Research Around the World

After exploring the three websites I decided to use Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This website caught my attention specifically, because of the program in Uganda. It is called Strengthening the Capacity of Grandparents in Providing Care to Children Less than 8 Years Old Affected by HIV/AIDS. This program assists grandparents who are left to care for their grandchildren because their parents died from HIV/AIDS ( Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU), 2005).  The grandparents may be in poor health themselves and are unable to financially or physically care for their grandchildren. The program assisted grandparents in trainings on how to care for young children and assisted them with food (ECDVU, 2005). Early care is essential to a child’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development. Another program this organization has that caught my eye is in Ghana. The program is called Parents’ and Other Caregivers’ Perception of Early Childhood Development Needs and Quality: A Study of the PLAN-Assisted Programs in Bawjiase, Ghana. This program addressed the creativity and understanding of children’s needs and quality of Early Childhood development from the parent’s perspective (ECDVU, 2005).  They compared the perspective of the parents with the perspectives of caregivers and Early Childhood development program managers. The parent’s perception did not differ much and it showed parents were knowledgeable about their child need to develop (ECDVU, 2005). 

A new idea I thought would be useful is training grandparents on how to better assist their grandchildren who they care for. There is always focus on parents, but there are many grandparents caring for children who are not ill or whose parents have not died. Caring for young children can be challenging, especially for the elderly who hasn’t raised children in some years. This program can benefit many grandparents.

 

Other information I found interesting were studies that addressed parent involvement in their child’s development. Parents are the first teachers, so these studies addressed ways to implement parents into their child’s development. It is important for parents to begin teaching their children at home, understand what their child learned at school and to reinforce what their child has learned.

 

Reference

 

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). (2005). 

Final Major Projects and Theses. Retrieved from

http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

Beneficial Research for Children and Families

 

If I could conduct research studies in early childhood it would be how a free high-quality education program for all children world-wide would be beneficial to children, families, teachers, staff, etc.  This would include all facilities (Head Start, public schools, daycares, etc.). This will also include all teachers and staff of high-quality working in these facilities. Other studies can include are there enough facilities in all areas to accommodate, are there enough teachers and staff who are highly qualified to work in these facilities, and will parents who are unemployed  take advantage of the program? There can also be other studies within these studies. High-quality education is a broad subject that can include many areas.

There are too many children starting school behind and failing because they do not have access to a high-quality program and some don’t have access to any programs. We need all children to have a fair start and for the teachers, families, and staff to be involved in some way.

My Personal Research Journey

The topic I chose for my simulation is, what defines a high-quality EC program? I chose this topic because I’m interested in reading the different thoughts on what defines a program as being high-quality. Many people have many views on this subject. I feel all children should have access to a free high-quality program.

I had a difficult time with the research simulation. I was unsure which database to use. After trying several databases and entering my topic several ways, I was able to find what I was looking for. The database I used was EBSCO Host Education Research Complete.

The research chart has been very helpful in guiding my understanding of research, so far. I don’t know if it will become easier or more difficult. There are several areas of the research process that I find to be complex that I want to learn more about.

I welcome any advice on making the research process easier. Please share any resources you feel may be helpful for my chosen subtopic. Thanks in advance.

Final Blog Assignment

One consequence of learning about the international early childhood field is it has brought awareness to me personally and professionally that they are having the same issues we are having in the early childhood field. Knowing this has inspired me to continue receiving the newsletters to stay abreast of what they are doing to correct their issues.

A second consequence is learning about their issues have broadened my understanding about the different issues and trends in the early childhood field. All the information I’ve read, although it comes from another Country, has been helpful in my understanding of issues and trends in the field of early childhood.

A third consequence is, it is enlightening to know there are organizations who are working together to address these issue in the early childhood field. There are some organizations working together to address the needs of children and families.

One goal for the early childhood field is to ensure every child has access to a high-quality early childhood program. Participating countries teamed up to expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education for the poorer children who did not have access to these quality programs.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

After exploring UNESCO’s Early Childhood Care and Education website, I came across some information about the region of Arab. They are working on providing a stable learning environment that provides good quality education for all in society. This relates to my professional goals because I want all children to have access to a good quality education. It is their right regardless of their income level.

In Africa they have workshops on ways to improve teacher development in Early Childhood Care and Education. This applies to my professional goals because I want to be a high-quality Early Childhood Care teacher. It is important to know how to educate our young children. Early Childhood is the starting point for their learning development. When they leave my class I want to have inspired them to want to continue learning.

In Latin America and the Caribbean they are addressing the needs of education and cultural diversity. Issues addressed are how they can communicate educational policies that promote respect for cultural diversity, how education can bind the richness characteristic to cultural diversity to improve the teaching learning process and add to a more broader human development, and how they can turn cultural diversity into a foundation of understanding, multiplicity, and social structure. This relates to my professional goals because I want to learn ways to educate children and families of cultural diversity. As more families from other countries move into the United States it is important to know how to communicate with them in ways they understand.

These are not my only professional goals, but they are three important ones. I never had an idea that other countries were dealing with cultural diversity issues. This was surprising to me. It is enlightening to know that other countries are working to address issues related to education, especially early education. It is all about the children.

Sharing Web Resources

As I explored other links on the Pre-K Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States website I discovered information under issues. I chose the link on families.

 The link on families addresses how The Obama administration is trying to expand a voluntary home visiting program. This program will match parents with professionals who are trained to provide information and support to them while they are pregnant and throughout the child’s first three years of life.

Children have to be healthy to learn and enjoy everyday activities. Dental care is the highest unmet need among children. Pre-K Now has a dental care program that helps low-income families have access to high-quality dental care. This program has expanded the number of professionals providing this care.

There wasn’t any information that added to my understanding of equity and excellence in early child care education.

An insight I’ve gained is about the home visiting program. When the Pre-K Now center did research on the program, they found that when this program is done when the child is an infant or toddler there is better child development in pre-k. There were also better child outcomes when the child was in fifth grade, and there were more inspiring and nurturing home environments in pre-k and fifth grade. This is good to know. Family involvement is healthy for the well-being of the child. When a child starts school they should be prepared to learn.

 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I explored the Global Children’s Initiative website, http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative,  and three insights I gained were their work on children’s mental health, early childhood development, and children in crisis and conflict situations.

Mental health issues in children has been an under addressed issue with major implications for the bigger health and development of children and societies. To help with this issue they are developing an intensive agenda in education, research, and public engagement to address major gaps in knowledge and delivery of service. They are assessing mental health services for children in China, to prevent mental health issues in children affected by HIV/Aids in Rwanda, they are developing and evaluating family-based approaches, and in Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname, they are addressing child maltreatment and mental health outcomes.

Their work on early childhood development in other countries is, in diverse global environments they assess the quality in early childhood settings and programs, conduct assessments in Zambia to measure child development results related to malaria, and expanding effective interventions to improve preschool quality in Chile.

To address children in crisis and conflict they are working with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. Together they are using a science-based developmental view point into the assessment and management of the well-being of the children during man-made and natural crisis. Their focus is on immediate situations and long-term change.

As far as equity and excellence, they have a program called Education and Leadership Development (ELD). This program is to educate future leaders about health, behavior, and life-long impacts of the early years of life, support advanced and multidisciplinary research that will build the knowledge base for application of policy and practice, and provide professional development opportunities.

What a good program to ready our future leaders to help children and families have better lives.