Consequences & Goal

Awareness of the many organizations available to utilize as resources

I can continue to grow as an advocate for many causes, thanks to the many

new outlets of information that I have become aware of, such as: The National Center for Children in Poverty, UNICEF, and the Children's Defense Fund.

Restored faith of the efforts of improving quality of life of children across the globe

I feel as though I have been sheltered from many of the beautiful efforts set forth in foreign countries, as I have still just begun to learn of efforts in my own country. I have now been exposed to stories of success, research based data, and many other concrete pieces of evidence that have shone a light on progress of Early Childhood Education throughout many parts of the world.

My previous assumptions of the general qualities necessary for obtaining a status of “excellence” in early care and education hold true to several standards set forth by certain researchers and policy makers

I have spent the past several years believing in the power of a well rounded basis of education incorporating both physical experiences with knowledge of child development and EC pedagogy. This particular criterion of holding a sound higher education foundation is one that is believes the play a major role in quality of care and education, especially when building relationships and foundations of language.

Goal

Something that I have always thought of as a distant possibility is the idea of traveling abroad and dedicating my work to global early childhood development. Over the course of the past eight weeks, I have begun to realize how many opportunities there are to become involved in global work. Now, although the possibility is not more near in my future, I realize that I have options to begin my journey. Several organizations design short term trips to gain a hands-on-experience working to support growth in early care and development systems in impoverished countries. I am setting a goal for myself to be accomplished within the next 10 years to spend at least two weeks working with a developing EC program, whether education based or family & community based.

Online Resources- Week 7

The first area I chose to explore within UNESCO’s web page was the tab titled “Culture.” After clicking on this tab, I was taken aback by the several different options I had to explore within that one umbrella topic. After reading the titles of my options, I chose to first explore the information on Culture for Sustainable Development. In the introduction to this particular page, I was captivated by one particular statement: “Culture is who we are and what shapes our identity. Culture contributes to poverty reduction and paves the way for a human-centred, inclusive and equitable development. No development can be sustainable without it.” This statement, in my perspective, provides a grande argument for why sustaining individual region’s culture is so important to global development. Simply put- culture defines who we are, and without it, we cannot move forward.

While choosing to remain within the topic of culture, I chose to next explore the Diversity of Cultural Expression. I came to learn that there is a legally binding treating which “ensures that artists, cultural professionals and practitioners, as well as citizens can create, produce, disseminate, and enjoy a broad range of cultural goods, services, and activities, including their own.” To create a legal precedent allowing all people of all cultures to express themselves in a variety of meaningful ways is a tool that be utilized to continue expressing the immeasurable value in cultural diversity. Along with the concept of sustaining the cultures which define us, this concept of diverse expression allows individual cultures to be shared in the many languages in which are naturally utilized- be it in words, paintings, sculptures or song.

As I was drawn to culture initially, I found myself exploring a separate tab specifically for Social and Human Sciences. Within this tab, I was able to discover many different themes ranging from human rights to bioethics. What I was able to discover, is that UNESCO provides recent information regarding controversial topics that may affect people in countries around the globe. With these issues, information is provided in a current news format, but also in a research format as well. If a person were to be seeking information regarding a specific topic, they would have the ability to gain a deeper insight into the topic using alternative resources.

Sharing Web Resources: Rally4Babies

I chose to take my search towards resources that can be easily shared with families with very young children. Through my search, I found myself diving into the ZERO TO THREE website. Something that really attracted me was the high readability of the resources available. Throughout the website, there are many different options for information gathering. Some outlets are geared more towards professionals in the field, where others are designed specifically for families.

When exploring the link devoted to Public Policy, I found myself submerged in the initiative “RALLY4BABIES.” This initiative is designed to increase awareness, funding, and equitable improvements for infants and toddlers. After reading a brief description, I followed a link that took me to a YouTube presentation called Rally4Babies: Learning Happens From The Start. The presentation included guests such as U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

Throughout the 40 minute presentation, various professionals in the field stated facts that provide the viewer with a clear understanding of:

1)   How important quality early education can be for infants and toddlers. The youngest infants, though not always considered, experience incredible learning opportunities within their first few days.

2)   The foundation that sets a child up for future academic, social, emotional, and physical growth relies upon their earliest experiences and environments.

3)   Funding quality programs helps to improve the outcome for infants and toddlers exponentially.

4)   By funding programs that focus on supporting infants and toddlers, we also help to support economic gains.

Case and point, providing ample funding to improve quality of early care and education, we are supporting the future of our economy. The funding that we place in the hands of these programs should not be provided with short term goals in mind- whether in regards to the care we provide the children or for the economic outcomes, goals should be made long term. We need to do more than just improve the look of early care and education, but change the entire system so that all children have access to quality education that provides them with social, emotional, physical and cognitive support, all while supporting their families.