Final Blog Assignment

Over the past eight weeks I have enjoyed listening to pod casts, exploring websites dedicated to improvement of global early childhood education, and learning of international practices, reformation and advancement of early learning. Though I was not fortunate to have connected with an international early childhood professional, I feel the information I have gained has opened my mind and expanded my knowledge of international educational experiences. I am pleased to learn of the efforts of organizations such as the Global Childcare Initiative and UNESCO, who are working with nations on developing systems according to researched best practices, where otherwise early education programs would not exist. The information that I have acquired from these such organizations I can apply to early education practices in my own professional career.

Realizing that some indigenous groups have little opportunity and accessibility to early childhood programs has enhanced my desire to advocate for children and families and help others in my community gain opportunity for early education.

Importantly, all of the programs that I researched in other nations place value in conservation and awareness of culture and back ground. This is something that I was before aware of but now can associate internationally as well. For example, in my last blog I discussed the Loipi people of Kenya and ways their early childhood program recognizes and respects cultural traditions.

Finally I will explore collaborative opportunities in early education with programs and organizations who I can continue to learn from and continue to expand my knowledge and awareness of practices and resources in the field.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

For this blog assignment I chose to review the UNESCO website, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/. This organization strives to improve education around the world maintaining the belief that education is a key to social and economic development. UNESCO leads international policy for a integrated early childhood system focusing holistically on the needs of children by efforts of reviewing and developing national policies affecting children through 8 yrs. I viewed a video that discusses a program in northern Kenya called Early Childhood Programme for The Nomadic Loipi of Northern Kenya. There are 85 community Loipi projects have serviced 27,000 children and families (UNESCO). This is project concentrates on a group of pasrtoralist and nomadic people and preparing their children for school. The participants must feel protected and welcomed in the program. The traditional cultural values are preserved while preparing children and families for interaction with the modern world. The parents, caregivers, and some trained teachers provide the structure of the program. The children learn how to play together by working on social skills. They learn about their culture through the elders in their community. The tradition in the Loipi culture focuses on story telling, riddles, and mythology as a teaching method. The centers provide an environment where parents are included and can watch their children learn and develop. Also advisers at the centers may teach parents about the importance of hygiene and clean water. The program emphasizes nutritional value making sure children are receiving a healthy balanced meal that all children need . Health services also come to the centers to vaccinate the children and parents are informed of importance of medical care. An important part of this program is a partnership with communities and families along with the Kenyan Government. Some key factors of this program such as partnership with parents and community, recognition of cultural tradition, and the emphasis of health and nutrition are paralleled in children's programs in the modern world. By focusing on a holistic approach to early childhood education and care will improve  the lives of all children exposed no matter what their background or geographic location. However there still remains a struggle globally to reaching young children in making education available and accessible. What I found surprising when exploring the website were the statistics linked to vulnerable and marginalized groups, and exclusion from education. 75 million globally children do not receive an education. 7 of 10 children live in Subsaharan Africa or South and West Asia (UNESCO). The reasons behind the problem of exclusion are poverty, gender inequality, disability, child labor, speaking a minority language, belonging to indigenous group of people, or living a nomadic or rural life style(UNESCO). I appreciate programs such as Loipi which are reaching those who would not otherwise have the educational experiences offered in their communities. My personal goal is to open a early education learning center in my local community. I would like to help establish better circumstances for those less fortunate, fostering inclusion and opportunities that account for differences of back grounds, and cultures.

Sharing Web Resources

While further exploring the National Black Child Development Institute web page http://nbcdi.org/ I encountered a link titled Literacy under the Initiatives section.  I found that NBCDI has a national early literacy public education initiative.  This program is in place to assist parents and caregivers in of African American children through age 6, in their efforts to improve academic performance.  NBCDI partners with Reading is Fundamental (RIF) http://www.rif.org/ offering early literacy training to early childhood professionals.  RIF and NBCDI together offer RIF’s Care to Read early literacy training program in four cities of NBCDI affiliates.  Those cities are Nashville, TN; Charlotte, NC; Philadelphia, PA and Albany, NY.   This information about partnership led me to look further in to the RIF website.  I found that RIF is the largest and longest running nonprofit literacy organization.   RIF is supported by organizations and programs such as U.S. Department of Education, Macy’s, Univision, Radio One, and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, campaigning to improve literacy skills in African-American, Hispanic, and Native American communities.  The campaign stresses the importance of developing the language skills of young children to help better prepare them for success in school and life.  RIF is motivated to changing the lives of children through their literacy initiative. Nearly two-thirds of low-income families in the U.S.  do not own books (Reading is Fundamental INC).  RIF delivers free books and other resources to children and families.   RIF has a network of 400,000 volunteers.  These volunteers are reaching children in places such as schools, homeless shelters, community centers, childcare centers, health clinics, and migrant camps. The RIF has three programs Books for ownership, Care to Read, and Family of Readers. 

The books for ownership involve the communities, supplying partial funding to buy books for disadvantaged children.  This is usually 25% for programs qualifying for the federal funding (Reading is Fundamental Inc.).  Volunteers buy the books and plan distribution process.  The children are given the opportunity to choose their own books.  This program is vital for children who have no books in their homes, who have limited access to libraries and bookstores.

The care to read program helps childhood professionals support children’s literacy.  The workshops in this program are based on early literacy and best researched practices.  The workshop programs provide training and information for building partnerships with families and using the best techniques.  They also enforce a “Train the Trainer” model that teaches participants to train their colleagues. 

The family of readers program is designed for parents.  It helps them take leadership in their child's reading and literacy.  These works shops are for parents teaching them how to select children’s books and read them out loud.  The workshops even teach them to plan community events of promoting literacy.  This program targets at risk families in elementary schools.

The NCBDI and RIF together are developing a nation of readers become productive people who help create strong communities.   These organizations are bringing awareness to the problems concerning literacy in low income families and taking steps to make positive changes for children and families.  I was unaware of the enormity of the challenges of literacy in the United States.  According to RIF, experts estimate that nearly 40 percent of U.S. 4th graders do not achieve basic levels of reading proficiency (Reading is Fundamental Inc.). The number is higher among low-income families, minority groups, and English language learners.  I felt this information relates to our discussion this week, which examined the challenges faced by low income and immigrant families providing quality early education to their children.  The challenge of access to such programs becomes difficult for families of these backgrounds.  NCBDI and RIF are helping local communities bridge the gaps of access, awareness, and understanding to families in need of literacy support.