I haven't heard from my international contacts in the past couple of weeks, so I chose to look at the UNESCO's Early Childhood Care and Education website. One insight I gain this week that is governments that participate in UNESCO are committing themselves to expanding childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantage children. Governments are being urged to expand equitable access to quality early childhood services to help the poo (UNESCO, 2014)r. Another insight I gained from the website is that they support early childhood care and education programs should emphasis the child's development and extend beyond assisting the child's transitions to formal schooling. By advocating for high quality childcare it is going to promote motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness (UNESCO, 2014). The last insight I gained from the UNESCO is that many governments are partnering with private sectors in order to help fund early childhood care and education for those who are at risk are disadvantaged (UNESCO, 20014).
This insights relate to my professional goals because one of my goals is to advocate for the importance of early childhood education. The information I learned from the UNESCO website showed me that we need to advocate for our children not just in the United States, but worldwide. The website also showed me that there are many organizations out there that support early childhood education, and advocate for our children so they can get high-quality education to help their development and succeed.
Resources:
UNESCO, (2014). Early childhood care and education. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/
Abby,
ReplyDeleteAfter checking the website out, I started to rethink how I see other programs around the world. We often see information that focuses solely on providing early learning experiences and the work of gaining accessibility. I tend to assume that accessibility for the poor or rural children in different countries is still a major issue. After reading through the quality section, though, I am starting to see that quality is a current issue for many countries as well. This revelation is not only necessary, but changes how I see small, developing countries and their approaches to early education. Their struggle is similar to my own, working to make sure parents and professionals are educated in best practices and focused on the right parts of learning experiences before formal education. I find this quite comforting and was happy I found it on the website.
Shawna
Abby,
ReplyDeleteUNESCO is in fact doing an excellent job at incorporating governments and other NGOs to fund and provide equitable access to the poor and vulnerable in society.
The field of early childhood care and education aims at fostering the holistic development and well being of children and by extension their families. These are the formative years and are the foundation for a healthy and productive society.
“It’s gonna be much more costly to invest and much more deliberate to recover from some missed opportunities when you are very young (Laureate Education Inc. Executive Producer, 2011).
Hence the reason we need governments to get on board now to provide much needed funding for the early childhood sector rather than having to spend even more money fixing a messed up society. In other words, “be proactive rather than reactive.”
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Issues and trends in the early childhood field: Economists, scientists, and politicians supporting the EC field. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Abby,
ReplyDeleteI agree that is a growing need for us as educators to advocate for change in the early childhood field. I think that it is great that you was able to connect to a link that you gained something from it.