Research Around the World

The Early Childhood Australia site had some very interesting information. They have a program called RIPS (Research in Practice Series). This is a “practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children (Early Childhood Australia, 2012). This provides an index and links to buy texts to many topics of current research that professionals can read and put to use. Some of those topics are “Seeing assessments as a stepping stone,” “The early years learning framework: building confident learners,” and “Young children are active learners.” There were so many topics I felt lost in the information. I am not sure I never thought of another country being involved is so many early childhood research topics. I was most surprised at the lack of free information. Feel like I search ever corner of the website and now minimal information that did not give information on how to buy a book or reading material. I also came away wondering why we do not work as a team in research. Instead of different countries each performing research on topics why don’t we work together to reach a global conclusion to research. I was also very interesting in the topic I read about “Learning and teaching through play”. This brief article was about research that “explains how educators examine their understandings of play and how play-based approaches require intentional planning and teaching in order to support and extend children’s learning.” I would love to someday obtain a copy of the book so that I could read more on how Australia stands on this topic issue.

 Early Childhood Australia. (2012) Retrieved October 6, 2012, from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

One positive aspect of research can be the miracle of saving a child’s life.

Nine years also my friend gave birth to a beautiful healthy boy. Everything was normal at the hospital and for a few weeks after that. When her son was 3 weeks old he got sick and that is when it felt like the world was crashing down. Isaac continued being sick and could not fight the infection. It was soon found out that he was born with no immune system. The pattern of illness and antibiotics would go one for two and a half years. Doctors said that there was nothing they could do and eventually he would get an illness that antibiotics could not help and he would die. He was not expected to live past his third birthday. A few months after Isaac was three, doctors came to my friend with an option for an “experiment idea that could save his life, and his only chance.” Isaac became a research participant in the hopes it would save him and provide information for future help to other children. It was a long process, a lot of money needed to be raised. (2.2 million because insurance would not cover “an experiment”), and pain for Isaac to endure. In the end it was successful. Isaac has been healthy for 5 years and just got the official diagnosis of being cured. He is able to go to school and loves being with children his own age. Seeing the process first hand still has not cemented my feelings about research and children. However I am so thankful for the outcome of this research that I can think nothing but positive things about it.  

Personal Research Journey

I have realized that my topics have not yet been researched, if they have the information is not found in the Walden Library. In an effort to complete the assignment I found myself remolding my original ideas to ones that could be supported by research. Over all this has been an overwhelming and a bit stressful to say the least.

I have chosen the topic “Supporting a child’s culture in an early childhood classroom.” I chose this topic because of what it means for me personally and professionally. I grew up never feeling like I belonged in a classroom for feeling valued or important. It saddens me to see children feel this way in today’s world. That is why a personal goal of mine to never have a child feel that way in a classroom of mine.

I wish I had done the “research chart” on one of the articles from my research instead of one from out reading. I know I would have learned more and while utilizing the chart in a way that was helpful to me.

I have come to the realization that I am making this research assignment harder on myself by being anxious about it. I need to relax and have a little bit of confidence in myself. One step at a time, or rather, one assignment at a time.

Consequences and Goals

Consequences of learning about the international early childhood field can be negative or positive. I tend to take an optimistic view point on life and so I have when it came to looking at the consequences of learning about the international early childhood field.

First, there is so much new information and knowledge to gain from others in our field and that information can be valuable. We can take the time to learn from one another what approaches are successful and which ones need to be rethought. If countries did not communicate about early childhood education there would not be Montessori preschool approaches used in the US.

Secondly, by communicating with other professionals from the field we will be able to learn about one another. About our cultures, values, and beliefs’. This knowledge will only make our classrooms more diversely rich. Every child will feel like they are appreciated and that they belong.

Lastly, we could band together as one. The early childhood field makes a huge impact on the world. If we would stand as one we could possible get the pay and benefits we deserve on a world wide scale.

My personal goal for international awareness of issues and trends with the early childhood field in mind is for there to be quality childcare for all children world wide. That children would be valued and supported within their class and that early education would be available to them. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The communication with my contact in Australia was labored this week. She had a very busy week with her classes and home life so it was more difficult to establish the back and forth contact we have been having.  I asked her what are some of the issues in quality they face as professionals. Her response was, “There is no consistency for parents. We have what I consider a high quality program. There are some down the street that are not up to par. They are mostly government funded because they are the workers child cares. The owners of the diamond mines fund the child care I work for for their children and the children that are the managers of the mine.” She did describe how the education was not different between the two facilities. What were different, were the materials for children to play with, the environment, and the size of the environment. 

Some of her professional goals were to become the “head master” of the child care (I am assuming that is like director or principal), to go back to college, and to make more money.

When I asked her what her dreams were for the early childhood profession she states, “I dream that all children across the world would receive great early care when they are wee ones. That they would all learn and be in environments that help them to learn. I dream that things were more fare and not based on status and titles of the family.”

I am always surprised at the information I glean from our conversations. I know the country has wonderful healthcare and welfare (DOL) system, so I never thought their early learning programs would have similar issues as we have.

Sharing Web Resources: Taking another look at NAEYC

Again it is time to look into the NAEYC website and take a closer look.     

I looked over the quick links and noticed that most of them were tied to NAEYC in some fashion. However one like in particular peeked my interest. It was Young Child Past Issues, (http://www.naeyc.org/yc/pastissues). The issues available went all the way back to January of 2001. This is such a valuable resource that it will be something I flag into favorites.

Upon further investigation I found NAEYC radio (http://www.naeyc.org/newsroom/NAEYCradio). There are some interesting links and also some that are important to my professional life. Some that I found interesting are “Who Will Save Kindergarten? 
” by Vivian Gussin Paley, “Big Body Play: Why It's Important
” by Frances Carlson, M.A.Ed., and “How Federal Policies Affect Early Childhood
” by Adele Robinson. This is one are of the website that I could spend a lot of time viewing. I felt like a sponge at some point and was just soaking in all the information either because it was new or because it affirmed what I already knew.

Currently some of the topics that are being discussed on the NAEYC website are DAP, Learning from nature, Obesity Prevention, play and Anti-Bias Education Holidays. I think the website has a plethora of information that support what we are learning in our Masters program or the information furthers our learning in a meaningful way.  

I am enjoying the information gleaned from the NAEYC website and know that without this class I would have never had the opportunity to dig this deep into it. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This week I conversed through email with my contact in Australia as well as a newly formed contact in Germany. I had asked both professional what prevalent inequalities they see in early childhood education in their countries.

The professional contact from Australia talked about the inequality of there not being early childhood education available to all children. This was mostly due to the fact that some children live in far rural areas and cannot get to a preschool facility. She also discussed the fact that most mothers in her community work so children attend a “day care” and parents cannot “taxi” their child to a preschool facility. Finally she talked for quite awhile about pay for preschool professionals and that she felt Australia would have higher quality and more educated professionals in the field if they were paid a better wage.

Secondly I talked with a professional from Germany. She English was very broken so this conversation was more difficult to maintain. She stated that in her community many of the children went to the local Catholic Church for schooling. She also said that young children could take an exam to enter the school at a younger age. I am going to try to gain more information from her about that this week. She went on to say that “there is no much money for worker with young child.” In other words I think she feels the pay scale could improve.  

Over all it has been a very interesting conversation between the professionals from Australia and Germany and myself. I never imagined the differences and similarities I would see between the countries within their field.