End of course reflection

     During this course we have had the opportunity to learn about the state of early childhood in other countries.  For my part, I corresponded with colleagues in England and Australia.  Learning about the issues and trends they face had several consequences in relationship to my professional and personal development.  The first is that I was able to see that early childhood educators throughout the world face challenges that are not uncommon to us in the U.S., while some face concerns we would never have.
     The second consequence of my interactions with international colleagues is that I learned how much they have to impart to us.  The early childhood field is still growing in many countries, and established in others.  Many nations with established systems can be models for us, both in positive and negative ways.
     The third consequence that came from my interactions was the realization that there are many societies that feel early childhood education is important for young children and many people who care deeply about children, equity, excellence and all the other issues that the field faces.
     One goal I would love to see this country strive for is to really look at how other nations have successfully (or not) implemented early childhood education systems, and how we compare to them.  Are we going down the road toward success or failure?  What could we do better?  What are we doing that is right?  I believe that we have the potential to build a system that serves our young children better than any country in the world, but we have to have unity of purpose and strength of will to get the job done.

Children at a preschool in Kerala, India.

Preschool Children in China

Preschool Children In A Day Care Centre In Akropong-Akwapim, Ghana

Children at a British preschool in Park Gate, Hampshire, U.K. 

Thank you to everyone who contributed comments to my posts.  I enjoyed reading all of them and I hope to see you in the next class!  Good luck to all of you.

Final thoughts with my international contact

My contact in Australia related the conditions and requirements for early childhood teachers in Austrailia:

Under Australia's National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care there are several requirements:

- All educators must be qualified to at least a Certificate III qualification (took effect from 1 January 2014)
- Half of all educators must hold a Diploma qualification(took effect from 1 January 2014)
- A four year Batchelor's degree qualified teacher must be present in the service (took effect from 1 January 2014)
- A second four year Batchelor's degree qualified teacher must be present in the service (takes effect from 1 January 2020)

In addition, the Australian Government has implemented a range of initiatives aimed at supporting, training and retaining an experienced and qualified early childhood workforce and these are complemented by state and territory government training programs and accompanying workforce strategies. Some examples include:
- recognition of prior learning initiatives
- subsidies for educators studying a Certificate III
- removal of fees for educators studying a diploma (NPA on TAFE Fee Waivers)
- subsidies for student loans for early childhood teachers (HECS/HELP Benefit)

The biggest issue for developing excellence in the early childhood sector is  wages. There is a significant disparity between the wages of preschool and kindergarten teachers and primary school teachers with the wages and conditions of early childhood teachers in ECEC services. This makes it difficult to attract and retain teachers in the sector.

Although a stable, skilled and professional labour force is widely acknowledged as vital to ensuring high-quality ECEC, educators continue to be poorly paid for the significant work they do in educating and caring for children. While some employers are able to offer above award wages and conditions, as outlined by United Voice (the union representing educators), some qualified educators in Australia earn as little as $19.00 per hour, suffer low status in the broader community, lack fulfilling career paths and have inadequate training opportunities. Addressing educators' low wages would augment the quality reform agenda and is essential to ensuring the future viability of the sector which supports Australian families and children.

It seems that Australia faces the same challenges as we do in the U.S. when it comes to developing a strong, committed early childhood workforce.  The differences lie in the education requirements and incentives for education.  $19 an hour seems like a pretty good wage to me, but maybe it is low in Australia.
Learning about child care in Australia and England has been enlightening.  It is interesting to see the similarities and also the ways in which things could be done better.

Sharing Web Resources

This week we focus on our chose website.  We are to follow some outside links or share information we learned from the organization's newsletter.  I have not received a newsletter yet, but I did find a link to an interesting organization through the website's literacy page.  Part of NBCDI's goals are to ensure all black chidden are proficient readers by grade 3.  Sadly, only 15% of black children are reading at their expected level by grade 4.  To help counteract this, they are working with two organizations: The Campaign for Grade Level Reading (www.gradelevelreading.net) and Raising A Reader (www.raisingareader.org).  Raising a reader is an organization devoted to helping children of families ages 0-8 develop, practice and maintain home literacy routines.  NBCDI's goal is through "working with Raising A Reader, NBCDI aims to improve literacy levels within African American communities by engaging families and helping them develop an at-home literacy routine with proven results that link to academic and life success."   Reading with children is such a simple thing to do, but it has such a huge impact on their development.  Helping parents to understand what it is that reading can do for their child's academic success and for their own relationship with their child is so important and I am happy to see that NBCDI has taken on this initiative and are working with two organizations who see the value in reading to and with your child.


I also relaying the information I got from my early childhood contact in England this week (better late than never!).  They wrote:

"The biggest issues related to excellence and quality at this moment in time centre around qualifications.

This includes:

http://www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/26/Debate-should-early-years-teachers-have-qualifed-teacher-status

http://sheila-nutkins-author.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/debate-about-ratios-and-qualifications.html

In addition, the regulator Ofsted has come under increasing fire for standardisation issues:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24079951

http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/article/1214950/exclusive-ofsted-responds-big-conversation

And more recently, 'school readiness' has been at the forefront of agendas:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/10307682/Failure-to-acknowledge-the-concept-of-readiness-in-education-this-is-the-tragedy.html

http://edfaclib.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/guest-blog-post-too-much-too-soon-school-starting-age-the-evidence-3/

Finally - issues over improving the quality within the state sector and comparison to both PISA and other measurements:

http://www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1560801/early-years-professional-launches-petition-in-battle-to-gain-qualified-teacher-status

The relative value, and what is required by practitioners, is currently under review and debate - in an attempt to raise standards both professionally and of those work in the sector."

Inequity in early childhood education in Australia

My contact in Australia focuses most of his work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as well as children with disabilities.  In areas of equity they have focused on improving access to early childhood education and 'Closing the Gap' in disadvantage between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and other Australian children; and the 'cultural competency' of Early Childhood Services.  Here is a link to a paper written by the Secretariat of Aboriginal and Islander Child Care which explores the cultural competence of the Australian early childhood care and education system, and in particular their National Quality Standard, with regards to its inclusion of Australia's native populations in their framework and ensuring their cultures are valued.  http://www.snaicc.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/03265.pdf

Australian Aboriginal children

Torres Strait Islander children

Children with disabilities have a lower participation rate in Australian early childhood education than their counterparts.  This is most likely due to lack of resources, such as specialized equipment, additional staff members, or the need for environmental/activity modifications.  Another factor could be lack of trained staff, therapists, or lack of bicultural staff to address to particular needs of the child.

Child at the Australia Royal Children's Hospital

Sharing Web Resources-National Black Child Development Institute: Being Black Is Not A Risk Factor

WHAT SHALL I TELL MY CHILDREN WHO ARE BLACK?
…What can I do to give him strength
That he may come through life’s adversities
As a whole human being unwarped and human in a world
Of biased laws and inhuman practices, that he might
Survive. And survive he must! For who knows?
Perhaps this black child here bears the genius
To discover the cure for... cancer
Or to chart the course for exploration of the universe.
So, he must survive for the good of all humanity.
— Margaret Burroughs
Educator, artist, poet and founder of
the DuSable Museum of African American
History in Chicago

This week I am to relay something from my chosen website that has been of specific interest to me as an early childhood professional.  This is a good website for general information, but there is not a lot of specifics in regards to information regarding early childhood education, and I have not received the newsletter yet.  The site does have some resources available under their resource tab.  One that was of particular interest to me was a publication that is available for download: "Being Black Is Not A Risk Factor".  This paper is of particular interest to me because I feel that working with black children, I need to understand the challenges that black children face, especial those that I have not experienced being white.  It is "designed to challenge the prevailing discourse about Black children–one which overemphasizes limitations and deficits and does not draw upon the considerable strengths, assets and resilience demonstrated by our children, families and communities."  I have not read all of it as it is 68 pages long, but so far it is very informative and interesting.  It is giving me a perspective that I had not had before.  I highly recommend this publication.

Getting To Know My International Contacts (Part 1)

I was finally able to make contact with two international colleagues.  I made contact by going through  the websites of organizations I found in a web search.  The first organization I contacted was Early Childhood Australia and was put in touch with Chris Steele, a policy and project manager, who has been very accommodating and informative.  Their website is www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au.  The second organization I contacted was The British Association for Early Childhood Education. Their website is http://www.early-education.org.uk.   My contact there is Chris Hussey.  Chris H. has also been very informative and so willing to answer my questions.  Both contacts have been great so far!

Chris from Australia said:

The Poverty rates are much higher in regional and remote Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (see p26) [this is a breakdown of child poverty in local government areas (ie counties)]. It is generally accepted that  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities face complex challenges due to factors such as colonization intergenerational trauma, depletion of parenting skills caused by the Stolen Generations, and entrenched poverty.

In my role as a policy maker I haven’t dealt with these issues on the ground as an early childhood educator, my focus has been on public policy addressing these issues. Early Childhood Australia, the Australian Government and the ACT Government, all of whom I have worked for over the past 5 years have had a great focus on addressing these issues through early childhood policy including:

-          The provision universal access to preschool for all children in the year before formal schooling. Children living in remote Indigenous communities remain a focus for Universal Access with an

ongoing commitment to ensure that every Indigenous four year old in a remote community has access to a quality early childhood education program. The target of 90% of children enrolling in preschool has been met. The next target focuses on making sure these children attend.

-          Establishing 38 child and family centres in Aboriginal communities. These centres include child care, and family support services including health support, social housing support, counselling and child protection involvement.

-          Rolling out the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) to 100 sites including sites targeted in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. HIPPY supports parents to be their child’s first teacher.

-          Expanding the Jobs Education Training Child Care Fee Assistance (JETCCFA) program. This funding subsidises ECEC for families on income support (ie welfare). These families can access ECEC for 50 cents an hour per child.

He also sent a link to a report on poverty in Australia: http://www.natsem.canberra.edu.au/storage/Poverty-Social-Exclusion-and-Disadvantage.pdf

Chris from England said:

Poverty is still prevalent sadly, and the following links may be of some use  to define and share the strategies that may be taken in response to it:

http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/families/childpoverty

In addition, this suggests ways in which this may implemented practically:

http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/families/childpoverty/sharinggoodpractice

It’s hard to say how common it is (because it depends on the area, and can happen to anyone), but it’s perhaps startling to think that this still occurs in the 21st Century, and we have to look at ways to deal with that. We often think of education as emancipatory, but it’s often hard to break the cycle of poverty – as it may come in different forms, be it in terms of social, economic or perhaps even cultural or politic capital, that in turn may have implications for a community and children within your care. There’s no real catch-all approach, but one would suppose that teachers, practitioners and educators are some of the front-line people able to potentially make a difference, however small, in the lives of those whom are affected.

I can appreciate that this is obviously  a global phenomenon, and isn’t limited to developing nations, but is something that we collectively need to address.

This week has been extremely eye-opening and educational.  I am very interested in all the information I am learning about how poverty affects young children, both in my community, state, and nation and in other nations as well.  

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I chose to focus on is the National Black Child Development Institute.  Their link is www.nbcdi.org. Their mission is as follows: "as one of the only national organizations dedicated exclusively to the success and well-being of Black children, the National Black Child Development Institute and our network of Affiliates have been a powerful and effective voice on issues related to the education, care, and health of Black children and their families."

I have subscribed to their newsletter, but I have not received anything yet.  One issue of interest I found their website is literacy.  Their goal: "As NBCDI collaborates with our Affiliates and national partners, we have chosen to focus on the particular strengths and needs of Black children and families in the broader context of a shared goal: ensuring that all children are reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. NBCDI has chosen to adopt this overarching objective in response to data demonstrating both the critical nature of this educational benchmark and the devastating performance of Black children, only 15 percent of whom are reading proficiently in 4th grade."

For me this brings up the questions: why are black children so far behind in literacy?  Which population of black children are the most behind?  This is something I would like to research further.  If anyone has information for me, please post it below.