Learning about International ECE

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field:

1) It has opened my eyes to the idea of early childhood education in locations other than the United States.  Yes, I freely admit that I always concern myself with what is happening in our country before I consider what is going on in other places.  I am trying to take into consideration children around the globe, but it is very hard to do when I see so much pain, injustice and suffering in "my own back yard."

2) I have learned that other countries are having the same issues in terms of professional development and training for early childhood teachers.  It seems like some countries are making some headway in this area and I think we need to develop (if it does not already exist) an international group to bring together the best practices from around the world.

3) Although I cannot reach out to international contacts, I can reseach several of the international websites and learn about the advances and challenges around the globe.  Learning from the successes and challenges of others can help us advance our goals here.


Goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations:

Develop working groups with as many international partners as possible to discuss challenges and successes in order to develop a Best Practices Handbook for Early Childhood Education that we can use to help push Early Childhood Education to the forefront in discussions at the senior leadership level.

Hopes and Dreams from Switzerland

Speaking to my contact in Switzerland, she said there is no requirement to have a degree to teach in the childcare centers.  They do have specialized training and classes that you can take if you want to advance to the leadership positions (class leader or assistant director).  You can attend a university for a degree and that will help you get a director position, but again, it is not required.  They do a lot of internal “teach the teacher” type training.  (One or two teachers attend a training and then come back to train everyone else).  She wishes there were more training/educational opportunities available because she would really like to open her own childcare center one day.  Her family has a very large farm with plenty of room to build a childcare center that would service the village.  He challenges right now are saving enough money and furthering her education to make this a reality.  She is still very young so her dreams may change. 

In talking to our friends from Switzerland and Sweden, I am noticing the same trend that we find here in the US.  There is no standardization and no requirements for early childhood educators.  In Sweden, there is a requirement to have specialized training and education to work with special needs children (which there should be!!), but not for working with typical children.  It is still being viewed by many as babysitting.  I find this very sad and disheartening, especially in light of all of the research we have learned about in this class and the classes we have taken since starting this program in January.  Are we just not being vocal enough?  Are we not fighting this at the highest levels possible?  I want to shake the senior leadership of this country and shout "Do something!"

Additional Information on NIEER

• Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

There are many links on the NIEER website.  Some of the ones I found interesting were:

National Center for Early Development & Learning - Administratively based at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, NCEDL was a collaboration with the University of Virginia and University of California, Los Angeles.  The center was created to provide national leadership and advance new knowledge in the field of early childhood development and learning. Goals of NCEDL were to: determine the state of the nation and conduct research on critical issues in early childhood practices; develop partnerships with diverse constituencies; synthesize knowledge and recommend future directions; and translate research into practice and disseminate information to diverse audiences.

Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network (CYFERnet) - CYFERnet's Web site brings together the best, children, youth and family resources of all the public land-grant universities in the country. Materials are carefully reviewed by college and university faculty. Through CYFERnet you can also interact with your colleagues and share your work nationally.

CYFERnet provides:

    - information on for child and youth devleopment, parenting, families, and community development.

    - practical research-based tools, curricula and activities for working with children, youth, families programs.

    - a database to help you identify experts in the areas of children, youth, and family across the country.

    - opportunities to interact with CYFAR professionals in our webinars, blogs, online communities.

    - access to the latest research, statistical, and demographic information.

    - resources and instruments for program evaluation.

    - information on 3000 community-based programs serving vulnerable populations.

    - information on the programmatic use of the latest technologies.

I really enjoyed the Activities, Lesson Plans and Learning Resources page.  It gave non-formal education resources for child and youth after-school programs, summer programs, camp and special events. It included lesson plans, activities, instructions, curriculum, videos, and tips that even parents can use at home.

National Center for Children in Poverty - Identifies and promotes strategies that prevent child poverty in the US and improve the lives of low-income children and their families.  The site allows you to research each state independently as well as produces reports that cover the entire country.

• Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?

I am most interested in the Special Education section of the website.  It has many publications and links to other websites that have a tremendous amount of information on various special needs.  It also gives links to news articles from various media sources across the country on special education issues.

• If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

Unfortuately, I have not received a newsletter or email from the site in more than 2 weeks.

• Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

Since the website is basically a database of publications and research initiatives, you can find various articles about equity and excellence.  Two sections in particular that has a lot of information on these topics is the Governance and Accountability section and the Quality and Curriculum section.

• What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?

Of interest, there was an article about a child advocacy group that filed a lawsuit against Fisher Price for their claims that their Laugh & Learn mobile apps teach babies language and counting skills. According to the complaints, the companies say in marketing material that their apps teach infants spatial skills, numbers, language or motor skills. But, the complaints claim, there is no rigorous scientific evidence to prove that these kinds of products provide those benefits.

In addition, there was an article about how the middle class gets priced out of preschool. According to NIEER, access to preschool across the country is actually lower for the middle class than for the poor. Middle-income families don’t have access to Head Start, like poor families, and they can’t afford expensive places, either.

Excellence and Equity in Switzerland

Below is the response I received from my contact in Switzerland on the topic of excellence and equity in early childhood education:

So where i work, in the childcare, we take the babys from 3month old to 4years old. Here in Switzerland mothers get just 3month free time after the baby came. That's the time you got to stay home and get paid. If you want to stay home longer, you can if you talk with your boss for a working break or something. The good part in my childcare, we have a special programm, and there every child can play what he wants. Our house has 10 different rooms with different things (baby room, coloring room, reading room, jumping room...and more..) All the kids can go to the different rooms like they want to (in every room is someone to take care of them)

The kids learn to help themselves and figure out stuff without hundred of ideas from me They learn to think about what they're doing and how they're gonna do that. 

At the same we have the programm to watch 2 kids (in 14days), how they play, what they play, how they act in the group and a lot more. The whole team does that about those 2 kids and after that time, we're having a meeting about that. We talk about the things that the kid likes to do, and does really good. (we take the positive things - everything is positive in a way)

That's how i can say we take a look at every kid and talk about their needs and help them where they need it. The whole team knows a lot about kids and do special activitis to work with the kids. 

i love that programm, the parents love it and the kids love it. 

We really take each child and work with them...

The childcare is pretty expensive, but i've you don't get like 60'000francs money as a family from your work the city is helping you to pay it. They look at your work, how much you get and then they do some crazy math to figure out how much you get for the childcare. 

Every village/city in switzerland needs a place, where parents can bring their kids. 

I know too, that if your child has a handicap the city is gonna help you to pay all those therapys and special schools. There are schools (my cousin is at one like that) where just AD(H)S and autism kids can go to. They have room for therapy rooms and everything, so you dont have to go from one place to the other with your kid. Thats pretty cool. I know from my cousin that the teachers there so good, they really take care of each kid and ask them about their thougths and needs. 

At my childcare we have one person who comes like once or twice a month to help us with kids with special needs or if i have a kid in the childcare and i think he/she needs to start talk and he/she wont, i can call her and she comes to help me figure out the next steps that we've gonna do.

 

 

From my correspondence with her, I have learned that the government really helps families get children into early childhood programs.  It seems like there is much more support from the government in other countries than there is here in the US.  I assume a lot of that has to do with the higher tax rates in other countries.  Still, it seems like we put so many other things ahead of education on our priority lists in this country and we wonder why things are so messed up!

More information from NIEER

What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

Since I do not have a professional stake at this point, the information that is relevant to my personal life is the section on Special Education.  There is a wealth of information (publications and research) on various special education topics, including specific information on Autism.  Much of the information will help me when my son enters the public school system next year.

    

 Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

I still have not received a newsletter from this organization.  In terms of the website, the entire website is a collection of research papers, publications and news releases about a variety of topics in early childhood education. 

One of the articles “Getting the Facts Right on Pre-K and the President's Pre-K Proposal” discusses the question of whether non-disadvantaged children benefit from pre-K.  I was happy to see that it supported the fact that all children benefit from a pre-K program.  One issue it presented that I had not thought about before is that research has shown that disadvantaged children showed larger gains when the programs contained more children from middle-income families.  This is great news!  My fear with the economic/business case approaches to early childhood programs is that there will be more support for programs that only include disadvantaged children versus children from middle class because research has shown that disadvantaged children show the most improvement.  Hopefully this research will be well publicized and children from middle class families will not be left out in terms of support for pre-K programs.

   

 What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

     

There is an entire section of the website that contains publications and research on economics and finance.  The article that I mentioned above (Getting the Facts Right on Pre-K and the President's Pre-K Proposal) is one example of articles that have a political basis.  I searched the word “neuroscience” and the website brought up several pages of publications on neuroscience in early childhood education.  While the website itself does not make statements of support or non-support, it contains a lot of information that would support either argument.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

According to the website, (NIEER) supports excellence and equity in early childhood education by conducting and disseminating nonpartisan research and policy analysis.  They publish an annual report on the state of preschool in the United States, based on a survey of state pre-K programs.  The report from 2012 states the following: Twenty-eight percent of America’s 4-year-olds were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in the 2011-2012 school year, reflecting no appreciable change from the previous year. Total funding fell over half a billion dollars, and per child funding was cut, marking the most dramatic year of funding cuts since the Yearbook began in 2001.

I was not surprised by this information due to the current state of the economy in this country, but I was still disheartened to hear it.  After all the research we have on the benefits of early education, this country still picks this program out of all of them to cut.  I see money wasted every single day here in DC and it makes me sick to think how much these programs and our children could benefit if the folks here were not so wasteful!

Poverty in Sweden and Switzerland

I asked both of my contacts about poverty they had encountered in their professional life or any issues of poverty that they have seen on a personal level.  Below is a summary of the response from my contact in Sweden:

Poverty is not a large problem in Sweden.  In terms of school age children, even if parents lose their jobs, everything they need for school is free.  Children are given school supplies, books, food, etc.  Children are also given the equivalent of $180 a month that can be used for clothes and food.  Children with special needs are given additional resources to assist them with their challenges. 

My contact is from a rural area in Sweden.  She thinks that things are a little more challenging in the larger cities (like Stockholm) where they are struggling with immigrants.  The immigrants (many from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan) remain segregated from the Swedish population and the government is struggling to deal with the multitude of issues surrounding that situation.


My contact from Switzerland has not responded yet.  I researched information on poverty in Switzerland and found an interesting interview that occurred in November 2010 with Hugo Fasel, director of a Catholic Church charity group called Caritas.  Switzerland had just completed its first national conference on poverty and he explained some of facts surrounding poverty and what needs to be done to fight it.  According to Mr. Fasel, in Switzerland there are 260,000 children living in poverty and the key to winning the fight is education.  He stated that without a degree, young adults are having a very tough time getting jobs.  Because there are several topics that are linked to poverty, there must be various approaches and tools to address each of them.  One issue he brought up was access to technology.  He states that children without a basic home computer fall behind their peers.

Although it makes perfect sense, this was the first time I have seen someone mention lack of access to technology at home as a key contributing factor to inequities in education.  We know that classrooms have incorporated computers and computer skills into the curriculum, but not being able to carry over those skills in the home put children at a disadvantage. 

 I hope to hear back from my contact in Switzerland before the weekend is over.  I will update the post as soon as I hear from her.

Share what you have learned so far from these exchanges (or from the podcast and website)

I am surprised at how much the government in Sweden supports its people.  It seems like there are many more supports and programs available for its citizens than here in the US.  However, I believe that their tax rate in the country is much higher than ours as well.  

Describe your new insights and information about issues of poverty

I have always known that poverty is a huge problem in this country.  I grew up in Appalachia and the poverty level is very high.  The poverty rate for Kentucky is 18.1% and in Ohio it is 14.8%.  The actual county in Ohio where I grew up is 17.4%.  I do not think the federal government is doing enough to address this issue.  We have some programs (Food stamps, WIC, etc.), but they are horribly mismanaged and abused.  If the government does not step up and do something, this country will be in even worse shape than we are now.

Web Resources

The organization I chose to follow is the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).  Their mission statement is:

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) conducts and communicates research to support high-quality, effective early childhood education for all young children. Such education enhances their physical, cognitive, and social development, and subsequent success in school and later life.

I signed up for the online newsletter last week, but as of today I have only received a welcome email.  I checked the website and noticed that the email newsletter only provides "periodic updates."  While on the website today I found where I could subscribe to email updates on Research and Publications Alerts and Preschool Matters...Today! Alerts.  I am hoping these emails will be distributed on a more regular basis.

What caught my eye on the website this week was the announcement of the publication of the 2012 State Preschool Yearbook.  This book is an annual report profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2011-2012 school year as well as documenting a decade of progress since the first Yearbook collected data on the 2001-2002 school year. Tracking trends long term is key to understanding the progress of early childhood education across the country and improving educational opportunities for America’s children.

The publication is extensive and I have not had an opportunity to review it, but one of the major issues that was pointed out in the summary was the following:

Twenty-eight percent of America’s 4-year-olds were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in the 2011-2012 school year, the same percentage as the year before. This stagnation in enrollment growth was compounded by an unprecedented funding drop of $500 million nationwide. The findings in this Yearbook raise serious concerns on the quality and availability of pre-K education for most of American young learners.

I think this publication will be useful to all my colleagues.  I am including the link below so you can go straight to the page:

http://nieer.org/publications/state-preschool-2012


13 July 2013

I finally received an email from NIEER Online News.  It is basically a bunch of links to newspapers, journals and other websites that have information dealing with early childhood.  For example, there is a link to the Zero to Three website that talks about their recent online event called Virtual Rally 4 Babies.  There are several newspaper articles that seemed interesting like New Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards for pre-K is announced and Senate Panel Approves Big Early-Childhood Education Boost.  I look forward to reading these articles.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1

When we discovered we were having a second set of twins, we decided that an AuPair was the best childcare option for us.  It was less expensive than having all of them in day care and we wouldn’t have to take all of them of the house in the mornings.  Our first AuPair was Emma and she was from Sweden.  Our second AuPair was Regina from Switzerland.  Emma is currently in college, but she used to work with her mom at a childcare center in Sweden.  Her mom currently works at the childcare center and I am attempting to contact her through Emma.  Regina currently works full time as an early childcare teacher and plans to make early childhood education a career.

Because of my position with the government, I cannot establish new contacts with foreign nationals.  Emma and Regina are already documented in my background investigation therefore I am able to continue contact with them.  They are my only options to use for this assignment.

I have sent emails to both girls to ask if they would participate in this assignment for me.  Regina has already responded and agreed to help.  I am still waiting to hear from Emma.  My intent is to contact them via email and Skype to exchange information.  I am very excited to use them for this assignment. Regina currently works full time as an early childcare teacher and plans to make early childhood education a career.  Emma and Regina both spent a year with us so they became part of our family.  I have attempted to maintain contact with them and this assignment will allow me to really catch up with them.

Part 2

I chose to study the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) website.  I visited several of the other websites listed in the reference section, but this seemed the most interesting to me.  I am currently receiving newsletters from Zero to Three and visit that web often for information.  I could have used that website for this assignment, but I have read several articles published by NIEER and was interested to learn more about it.   As for the websites I visited and did not choose, a few of them seemed a little difficult to navigate, a few seemed dull or bland (for lack of better terms), and one website had a political spin to it that I did not like. 

I look forward to navigating the NIEER website over the next few weeks and learning more about it.  I signed up for the newsletter today and looked through the special education section.

My Supports

Emotional Support:

My Husband, Jeff - The support Jeff gives is in many different forms.  He helps take care of the boys, he takes care of our financial investments (this is a weak point for me) and he is my best friend.

My sons, Jason, Joshua, Jacob and Jordan - My boys are my life.  I wake up happy every single day because of them.  Everything I do, every choice I make at this point in my life is for them.

My parents, Jo and Grover - My parents are the absolute best parents anyone could ask for.  They have always supported me 110% (and sometimes even more than that).  I am who I am today because of them.  Mom taught me to be a strong, independent woman.  My dad taught me the value of honesty, integrity and hard work.  My parents are my sounding board when things are not going as planned.  My dad is the only person in the world that I trust 100%.  It is very rare that you have someone in your life that you can trust that much and I am very, very lucky to have him.

My sister, Christy - Christy is my link back to my family in Ohio.  I live in Washington DC, but my entire family (parents, siblings and extended family) all live in Ohio.  Christy calls me a couple times a week to keep me informed of all the craziness going on back there.

My Colleagues, Dean, Brian, Ben and Bryan - These guys keep me sane.  Without going into many details, my office/work environment is very stressful and annoying (for lack of better words).  These guys keep everything in perspective when times get really crazy and they make me laugh every day.  They are definitely more than just colleagues; they are my friends.

My neighbors, Bill and Judy - Bill and Judy moved into the townhouse right beside us about a week after we moved into ours.  We have been together for the past 7 years and consider them family versus friends.

Practical Support:

Lists!  I am an organization freak so I make lists for everything - work-related "to do" lists, developmental checklists for my boys, lists of activities I want to do with the boys, lists of new recipes I want to try, etc.  My life revolves around lists.

Calendars - I have several calendars to keep me straight - Microsoft Outlook calendar for work, Google calendar for personal appointments (I merge these 2 once a week to keep everything synchronized) and a calendar on my kitchen wall where I document the boys' milestones because I never have time to stop and find their baby book to document things.  This way I can remember the exact day they did or said something new or funny!  One day I will sit down with all the calendars I have built and update each of their baby books.

My laptop - Although I am a "paper copy" person, I love my laptop because I use Google often.  I love recipe websites!  I have several cooking and home websites that I love to visit for ideas.  One of my favorites is Martha Stewart and Allrecipes.com

My job - As with any job, some days are better than others.  I feel very fortunate in this day and time to have a really good job that supports my family.  We live very comfortably and I am very proud to be able to do all that I can for my family.

My husband's job - Just like with my job, he has good days and bad ones.  But, we are fortunate to have jobs that provide for our family.

Clean House Company - This is the company that cleans our house every 2 weeks.  I stopped using them 6 months ago in order to save money and be able to pay for Jason's ABA therapy, but I finally admitted that I couldn't do everything and needed help.  With the commute, we are away from the house 13 hours a day, 5 days a week.  The weekends are completely filled with errands, grocery shopping and finding time to spend with the boys.  I just could not keep up with everything.

Physical Support:

My Chiropractor!  I have problems with my back and neck.  Thank God for my Chiropractor!  I feel like a new person after a re-alignment and acupuncture.

All of these things keep my life running.  I need each and every one of them to keep sane!  I tried to give up the folks who clean my house but that did not work!  It really added a lot of stress to my life because the house was never as clean as I wanted and I could never find the time to do it.  Additionally, I just started going to the Chiropractor about a year ago.  Before that, I was in a lot of pain every day and some days it hurt to pick up the boys.  Now I am not nearly in as much pain and can play with the boys all the time.

The challenge I chose to talk about is losing my job.  If I did not have a job, I would still need each and every one of the supports listed above.  I would lean heavily on my parents for support, asking them to visit more often or even going home to Ohio more often.  The boys would no longer be in preschool so I would rely even more on the developmental checklists and activities to make sure I am doing everything I can to help them meet all the goals needed before entering kindergarten.  Obviously, I'd rely heavily on my husband for emotional and monetary support.  Many things would change in our lives, but I don't think it would be unbearable.

Even if Jeff lost his job too, we would still survive.  My family asks me all the time to move back home to Ohio.  My mom and dad just told me yesterday that they had discussed the idea that if I ever wanted to move home, they would give me their house and move to the farm house.  They said we wouldn't need to put the boys in day care...they would keep them for us.

I am so lucky to have so many great supports in my life.  I have a loving family that stands behind me 100%.  They are there when things are going right and are there even quicker when things are going wrong.  There is a song by Dolly Parton that describes my family perfectly:

When it's family, you forgive them for they know not what they do
When it's family, you accept them, 'cause you have no choice but to
When it's family, they're a mirror of the worst and best in you
And they always put you to the test
And you always try to do your best
And just pray for God to do the rest, when it's family

Some are preachers, some are gay
Some are addicts, drunks and strays
But not a one is turned away, when it's family
Some are lucky, others ain't
Some are fighters, others faint
Winners, losers, sinners, saints, it's all family

And when it's family you trust them and your heart's an open door
When it's family, you tolerate what you'd kill others for
When it's family, you love and hate and take, then give some more
Somehow you justify mistakes, try to find some better way
To solve the problems day to day, in the family

You take the trouble as it comes and love them more than anyone
Good or bad or indifferent, it's still family
You choose your lovers, you pick your friends
Not the family that you're in, nah
They'll be with you 'til the end, 'cause it's family

And when it's family, you forgive them for they know not what they do
When it's family, they're a mirror of the worst and best in you
When it's family, when it's family
Let me be all that I should be to the family


Bottom line - If I did not have my family, I would feel very unsafe and vulnerable in this world.  Thank God for family!

My Connections to Play

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.”
― Charles Schaefer

"Play is our brain's favorite way of learning."

Diane Ackerman
Contemporary American author

 

 

 

My favorite thing to play as a kid was school.  I was always the teacher and my cousins, little sister, and Grandma were the students.  That was the best part...Grandma would do anything we asked her to do and play any game we wanted.  Poor thing...we used to make her wear the "dunce hat" and sit in the corner.  She did it every time and never once complained.  

Grandma loved playing with us and would play for hours on end.  She encouraged us to play all the time.  Whether we were playing school, putting on fashion and talent shows, or playing hide and seek, she always participated.  She'd cheer when we sang, told us how beautiful we were when we dressed up in her night gowns (with her Christmas tree tinsel as boas), and chased us through the house as we hid from her.  She would play football in the house with my brother.  They broke just about every lamp she had and when my mom tried to yell at my brother, she would yell at her!  She'd defend us to the ground and threaten to beat my mom if she touched us.  My siblings and cousins spent a lot of time at her house.  The more, the merrier!  At times, there would be 8 of us in bed with her as she told ghost stories.

Looking back, those were the happiest days of my childhood.  Grandma's house was the best place to be.  You were loved unconditionally and allowed to be whomever or whatever you wanted to be (as long as you were safe!).

Play today is so much different now than it was when I was a child.  We did not have PlayStations and IPads to occupy our time.  We were forced to use our imagination and invent games to play (like Witch in the Well...a favorite of ours as kids).  We played outside all the time in the summer and had to be forced to come in when it got dark.  Now, kids rarely play outside unless it is participating in an organized sport.  One of the reasons my boys do not play outside is because I do not feel that they are safe.  Even when I am outside with them, I am constantly worried about the inconsiderate people who drive down our street at high speeds.  I can't let them play in our back yard along for fear that someone will kidnap them.  I feel like I need to have eyes on them at all times.  I often wonder if things are really more dangerous now or are incidents reported more often?
 

Looking back, my parents let me ride my bike all over town by myself!  I'd be gone all day with no contact with them.  There were no cell phones or tracking devices.  What were they thinking??  

I think that play is one of the most important things in life!  My husband and I freely admit that we are both kids at heart and refuse to grow up.  We have fun all the time and we do everything we can to ensure our boys are having fun (sometimes we do things that we think is fun and just hope they think it is fun too!) .  There is nothing more precious than a child's laughter...it can brighten up any room at any given moment.  In my mind, you only live once so make it the happiest time possible!