El Salvador

This week I spoke with a friend in El Salvador. She is a doctor who travels to various villages to administer, and also teach about, medicine. She teaches women how to be midwives, basic hygiene to prevent sickness, dental care, and basic preventative measures to stay healthy. She puts a lot of focus on the children because she knows that a healthy life depends on a healthy start.

I asked her what her professional hopes, dreams, and challenges are. She hopes that all the people can overcome themselves to understand that medicine and knowledge are not bad. She hopes that what she teaches the children about taking care of themselves will not be forgotten, but will be used to help the children be safer and healthier. She hopes that more parents allow their children to be treated for various sicknesses so that they will not be hurt permanently. She has daily challenges with old culture clashing against new innovations. “Some of those clashes are good, they challenge us to question if the new way is really better. But some of those clashes are bad because they prevent children getting the help they really need.” 

I also asked her what some issues regarding early childhood education were where she works. She clarified that not all of the children in the villages go to school, and those that do attend do not go every day. She also reminded me of the school environment; few desks and chairs in the room, a couple posters, some rooms have chalk boards, there are some books but not enough for every child. She responded that the focus with children is teaching them to read, write, numbers, and daily living skills. There has been talk from time to time about including some English into the school day, but not enough of the teachers are familiar with English and some community members disagree with teaching it. The main focus with children is helping them attend school. The government helps by giving families vouchers for school clothes, books, and school supplies. Some families are still not able to attend because the commute to school is too far for their child to travel daily.

NAECTE & Affiliates

http://www.naecte.org/

I began exploring some of the recommended related organizations on this website. One page I found that I found interesting was a list of each state’s teacher certification requirements (http://education.uky.edu/AcadServ/content/50-states-certification-requirements). My family hasn’t really settled down in one place yet so I could need this in the near future if we do decide to move out of state like we’re planning. I also found a few websites that will help me with our other blog requirements of connecting with international professionals in early childhood education. The first of these is centered in Europe. They are hoping to connect with professionals worldwide to help their professionals become the best educators possible (http://tntee.umu.se/). (Sound familiar?)

One other area of this website that I explored was the affiliate section. I had to learn that affiliates are other groups or organizations that complete complementary work. One group may sponsor the other, or use their influence to support themselves. NAECTE is accepting requests to become an affiliate. They ask some basic questions such as what activities or projects have them completed that qualifies them, what advocacy they have been involved with, and what help they would like from NAECTE. I think having affiliates expands the field that NAECTE has influence in, and it also gives other organizations and programs the strength they need to succeed themselves. 

The organization posted a new E-Letter for Winter of 2013. They mainly are asking for nominations for various positions within the organization, proposals for the upcoming conference, and awards announcements. One area of the E-Letter that interested me and adds to our studies this week is about the work the advocacy committee is completing. They discuss helping their position statement on early childhood teacher certification be more available, conduct more research on the impact teachers with special training in early childhood have on their students, establish this organization as a place to gain accurate and updated information, and highlighting effective teacher preparation programs. I support their efforts in proving that highly trained early childhood staff creates a different environment for children to learn in. I also support that this organization strives to be a place to conduct valid research and for future educators to research schools that are highly thought of.

Education in the Philippines

I have been talking with an early childhood teacher in the Philippines. She moved to the country five years ago. Her husband, years ago, was stationed in the Philippines for the military and they decided to move back when he retired. She half works and half volunteers at a local preschool and a local play center. The preschool costs parents money to send their children to, as well as the play center, but the play center is significantly less expensive. Many more children go to the play center. The preschool provides food for the children, where the play center expects children to supply their own food. The preschool does some academics and many activities to prepare children for kindergarten, the play center teaches some preparation skills but not as regularly as the preschool. The teacher said that she is excited for new funding that the play center may be receiving because they will be able to hire more teachers, purchase new learning materials, and provide more for the children they care for.

http://www.whiteband.org/en/news/philippines-early-education

I found an article on the website of GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty: Together for Equality). They discussed an act called the Early Years Act that will help over 50,000 daycare centers to become learning centers. The country is trying to reduce the number of children that drop out of school, to break the poverty cycle, and regardless of background or income children will have equal educational opportunities. This act sounds like an excellent step in the right direction to change the education system in the Philippines. We already know that a solid building needs to be built upon a solid base, and the same applies to education. We need children to be exposed to quality education from the start. 

Exploring NAECTE

http://www.naecte.org/

This week I spent some time researching the website of NAECTE some more. I visited some new areas of their website and read through their 2012 fall conference schedule. One aspect that caught my attention because of my current professional development was their use of ResearchNets. NAECTE supports groups who are on scholarly pursuits to conduct collaborative research projects, called ResearchNets. They provide a place to communicate with one another, research evidence to support advocacy efforts, and opportunities for professional development. I will keep this group in mind as I further my involvement in the early childhood education field, because these groups could become a great asset, or I may need to build one for conducting my own research. 

“In this political era, we all need to hang on to our

sense of humor and our belief in creativity to solve problems” ~Sara Davis

“Ideas are the roots of creation” ~Ernest Dimnet

These two quotes go together for me; we need to keep generating new ideas so that our world can continue to change and in order to generate new ideas we need to think in creative ways. This made me think of including creative expression and play into early childhood programs even more. If we truly want to keep moving forward in the same ways as we have in recent history then we need to keep our kids thinking in out-of-the-box ways. 

Input from economists, neuroscientists, and politicians was evident when I was exploring the 2012 fall conference schedule. There were many different presentations supporting different aspects of change within the early childhood field. Some of these discussed evidence gleamed from neuroscientists, others talked about new policies that would positively and/or negatively affect the field, and some presentations were about advocating for investing in early childhood education. I could not find more detailed information about these presentations, but the conferences would be a great place to go for gaining professional development in a variety of areas.