Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

On UNESO's website, I chose to read, "Vox Pop: What art the tree most important skills a child should learn?" I was intrigued to read this article because the world is changing everyday and we want to equip our children with skills to survive in the future changes.

Four professional were asked their opinions.

Sikander Sabeer, National Youth Movement for UN Post-2015 Development, Sri Lanka:

1. Culture
2. Respect and value
3. History

Urvashi Sahni, Study Hall Education Foundation, India

1. Become aware of who they are and how they relate to the world, socially and politically
2. Literate and numerate
3. Problem solvers and resilient

Govind Singh, Council of Pacific Education, Fiji

1. Life skills
2. Core values
3. Opportunity to discover their true self

 Vutha Lay, NGO Education Partnership, Cambodia

1. Soft skills -- good citizen
2. Vocational skills -- employment
3. Basic Education -- knowledge

I believe that all of these are perfect skills to survive. They weren't extravagant skills, these are basic skills, I believe. This is important, because we focus a lot on curriculum, but basic life skills are very much important, as well.

Sharing Web Resources

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

The website that I've been looking at is www.nbcdi.org. I've been looking in their resource section of the website and under Policy and Advocacy is a link to a Letter to the Senate- Recommendations for Elementary and Secondary Act Reauthorization. This was a letter bout bridging the achievement gap between black and white students. The recommendations sounded a lot like the recommendations provided in last weeks reading, over inequity in quality early child care programs. This letter is dated May 2010, so there are things that we are still lagging behind.

Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?
 
Another outside link I looked at is T.E.A.C.H. T.E.A.C.H (Teacher Education And Compensation Helps)


is an early childhood project that addresses the issues of under-educated, poor compensated and high turnover within the early childhood workforce.
 T.E.A.C.H. is built on four components:

Education

T.E.A.C.H. helps participants to earn a required number of college credit hours in early childhood education each year.

Scholarship

T.E.A.C.H. offers counseling and financial support to pay for college courses and fees, books, travel, and time away from work.

Compensation

T.E.A.C.H. recipients earn a compensation bonus or raise after successful completion of a year of education.

Commitment

T.E.A.C.H. recipients agree to continue their service as a child care professional in their current early care and education setting.
 
If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

I have not received a e-newsletter yet.

Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

The letter to the Senate addressed a lot of things about inequity pertaining to bridging the achievement gap between race and socio-economics.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?

I didn't know how much was offered to aspiring teachers. TEACH is getting more qualified teachers in early childhood education. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts -- Part 2

This is my first time visiting Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative" website and I've gained a great deal of insight. Their dedication to early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations is commendable.

The global program focuses on three strategic areas:

reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;
supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and
building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

References

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/