone there to support you gives opportunity to advice, answers, suggestions, and or problem solving. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have support in my life.


I face many challenges at my job; working with special needs children is not an easy job. These children will cuse at you, hit you, kick you, spit at you, and destroy your personal things. Having co-workers who support and help gives a calming feeling, because they go through the same thing. So basically, we help each other, because we know what each of us are going through. Having supports at my job helps keep me calm and peaceful. When I child does something that could potential harm or really hurt another child, supports help to give patience. If I didn't have supports I am sure I would be okay, but it is so much better having co-workers support and help out.