Getting to know International Contacts-Part 3

A part of my educational goals is to utilize available resources, network with other professionals, and increase my awareness of the early childhood field.  I had the opportunity to do so while exploring the UNESCO's Early Childhood Care and Education website:

In New Zealand, home based care for birth to five years old, has increased due to more mothers entering the work force.  Home based care is under the supervision of a home based coordinator, but the Ministry of Education is over administration and partial funding.  Each home receives the same funding per child per hour.  The government oversees the quality of the early childhood education and evaluates the safetyy of children, the learning programs and the performance of management.  Each coordinator must have a qualification approval by the head of the Ministry of Education.  No formal education is required for care-givers, but changes are being implemented and new policies are being created to encourage and improve quality.

Brazil has a mandatory education fund for primary education that requires 60% of the local governments budgets to be spent on primary education.  Policy makers are trying to develop the same type of education for early childhood education for 0-6 year olds in order to increase early childhood education in Brazil.  Budgets for primary education tend to stretch beyond the 60%, and it leaves early childhood education with very little funding.  Efforts are being made to make funding mandatory for early childhood education, but assistance is also needed from the federal government.

HIV and AIDS affected children was addressed at the First World Conference on Early Care and Education held in September 2010.  A new series of children's books were featured at the conference about a boy and girl named "Bouba & Zaza."  "Childhood Cultures" is an intergenerational African series of children's books that takes  you through the experiences of Bouba and Zaza.  The series covers subjects affecting the lives of African families such as war, HIV/AIDS, water resources, and environmental protection.  The books help children address these problems and adapt to their environment, as well as, become active members of it.  The books help children to develop responsibility, improve communication skills, oral and written language, and various other skills. The books are also a great teaching resource for teachers, and they also benefit older children, parents, grandparents and the community.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

National Head Start Association

While exploring additional links of Head Start,  I found myself in the archives which contained numerous stories on Head Start and it's constant budget and funding issues.  I decided to look deeper into the archive articles and reports by states.  I found some very interesting articles about how the program is supported through advocacy efforts throughout the country.   As decisions were being discussed about cuts to the program, South Carolina students, teachers, and parents built a city using show boxes, construction paper, glue and their own ideas as an effort to show the value of Head Start through learning.  In Florida, parents and staff members loaded their babies in strollers and march to their Congressman's office to protest budget cuts.  Texas parents also protesed at their congressman's office.  Four year old children and teachers in Illinois also vistited their Congressman's office in an effort to support cuts to the program.
State Rep Tony Hwang is another supporter of the Head Start program.  He credits the program in Syracuse, NY for with being where he is today.  He learned English through the Head Start program, and considers it an excellent opportunity to learn and develop skills.

The economy has caused an increase in the unemployment rate, and more people are living below the poverty line.  The need for the Head Start program has increased due to the economy, but Head Start is only able to serve less than fifty percent of eligible children, with only five to six percent of children needing early services able to access programs.  As a part of Head Start Awareness month, Head Start has re-affirmed their commitment to making sure every eligible child has access to the program.  For many years, the program has helped struggling families living below the poverty line with getting children ready for school, parenting skills, and health issues and it has been a great asset to communities and families.


National Head Start Associationhttp://www.nhsa.org/  
(Newsletter: http://www.nhsa.org/news_and_advocacy/advocacy/legislative_eupdate )

Excellence and Equity

Global Children's Initiative

• Un Buen Comenzo, "A Good Start, is a project in Santiago, Chile that is dedicated to improving quality education by offering teachers training and development opportunities.  The programs focus on language development, socioemotional development, health and family involvement for 4-6 year old.  UBC uses a comprehensive evaluation that will experiment in all 60 schools that will eventually become a part of UBC.  These efforts will put Chile ahead of other Latin American countries in providing high quality education.
• New activities are being developed in the areas of early childhood development, mental health and children in crisis and conflict situations.  In the area of early childhood development, the goals are to introduce the work done in the U.S. to a broader audience and to apply new knowledge about health and developmental needs of young children in various settings.  The child mental health goal is to develop a focus group to identify and develop approaches in policy and service delivery that are diversely responsive to cultures.  The children and crisis goal is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration that incorporates a science based developmental perspective into the well being of children in various crisis.
• Millennium Development Goals-In 2000, governments of the world created a set of international goals to be achieved by the year 2015.  These goals included ending extreme hunger, ensuring completion of a least a primary education by every child, and reducing child mortality by two thirds.  Progress has been made to meet these goals, worldwide, but a lot of work needs to still be done in order to meet the deadline.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/gobal_initiative/

National Head Start Association

The Executive Director of Head Sart is concerned about the impact that federal budget cuts will have on Head Start over the next several years.  Although, Head Start has often faced budget cuts, the current state of the economy increases the chances of future budget cuts to Head Start.  The Executive Director along with parents and community leaders are increasing advocacy efforts to inform decision makers of the value of the program.  Congressional representatives are being contacted through phone calls, asking them to visit a local Head Start program to see the effectiveness and benefits of the program.

SUPPORTS
The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services Education Appropriations subcommittee has approved funding for Head Start for 2012 to continue with the current services throughout the country.  46 million people are currently living below the poverty line, including 25% of children under six years of age.  Head Start serves around 1 million children a year and this continued funding will continue to help children and families to be successful throughout life.

INSIGHTS
Head Start programs and day care centers costs basically the same amount of money per child, but Head Start provides day care and after school care, training opportunities for parents, clothing from donations and educational support for parents working toward a GED.  Head Start also provides medical screenings and vaccinations, support community activities, and coordinates with social services for families that participate in the program.  The government saves $10 for every $1 spent on Head Start.  Police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors who support Head Start are advocating for the program because the children who are served through Head Start are less likely to commit crimes or end up in prison as adults due to the fact that the children are well cared for and the parents have received training.

I did not find any controversial ideas or statements, but I impressed with the number of students that have graduated from Head Start.  Since 1965, 27 million students have graduated from the Head Start program,

Head Start-http://www.nhsa.org/

"Head Start faculty must get more education"

Head Start agency administrators requiring all of their teachers to get a bachelors degree in order to keep their jobs.  Many Head Start teachers only hold an associate degree, although they have been employed with the agency for many years.  The teachers are being asked to obtain their degree in response to a federal mandate that at least 50% of the teachers at a center based program hold a bachelor's degree in early childhood education.  Requiring teachers to obtain bachelor's degrees is an effort to increase the quality of the program through more education and training in order to provide a better learning experience for the child.
The teachers are being asked to earn the degree by September 2013 or it could result in them becoming teacher assistants.

Week 1 assignment

I use the Global Alliance of NAEYC to send emails to Haiti, Spain, South Africa, and Philippines.  So far, I have not received any responses, but I plan to send a few more emails to some of the others before I decide to do the alternate assignment. (if they are anything like me, it will take a minute to get a reponse.)  I hope to hear back from some of the contacts because it will be interesting to learn about programs outside the US.

The early childhood organization I decided to study is the National Head Start Association.  I started teaching pre-school at Head Start, and I was also a head start student.  I've seen a lot of good things from the organization, and I look forward to staying informed about how Head Start is continuing to serve children and families.

I'm looking forward to learning about some of the other places through others.

"My Supports"

My supports include the love of my children and my faith in God.  Yes, I do need to make "to do lists" and of course, I need financial support to live in this world, but the daily love and support of my children and my faith in God is what keeps me believing that I can do anything.  My children are my strength; they give me the courage to endure I lot of things I probably wouldn't even bother with if it wasn't for them.  My faith in God allows me to stay positive and believe that all things are possible.  It would be difficult to exist without these two supports because I need both God and my children as a part of my daily existence.
The challenge I imagined is being physically challenged with something like blindnees.  I would want to have the support of family and friends to help me to adjust to my challenge and learn how to live with it.  I would need for my family and friends to  arrange my home in a way that I would be able to get around on my own without someone to constantly help me.  I would need for them to help me with the things I couldn't always handle such as reading things that I couldn't or describing something for me so that I could develop a clear picture in my mind.  I would still need the support of my children, and I will probably need it even more and in a different capacity  because now I would be more dependent on them.  My faith in God will always be constant for me regardless of what challenges I may face.