Issues and Trends: Consequences of International Contacts

Learning about the international early childhood field has contributed to my professional and personal development by:

(1) Gaining a different cultural perspective on Early Childhood Education. The learning abroad experience  added breadth to my knowledge of skills and understanding in early childhood.
(2) Learning about the international early childhood field gave me the opportunity to review shared information, resources, tools, and approaches in early childhood that would help enable me and other organizations to learn from and support one another as we develop and implement programs, services and systems to improve the lives of young children and their families.
(3) Being able to sign up for newsletters to receive periodic notifications about what's going on in the early childhood field and related events and materials.

My goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends will be to continually use this valuable information and internationally available resources in order to help me with my professional growth in a culturally diverse nation.

To my colleagues in this course of "Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field", I wish you many blessings as you continue on your professional path in early childhood studies.

"The best way to predict your future is to make it".

                                                      -Anonymous Author

Gettin to Know International Contacts- Part 3

UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education" is a United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programs that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning which will provide for children's development.

One of the news' articles on UNESCO's website I chose to explore was "Every child has the right to education!" The Convention on the Rights of the Child observed its 20th anniversary on November 20, 2010. With this convention, states have legal obligations to ensure the right to education in their constitution and laws and take steps to improve education policies and strategies to give it effect.

On the 20th anniversary of the Convention, the biggest challenge was to eliminate disparities in education and ensure that the core obligations of states regarding the right to education remain in the forefront for pushing the education for All agenda forward.

Here is a statement in the article I would like to share that was related to issues and trends: excellence and the equity of care and education for children and families:

"The right to education is not only a human right in itself but also essential for the exercise of all human rights."

For additional information, visit the UNESCO's Early Childhood Care and Education website:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

The outside link I chose to explore on the ZERO TO THREE website was the "Policy Guide ". The Early Experiences Matter Policy Guide includes an issue brief on building early childhood systems, as well as other policy briefs, practical tools, and in-depth policy. The policy guide offers policy options and strategies to use in an effort to affect policy change for infants, toddlers, and their families. To access the Early Experience Matter Policy Guide, go to http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Policy_Guide.pdf?docID=8401.

This week, "The Baby Monitor", ZERO TO THREE's Policy and Advocacy News shared a newsletter with me that contributed to my understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education. The Launch of National Movement for America's Children is a group of child advocacy organizations that have launched a nationwide pledge, listening tour, and crowd-sourcing tool designed to develop a national strategy for the healthy growth and development of EVERY child. The National Movement for America's Children (the Movement) is founded that ALL of our children deserve nurturing environments that support healthy brain development so they are prepared to learn in school, grow into productive, contributing adults, and help their community, and our country, be prosperous and competitive in the global economy. With the crowd-sourcing tools, all families will have access and availability to the best quality services.

Reference:

ZERO TO THREE. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/