Final Blog Assignment

There are many consequences that I learned about the international early childhood field for a professional and personal development.  One in the UAE is that there are unrealistic expectations for Primary schools due to high competition and lack of school places.  The lack of schools is also seen in the Italian communities.  The second consequence is the lack of standards in both places and the fact that no one monitors what is in place.  The schools do their own thing in educating the children.  The final consequence is found in Italy where the teachers and administrators are not on the same page when it comes to trainings and the curriculum that is used in the school.

The goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends is that there is more of an understanding for the need of a set of standards for everyone to follow.  The spirit of collegial relations is that valuable friendships have been made, with whom we can share and exchange vital information with each other.  The ability to community with individuals from different parts of the world to learn how they teach or use some of their strategies for particular situations is awesome.  I have enjoyed conversing with my international contacts and learning about the different education systems.

Getting to Know Your INternational Contacts -- Part 3

My post http://stuckngermany.blogspot.com

For this assignment I asked both of my contacts for information on the four questions.

1.      1. What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?   My contact (#1) from Italy said that there are so many children who would benefit from a quality program but there just aren’t enough there to help all the children.  My contact in UAE (Abu Dhabi, #2) said that until recently early childhood was not given much importance, as it was regarded as merely babysitting.  She said that everyone there has to have a labor card or work permit to work in any organization.

 

2.      2. What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?  Contact #1 said she believes there is a lot of information and research but too often she has seen people with knowledge at their finger tips and ignore it.  There are special trainings designed around the curriculum and yet when the teachers return to their classrooms they fail to implement or even more frustrating when the administration does not let you implement the program correctly, as they never attended the training.  Contact #2 said that the education ministry has realized that ECE is equally an important field and therefore teachers have to have at least teacher training to work as a preschool teacher. For this reason the ministry of education offers training program which they are insistent that every unqualified teacher must take.  

3.      3. What are some of your professional goals?  Contact #1 Promote early identification of developmental delays and to help teachers not be afraid to mention their concerns to parents.  Contact #2 – The ministry of education has also begun to realize the need for standard curriculums that cater to the developmental needs of the children.  Companies are now hiring qualified individuals in education and curriculum to develop and prepare the curriculum, this is where I would like to work.

4.      4. What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?  Contact #1 she wants to change children’s lives for the better and to know at the end of the year that I have done my very best to teach them.  Her dream is to find a way to make districts provide more than just the minimum services for special needs children and to ensure that their services are not based on funding but rather on need. Contact #2 stated that she loves teaching, but somewhere down the line I would like to get to the things behind the desk and be part of the preparation and building a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate based on all the knowledge and learning that I am getting.

The conversations that I have had with my contact in Italy, I can tell she and I have the same passion for working with special needs children and that she wants all of her children to be successful.  My contact in UAE has given me the opportunity to look at the education system of another country that is totally different from what one is a custom.  I would like to say thank you to both of my international contacts for their support during this course.

Sharing Web Resources Week 6

Upon exploring some of the outside links I found one on titled "Military Family Projects" which works to provide awareness with military families and communities.  The link lead me to various articles and topics that offer support and suggestions for the military families, child care and how to deal with a wide range of stressful topics, such as deployment. 

Another link lead me to the Early Head Start Resource Center.  Upon thoroughly searching this site there were links to such topics as: birth to three (offers information on best practices and research in the field), tip sheets (on challenging behaviors, curriculum, screening & assessment, family engagement & relationships,etc), webcasts, TA papers (News you can use, EHS program strategies, and home based program options), news you can use (this months discussed working with children and music), EHS program strategies (five reports illustrating the experiences of Early Head Start programs in meeting the challenges of planning), home-based program options (four publications are for different audiences and address different aspects of the home-based program option; they are intended to be used collaboratively).   I also found a early moments matter toolkit that offered a training program for professionals/trainers with parents and/or staff such as: home visitors, teachers, or family advocates.  There was so much information that after an hour of reading and searching I still had not looked at all the topics. The web address for this site is http://ehsnrc.org

The site zero to three offers information on equity and excellence in early care and education.  The studies showed that this is an on going issue and the it is becoming more and more in demand as both parents are having to work to support the family.

Once issue that was discussed this week was knowing how to best support young children through seperation or divorce. The article offered strategies to help babies, toddlers, and preschoolers navigate this major life change, with the support of loving adults they can continue to feel feel safe and secure throughout the divorce and make a good adaptation to their new family dynamic.

http://www.zerotothree.org