Issues & Trends Refelection

From completing this course and having to explore and learn about various international early childhood organizations I learned more about the efforts being done across the world in order to ensure children everywhere have the opportunity to learn in an enriching, ever developing learning environment.  I also enjoyed reading fellow classmates blog post on other international early childhood organizations and learning of their work within the field.  Having to pick only three things that left a lasting impression on me I would have to pick the speech form the President of Ireland during the 10^th anniversary of the World Forum, the War or Peace and Peas experiment, and learning of the 6 goals of education from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization website.  All of these items open not just my eyes but my mind to international early childhood.

Dr. McAleese, the President of Ireland stated this while speaking at the World Forum 10^th Anniversary convention in Belfast,  “We only get one go around with our children so we are the engravers of their lives have to know and be taught how to engrave.  But good news is on the horizon and that is the compassion of a person and to change and grow.  Give the benefit of your experience and to have this global resource of good practice, best practice to learn what things don’t work, things that work, to share with one another.” (Hogan, 2012) This is the most powerful statement I have heard to date from a speaker when talking about early learning and the roles we as educators must take.

The War or Peace and Peas experiment is where a group of boys and girls were taken, talked to about what war was and what peace was.  The children were then asked to draw pictures of what they thought represented war and what represented peace.  Children were able to recreate images of war items but when it came to peace, the children drew pictures of a slice of bread or pizza.  It was clear to see that there was a breakdown in communication when it came to peace and thought of pieces.  This then lead to the forming of the Peace Project.   “The ‘PEACE’ project to help kids understand war: why it happens; why it is bad; what is peace; how war can be converted to peace; how peace is a solution so that fights do not happen; noisy and peaceful; and many more such ideas.” (Popat-Vats, 2013)  By the end of this project, children were able to know the difference of what peace is and not be confused it with pieces.

I wish to thank all of my classmates along with the professor for all sharing your thoughts and words of enlightenment throughout of this course.  I look forward to interacting with each and every one of you again in my future classes.  I our paths do not cross again I wish you the best in your work within the early childhood field.

 

 

 

 

 

References

Hogan, T.  (2012).  World Forum Foundation Video.  World Forum Foundation.  Retreived from www.worldforumfoundation.org.

Popat-Vats, S. (2013).  War and Peace or War and Peas!  World Forum Foundation.  Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/news/war-and-peace-or-war-and-peas/

UNESCO. (). Education-Early Childhood.  United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.  Retreived from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week I visited the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization website or UNEDCO.  This website is again one that I knew nothing about but yet found very interesting.  The first thing I found out about this organization is that it is located in Paris, France.  The second thing I saw as I explored this website is that it can be translated into several different languages.  It can be translated into English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.  I think this is really good and showing their diversity and acknowledgement of all the various individuals involved or interested in their organization.  While this website covers other topics as it, as it name suggest, I was mainly interested in the Education portion of the website.  Under the Education portion there are a few links for additional information on various actions, beliefs, or thoughts on the framework of a program as it relates to quality along with access, funding, and quality.  And just like my professional goal of aiding programs move from one stage to another through the working knowledge and attainment of seek a high quality program that parents look and long for that offers children in their care a well-rounded diverse program.  The last thing I found interesting on this website is the international educational goals formulated that will allow all children no matter their age and adults and learning option that will exceed their academic dream.   This goals are as follows:

“Education for All Goals

Six internationally agreed education goals aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.

Goal 1

Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Goal 2

Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

Goal 3

Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.

Goal 4

Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

Goal 5

Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

Goal 6

Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.” UNESCO, (n.d.)

 

Reference

UNESCO. (). Education-Early Childhood.  United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.  Retreived from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

 

Sharing Web Resources

One on the links that I had not explored on the National Head Start Association website was the NHSA Radio.  This link had a wealth of links to past topics discussed.  The radio has two links, one for administrators and one for parents.  Some topics covered were new Head Start standards, effects of standardized testing, staff and program development, and other topics.  Another link I looking at this week was entitled News Room.  Under this link were a few other links but the one link that I felt was of importance was the News You Can Use.  This link gave a summary of for the events and webinars for the current month as well as past months.   Some items featured are the announcement of the Head Start’s keynote speaker at this year’s conference, the opening of the scholarship/nomination information for 2013, professional development policy updates, and update on the latest advocacy efforts, along with webinar information and other tools. 

There is also a blog link on the National Head Start Association website that has past and current blogs on the benefits on early intervention, future funding of at risk children, and the benefits of head start in the long run. Opportunities for children and parent as well as parental stories and podcast are included in this blog link as well.

Head Start is one arena that I have never worked in and is very much in acquiring as much information about it as I can.  I would love to learn about this organization form the administrative level because I think this type of program is needed in more areas due to the number of low income families, the small number of slots each Head Start faculty has to offer and the growing number of children in need of an educational start they may not be receiving due to limited funding.

 

 

National Head Start Association. (2013). Retreived from http://www.nhsa.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

In this week’s website of World Forum Foundation there was an article entitled War or Peace and Peas. This article spoke written in the Exchange Every Day by Betsy Evans of a test done on children to see if they knew the difference between war and peace.   This article was of so much interest that it was replicated at a program in Mumbai, India between the ages of 4 and 5.  The program took 50 girls and 50 boys for this experiment, asking questions about war and peace.  After the discussion, “39 girls were able to understand and explain the word war, the rest were confused. All 50 boys were able to understand and explain the word war in some violent context. All 100 kids were NOT able to talk or relate to the word peace.” (Popat-Vats, 2013)  The children were then asked to draw what they think war and peace is and most of the children drew pictures of “swords, fighting, bombs, army warriors, etc.” (Popat-Vats, 2013)  But when it came to the children drawing pictures relating to peace they drew items like “bread piece, pizza piece, pieces of chocolate, glass pieces, green peas.” (Popat-Vats, 2013)  Like the administrators of the assignment I thought the children were confused the word peace with the word piece.  After further conversation with the children the administrators noted that the children had no real understanding of what peace was or what represented peace.  While the children gained their knowledge of war through violence seen in video games, television, computers, or newspapers they never acquired peacefully situations.  This lead to a project in the program entitled ‘Peace’.   “The ‘PEACE’ project to help kids understand war: why it happens; why it is bad; what is peace; how war can be converted to peace; how peace is a solution so that fights do not happen; noisy and peaceful; and many more such ideas.” (Popat-Vats, 2013)  After this project was conducted children were then able to correlate what peace is and not pieces.

Another article on the website of World Forum Foundation was on the World Forum in Action- Working Group on Children’s Rights.  This short article spoke of the children’s rights group that was formed in 2012 will be having a article in the special issue of the Exchange magazine in July/August.  The article will speak about the rights of children and adults.  It will answer questions like, “What does it look like when children’s rights are honored and respected?” and “What does the concept of taking children’s ideas and opinions seriously really mean?” The issue will address cultural issues surrounding rights and the notion of children and adult rights colliding. Narratives about rights from contexts around the world will highlight accomplishments and challenges, as well as strategies for overcoming obstacles.” (World Forum Foundation, 2013)

 

Resources

Popat-Vats, S. (2013).  War and Peace or War and Peas!  World Forum Foundation.  Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/news/war-and-peace-or-war-and-peas/

World Forum Foundation. (2013). World Forum in Action – Working Group on Children’s Rights.  World Forum in Action.  Retreived form http://ccie-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wfaw/wfia-210.pdf