Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

In connecting with my international contact this week I only got response from my contact in Jamaica, and she responded with these answers.

 Question 1-We are currently looking at health issues concerning our children. Recently a report was made about the progress of the new health passports that are now used by our parents/health sector. This health passport gives health details on our children from the time of birth through to adolescent. The aim of the passport is to properly inform parents and early childhood/elementary institutions about engaging in healthy practices. Resources are also a big issue for us. The National Baking Company has a fund raising activity for the early childhood institutions. Every loaf of bread sold the company donates a fraction of the sales to getting resources for the early childhood institutions. The company calls this the “Crayons Count Project. So far schools have received at least two boxes of resources from the company. Nutrition is also a big issue. I know of at least two companies in Jamaica that has adopted early childhood institutions by feeding the children, that is, the children receive breakfast and lunch from these companies.
Question 2- Unfortunately a lot is being said about early childhood in Jamaica but not much financial resources are being pumped into the field. Scholarships are being granted through the CHASE Fund for persons who want to pursue a career in early childhood. The government also gives a subsidy of $200 US per month to the practitioners. Unfortunately this is not enough because not all teachers are entitled to this subsidy because they do not have the number of students at the institution. The ratio should be 1 practitioner to 30 children yet the standards ask for 1 practitioner to 10 children in the age groups 3 to 6 years.
Question 3- My professional goals haven’t changed much. I am now more focused in achieving them. My goal is to be that voice for early childhood. In other words to advocate for quality early childhood education which encompasses trained professionals that are paid competitive wages and working conditions.
Question 4-My hope is that in the near future early childhood will receive the respect and attention it deserves. My dream is for every parent to be mandated to participate in compulsory education on early childhood development. This I believe will help with the development and sustainability of any country. The days of ignorance need to be a thing of the past. When parents are also informed it makes the practitioner work a bit easier. There are many challenges but the greatest challenge we have at this moment are resources, that is, money. We are constantly being faced with budget cuts for early childhood, which is greatly impacting on our work as early childhood professionals.

In this weeks assignments I have gained insight on how being a professional is very important in this field not that It is not important in any other profession but, Dr. Vasquez enlightened me on being a professional. In this profession we have a responsibility in this profession, this is a life investment. This profession is very important we are not just babysitters we are educators.

Sharing Web Resources

This week I explore a link to a website I have not observed the website I decided to search was the Center for Childcare Workforce there was a section of the site that was called “What’s New?”   The latest early childhood article in American Educator that discusses the value of early childhood education.   Author James Heckman writes, "The logic is quite clear from an economic standpoint. We can invest early to close disparities and prevent achievement gaps, or we can pay to remediate disparities when they are harder and more expensive to close. Either way we are going to pay. And, we'll have to do both for a while. But, there is an important difference between the two approaches. Investing early allows us to shape the future; investing later chains us to fixing the missed opportunities of the past. Controlling our destiny is more in keeping with the American spirit."

http://www.ccw.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=41

 

The ZEROTOTHREE newsletter and website had a great link to this week’s issue of study. There was an article “Developing a Statewide Network of Infant and Toddler Specialist”. The ZEROTOTHREE is the site I selected at the beginning of the course. In this week study of equity and excellence in early childhood education this article I found very informative. This article was written in a joint effort between the national Infant and Toddler Childcare Initiative (NITCCI) and the Early Head Start National Resource Center (EHSNRC) at ZEROTOTHREE. In the article there was a section titled “Quality of Infant/Toddler Childcare which stated research has made aware that high-quality early childhood development programs help low-income children obtain greater outcomes, both in school and in their communities.  Also there has been longitudinal data that shows these programs lead to an increase of early childhood students staying in school, going to college, needing less remediation, being incarcerated far less and committing fewer violent crimes than their peers who did not attend high-quality early childhood programs.

There was also a multistate study done in 1995 that infant and toddler care was generally poor to mediocre. The study used the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS), this study reported that interaction between caregivers and children were on average, mediocre (a score of 4 out of 7). Activities for infants and toddlers were not appropriate receiving a “poor” score (3 out of 7), and the average scores for health and safety were 2.5 out of 7 reflecting a “minimal quality”.   

In a reading this article I gained some insights on the Infant Toddler Specialist Network (ITSN). Research suggests early brain development and the critical importance of the early years for later development provided information that stressed the importance of quality care for infants and toddlers. Scientific and education communities have acknowledged the first three years of life as critically formative years.

The article listed steps to create an Infant/Toddler Specialist Network:

Step 1: Assess needs and rediness

Step 2: Develop a vision of the network; the scope and focus of the work

Step 3: Find and secure funding

Step 4: Select an organization to administer the ITSN

Step 5: Build an administrative structure

Step 6: Design an evaluation

Step 7: Support the network

States such as North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Tennessee, Illinois, and Ohio have shared several influences on their developments of ITSN’s. Virginia started the process with the hope that achieving positive outcomes for children begin with providing quality experiences in the earliest years of life. New Jersey was hoping to improve the quality of early care and education by beginning with the youngest residents of the state.   

http://www.zerotothree.org/

 

 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

In these conversations I have gained insights on how other countries view early childhood. For the most part in comparison to the U.S. these countries have deemed early childhood education very necessary and important as well as more work is needed from all aspects in order to better prepare children in early childhood programs.

In Columbia my international counterpart Laure has provided this feedback: In Colombia there has been a strong and serious work done on the subject of early childhood education from various scenarios. The Ministry of Education and some ONG’s have allocated resources, often generous, to this purpose. President Santos and his wife designed the Zero to Always Strategy, which seeks to combine the efforts of the public and private sectors, the civil society and international cooperation for Early Childhood in Colombia. The ICBF (Colombian Institute of Family Welfare) works for the prevention and comprehensive protection of infancy, childhood, adolescence and welfare of families in Colombia. Additionally, the findings in research and evaluation of programs and policies are generally very interesting.

However, it is worth noting that there are two aspects that affect the impact on the quality and equity in education that are not as expected. The first is the lack of linkage between public policy governing institutions and between them and the operators. It's a shame to see how knowledge derived from studies is hardly shared and even hardly transferred to those who are directly related to children.

The second aspect is embarrassing, by its obviousness. On childhood education research teams the presence of educators with investigative career and most importantly, with experience of working directly with children is virtually nonexistent. While other professionals such as psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists, among others are welcomed, because these studies must be interdisciplinary, it is inexplicable the absence of high-profile educators in these studies. This causes that recommendations made are as known that it is silly to say or do not say anything to children’s educators.

In these circumstances, there is a risk that equity and quality of education remain on paper.

 

My professional counterpart Judy from Jamaica has provided me with information in relation to excellence and equity which are at the forefront of professional discussions she provided information from UNICEF annual report from Jamaica. A psychosocial support has been formed in 2011, UNICEF developed partnerships with the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network to expand mobilize and enrich youth participation, and the Crisis Management Alliance was created as well. The UNICEF has supported the development of partner’s capacity through various approaches including workshops on UN/UNICEF processes technical support in specific thematic areas and local as well as international learning opportunities (UNICEF, 2011). Partners will need to understand and apply UN/UNICEF processes in order to access and use UNICEF resources and support and has been provided in the form of training workshops, one-on-one assistance and written notes of guidance, as an integral part of the programming cycle. There have been learning opportunities related to fulfilling and protecting child rights have been made available to partners through participation in conferences, seminars and workshops either locally through an organization called 5^th Caribbean Child Research and Yutex Conferences or internationally (such as the study tour to Mexico) to observe parenting programs (UNICEF, 2011). UNICEF has also used their abundantly accepted and appreciated convening role to facilitate partner –to-partner learning opportunities as well utilizing web-based training in C4D for partners involved in breast feeding promotions (UNICEF, 2011). 

From previous experience capacity development efforts must be on-going systematic relevant and readily applicable (UNICEF, 2011). Over the next two years efforts to develop programming capacity will be increasingly valuable as major changes will be made in the UNICEF programming process. In addition a collaborative effort to address equity issues and the rights of the most vulnerable children will require partners to develop more capacity in gathering and analyzing data more accurate targeting and prioritization regular monitoring and evaluation and above all a commitment to rights-based programming and human rights principles (UNICEF, 2011).  

 

http://www.unicef.org/about/annualreport/files/Jamaica_COAR_2010.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing Web Sources

Children’s Defense Fund

What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

The “Take Action” section of this website has provided information on how to be an advocate it describes how you can be an advocate through email, calling elected officials, send letters to elected officials meet with friends of elected officials or write an op-ed.  I feel as I continue this journey I will become an advocate and leader in fighting for all children to receive a high quality early childhood education.

Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

The programs and campaigns section of the website featured different campaigns and programs they have created. The “Cradle to Prison Pipeline” campaign made me think about how important it is to be involved, influential, and nurturing to early childhood. The statistics state that one in three black and one in six Latino boys born in 2001 are at risk of going to prison during their lifetime. The CDF’S vision with this campaign is to decrease detention and incarceration by increasing preventative supports and services. Children need access to quality early childhood development and education services, and accessible comprehensive health and mental health coverage. The “Black Community Crusade” for children is another campaign the CDF has spearheaded this campaign was organized to confront a deepening crises faced by black children and is calling America to make moves. A mix of poverty, illiteracy, racial disparity, violence and heightened incarceration is sentencing millions of children of color to dead end, powerless and hopeless lives.    

What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

Neuroscientists, politicians, economists support the early childhood field in that they recognize how beneficial a high quality early childhood education is very important. We must invest in high quality education for every child, livable wages for families, income supplements, job training, job development, and support childcare and health coverage.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

In exploring this website, I know that we have a great deal still to accomplish in the early childhood field. We must advocate to end child poverty, guarantee every child and expecting woman comprehensive health, and mental health coverage and services. Protect every child from abuse, neglect and connect them to caring permanent families. Provide high quality early childhood care and development programs for all children. Ensure every child can read at grade level by fourth grade and guarantee quality education through high school graduation. Prevent jail sentences of children at younger ages and invest in prevention and early intervention.

http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/