Research that Benefits Children and Families

     In my life experiences, most families I have had contact with have children and some adult to care for them.  In sub-Saharan Africa there are households that have no adult. They are called child-headed households.  Some people attribute it to the AIDS epidemic.  There has not been a lot of research conducted in this area.  In my dreams my positive contribution to this study would be to supply data that would convince people of Africa that AIDS is not a death sentence, respecting women of this continent is paramount, practicing safe sex is possible, and taking medication is not taboo.

     In a perfect world, my research results would convince people to have the courage to be tested, believe the doctors results and recommendations and have hope for a long life living with AIDS.  My research results would also reduce the incidences of child-headed households due to relatives understanding the disease and coming forward to care for the children left behind.

  

My Personal Research Journey

My Personal Research Journey

 I chose the topic the effects living in informal settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa has on children’s health.  I chose this topic due to my experience volunteering in schools in informal settlements and seeing children coming to school with ring worm, untreated skin conditions and other illnesses that clearly needed medical attention. 

The research process seems a bit intimidating. I do not have prior experience with researching so any help from my colleagues would be appreciated. I’m sure I will rely heavily on the text book and other resources from the class. One resource in particular is, A practical guide to reading research articles, has been particularly helpful. In this article I learned reading the entire article is not necessary.

For those of you lacking experience like me, remember it’s all a process.  If we take it one step at a time, I’m sure we will be successful.

ReferencesLepuschitz, J.K. (2011).  A practical guide to reading research articles.  Laureate Education Inc., Baltimore, MD.

    

 

    

 

 

Family Comes First

I took the summer off from studying to travel to the United States. My break included seeing relatives and travelling to universities my daughter is interested in attending. That included 11 universities across the Southeast United States. My family comes first but I'm glad to be back home in South Africa and at Walden!





Final Blog Assignment for Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field

Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
~Confucius~

As a result of learning about the international early childhood field I have begun to see the world as being integrated.  We share some of the same issues related to accessibility, availability and affordability of early childhood programs. 

Additionally, I have found valuable resources associated with educating children with limited resources.  For example, the school in Swaziland, Africa which uses nature as a classroom and does not contain class time to the four walls of the classroom.

While viewing the World Forum Foundation Radio Podcasts, I learned about people making a difference in the early education field.  These educators have given me motivation to continue to strive for excellence in education.

  

Goal for the field related to international awareness

 Establish a dialogue with other countries to share the successes and failures related to early childhood practices and programs.

 

 

References
World Forum Foundation Radio
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf.radio.php
 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts--Part 3

I reviewed the global organization UNESCO.  Although I had heard of the organization, I had no idea how entrenched they were in education.  Since the creation of the organization in 1945, UNESCO has worked to improve education worldwide.

 

            UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.  Two global priorities are:  Africa and Gender equality.  Both priorities are of great interest to me.  While living in Africa, I have seen the effects of gender inequality.  It is reassuring to know UNESCO is working to bring attention to these topics.

 

 

Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa

 

 Sub-Saharan Africa faces some of the same challenges as the United States as it relates to quality of teachers. Achieving quality education for all, in line with Goal 6 of the Dakar Framework for Action, calls for more and better trained teachers.  Likewise, schools must be supported in attracting qualified teachers. 

 

Gender Equality

UNESCO works to promote equal opportunities to quality learning, free from gender-based or other forms of discrimination.  In particular, UNESCO:

§  promotes gender equality in national education laws, policies and plans

§  seeks to expand access to learning opportunities, in particular for girls and women, in both formal and non-formal education

§  develops the capacity of education policy-makers, planners, teachers and other education personnel regarding gender-sensitive approaches

§  supports countries to make education content gender-sensitive and free from discrimination

§  seeks to address obstacles to learning such as gender-based violence and HIV-AIDS

 

UNESCO is a global organization working towards solving global issues. I will add UNESCO to my bank of resources.

 

References

UNESCO

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

This week I further explored the news and publication section of The Association for Childhood Education International website. Under this section I reviewed global news. I found an interesting article entitled The Starting Well Report.  The Economist Intelligence Unit developed this report to rank preschool conditions of 45 countries, including the United States. The goal of the study is to measure availability, affordability, and quality of early childhood education programs in each of these countries. 

Findings from the research show a strong correlation between a country’s per capita income and its overall ranking in the index, especially the affordability of its preschool education programs.  The report also shows how lack of policy attention could hinder progress in child development efforts, in both high- and low-income situations.

The findings could inform policymakers about the need to invest more on early childhood development.  This could be achieved through reduced education costs, increased labor productivity, lower welfare payments, and a reduction in crime. The complete summary of this report can be found at http://www.lienfoundation.org/pdf/publication/sw_report.pdf .

While reviewing the global news section of the website, I realized the issues the United States has with affordability, access, availability and equity, are not isolated to our country.  Some countries have made strides in these areas and some are further behind in the progress. 

Although our early education progress is not where it should be, I feel confident we are headed in the right direction.   

References

Association for Childhood Education International
http://www.acei.org

 The Starting Well Report retrieved from http://www.lienfoundation.org/pdf/publication/sw_report.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts--Part 2

Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative

            Global Children’s Initiative seeks to advance the Center’s mission by implementing compelling research, public engagement and leadership development agenda in child health development that is grounded in science and engages researchers, public leaders, practitioners, and students from a wide range of institutions around the world.

Three strategic objectives:

To reframe public discourse about the early childhood period by educating high-level decision-makers about the common underlying science of learning, behavior, and health;

To support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in selected countries or regions to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track;

To build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions in low –and middle-income countries in order to increase the number and influence of diverse perspectives that is contributing to the global movement on behalf of young children.

New insights from articles read on the website include:

Applying the Science of Early Education in Brazil

~The aim is to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit children and their families in Brazil.

Zambian Early Childhood Development Project

~Effort launched in 2009 to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malarial initiative on children’s development in Zambia.

Studying the Effects of Global Adversity, Two Generations at a Time

~Theresa Betancourt, Center-affiliated faculty member, conducted the study of combining short- term survival efforts with attention to children’s developmental needs.  Betancourt stated, “Just keeping children alive isn’t sufficient, given the leveragable opportunities that exist to invest in their social capital and to maximize that next generation of young people.

 

Podcast

I chose to listen to the podcast of Meridas Eka Yora.  Mr. Yora built 3 boarding schools for orphans of the 2009 tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.  He uses a holistic approach when caring for the children. Months after the tsunami, the children still experienced trauma.  Some children still could not accept the deaths of their families.  The teachers must be the father and mother for the children before becoming their teachers.  Older siblings are allowed to act like siblings.  This gives a family feeling for the children.  He and his wife took orphans in to live with them.  He has dedicated his life to the care of children.

 

References

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

 

World Forum Foundation Radio.  Retrieved from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php