Research Around The World

What are some of the current international research topics? Some the current research topics of this week five are ECDVU Sub-Saharan Africa: Mission Statement, Early Childhood Australia a voice for young children and European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA).

 What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website? The new ideas about early childhood I had gain from exploring the international early childhood website. First I do know that all international early childhood website are different plus have surprising new insights facts. That involves about early childhood from different research or researchers that gave good facts about early childhood. I discovered that EECERA’s is an annual conference and is the largest early childhood research conference in Europe.

EEERA provides an exceptional forum network for scholar’s policy maker’s researcher’s practitioners and also encourage supports cross- national collaborations themed publications through its special interest groups called SIGs. All what EECERA is a leading international contributor to the development of research, policy and practice in the developing field of early childhood. So I gain a lot of facts from EECRA website in learning about, mainly about the largest connection involves a part of early childhood. Then next  international website I had gain from was about early childhood Australia this website from  Early Childhood Australia is the peak of early childhood advocacy organization, acting in the interests of young children, their families and those in the early childhood field.

Plus has many aspects of listing in wanting to find more about many different early childhoods Australia’s many roles in early childhood field. The last article about international was ECDVU Sub-Saharan Africa: Mission Statement the ECDVU means early childhood development virtual university. Now the ECDVU is supported by a range of international regional that local organizations include the employers of participants. The ECDVU is a unique training results oriented program that uses face-to face distributed learning methods. The learning methods involve residential seminars, web-based instruction, CD-ROM, print material support, a community of learners' strategy within and among cohort countries. The ECDVU program in Sub- Saharan Africa which has a country committees that has a nominations based on achieving inter- sectorial of multi- organizational representation evidence of individual commitment to child well- being and social development within the country.

What other noteworthy information did I find on this website? Well on the EECERA website the noteworthy information I find on this website in the links and partner of this website as the author would say, EECERA looks to like-minded organizations, institutions and research centers to offer mutual support and information sharing. EECERA does not automatically agree to reciprocal links arrangements. The Board of Trustees wants to ensure that such links and partners have similar aims and values and has formulated the following criteria. This website gives me more information to gather from then any other website was given to choose from this week five. It has the biggest connection to early childhood which I totally see because whatever I wanted to know about all I had to do is click on it to find out more different areas that was more important to me. I have gain more understanding from this website than any other of the website from this week the others websites was explainable in some areas but mostly the EECERA website had a greater aspect of many topics about early childhood in European early childhood education research association

1.      Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Developed and maintained by the University of Victoria, Canada, this virtual university is the international gateway for early childhood research worldwide. Through the link below, you can access ECDVU’s Sub-Saharan Africa portal. The second link takes you to a list of current early childhood research conducted by students in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Option 1: Share a positive example of the effects of research on children and/or families: Perhaps you can provide real-life examples of research benefits to children and/or families; maybe you are familiar with stories of people who have been positively affected by research; or you came across a published research article concerning children or families which you find exciting and would like to share with your colleagues.

If by all means I would do a research that benefits children and families, I would choose Parenting. I can say this in the area where I live at majority of the parents just don’t know how to be a good parent. I remember as when I was growing up as a child young or older children had to be in house when the street light came on. Not outside but inside the house I look at how time has changed so much. I just don’t understand why children can do more of what they want to do at a young age. It’s not all on the children because they only do what their parents allow them to do which most children think it’s great. But how I see how most parents are laughing at their children when they use profanity words at the age 5 and 6yr old. Never correct what the child is doing is wrong and that it’s not nice to talk like that using profanity words. There are so many parents’ that are too relax and with the lack of being a parent. Most parents are not teaching their children structure, respect others and yourself, plus values of an education.  When I was a reading tutoring one of my students siblings who I was trying to encourage to do his work so that he can pass the 4^th grade. The little boy looked up at me and then said he don’t care about his grades or going to the 5^th grade. Why should I care it’s not like the school is paying me any money. I was amazed from hearing what that little boy had told me but it all come from good parenting he had let me known so much in saying that. Most parents mix the relationship up of being a parent and more of being a child friend to be cool with the children or child. But I am happy I came up the old way I value everything in how I was raised from a child into an adult. I would love to do the research in parenting to give many parents who don’t know how to be a parents also for the parents who need help in the area. By doing this research I hope to gain skill on trying to give those parents who need help in parenting resources to improve in parenting skills.

My Personal Research Journey

The topic that I chose to research is Parent involvement. I chose this topic because getting parents involved in their child’s education is very important to me and I would like to know more way to do it.

 My experience engaging parents in their child’s education is terrible. I do good to get two to three parents come to open house, parent meetings, monthly parent participation day ect. I understand some parents can’t come due to work but I have asked if other times would work and still get nothing.

This topic is one that is very important to me. So, if any of my colleagues have any suggestions or advice for my topic and where they might like to see this research go or if there are any resources that you can share/offer please let me know I would greatly appreciate it. I wish you all the best with our class and if there are any resources that I can assist with during our time together in this class I will be more than happy to help.

Final Blog

When I first started this class I was not sure what I was going to learn and how it was going to affect my professional development. Now that we have come to the end and I am reflecting on my journey I realized the significances of learning about the international early childhood field for my professional and personal development have changed my mindset on educational development, training and strategic planning.

1.     Educational Development

a.       In learning about international early childhood field I learn that the professional that research and create programs and plan for child who live in some of the poorest areas must understand their community’s needs, families and understand the issues of poverty. In the past I learned about my students needs through surveys and speaking with parents. I realized to understand my students I need to understand what our community needs and what problems that are affecting the growth of families.

2.     Training

a.       In this course we were to connect with an early educational professional from another country. However, I was not able to and I did much of my study of International early childhood field through UNICEF’s where I learned about the effect of poverty and how counties are addressing the issues. Training is important to help develop and grow educators understanding of the needs of child so they can be successful in the future. Through collaboration of research and sharing personal experiences through POD cast, educators can gain the knowledge to better understand problems.

3.     Strategic Planning

a.       The UNICEF shared many stories countries taking action to create food plans to fight poverty and develop educational opportunities. I have learned by understanding your community and selecting educators who can help develop successful educational plans, effective plans can be put into play. Successful plans are delivered through trial and error. These decided educators, policy makers and educators are decided to making change and sharing ideas with the world to make the change they want to see.

One of my goals to continue my own professional development is to get involve through volunteer work and networking with programs that are fighting against poverty in different countries. Through hands on experiences I hope to gain more of an understanding of poverty and develop programs and events that can educate the community regarding current and past issues. Through my college’s replies and post I have learned that each state is fighting to create equal education in the early childhood education level. Because I now understand the progression that needs to take place in early childhood education I feel I can share and be a part of the change in many ways.

International contacts part 3

As I have yet to hear from my international contacts, I have continued to choose the alternative assignment. This week it focuses on the UNESCO’s website. Three insights I gained after thoroughly investing the website include the following:

UNESCO specializes in education on an international level including headquarters in Paris France and an additional 52 field offices. The field offices are located in Iraq, Guatemala, Brussels, Beijing, and Bangkok to name a few. Many are located in areas within Africa that I have never heard of. This struck me as amazing that UNESCO is reaching people everywhere to teach a main goal of the program which is to teach peace, decrease poverty, and about equal rights. Africa is a main area that the organization focuses on as well as gender equality.

One of the organization’s beliefs is that education is a human right for all people throughout life. UNESCO is the only organization in the United Nations mandated to cover all aspects of education and has been trusted to lead the Global Education 2030 Agenda. UNESCO will also launch International Literacy Day 2016 in September. It will mark the 50th anniversary of the event and will take place in Paris, France. The event celebrates the eradication of illiteracy put in place by the World Congress Ministers of Education.

Upon looking further into the website, I found information on how UNESCO is making an effort to educate about HIV and AIDS. As we proceed through this program, we have to stop and think about how important a child’s health is to their education. Through their process, UNESCO is focusing on three key aspects including building country capacity for the knowledge of HIV and AIDS, strengthening HIV and sexuality education, and advancing gender equality. I do not often think of this as an issue in education but it most definitely is. As an educator, I want to help keep our children aware and healthy. I think that UNESCO is doing an amazing job at making the public aware of the issues and putting forth the effort to educate about the lack of education in areas such as Africa.

In regards to my professional goals, I am very interested in the health and education of children and I was amazed to see how much UNESCO has done and continues to do in countries suffering from poverty.

Reference
Unesco. (n.d.). Education. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

National Association for the Education of Young Children

www.naeyc.org

NAEYC is a national organization that's main purpose is to help educate young children. NAEYC's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources(NAEYC, ND).

Once you join this information you receive many member benefits. Some of the benefits include journals, selected books, discounts on conferences and the ability to network and chat with other Early Childhood professionals. 

If you are interested in an international organization there is Global Fund for Children.

The Global Fund for Children 

Website: https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/

The Global Fund  for Children is an organization that focuses on helping children to pursue dreams lost because of their life situation. This organization is about allowing children to live a child's life. The Global Fund for Children's mission is We work to transform the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. We pursue this mission by making small grants to innovative community-based organizations, and by harnessing the power of children’s books, films, and documentary photography to promote global understanding.

Resources:

The Global Fund for Children (2016). The Global Fund for Children's Mission. Retrieved from https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/about-us/

NAEYC ( ND). NAEYC's Mission. Retrieved from naeyc.org

Sharing Web Resources

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families: Learning about Ending Child Poverty Now

In the newsletter I received from Zero to Three, they focused on many different topics the one that is truly effecting preschool is poverty. According the (One of the resources in the newsletter) “Nearly 15 million children in America lived below the official poverty level — $23,834 for a family of four — in 2013, based only on cash income.” Child poverty is due to low wage, poor living environment and social issues. Children’s brains develop for birth to 5 the most because of the plasticity in their brain. However, with a lack of nutrition in a child’s brain does not develop the way it is supposed to. “…More than 1 in 5 children under age 5 living in poverty during the years of rapid brain development” (Ending Child Poverty Now) and without food child will physical and mentally starve.

 This week I will be exploring The Pew Charitable Trusts (PEW) website, these group of dedicated researchers are on a mission to help create high quality education for preschoolers. For the last 10 years PEW has helped congress and educators better understand the needs of the children through extinctive research.   The site is very simple and user friendly and has a section for research/analysis and a media center. They speak about poverty and crime in the research done to better understand the cause and effect of poverty. I choose this site because PEW is fighting for change by continuing research and helping policies to be passed.

Research and analysis

1.      The Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative in Colorado

a.       “In summer 2014, the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative partnered with the state of Colorado to incorporate the Results First approach into the state’s budget and policymaking processes.” (PEW)

The budget created through this partnership will help the state with research “…on adult criminal justice, juvenile justice, and child welfare programs and policies to inform agency and legislative budget decisions by July 1, 2015.” Through planning and budgeting state can learn about how to reduce crime and provide better education for people so they do not move in a negative direction. Crime and poverty have been linked together through research, by gaining knowledge of what have caused criminal activity researchers can look an environment and address issues in communities and break the cycle.

2.      Massachusetts’ Evidence-Based Approach to Reducing Recidivism

a.       “In March 2012, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo invited the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative to collaborate with the Special Commission to Study the Commonwealth’s Criminal Justice System. Through this effort, Massachusetts is laying the groundwork for a strong evidence-based approach to policymaking that can decrease criminal justice spending, reduce crime, and improve public safety” (PEW, 2014).

“Recidivism is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. It refers to a person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime” (National Institute of Justice). By understanding way people repeat an offence, we can gain the knowledge of when causes a children pick up on criminal behavior. For example, a child’s environment, health and safe of a child, can affect how their behavior. If a child is attending a low quality preschool, the school may not have the ability to provide the resources and have the education to help the student succeed in class because they do not know how to address the social issues that are affecting the child’s lives.  

Media

3.      Arne Duncan: How Pre-K Levels the Playing Field

a.       U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants every child — particularly disadvantaged children — to have access to high-quality pre-k programs. Listen to Secretary Duncan speak about leveling the playing field for children with pre-k.

In this media clip Duncan explains 60% of the low income children and 1/3 of middle class children go into kindergarten not knowing their Alphabet. This is information was a shock to me, but it is something that I believe. Rather this be due to poor preschools, no educational background or starting last in preschool, these number are going to affect the achievement gap. If children are not able to attending preschool they will behind and they will be struggling in preschool.  Through this research we can see a need for better educational plans, accountable on educator’s part and parents and developing high quality centers.

4.      Wendy Kopp: All Children Deserve an Exceptional Education

a.       “Teach for America Founder and CEO Wendy Kopp believes all kids deserve an exceptional education. Listen to Kopp speak about how starting earlier with high-quality pre-k can ensure school success and a love of learning for children” (PEW, 2011).

Closing the achievement gap is important, but setting the foundation for children to graduate high school is greatly important. Through the researcher shared preschool set the foundation for a successful educational path. Children who do not read fluently by the third grade are four time more likely to drop out of school and not graduate high school. Create high quality preschool help support the movement to close the achievement gap.

5.      Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones

a.        “A decade of pre-k policy wins has made a Pre-K-12 education system within our nation's reach. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Teach for America CEO and Founder Wendy Kopp, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Harlem Children's Zone President and CEO Geoffrey Canada and Pew Center on the States Managing Director Susan Urahn talk about why we must re-imagine public education as a system that begins, not with kindergarten, but with quality pre-k and builds on that foundation to raise performance in later grades” (2011).

The video “Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestone touched my heart because Pre-K is in dire need or change and reform. So many of the speakers started speaking and the change that can be implemented now because we have some much research that have been conducted. One of the statements that that hit me the most state… if we want to prepare a child for life, we have to take advantage of their nib minds between birth and five-year-old. This statements reminds me that sometime educators are limiting and not pushing our students to the next level in learning.