Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3 (Alternative Assignment)

http://en.unesco.org/



"UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programs that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children’s holistic development. It organized the first World Conference on ECCE in September 2010, which culminated in the adoption of a global action agenda for ECCE called Moscow Framework for Action and Cooperation: Harnessing the Wealth of Nations. As a follow-up to the World Conference, UNESCO works in partnership with Member States, partners and other stakeholders to encourage timely and effective implementation of the Moscow Framework so that all young children develop their potential to the fullest." (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/)

 

The fist insight from the website that I will share is a section that is located on the right hand side, opposite of the early childhood sections that are listed.  Every section (Access and Equity, Quality, Investment and Financing, Coordination and Integration) has a Related Information component that offers links to articles relating to the specific topics.  For example, while in the Investment and Financing section, I clicked on a link titled Partnership with Non-Public Actors: Singapore's Early Childhood Policy which brought me to a UNESCO policy brief. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001494/149486e.pdf    This article was very interesting, discussing how there are no public preschools or child care centers in Singapore and how children enter primary school at age seven.  It also mentioned that when child care centers became non-pubic that all families became entitled to receive subsidies that cover about thirty percent of the fees, and that additional assistance was available for lower income families.  It is stated that the subsidies that all families are entitled to for child care were intended to make it affordable, and to expand early childhood services.   

The second area I looked into was the Quality section.  It discussed the factors that go into a high quality program and the importance of teaching the whole child.  It also mentions the potential challenges of implementing a curriculum with pressures from primary formal schooling and families.  All of what is discussed in this area is very relevant to this course. In particular to this week when it discussed how diverse pre-school educators are and how proper training is an essential piece of a high quality program. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/

The third insight from the website is from the Related Information component of the Quality topic section, and is a related article called The Early Childhood Workforce in Developed Countries: Basic Structures and Education. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137402e.pdf  This UNESCO policy brief about the workforce in center-based early childhood services and the education of its members discusses the education of teachers (pedagogues) in other countries who work with young children.  The brief continues discussing challenges facing countries that are trying to require more education, one being that the public will have to overcome the view that early childhood workers are not “substitute mothers.”