My Take Aways: The International Early Education Field

                                                                   By Lisa Martin

Learning about the early education field on an international level has really opened my eyes, not only to the struggle but the promise as well. Sure, I knew that in many of the poorer countries the opportunity to attend school – let alone preschool, was a huge privilege, but I did not realize that this sense of luxury was not limited to developing countries. It surprised me that in countries with a decent gross national product early education is still rare, and definitely only available to those who could afford the honor. It really disturbed me to discover that the United States is falling further behind in education, and far from being a leader. It gave me hope and promise to see that the countries that value their young children as their future invest well in early education and consider it a matter of national consequence. It was also interesting that in countries that saw the importance of early education, the teaching profession is viewed with respect and teachers well paid. This realization made me a bit sad, because it said to me that my country does not fully value children and their education. Teaching in the United States is viewed as what you do when you cannot get into medical school or law school.

I found myself drawing correlations between the poverty in Paraguay and the United States, and I was ashamed for my country. I begin to think how great it was that here in the United States we had finally come to realize the importance of investing in our young children from birth, and began to imagine an American early education system that would outshine and outperform countries like Finland and the Netherlands. I read of all the tremendous efforts and dedication of organizations like the Children’s Defense Fund, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Center on the Developing Child and I felt encouraged, because I know that this work shall bear fruit and not be in vain. I believe we must come together and adopt the best practices based on outcomes from around the world. I am excited about the joining of minds and ideas that will lead to an overhaul of the early education system from the outside in – hopefully the United States will lead the way, and provide a road map for all countries to follow; knowing this is the pathway to national growth and strength. In the process, we will alleviate poverty, increase opportunities for all families, and give each child his human and civil right to a quality early education; and in the process we will create a better stronger global community.  Studying early education internationally made it clear to me that we must be our brothers and sisters keepers all around the world.

More from My International Contacts

                                        By Lisa Martin

Liberty Children’s Home wants and needs to expand their services, and increase staff, but funding remains a critical issue. They really need donations and funding to continue helping at risk and forgotten children. Delfina Mitchell, the Director, spends most of her time trying to raise money and maintain budgets. Although, Liberty Children’s Home is in a poor part of Belize, I am sure that there are directors and administrators right here in New York or New Jersey with the same concerns. If you cannot charge more for your services, and the grants are getting smaller, how do you maintain your program, more importantly how do you maintain quality? In those cases where cost increases are passed along to the families, what happens when the family can no longer afford early childhood care and education? Like the program, their income is not growing and they are barely able to maintain food and shelter, yet there is no subsidy or government assistance available to them.

I visited the UNESCO website and they had an article that talked about how both under developed and developed countries have trouble financing early education. It seems every website I visited had articles related to funding and financial issues facing early childhood education or preventing the implementation of early education, and I realized the US is no exception. So, while I appreciate the international challenges facing early education across the globe, I feel I must be in tuned to what is happening right here. The Children’s Defense Fund discussed the potentially devastating cuts that may be facing education in the US with the fiscal cliff negotiations. These issues also affect children in broader ways. Medicaid is likely to be one of the entitlement programs looked at for cuts to decrease the deficit. “Medicaid is the health program that covers more than one third of the children in America” (Children’s Defense Fund, 2012).  We have discussed the implications of poverty on children and families, and hence early childhood care and education, but we have also of late discussed increased investment in early childhood. Right now we are in a position where it could go either way; things can get better or much worse.

Children’s Defense Fund. (2012). Children’s budget watch. Retrieved December 14, 2012, from http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/budget-watch/

More to Share: Delving Deeper Into My Web Resources

                                                                          By Lisa Martin

This week I made it a point to dig deeper into my web resources in search of articles related to this week’s topic – excellence and equity, especially as it pertains to the three main barriers awareness, accessibility and responsiveness. I chose to search for articles regarding accessibility as that has been my focus this week. I was surprised by the layers of articles I could uncover just by asking for more information or clicking on a link within an article. I visited my main web resource www.unesco.org and uncovered two interesting articles pertaining to access and quality. The first article dealt with a subject that we are all too familiar with, and that is gender disparity in education as it pertains to girls having equal access to schooling. However, what was most interesting was learning how in both developing and industrialized countries girls are so easily denied their right to education, leaving them illiterate and their countries unable to achieve the type of success attributed to a strong, skilled and educated workforce. It is so sad that well into the twenty-first century an organization like the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural organization (UNESCO) has gender equality as one of their two main global priorities. “When girls go to school or participate in literacy program, they not only acquire fundamental literacy skills and academic knowledge. They are empowered to make key decisions and take charge of their lives” (UNESCO, 2012).

The other UNESCO article concerned improving access to education for the world’s most disadvantaged and needy, like the children in Asia-Pacific region – Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Over the past decade UNESCO has implemented initiatives that have resulted in some improvement, but still governments fail to properly fund early education, and there seems to be a lack of understanding or acceptance of the importance of quality care and education from birth to eight years for a child. The article that took me most by surprise was one I uncovered on the Children’s Defense Fund website www.childrensdefensefund.org.  It was actually about legislation written by Senator Bernie Sanders, a politician I really respect, called the Foundations for Success Act, which he developed working with the Children’s Defense Fund. It touches on all the things that contribute to our inability to give our children access to the type of early start they are entitled to, poverty and a shrinking middle class. It also talks about how we were once a leader in education and now have fallen far behind. “The United States ranks 17^th in reading, 31^st in math, 23^rd in science, and 18^th overall in secondary education out of 36 nations” (Sanders, 2011, p. 3). The bill proposes to provide early child care for all children from 6 weeks old through kindergarten. Let’s hope it gets passed into law.

I think the most alarming discovery in searching for article on my web resources that dealt with access to early childhood care and education was learning just how detrimental lack of access is, and the toll it takes on children and families. We have discussed the importance of investing in our children from birth and the benefits it yields down the road, in comparison to investing in unproductive adults. However, after reading and browsing through half a dozen or so articles I realize failure to invest in our children is about more than just paying for incarcerations and drug rehab programs. It is about saving our environment, putting people on the moon, restoring the United States place as the true leader of the civilized world in everything from education to invention. We must continue to advocate for access to quality early education programs for all children.

References

Sanders, Bernard. (2011). The early care and education crisis in America: The benefits if investing in our children. Retrieved December 7, 2012 from, http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/early-childhood- education-care/legislative-update.html

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2012). From access to             equality: Empowering girls and women through literacy and secondary education. Retrieved December 7, 2012 from, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002184/218450e.pdf

 

 

 

Getting to Know My International Contacts

                                                                       By Lisa Martin

My pen pal, Delfina Mitchell, has been extremely busy of late, so I have no real updates on things at Liberty Children’s Home, other than their continued efforts to raise funds. However, I have been reading about other early childhood initiatives taking place on the global scene. The World Forum has one on a subject close to my heart – inclusion. They have developed a permanent initiative on the inclusion of children with special needs based on information provided by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to the UNESCO policy brief on Early Childhood (2009):

“Worldwide, there are about 650 million persons with disabilities. This accounts for 10% of the global population, and constitutes more than 20% of the world’s poorest people. Children with disabilities experience stigma from birth and are more prone to exclusion, concealment, abandonment, institutionalization, and abuse. Mortality rates among children with disabilities are 80%, even in countries where under-five mortality has declined below 20%. Strikingly, 98% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school.”

Needless to say, I found this information extremely depressing and heart breaking. Equity and excellence cannot exist in the absence of inclusion. I then went over to the Center for the Developing Child website and checked out their global initiatives and was immediately filled with a sense of hope again as they discussed the “moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent” (Center for the Developing Child, 2012). I enjoyed reading about the improvement of early education in Chile through professional development. After all we owe it to all children to provide them with well qualified early education professionals. Teacher training and education is a key cause of educational inequality, when it should be a major factor in equity and excellence.

The care of children during and after war and other catastrophes is also of interest to me, so I listened to the podcasts of Maysoun Chehab, the Regional Early Childhood Care and Development Program Coordinator at the Arab Resource Collective (ARC), a not-for-profit non-governmental organization based in Beirut, Lebanon. She coordinates with and trains early childhood professionals in best practices in areas of conflict like Syria and Egypt. They provide psychosocial interventions and support to children and families post conflict. I was quite impressed with Ms. Chehab and her dedication, realizing the challenges she must face and the reward she must gain each time she positively impacts the life of a child and their family.

Center for the Developing Child. (2012). Global children’s initiative: A good start. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/ubc/

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (2009). Policy brief on early childhood. Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/initiatives/inclusion/