Final Blog!

During the course I did not get to speak with or connect with any international contacts but I did much research on the international websites provided and read up on the issues and trends faced in different places like Africa and Europe as well.  I learned that they are facing a lot of the same issues as the U.S when it comes to starving for better educational programs and providing quality in the educational programs they do have.  They have specific groups that focus on providing and educating professionals on public policy and resources that can be used for educators and families with children.

My goals in the field are to become more educated and be able to apply what I have learned to help develop new programs for children and families as well as learning more about the education system for early childhood education and becoming familiar with public policy and the standards.  Continuing my research and keeping it for my future as an early childhood professional.  I want to Mage a difference in children and families lives for the better.

Getting to know your international contacts-3

There are many issues that I see and witness on the daily in my own community as far as the quality in early childhood education.  I have a few friends who do have children and they stress all the time how hard it is for them to find a good childcare center in their community that would be of quality and also affordable to them.  In my immediate community I don't see as much childcare but there are different kids gyms and summer camp opportunities in my community especially.  These are great creative alternatives aside from a daycare center for those that specifically want their child to be more active and doing the different activities, which is partly sparks my inspiration of opening a drama school for children.

The opportunities for professional development are all over.  There is of course observation and taking different courses.  There is a wide variety of different professional development methods and ways to learn more for your specific area of study.  There are also seminars and groups dedicated to educating professionals.

My own professional goals include teaching young children in drama and performing arts providing that creative outlet for children to express themselves.  I also want to open up my own school for this specifically.  I want to focus a lot on working with diverse children and children that face many challenges and allow them to open up more. The challenges that I may face is the working with different cultures of people and children.  Being able to adapt and learn will be my challenge as well as finding creative ways that speaks to each individual child in a unique way.


From the website given I definitely got to some more insight on how the international support early childhood education. In Africa the UNESCO and education is key to the regions development.  They work to keep education high on the agenda of government and development partners.  Their focus is to improve the quality of teacher education in the region.  They focus on a lot of the same things that are focused on in teacher development in the U.S.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/worldwide/education-regions/africa/

Sharing web resources

The website that I have been continuing to explore is zerotothree.org.  This site has so many things to explore and offer I came across a link to this blog for the website specifically, it led me to a tumblr page where the blog was entitled “The baby policy blog.” The fist posting that I noticed was a posting about celebrating the life of children and the joy that children do bring to parents lives. Not only the parents lives but also people who support their growth and development.

One section of the site that I went through thoroughly was the public policy section. We have been studying and learning about public policy in early childhood education and I thought I'd like to learn more about the site and Thor take on it. Their mission is to promote good health, strong families and positive learning experiences in families and children's lives.  This section provides many resources that helped to promote public policy but also gave information regarding children and families that helped shape public policies and gave a better idea of the demographics.  There are downloadable guides to infant and toddlers and how to assess children and resources for head-start etc.

The site definitely adds to my understanding of equity and excellence in early childhood education.  Reading through the policies and the different programs that are offered helped me to understand what exactly is needed to improve the equity in early childhood and what was lacking.  There are so many different areas that have to be focused on in early childhood for improvement but all have some sort of progression.

This week I got a clear understanding of just how important public policy is and how implementing the correct public policy can affect children in many ways.  I also gathered many resources in the site that led to the challenges faced in children in their early years and specific things to target to help their growth and development.  This website covered many avenues and I cannot wait to explore and learn more that I can take with me on my journey.

Getting to know international contacts part-2

I was not able to receive contact from my international contacts that I originally wanted to gain information from which was in South Africa and the U.K. Although I was not able to contact them I was able to conduct research of my own as well as viewing the site provided.  http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/.

What I found interesting and more insightful about the website is that it focused heavily on spreading the awareness of the education gaps that exist as well as the socioeconomic disadvantage and the burden that it poses in people.  “Recent reports estimate that 200 million children fail to reach their full developmental potential by age 5.”  This site states working with not only the United States but focuses more so on Brazil, Canada, and Mexico by spreading the awareness and knowledge as well as helping those children from all around the world.

One country that they work with being Brazil, They ban together to create school readiness for the children, helping the Brazilian policy makers to train and learn to develop programs that inform policy.  The collaborative team they specifically work with is called Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI).  Each of the countries stated informed me of how this program supports the countries and the children and specifically works with them to help with building for the children in their unique way that fits and speaks for their country and people.  We always hear about the issues and problems in the world if the United States but it was very refreshing and informative to hear what is being done in other countries and how they are getting to learn the best ways to promote policy and get those different programs in their education system that can better develop the children there.  Every child counts and the works never stops and is forever changing. The effort this far I have seen is a great start and impressive to say the least.

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I chose to study specifically is www.zerotothree.org.

The section that seemed most relevant to my professional development in Early Childhood is the Care and Education section.  In this section it specifically states the different types of care that children are around while growing up and which have major influence on their growth and development, The first one was Childcare which of course I naturally related to the most because it is the are that I am studying myself.  "More infants and toddlers than ever are spending a good portion of their childhood with adults other than their parents" (zerotothree.org).  Another part of caring children receive is by either neighbors or family members, each adult that cares for a child at the early stages of their life play a crucial role in their growth and development. School readiness birth to age 3 is also a tool used for early childcare which is mainly for parents and caregivers to learn the tools necessary to prepare children and support their early learning.  

The main Idea that got me to thinking about things in a new way even more than before is the idea of targeting children from birth to growth and focusing on their growth and development from the beginning.  I have always thought previously before taking any early childhood course that children as babies do not much of what is going on, this may be true but they are definitely growing and developing everyday whether they know it or not and the child may not know how effective and important it is for their development but it is crucial in every moment especially from birth and on.  The learning starts as soon as the child is on earth and I more than ever take that a lot more seriously and think about differently than I have before.  

"Neuroscientists have documented that even in the earliest days, weeks, and even months of life is a period of unparallelled growth" (zerotothree.org).  Their research also displays that health and development is also a reflection of the quality of childcare and the experiences with parents that a child has.  This research alone shows how supportive they are for early childcare.  It provides us as professionals and parents the information we need to deal with children on a daily basis and also tells us the importance and impact that we actually have on children which changes our approach all together which is very important.  

From the website I have learned that creating public policy for the field is important and being able to have the funds to support research and different projects to express the importance of childcare is huge.  These organizations spend so much money to fund projects and research to develop quality programs for children which will on help aid families and children even more each year and that to me is amazing. 

Getting to know International contacts.

I originally reached out to two different international contacts in the Unicef UK as well as in South Africa.  I did not receive any information or reply back from South Africa, But I did however receive a response from a representative in the UK.  Although she was sweet she was not able to provide me with any information.  I will share with you the email I received from her.

"Dear Brittney,

Thank you for your recent enquiry and for thinking of us for your assignment. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to participate in surveys or ongoing communication  with people in the field due to time limitations. 

However, you can find detailed information about our work in the UK and internationally on our websites, including many interviews with Unicef staff from around the world.

Visit www.unicef.org and www.unicef.org.uk. 

For academic studies our Unicef Publications Page may be of particular relevance and use. Sharing our knowledge and resources with the public through the internet is the most efficient way of directing our limited resources towards our work for children worldwide.

I wish you the best of luck with your research and every success in your studies. Thank you for your interest in our work.

Yours sincerely,

Frances Bernhardt

Supporter Care Advisor"

I completely understood her position I do wish I got a chance to communicate more with them but the information she provided to me I will look into more as well as check out some of the podcasts to gain more information for my own education and references.  I had my heart set on speaking with an actual person through email and that did not go as planned, but I will not give up I will continue to reach out and find different resources to help aid me to better understanding different aspects of Early Childhood education and what we are learning in this course.  

What I have learned in regards to poverty by visiting the website www.unicef.org.uk is that one of their main goals is to help children and families that are affected by hunger and malnutrition.  "Unicef provides 80% of the world’s life-saving emergency food." (www.unicef.org.uk.)  Unicef helps mothers and communities keep their children well nourished, they do this by treating the child in the first 1,000 days of being born which helps to aid in their health as they grow and as we all know first years of life for a child is very crucial.  

"A child dies every 15 seconds as a result of malnutrition. Millions more live with the lifetime effects - physical disabilities and learning difficulties." ( www.unicef.org.uk.) To help to prevent this from happening unicef helps to provide solutions and also accepts donations to help aid in fighting poverty in children and families.  

Sharing Web Resources.

The organization and site that I chose is Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families (http://www.zerotothree.org/) 

This organization focuses on helping parents, caregivers and policy makers information and knowledge on how to nurture a child from the start.  It has been documented and studied that the days, weeks and even months of life are a period of unparalleled growth and this organizations mission is to ensure that babies and toddlers experience a strong start in life.  This website has many resources for parents and caregivers who need information as well as a donation tab for people who want to help fund the organization as they grow and develop.  The early development is crucial for the child and their future, so I am excited to learn more so that it may better help me to be a better caregiver for young children.