The International Picture

I visited the UNESCO web site (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/).  This was the first time I had visited this site and found that UNESCO is an organization that seeks to improve education around the world.  UNESCO views education as a positive contributor to social development as well as economic development.  When visiting sites such as this one I feel connected to other professionals around the world seeking to make change in the lives of all children.  UNESCO does focus on children who are poor and come from disadvantaged backgrounds.  The organization wants to provide all children with opportunities to grow in all areas of development, cognitive and linguistic development as well as prepare children for higher schooling.  Similar to our discussions of the week, UNESCO struggles with the concept of quality as it can be defined in many ways, but they do define quality in terms of rich, engaging, culturally and developmentally appropriate learning materials and environments.  The issues facing UNESCO is implementing such a curriculum among differing countries; facilities in various countries are inadequate and put the children at physical risk in terms of their health and safety.  Professionals at UNESCO are a diverse group with differing skill sets.  The professionals are comprised of pre-school teach, and care workers. 

Further investigation of the site brought me to an article, “Children In Early Education and Care”, found at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/ and retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137401e.pdf

The focus of the article was about curriculum guidelines being established by national ministries in many countries.  The guidelines provide a framework for program standards by which early education childhood services are to be delivered.  Through these guidelines, the hope is that centers promote social and cultural values that create positive outcomes for society as a whole. The guidelines will also create a mechanism of communication for parents, children and educators.  When designing the framework guidelines, learning patterns of children, individual needs of children, and the ability to learn through play and hands on participation were all considered. 

Children as we are all learning should be the motivator for change, not individual agendas of the professional and standardized education models.  Teachers must also be able to set aside their own needs for the positive development of children.  That is what prompted my interest in another article, “The Early Childhood Workforce in Developed Countries: Basic Structures and Education” retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137402e.pdf.  The notion exists that all children regardless of background deserve education, however there are varying views of education programs in various countries.  Teachers deliver some programs while childcare or nursery workers deliver other programs.   Many countries are moving towards integrating the two systems working towards creating a more positive, professional role for educators.  The move is a difficult one for many countries as they find it difficult to move away from the notion that some childcare works are more than substitute mothers.  To move away from substitute mothers and move towards educators requires higher levels of education.   Higher levels of education translate to a restructured workforce with additional costs and higher wages.  The same question haunts restructuring of this kind, where will funds come from to cover higher education for teachers and higher wages.  It would seem the United States Is not the only country faced with changing the early childhood education field to better serve the youngest members of our communities.

The last item of interest that I found on the UNESCO site was an international conference hosted in Moscow with its focus on early childhood care and education teacher training.  There is a need to assist countries with creating policies and systems that provide training of teachers while continuing to focus on the developmental needs of young children, especially those children living in poor conditions.  The conference also focused on establishing curriculums that take into account the science and psychology of early childhood development,    

References

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/