Final Blog Assignment

Throughout this course I have learned about different organizations that work on behalf of the early childhood, which most of them I was not aware of their existence. Learning about the different organizations, also let me realized which are the current issues, trends, and priorities related to the early childhood, not only in USA, but worldwide. Now that I have information about them, I can use it in my professional practice, at the same time I can share it with co-workers and families. The conversations with international contacts, not only mine but those of my colleagues too, helped me to appreciate, in particular ways, the practices and experiences I have gotten since working in the field, and influenced me to be more thankful for what I currently have.

With the past blog assignments I also got useful tools that will allow me stay abreast of what is happening in the field, with significant information I need in order to be the advocate that children and families need. In addition, I can help to make the change the field needs when joining to some organizations, supporting their causes, and practicing what they have found is more beneficial for the early childhood education field.

International contact- Part 3

First of all I would like to thank Fany for sharing her time with me and opening her heart throughout our conversations, which was not an easy task, because our times hardly matched. I know that I could not have found a better person who would talk about such personal topics as professional goals and issues at work. Thank you manigüita!

In my last conversation with Fany, she shared that one of her professional goals is to get a masters in pedagogy, she plans to start it on August 2013, because right now her husband is about to finish his, and they cannot afford to pay for transportation for the two of them, the masters, and the baby sitter for her 2 year old daughter. The SEP offers grants to those who want to study a master and the student has to propose a project that focuses on one of the current issues in the field, Fany wants to do it this way and is still thinking on the issue she would like to focus. Another benefit she has is that the SEP allows teachers to be out of the kindergarten classroom for maximum 2 years, so they can focus on the master. During these 2 years the teachers get their regular paid, as if they were working in the classroom, while a substitute teacher takes her position, and the teacher can resume it when she finishes the master.

A dream she has is to be transferred to a kindergarten in the city where she lives in, because she is currently working in a community and it takes her about 2 hours to get there from her house. She told me that many other teachers want to work in the city, and not in other communities, because the transportation is expensive. She would like to work in a specific kindergarten, which is considered the best in the city, despite she is aware of how demanding the director is, but she says that is because of the commitment that the director asks the teachers to have towards the program, that it has the positive reputation, which it has hold it since I was still doing my bachelors. 

One of the issues they are facing in her kindergarten is that there are not enough children to serve this coming school year. Up to date, they have only 40 children enrolled and they need to have more than 50 in order to open 2 classrooms, other ways the program will open only one classroom, with one teacher.  This fact means that either Fany of the other teacher may lose their job. Just in case this happens, Fany would start the masters this month.

Throughout these blog assignments and my conversations with Fany, I had the opportunity to learn about the current situation of the early childhood field in my native country, which sadly is not as optimal as I wish, but I am sure that with committed professionals like Fany and the opportunities the SEP is offering, some positive changes would come.

Sharing Web Resources 3

I have met teachers and other professionals working in the education field not only because of the monetary wage they get, that most of the time does not compensate their hard work, but because they love and are passionate about what they do. I consider that love is an important ingredient that in most cases makes a difference in our teaching, because when we love something we defend it and care about it, and that that is what we do for the early childhood. Is there any other way to advocate for and promote equity in the field than by defending what we do?

As part of their programs and events, the Association for Childhood Education International (http://www.acei.org/) has begun a campaign with such engaging name: Love Me, Teach Me (http://www.acei.org/programs-events/love-me-teach-me.html). Through this campaign the ACEI wants to promote the needs and rights of children everywhere, based on four cornerstones: See Me, Hear Me, Love Me, and Teach Me. The campaign is called Love Me, Teach Me since these two facts contribute most significantly to a child’s overall development and well-being.

The first cornerstone, See Me, is related to the children’s right to identity, which is aimed to ensure that children are consider visible members of their society, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, ability, family status, or national origin.

The second cornerstone, Hear Me, is about the children’s right to participation. This fact invites us to reflect on how we include children, when we listen to them and take their ideas and themselves into account when we make decisions. Sometimes adults forget that children have voice and we do not listen to them just because they are children. When they are excluded from group activities or when they do not have access to medical care, the message they receive is that their needs and ideas are not important. Let’s listen to what they have to say and ensure they can satisfy their needs. Let’s make them feel important, because they are!

The Love Me cornerstone is aimed to ensure the children’s right to security, stability, and protection, first of all through their parents and family, who are their primary caregivers. When we work with children it is easier for us to love them, but when people are not directly related to them the decisions made on their job affect children too, like the images created when designing commercial advertising campaigns to the development of public policy.

The last cornerstone, Teach Me, is related to the children’s right to education. The ACEI highlights the importance of having access to quality education, but in order to get it, parents, caregivers and community members have to make efforts to ensure the education promotes the development of the whole child, through engaging experiences not only at school but in their homes and communities too.

I think that taking these four cornerstones into account when we work with children, will help us to improve our teaching practices, while we ensure their wellbeing and development through experiences they  can freely chose in an environment that has been created based on their ideas and needs.

Let us promote this campaign by adding this cornerstones to our practice and posting the touching post card in our centers http://www.acei.org/images/stories/documents/lovemecard.pdf.

International contact- Part 2

After having a conversation with Fany, my contact in Mexico, I found out that the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) in Mexico released a new guide for the kindergarten programs on 2011, this one was an updated version of the 2004 guide. The difference between these two guides is that the 2011 has standards that focus the outcomes of the kindergarten education on basic skills of communication, recognition of the letters and numbers and their use, natural science and technology, and the 2004 version had only the foundations of the kindergarten.  Still, the main purpose of the kindergarten is not to teach children how to read and write, but some private schools have these as their primary goals, goals that influence the parents’ decision when enrolling their children into a kindergarten setting. The kindergarten standards have been aligned with the primary, junior high, and high school standards, in order to establish continuity in the education.

Even though the kindergarten education is mandated since 3 years old, not every child attends to it. Fany told me that the teachers make a census, every 2 or 4 years, in the community where they work at. This year when teachers did the census, they found out that there are some children who do not attend to school, kindergarten nor elementary, because they do not have their birth certificate, not even the one that mom was supposed to get from the doctor or midwife when the child was born, because mom lost it or parents did not have the money to pay the fee for the late birth registration; in these cases, the family needs to work with a lawyer. (Registration of the new born is for free when the child is registered before turning 6 months old. If the person is registered after 6 months old, the parents need to pay a 180 Mexican pesos fee, which is the equivalent of 14.40 American dollars.) Fany told me about a 5 year old girl, who did not have birth certificate and attended kindergarten because she, as the director, connected the family with a lawyer in order to get the birth certificate for the girl. This girl needed to be enrolled in the kindergarten, in order to be accepted in elementary school. By the end of the school year the girl did not get her birth certificate, but an elementary school in the community accepted her and they will continue working with the family and the lawyer.

Fany also told me that she thinks the system and buildings are not ready to provide a quality education, The SEP requires teachers to educate themselves, taking minimum 4 courses per school year and other required by the state. Some courses are offered in the afternoon, when the child care for the teachers’ offspring are closed, or the courses take place in schools that are far away in weekdays. Fany has taken courses on Saturdays or afternoons, but she needed to find a baby sitter for her daughter. She told me that would be better if child cares close later that 5, because this way teachers would have more opportunities to take courses without worrying about their own children.

It was pretty sad to realize that the improvement of the early education in my native country is going to remain only written on papers, because there is not enough support, not only economic, but related to their buildings too, that could offer quality education. Even though the kindergarten education since 4 years old is mandated, the reality is that there are communities that do not even have the building with materials needed to provide quality education, and this lack of materials make the parents think there is not important to enroll their children into school.  Some early childhood professionals have to make extra efforts in order to help parents understand the importance of their children’s education, which is the best way to ensure a bright future for the country.

Sharing Web Resources 2

I found two sections in the Association for Childhood Education International (http://www.acei.org/) website much related to the topics we have been discussing over the week. The first one is about the Institute for Global Education Diplomacy, and can be found under the programs and events tab. The second one is under the global action tab, and among other themes, it is related to play in early childhood and standardized testing.

On April 17-20, 2012, the Georgetown University Conference Center, in Washington, D.C. will host a professional learning event called Institute for Global Education Diplomacy (http://www.acei.org/programs-initiatives/institute-for-global-education-diplomacy.html), presented by the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI).  The ACEI recognizes the impact that children’s education, development, and well-being have on the social and economic situations of every country, and it is through this event that they want to encourage professionals in the field of education to become effective agents of change in relation to reforms, improvements, and progress.

In regard to the standardized testing, the ACEI has its position about the use of this way to assess the children’s progress; they also talk about what parents need to know about the standardized testing.

About the importance of play, the ACEI also published their position on play in early childhood, as well as these recommendations to take action and promote the learning in early childhood programs through play:

“1. Place an article in your local newspapers and community newsletters

2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspapers and community newsletters

3. Send published letters and articles to your member of Congress

4. Write or e-mail to your state legislators

5. Write or e-mail to you national legislators

6. Organize a community forum” (http://www.acei.org/global-action/the-value-of-play.html).  These same recommendations are suggested for taking action on the standardized testing issue too.

After exploring this website I am more aware of the importance of taking action in the early childhood field, because as Dr. Grace mentioned we need to talk for children, not about them (Laureate Education, 2010).

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Economists, scientists, and politicians supporting the EC field. In Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1341054_1%26url%3D

International contact - Part 1

Since I did not get an answer from any of the professionals I emailed two weeks ago, I decided to establish contact with a preschool teacher in Guanajuato, Mexico. In Mexico the SEP (Secretary of Public Education) is responsible for providing education to the population, but there are many private schools too that need to follow the guidelines of the SEP. Initially the SEP programs were free of charges, but now families are required to pay registration and monthly fees.

Fany Tierrablanca is a teacher who lives in the city and works in a public kindergarten in a community that is not considered rural, but has the same necessities as a rural program. There are 62 4-5 year-old children enrolled in the program and 2 teachers, being one of them the one that acts like the director and teacher too. Fany told me that there is power in the 3-room building, but there are no electrical appliances, if the teacher wants to play music she needs to bring her own, which is not an easy task when you have to ride the bus. In this kindergarten there is a 100 pesos registration fee, about 7.52 dollars, that all families had paid, but only the 5% of all families afforded to pay the monthly fee of 30 pesos, 2.26 dollars. The teachers ask those families who could not cover their fee to volunteer in the school, doing maintenance work such as plumbing, masonry, and landscaping or cleaning the rooms after classes, they had good participation this school year. Despite the poverty in which these families live, and the children’s malnutrition, their attitudes were not challenging or negative; some of them participated in the parenting and cooking classes that teachers offered over the school year, as well as in classroom activities they were invited to.

Fany has been working in this community since 3 years ago and wants to be transferred to a school in her city, nearest her house in order to take better care of her baby daughter. After talking to her and imaging some of the situations these families and teachers have been through, the lecture of “The myth of the culture of poverty” (Gorski, 2008) came to my mind, because these families work in whatever they need and can and still have not gotten better opportunities to thrive in their life, I think this is what poverty does.

After talking to Fany, I am just more thankful for all the good opportunities my program offers to families and staff, I am more aware of the effects that poverty can have on children and families, but also the way I can support families in this situation, like planning opportunities where families feel important and included in the program through classes and classroom activities.  

Reference

Gorski, P. (2008). The myth of the "culture of poverty". Educational Leadership, 65(7), 32–36

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I chose to learn about is the Association for Childhood Education International (www.acei.org ), which is a worldwide community where educators and advocates share their knowledge, experiences and perspectives. One goal of this organization is to support the development, education, and well-being of children in the changing societies. This organization is also affiliated to the United Nations, the World Forum Alliance, and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The ACEI has also the Global Gateway that serves as a starting point for exploring the diversity of educational systems worldwide, through PDF documents.

Among other programs and events, the ACEI has an interesting multi-year program called “The Decade for Childhood 2012-2022” that explores what is happening in the rapidly changing early childhood field, and seeks for the creation of new opportunities for the childhood’s future. This initiative also looks for insights that could serve as foundations to support the childhood in the healthiest, most vibrant and creative ways possible, within the economic, social, and technological changes of recent years. The Decade for Childhood initiative values children as agents of change and wants to find the way that communities listen to the voice of their younger members, who may have solutions for current problems and contribute their ideas for tomorrow’s world.

The Decade for Childhood has The Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood (http://www.acei.org/programs-events/the-decade-for-childhood-2012-2022/page-5.html), which are what they consider the basic requirements for an optimal childhood development. Some of those guidelines are related to the consistency of children’s social relationships, their education, participation in the life of their community, among other statements.  

In order to establish a network that support this program, the ACEI invites all concerned professionals to join them and work in the creation of optimal conditions that let children grow with hope, joy, freedom, and promise for the future.  I consider this is a wonderful program we all should joint today, in order to disseminate knowledge and support the early childhood in our rapidly changing societies.