Final Issues and Trends Blog

Three consequences for learning about international early childhood field:

1.      Learning about the international early childhood field has helped me to see that the early childhood field is growing in quality around the world.  Though this growth has slowed down due to the recession we were well on our way to high-quality early childhood education and care.

2.      Inequitable high-quality care is happening everywhere and there are so countries in worse shape than ours.  We need to work together throughout all states and countries, advocating for equitable high-quality in the early childhood field.

3.      I learned about where some of the children that migrate from and the early schooling that they may or may not have received.  This gives me an idea of where some of my children and families came from helping me to learn their cultures and beliefs.

The one goal that I have for the early childhood field is:

To build equitable high-quality early childhood education and care programs that maintains high learning and program standards and that demonstrates cultural and ethnical awareness for each young child and their family.

I would also like to take a moment to throw out a special thank you to my colleagues whom have given me great feedback throughout this course and have also given me new insight into the issues and trends in the early childhood field.  A special thank you to Dr. Thomason for her beneficial feedback and support as well.  Thank you!!

International Contacts Alternative – Part 3



As I have yet to hear from any international contacts, I explored UNESCO’s “Early Child Care and Education” website at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/.  During this exploration I found the article Inter-Ministerial Collaboration in Early Childhood Training in Singapore written by Khoo Kim Choo in 2004.  In this article I learned that the Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCDS) and Ministry of Education (MOE) both support early childhood education and care; however most programs fall under the MCDS.  Childcare that falls under MCDS has state-subsidized with assistance for poor children.  MOE supports preschool serving ages 4-6 their program ranges from 2-4 hours.  These programs has a preschool fees that are lower than childcare, but they do not offer state-subsidized; however financial assistance is available.  Ninety-nine percent of children in primary one (grade 1) had attended at least one year if not two or three in preschool under MOE or MCDS.  In the early 1970s in-service training was ad hoc and brief only 60 hours; however as the years went by the program was extended to 90 hours then to 120 hours.  Preschool teachers trailed behind childcare teachers during this time.  Preschool qualification Accreditation Committee (PQAC) came up with three levels of training for both sectors leading to a Certification in Preschool Teaching which is 470 hours, Diploma in Preschool Education Teaching which is 700 hours, and Diploma in Preschool Education Leadership which is 500 hours.

            I continued to explore UNESCO’s “Early Child Care and Education” website and found multiple articles concerning access to early childhood programs, as well as quality in early childhood.  All of these articles were written in 2002-2004 so most of the information that was gathered came from the late 90’s early 2000s.  I learned from the article Access, Public Investment, and Equity in ECCE: The Nexus in Nine High-Population Countries that “In 1993, the heads of state and government of nine high-population countries – Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan – launched the E-9 Initiative aimed at achieving concrete progress in basic education” (Choi, 2004, para 1).  I also learned that these countries hold 55 percent of the world’s population of children 14 and younger.  “The average proportion of this age group in the countries is shrinking, from 35% in 2001 to a projected 30% in 2015; and the fertility rate is also declining, from 5.8 (1970-75) to 3.2 (2000-5), per woman. Overall population growth in E-9 countries is projected to be 1.5% by 2015 compared with 2.1% in 1975-2001” (Choi, 2004, para. 2). 

            With the decrease and expected decrease in children I wonder if that is part of the reason that early childhood is getting left out on services that they need.  I also wonder if this age group is rising faster than the expectations due to immigration.  I know that expectations for preschool teachers have risen since these articles and that the quality of early childhood education and care has risen however the equity still needs improvements.

Resources:

Choi, S. (2004). Access, public investment, and equity in ECCE: The Nexus in nine high-population countries. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from  http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137408e.pdf

Choo, K. (2004). Inter-ministerial collaboration in early childhood training in Singapore. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137413e.pdf

Exploring Resources

 I have been exploring the website NIEER http://nieer.org.  I receive the biweekly online newsletter as well.    I have further explored NIEERs website and found multiple research articles in different categories.  The categories are Access, Assessment, Quality and Curriculum, Special Education, Economics and Finance, State of Pre-K Evaluations, English Language Learners, State Programs, Governance and Accountability, Teachers, Outcomes, and Universal and Targeted.  Another area of this website is News and Events.  This section maintains archives of news releases about early education.  NIEER also has a lot of publications to include The State of Preschool annual reports from 2003 until 2011, journal articles, latest research, archives of NIEER online newsletter, NIEER videos, NIEER working papers, Policy Matters Briefs, Policy reports, Preschool Matters Newsletters, presentations, and recommended books.

This edition of the NIEER biweekly online newsletter contains a lot of information about funding issues in early education.  One topic caught my attention when I read the preview “Senator Tom Harkin estimates that approximately 46,000 employees currently employed through Title 1, special education, and Head Start funds could lose their jobs” (NIEER, 2012).  If this happens where would it leave our young children?  I further reviewed this report from Senator Harkin and found that “under the Budget Control Act, Federal programs face an across-the-board cut in January 2013 if Congress does not enact a plan before then to reduce the national debt by $1.2 trillion” (Harkin, 2012, p. 2). “A December 2011 study found that investing $1 billion in health care or education creates significantly more jobs within the U.S. economy than spending $1 billion on the military. In health care, the difference is 54 percent more jobs; in education, 138 percent.” (Harkin, 2012, p. 2).  Congress really needs to work on fixing the budget so that our youngest members of society do not suffer the consequences.  This report is 181 pages long and breaks down the federal programs that lose funds and the loss of employment in the education field.

 The NIEER website and its online newsletter is packed full of information that goes along with the issues of access, availability, and responsiveness in early childhood education.  The information that I learned as I read Senator Harkins report about the possibility of 46,000 people in the education field losing their job if congress does not find a solution to the budget crisis.  This really scares me as I work in a Title 1 and special education learning community.

Resources:

Harkin, T. (2012). Under threat sequestration’s impact on nondefense jobs and services. Retrieved from http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/500ff3554f9ba.pdf

National Institute for Early Education Research. (2012). Online news. 11(16).

NIEER website http://nieer.org