Reflecting Over My International Connections

I was amazed I made contact with two early childhood educators from other countries. K Corr, from North Ireland, and S. Sheil from Singapore, have taught me so much!  I never thought I would have contacts from countries other than the US.  Both of my contacts have said to contact them at anytime with any questions.  They have been amazing!

Through these two contacts, I have learned that:

1.  In both N. Ireland and Singapore, in the schools that my two contacts teach at, most students are not considered socially disadvantage with less than 20% receiving free and reduced lunch.  In Indiana alone, 40% of students receive free and reduced lunches.

2.  Families, children, and educators face many of the same challenges related to equity as we do in the US. These include location, socioeconomic status, and race.
 

3. A hot topic in N. Ireland right now is the qualifications of a "high-quality" educator.  They are currently in discussions in North Ireland about whether the 3-4 year old teachers should be degree holders.  This is currently a hot topic here in the US.

Learning about these has broadened my knowledge about education in areas other than our country.  It has made me realize that countries that are very different in culture, geographical setting, language, etc., can be facing very similar challenges.  This has made me realize that we have a long way to go in the US in terms of our early childhood program.  During my conversations with my two contacts, I realized that their programs were far more developed than I had assumed prior to the course. 

My goal is to continue connections with these two contacts.  I also plan to make new connections through my recent joining of an early childhood group.  This group is on Facebook, and contains members from all over the world who come together to share ideas and discuss topics. 

I want to thank all my classmates and Dr. Klein for such a wonderful journey through this course!  The discussions we have all taken part in, and the blogs that you have all posted have given my much more knowledge!  Thanks again!

Getting to Know my International Contacts-Part 3

I asked my international contacts the provided questions this week.  Their answers were both interesting and very informative.  It appears that the UK is in a possible transition period simliar to that of the US.  

   

1.  What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

The biggest discussion in the Uk at the moment is whether you need a qualified teacher in a nursery class. (3-4 year olds) This was mooted a few years ago in N. Ireland but created such an uproar it was shelved but in some regions of Scotland it has already happened. I would envision that with the recession & budget cuts it will be brought up again.

We have 2 systems for preschool here - statutory (schools) with teachers & voluntary (playgroups) with no teachers. It creates a them versus us situation where schools feel in competition with playgroups & there is limited contact or collaboration between the 2.

There is also a drive to get all assistants (non teachers) educated to degree level.

2.  What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

There is little opportunity anymore for development unless you are willing to study part-time at night and pay for it yourself. Even when you do this you do not get any more pay but I did anyway for my own development. There is little incentive to do any further studies. I have found that blogging & following blogs has helped me become more reflective as a teacher.

3.  What are some of your professional goals?

I want to ensure that the children in my class get the best early years opportunities in their year with me. I want to offer them a unique outdoor learning experience that they can't get anywhere else. I hope to continue to develop European links for my school & would love ot undertake a study on early years proviosn in Australia & Scandinavia.

4.  What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

If money was no object I would establsih an outdoor kindergarten! However I feel very lucky to do a job I love.

I was surprised to see that Ireland voted down the decision to make certain requirements for teachers.  It seems to be an issue all over the world.  When talking about her professional goals, she mentioned making European links.  I am very interested to do a little research on Australia and Scandinavia to see what their education program looks like!

Unfortunately, S. Shieh, my second contact from Singapore, did not respond to my questions from this week.  I would've been very interested to hear what she had to say.

Sharing Web Resources-Zero to Three on "Reauthorization".

Over the last six weeks, I have been exploring the Zero to Three website.  This week, I followed a link from the Zero to Three website titled "Early Head Start".  The link took me to The Early Head Start National Resource Center.  This center had sections on News, Resources, Activities, and Partnerships.  They cover topics such as SIDS, breastfeeding, webcasts, onlines lessons, homebased programs, etc.  It looks a fantastic website that covers a wide range of topics as it relates to infants and toddlers.   

This week I also searched for some specific articles about either access, awareness, or responsiveness.  I had a difficult time finding any specific articles, but did come accross an article titled "Zero To Three Priortities For Early Childhood In The Reauthorization Of The Elementary And Secondary Education Act".  

This article does an excellent job at highlighting the importance of early childhood education, and the effect  it can have on children as they age and grow.  "The first years of life are critically important to later success in school and adulthood" (Zero to Three, 2011, pg. 1).  Furthermore, this article goes on to make reccomendations for creating a new connection between early childhood education with the K-12 education system.  Some of these suggestions include:

• Continue the Use of Title I Funds to Serve Children Birth to Five
• Require Data Collection on use of Title I Funds for Early Childhood Education
• Promote Joint Professional Development for Early Childhood and Early Elementary Educators
• Incorporate Provisions within Literacy Initiatives Based on the Premise that Early Language and Literacy Begin at Birth
• Require K12 and CommunityBased Early Care and Education Providers to Support and Coordinate Efforts with Each Other

What does all of this mean?

There is definitely a move for early childhood to be held at the same level as K-12 education!  This is exciting for  early childhood professionals, and will reap great benefits for edcuation as a whole.  Zero to Three is a fantastic organization that stays abreast the hot topics in the early childhood field.  Zero to Three also advocate for all young children, showing the importance of education and relationships at all ages including infants. 



Resource from:
http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/federal-policy/ztt-priorities-esea-2011.pdf

My International Contacts Discuss Equality and Excellence

My first contact is K. Corr. She is located in Dungannon, N. Ireland, which is about 45 miles west of Belfast.  This week I asked her a few questions about equalitu and excellence. When discussing what her opinion of excellence was she told me that she believed  it consisted of highly motivated staff, classrooms that offered a wide range of experiences both indoors & outdoors, staff who constantly engage in further learning & new experiences, and  staff who work with parents/carers & families as a unit.

K. Corr personally believes that children should be in home setting until they are 3, but if they have to be in daycare then it needs to be a pretty special place where they have time to be individuals rather than part of a large group. She also do believe that all children should attend a preschool before starting formal education,since it is a gentle way to ease them into the system.

I asked her if all children had access to early childhood education in Ireland.  She shared that they now have a programme called "Time to be me" for 2-3 year olds form disadvantaged backgrounds, this is run by Sure Start, a government funded agency, they work with parents & children, teaching skills through play. The children attend for four days with one of those days having their parents attend to play with their children. All children are entitled to a free preschool place the year before they start school, but they have more children than places and some end up in less than good settings.

K. Corr also stated that grographical location plays a big part in contributing to the lack of childcare/early childhood programs, because there are more pre-school places in the cities than in rural areas. 
Economics also play a role because parents who both work are penalized at the preschool stage as their children are bottom of the list of criteria when applying.  Finally, race is also a contirbuting factor.  According to K. Corr, alot of migrants do not realize that their children can start preschool at the age of 3, as in their countries it is much later, therfore they often miss this opportunity.

My second contact is S. Sheih. She is working as a Supervisor in a day care center in Singapore.
S. Sheih defines excellence as and educator who provides a  personal touch on an individual child and familiy.

She strongly believes that all children should benefit from excellent childcare and education, but in Singapore, not all children have access to excellent childcare and education.  In Singapore, they do have programs available to families that offer assistance for quality childcare and/or education.  There are government subsidies which will reduce some finacial load for parents. If parents are from well to do families, they could send their kids to a childcare with higher quality. With this subsidy, the parents will pay slightly higher then the normal childcare fee to benifit from quality childcare service.  S. Sheih stated that location in Singapore is the largest factor that contributes to the lack of childcare/education available to some children and families.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As educators, we can all agree that early childhood needs to be focus of the child as a whole.  K. Corr stated that in Ireland grographical location, socioeconomic status, and race are factors that creat inequalities in their early childhood programs.  These are the same factors that are affecting the children in the US.  In Singapore, S. Sheih stated that location was definitely the greatest contributing factor.  Even though education programs can be very different around the world, there are still many inequalities that we share. 

Sharing Web Resources- Zero to Three

As you know, I have been studying the organization Zero to Three during this course.  I have not recieved a formal newsletter yet, but I often visit the site for information and new resources.  I came across a great article titled, "Partnering with the Business Community & Economists to Advance a Birth to Five Policy Agenda" by Robert Duggar & Debbie Rappaport.  This article directly related to our studies this week.  In this article, they discussed how we often think of partnerships in education as doctors, psychologists, etc.  How often do we associate education matters with professionals such as economists?

Over the past few years, a group of economists, policitians, funders, and other have come together to form a group known as Partnership for America's Economic Success.  "They are working to document economic research findings on early childhood investment and bring them to the attention of policymakers and the public" (Duggar & Rappaport, 2007).  Interventions in the early childhood years are expected to have a more significant impact that interventions at a later age.  

This article goes on to give specific ways that educators can work to form partnerships with business leaders, policians, and economists, such as forming peer-to-peer relationships and studying literature about making these investments in young children.  

While I do think investing in early childhood is essential, and it has great implications on the future of our children, I think this topic can be very controversial.  Education is not a business, and it should not be run like a business.  I worked at a charter school for many years.  The Head of School, who also worked at the Principal, had come from a business background.  Policies and changes were often implemented without regards to the effects it would have on the children or the educators.  We ended up with policies that were implemented and terminated quickly, exhausted teachers, and children stuck right in the middle.  I just feel that there needs to be a complete collaboration between these individuals and educators to determine the best policy in regards to the children, not our economy.     

Resources

Duggar, R. & Rappaport D. (2007). Partnering with the business community & economists

to advance a birth to five policy agenda. Retrieved from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Partnering_with_the_Business_Community_final.pdf?docID=4361

Getting to Know My International Contacts—Part 1

My first contact is K. Corr. She is located in Dungannon, N. Ireland, which is about 45 miles west of Belfast.

She is currently working as a Nursery Teacher in the Nursery Unit in a primary school. Her classroom consists of 3 & 4 year old. At present in her class of 26, 5 children are classed as 'socially disadvantaged' and so receive free school meals, 2 are classed as 'foreign nationals' with English as a second language. In the school of 230 children 10% would be 'foreign nationals' with English as a second language & 25% are in receipt of free school meals.

I asked her about poverty in relation to her school she said that Dungannon has a high rate of unemployment and the borough is one of the most disadvantaged outside areas of Belfast. Many of the children in her school come from long term unemployed families. However because they are an integrated school we also have some children from very wealthy backgrounds.

Please click here for more information on "integrated".

She said that over the past year as the recession has set in, they are more aware of how some families are struggling with basic cost let alone adding to this with requests for money for trips etc.

My second contact is S. Sheih. She is working as a Supervisor in a day care center in Singapore. It operates from 7am to 7pm from Monday to Friday, plus an additional 7am to 2pm on Saturday.

The children who attend this day care center are from 1.5 years old to 6 years old. The school currently teaches 40+ kids.

When I asked her how poverty related to her school, she said that the children in her school are mainly from dual income families and parents are holding higher positions at work. Therefore, their students aren't coming from lower income familiy.


What does all of this mean?

I was suprised to see such a large difference in this poverty levels in these two areas.  In Dungannon, there are currently approximately 25% of students receiving free lunches, but in Singapore, no childre are receiving free lunches.  In Indiana, over 40% of students are receiving free and/or reduced lunches.  An assumption is that other countries aren't as developed or offered the same lifestyle as we are in The United States.  This just shows us that we have numerous, devastating poverty issues right her in the U.S.

Sharing Web Resources

The website I have chose to follow through newsletters is Zero to Three.

"ZERO TO THREE is a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers" (Zero to Three, 2011).

The reason I haven chosen Zero to Three is because I have read numerous documents and newsletters from Zero to Three through my work as an early intervention provider for my state.  Zero to Three has also been mentioned in many of my trainings I have attended.  Zero to Three is full of great resources and topics geared toward specific age levels, covering specific topics. 

No newsletters have arrived yet, so I visited the website.  When I searched for "changing demographics", a document came up that really peaked my interest.  It was titled, "State Policies to Improve the Odds for the Healthy Development and School Readiness of Infants and Toddlers".  The article discussed changing demographics as it relates to changes in the early childhood field and school readiness.  This article states that there are three main factors that can affect school readiness.  They are healthcare, quality early childhood programs, and parent/child realtionships.  All of these factors can be greatly affected and have changed over years due to changes in cultures and demographics. 

I learned a few startling statistics that I thought I would share with you.

• "More than 10 million children, 42 percent of all children under age 6, live in low-income families and are especially vulnerable for poor school outcomes and poor health". 
• Only "30 states require a newborn screening" and only "18 states require newborn screening for 28 metabolic definciencies recommended by the March of Dimes." 
• Only "6 states offer paid maternity leave".

These statistics are startling considering these are all factors that can determine early childhood learning options and success in our young learners.

Resources

Stebbins, H. (2007). State Policies to Improve the Odds for the Healthy Development and School Readiness of Infants and Toddlers. Retrieved from Zero to Three website: http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/NCCP_article_for_BM_final.pdf?docID=4281