Last blog post of Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field (EDUC - 6162 - 1)

Some of the consequences of learning from my international contacts:

1. I am now aware that other countries share the same issues and trends that we do. For example, both of the countries that my contacts were from have poverty and equity issues that affect the education and care of young children.

2. It is extremely difficult to set national standards for early care and education, because special interest groups control politics. What should happen is not always what does happen.

 3. Lack of funds for quality programs is a constant problem. Early childhood professionals across the globe have to deal with budget cuts and reduction of services. Both of my international contacts were experts at 'making do' and providing the best possible programs with the totally inadequate funding they had to work with.

One of my professional goals is to remain as aware as I possibly can of what is happening globally in the early childhood field. I have a good start on this with some of the websites I have gotten from my classmates in this course. Thanks to you all!

Getting To Know Your International Contacts

I asked Jill, my contact in Ireland, to answer this week’s questions. Jill works at Saplings Westmeath. There are five Saplings schools, each located in a different area of the country. Saplings schools are for children who have been diagnosed with Autism. Jill has been employed with Saplings for 6 years.

• What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

Jill: When I first came to Ireland from the US, Ireland was in the midst of a national push to deal with an increasing incidence of Autism in Irish children. New schools were opening everywhere, and the Irish government was throwing tons of money into any programs that were geared towards Autism. I was living in Boston at the time and working with Autistic children at the New England Center for Autism (formerly the Efficacy Research Institute). I came to Ireland because I wanted to be on the cutting edge of this new mission to help Autistic kids. I wanted to help set up programs, and collaborate with other teachers. The first year was GREAT!! And then, suddenly, Ireland’s economy tanked. As the government scrabbled to right itself, they started making cuts. And the deepest (and fastest) cuts went to health workers and educators. We all took cuts in pay.....and any upcoming projects were all put on hold...indefinitely.

·         What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

Jill: Again, due to the economy, any and all professional development opportunities have been shelved for the time being. We do try to conduct our own in-house trainings, usually using online videos or other resources on the web.

·         What are some of your professional goals, dreams, and challenges?

Jill: As unrealistic as it may sound, I dream of living and working in a society that doesn’t deal with adversity by immediately cutting services to the people who need them the most! That is the biggest challenge for all of us who work with children in this country, I’m sure. Trying to make progress with our  Autistic clients, helping them get services, medication, or treatment, offering them a secure and stabile environment –it’s all so much harder than it needs to be because of the budget cuts. The fact that we’re able to help as much as we are is testament to the devotion and self sacrifice of teachers in Ireland. Just think what we could accomplish with adequate funding – THAT is my dream!

Sharing Resources

The website I chose to write about in the beginning of this course was http://www.zerotothree.org/. I really like the website because it has many different tips and articles about the care and education of young children. Quite often, the infant and toddler age groups seem to get overlooked when it comes to available resources for teachers, so it’s great to see a website devoted solely to early childhood professionals who work with those specific age groups.

The website has many different areas, such as Behavior and Development, Maltreatment, Care and Education, and Public Policy. Included under these headings are articles, helpful hints, resources for more information, and links to related subjects. For example, the Behavior and Development page contains articles on Brain Development, Early Childhood Mental Health, Nutrition, Temperament and Behavior, Sleep, etc. Also included are interactive tools, parent handouts, charts, Tip Sheets, a FAQ page, and power point slide shows.  Under the Public Policy heading, I found an article that definitely added to my understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education. It is an article called Building a Strong Infant-Toddler Workforce. The link to the article is http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/policy-toolkit/professional-development-final-for-web.pdf .  It outlines the need for  collaboration between states to create and sustain an integrated professional development system that:

• Fully incorporates infant-toddler workforce preparation and ongoing professional development based on widely accepted, evidence-based competencies
•  Is aligned with and articulates into college degree programs
• Includes alternative pathways to credentials
• Connects the various service delivery program types
• Provides appropriate compensation

Also, I was unfortunately not very surprised to learn that compensation for infant-toddler professionals is much lower than that of other fields. Out of 770 occupations surveyed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 18 have lower average wages than child care workers, whose mean wage is only $9.73 per hour  :  (

More from Nepal...

My contact in Nepal informed me that gender discrimination is alive and well in that country...and that it is apparent in all aspects of life.

In fact, there is a wide gap between women and men when it comes to adequate access to health care, nutrition, education - or even basic participation in decision-making for themselves or their children. Sadly, infant mortality is much higher for girls, and illiteracy is far more common among women than men. Many rural women live in severe poverty, without any means of improving conditions for themselves and their families. Within households women often have less to eat than men. Insufficient calorie intake for the women leads directly to chronic malnutrition in the infants they nurse.
 
Lack of economic opportunity has resulted in many of the most productive members of households to migrate and leave the villages. As a result more and more women have been heading households alone and taking on the burden of sustaining the rural economy. In fact, women constitute more than 60 per cent of the agricultural labor force but have little access to land, production technology and training.

Given the extraordinary effort involved in simply surviving in Nepal, it is no wonder there is so little push for girls to acquire education.

Boys in uniform waiting for the school bus