Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 3

I am having trouble with my international contact. All of a sudden I am not hearing anymore from him. I am not sure if he is extremely busy or if he is no longer there. The email hasn't bounced back so I know the address is still good. I did however meet a person Monday night at a parent workshop that was held at my son's school, (Also the school where the Head Start class I work in is located). She isn't international but she is in another state. This person I talked to had a wealth of information for me. I had printed out this assignment for the blog, so I was asking her some of the questions. She is a parent trainer, and also trains teachers and teacher assistants in the Early Childhood professions. She said the issue regarding quality childcare that they are talking about is training. Of course she is in the training field so they are most concerned about the development of staff. She said they find the primary reason programs do not train staff is because of budget. However this is so important for maintaining a high quality center.
They have several different opportunities for professionals. One of them is the CDA-Credential. The program that she works with offers that for groups and will send out professionals to oversee staff working on the credential. They also offer private trainings on a variety of topics focused on specific needs of programs.
Her professional goals are to travel, meet and train as many Early Childhood Professionals as she possibly can. She feels this is the key to transforming our childcare standards to higher quality. Her dream is to see a set of Standards put into place for all child care centers that want to be licensed. She also wants to see a system of checks and balances so that we know the centers are abiding by the standards.
I really enjoyed the chat with her that happened by chance. I don't believe in coincidences, I feel God sent her my way because he knew I would need her. I also got her card so maybe our teaching staff can be trained by her.

Sharing Web Resources

Some of the links I explored went to training events that NAEYC offers. I also saw one link that told about special projects and initiatives that were happening all over the US. The one area that I explored was Week of the Young Child which is this coming week, April 10-16, 2011. I chose this to explore because I am so excited about it! We are planning activities here at our Head Start program in recognition of the week. It gave suggestions for activities you could do and places you could share what you're doing. There were also themes you could use for your celebrations. I do not receive an e-newsletter from this site. The thing on the site that adds to equity and excellence in child care would be the trainings. They also offer a training guide to go with their journal that they mail out. These things could improve the quality of the care children receive by training the Early Childhood professionals who are members of or visit this site. The other insight I gained from exploring this website is more information about Week of the Young Child. It gave me some more ideas of things we could do next week. I also learned the theme is "Early Years are Learning Years" and the site listed some sub themes and my favorite was "Play: Where Learning Begins". I will be consulting this site more next week. Lots of good stuff!

Exploring Global Children's Initiative

I had to do the alternate assignment this week because I haven't heard from my contact in South Africa. He hasn't responded to my email this week. In looking at the website Global Children's initiative, I discovered

1. Other countries around the globe are facing the same issues we face in the United States. Such as poverty, hindering the learning process.

2. I also see that other countries have the holistic approach to child development. This is what I pulled from one part of the website.

"Much progress is needed to successfully raise the commitment to an integrated approach to early childhood health and development in global and national policy circles. A particular challenge in this area is the multidisciplinary nature of comprehensive approaches that bring together all the domains of child development."

Child Health is very important in the development of children.

3. Here is another thing that I found similar. The effect of stress on the children around the world is a growing issue as well. The following is another interesting point that I felt I should share.
"Healthy social and emotional development can be derailed in early childhood by a wide range of stressors and environmental influences interacting with genetic predispositions. Indeed, the foundations of many mental health problems that endure through adulthood are established early in life. In some cases, significant impairments in mental health that occur in young children can have serious consequences for early learning, social competence, and lifelong health."

I enjoyed being able to see training opportunities on the site. I also subscribed to the newsletter and events that are being held at Harvard.