Once again since I have not made contact with an international educator I went to the UNESCO website where I found some interesting things that the organization is involved in in relations to early childhood. Since one of my professional goals is professional development, I looked at articles that were reflective of my goal.
1) The first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education took place in Moscow, Russia Federation on September 27-29, 2010. They addressed the topic of every child getting a good start in life. They looked at how to prepare children to transition from home to school and how to develop in society. UNESCO and the City of Moscow sponsored the conference where over 1,000 participants attended.
2) On June 24-25, 2010 in Moscow, Russian Federation there was an international conference that addressed developing teacher training policies. Education ministries (I like that title) from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Russian Federation have been invited. The conference gave those countries ideas and tools to help plan and manage ECCE programs especially those for disadvantage groups. The conference lead into the World Conference held in September 2010.
3) The UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood (Oct. 2004) gave information on the two core professions - Teacher and pedagogue. In New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden the teacher is the core profession but in other Nordic countries, pedagogue are the core professionals. Pedagogy is a tradition in Continental Europe where they address the whole child. Sweden in 2001 changed the workforce by bringing the three education professions together ( pre-school, school teacher, and pedagogue). They are now considerd teachers working with children from birth - 19 yrs old. Danish pedagogues are not school teachers but professionals who work with all children. All countries with core professions have assistants working with early childhood services. Workers in early childhood services in all countries have the challenge of changing of the core profession being looked at as a subsitute mother, looked upon as less socially valued (even with a higher education), and the comparable pay and conditions of core profession to those school teachers.
It was enlightening to find that throughout our world we all have the same challenges on what is best for our children and how early childhood educators can best help all children have an advantage in life.
Reference:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood
Moss, P. (2004). The Early Childhood Workforce in 'Developed' Countries: Basic Structures and Education. UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood. Thomas Coram Reserach Unit Institute of Education University of London.
You have brought some great information. I enjoy reading your blogs. I agree with you; it's ironic how we are sometimes experiencing the same things that people in other countries are experiencing. Although, one thing I thing we can agree on across the world, is that children are definitely the most important factor.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear that they had a world conference recently. I feel that early childhood does need to addressed on a global scale. So many times early childhood is swept under the rug while we focus on upper grades. I also love that they are trying to develop teacher trainings in other countries. The more education the better our children will become.
ReplyDelete