International Contacts

Final Blog Assignment

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for my professional and personal development are:

Finding out that internationally we seem to share similar interests professionally and tend to agree the best way forward for children and families.

Researching internationally with EC professionals and finding out about their issues and trends in the EC field.

Learning more about different cultures and the differences people have.

My goal is to continue my communication with my international contacts because I like the professional contact with colleagues from different countries, learning from each other’s experiences and mistakes to improve the lives of children.

Responses from my International contact.

Hello classmates, here are the responses I received to the following questions from my International contact Karen.

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

I am chairing a national review related to Registration, Regulation and Inspection of the workforce in Wales. This is important because it brings together inspection and quality standards. It raises questions about how inspection is a driver for quality. Consistency and standardized understanding of national standards is a key to this and is the current focus of the workforce who thinks interpretation of national standards varies too much.

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

 Professionals can undertake qualifications from entry level to level 5 (Foundation Degree) through work-based learning programmers and can go to University for a degree program, follow the link for the content of level 5, you will also find other levels of CCLD here too.
http://www.ccwales.org.uk/qcf-level-5-diploma-in-leadership-for-ccld-advanced-practice-wales-and-northern-ireland/
 

3. What are some of your professional goals?

 I would like to see Wales recognized for its work in relation to the UNCRC and to see the outcomes for children in our poorest communities improved through tackling poverty and low levels of education attainment. My role is helping to make those improvements through conducting evaluations and reviews, as above, and making recommendations for change and through working at community level. For example, I deliver programs to people who work with some of our most disadvantaged parents. These are my goals and challenges professionally too.

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

 I would love to see a global community of people working to the same end. We all work to the same issues on the same trajectory and are in different places on that trajectory but it would be, and is, fantastic to share practice globally. In this way we learn from each other’s mistakes and experiences and improve the world we live in.

I run the Centre for the Child, Family and Society. You may find out more about this if you google Professor Karen Graham, UK.

Kind regards and Merry Christmas for when it comes.

Karen

EXPLORING OUTSIDE RESOURCES

OUTSIDE LINKS

Some of the outside links I choose to follow are www.uschamber.com/icw

and www.PartnershipforSuccess.org. These websites has action items

that will encourage greater business involvement in early childhood

education which outlines state- and business-level activities, and business

 leaders may choose to engage. There is a summary of the economic

evidence behind investments in early childhood education.

From exploring these websites I have gained greater insight on the

business side of early childhood education. I subscribed for E-Mail Updates

on Ready Nation and I Invested in the Kids Working Group.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

 New Ideas / Insights Gained About Early Childhood Systems Around The Globe. 

The Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains: early childhood development; child mental health; and children in crisis and conflict situations.

Un Buen Comieno (UBC), "A Good Start," is a collaborative project in Santiago, Chile, to improve the quality of early childhood education through teacher professional development. . UBC, which has received some funding from the Center, is an example of the kind of integrated child development work that is central to the Center's mission.

As part of its Global Children’s Initiative, the Center is launching Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância, its first major programmatic effort outside the United States. In collaboration with local experts, the project aims to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families in Brazil

 Reference

Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Sharing Wed Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts & Expanding Resources seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development because I can communicate with early childhood professionals in other parts of the world and learn how their system works.

I found the statement of my International contact Karen Graham “focusing on work that impacts on children's lives now is critical for this and future generations” to be controversial.

The information in the website, Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1 that adds to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field is, “in the early years our focus is ensuring children are supported in families capable of supporting the child (we work hard to ensure families get the right support and offer services around adult education, domestic violence, parenting programs etc.), that housing is adequate and that specific education programs provide early intervention and support to ensure children have improved life chances from the very start. Our Foundation Phase curriculum is testimony to this and aims to work to reduce inequality” (Graham, 2013).

Some other insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field that I gained from exploring the website was,” if we are looking at children needs we can't go far wrong. We are all making step changes to improvement” (Graham, 2013).

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

 Hello classmates this week I ask my conversation partner Karen Graham Glyndwr University in Wales, UK, to help me understand the specific issues of poverty they encounter in their professional lives as well as those they are concerned about throughout the world. This is the response I received from Graham (2013).

karengraham Graham

To Me

Today at 2:46 AM

Good morning Sheena, 

Wales is a small country, with geographical challenges due to a proportionately large mid Wales’s rural area. This area is sometimes regarded as separating the North and South because road networks are not so great. It brings with it challenges of navigating the area to support children and families. For example, someone was explaining yesterday that to support an early years setting can take 2 hours to travel to and 2 hours return in Mid Wales. This is not the case in the North or South.

We talk about poverty as being emotional, social, educational or financial poverty and there is a significant focus, on working to deal with inequity brought about by all types of poverty. That means working with the current generations who experience poverty for their own sake and to prevent intergenerational poverty.

We have a Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty who needs to understand the very complex issues surrounding this theme. In the early years our focus is ensuring children are supported in families capable of supporting the child (we work hard to ensure families get the right support and offer services around adult education, domestic violence, parenting programs etc.), that housing is adequate and that specific education programs provide early intervention and support to ensure children have improved life chances from the very start. Our Foundation Phase curriculum is testimony to this and aims to work to reduce inequality.

I am always interested to find that internationally we seem to share similar interests professionally and tend to agree the best way forward for children and families. Always in different places on the same trajectory. This is why it is good to be working internationally on the children's rights agenda. If we are looking at child needs we can't go far wrong. We are all making step changes to improvement.

For me, focusing on work that impacts on children's lives now is critical for this and future generations. The breadth of the (UNCRC) United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children is a challenge but encompasses the themes and issues well!

I hope this helps you in your mission.

Kind regards

Karen

Sent from my iPad

                                    

Sharing Web Resources

                                                          WEB RESOURCE

Hello classmates, the newsletter organization I selected is www.theallianceforec.org/earlychildhoodnewsletter.php‎, it proves monthly/seasonal newsletters for parents and children. There is also an early childhood calendar, and a schools and programs, special needs and resources section.

Public Policy | NACCRRA.org

Public Policy | NACCRRA.org

Establishing Professional Contacts & Expanding Resources

  Hello classmates, I hope you all are excited as I am about establishing professional contacts with early childhood professionals in other parts of the world. I have sent out many emails, but unfortunately most of them came back as mail demons. I did receive one response from Anne Bauer, Editor/Director of Publications at the Association for Childhood Education International that stated “Thank you for contacting us. Your message has been sent to the NSCC Information Office, and you should receive a response soon”. I will continue to try and establish professional contacts in hope to responses, but if not I will do the alternate assignment. 

My Supports

Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall.  Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll. 

     My first support is Jesus Christ; he is the one that allows me to see every day. Through his strength, I can carry out my daily routines. Sometimes when things seem most difficult for me and I think that I cannot make it, I just call his name “Jesus” and he is right there with the support I need.

    I receive a lot of support from my family members. Before my mother and father passed away, they showed me a lot of support. My parents always wanted me to get a higher education. My children often tells me how pride they are for me because I decided to continue my schooling. My daughter asks, “Ma have you finish your school work”? Some days she will volunteer to fix dinner so that I can do my school work. My oldest sister is always telling me how great I am, and how I have accomplished so much, and how I should  not give up because I have come so far.

The support I receive is always encouraging to me. This support gives me the power to endure.

My Connections to Play

Rain, Rain go away
Come again
some other day,

Little Johnny
wants to play.

 

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning (Fred Rogers)

Playful Childhood Memories

     Reminiscing back to my childhood playful days, all I can remember is that those were joyful times. My mother would always encourage my siblings and me to go outside and play. I can recall my other sister, brothers and I playing down on the country farm. We made mud cakes and let the sun dry them out, caught crickets and went fishing with them, rode the piggy backs, played ball, rode our bikes down the cotton path. There were so many other playful times I could mention that made me the individual I am today. All I know is there was never a boring moment.

     Recalling the playful life of my children, it in no way resembled mines. My daughter would always say it’s too hot or cold to go outside to play.  She played outside at school. While at home she played mostly with inside toys or was engaged in the TV or video games. My son enjoyed being outside. He and I would sometimes play basketball together. He would also invite his friends over to play football. He adored climbing trees and riding his bike.

     As an adult, I’m still a child at heart because I still enjoy playing. I engage in play with the children at school, and with my nieces and nephews.