Childhood Poverty

As I did not hear back from my international colleagues with enough information to share, I opted to visit the UNICEF site. I took a look at the reports provided about Jamaica and Mexico. I will share some of what I learned about childhood, education, and poverty in Mexico.

Data presented from 2007 within the report states that there were 38.1 million children representing 36% of Mexico’s population (UNICEF, 2009). Additional data from 2005 states that approximately 10 million children were living in poverty. Interestingly twice as many household in poverty are in rural areas rather than urban areas. Another section within the report noted that there were still approximately 3.3 million children living in homes with one dollar or less per day income.

The report explains that the issue of children living with “deprivations of shelter, sanitation, water and information” while improving is still a concern. Progress in regard to the “severe deprivation in sanitation fell from 23% in 1994 to 5% in 2005, and that of water from 18% to 2% in the same period, ENIGH).” (UNICEF, 2009) Still, nearly half the child population still lives with at least one deprivation.

The most interesting aspect of reading the report on Mexico, was how similar it was to reports about areas in the USA. Take this quote for example “In matter of public resources allocation, this research has shown evidence that education services are of higher quality for wealthier children. Children in lower income quintiles go to schools with the worst conditions” (UNICEF, 2009). Other similarities included their concerns about job creation, access to health care for all income levels, and the growing rate of obesity and connected health issues.

Drastic differences involved a chart in which questions about the schools included “has electricity,” “has a toilet,” “has clean floors,” and “has computers” (UNICEF, 2009). While the majority of the schools have electricity and toilets, there appear to be much lower amounts of clean floors and computers. A personally sad moment came when I saw the ratio of books to children in most of the included schools was about 2:1. How can they develop a love of learning without adequate books?

References:

UNICEF. (2009). Country Report Mexico. Study on Poverty and Disparities in Childhood. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Mexico_ChildPovertyandDisparitiesReport(1).pdf

Web Resource- Diversity

One of the organizations that I chose to follow is NAEYC.org. This organization, the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC), states their purpose as to “promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children.” (2017). I have enjoyed browsing the many resources available for free. Honestly, when I find something I cannot access for free through the site (as I am not yet a paid member), I have used the Walden library to find the article. As my time with Walden is just a few more months, and I have enjoyed these resources, I am considering becoming a paid member in the future.

For this week’s topic of diversity, I found a page within the site promoting a book the NAEYC has published titled “Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves.” While the book is not available to browse for free, there were several articles with excerpts from the book, available for free on the site. I have shared all of the links below. The first link is an overview of the book, not enough detail to understand the concept though. The second link is much more informative. One aspect I really appreciated was about finding an “entry point” to start discussions/lessons. Specifically, that if something comes up spontaneously, and you do not feel prepared to handle it well, you can return to it later knowing that the issue had come across children’s minds (Kuh, Leekeenan, Given, Beneke, 2016). There are also many great classroom examples of what entry points or teaching moments look like within an early childhood classroom. I think this link is a great starting point to understand the Anti-Bias approach and how to incorporate teaching social justice within a classroom of young children. The third link is great for more information on taking this approach within a program. It also details an interesting approach to handling conflicts when dealing with the difficult subjects brought up when focusing on diversity & bias. The fourth link provides some alternative perspectives for incorporating holidays within an education program. I appreciated reading that there are other programs who are bothered by the materialism and false messages of many holidays.

Anti-Bias Education Links on NAEYC in the order I accessed and referred to them.

NAEYC. (2017a). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. NAEYC.org. Retrieved from: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/anti-bias-education/overview

KUH, L., LEEKEENAN, D., GIVEN, H., BENEKE, M. (2016). Moving Beyond Anti-Bias Activities: Supporting the Development of Anti-Bias Practices.  Young Children. Retrieved from: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2016/moving-beyond-anti-bias-activities

LOUISE DERMAN-SPARKS, DEBBIE LEEKEENAN, JOHN NIMMO. (2015). Building Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: The Role of the Leader.  Young Children. Retrieved from: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2015/building-anti-bias-programs

NAEYC. (2017b). Anti-Bias Education: Holidays. NAEYC.org. Retrieved from:  https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/anti-bias-education/holidays

Establishing Horizons & Expanding Resources

We have begun a class on Issues and Trends in Early Childhood Education. We have been asked to complete two task within our blog: 1. to make contact with fellow educators in countries outside our own, 2. to delve into websites designed for EC educators.

To establish contact with early childhood professionals in other countries I considered many options. Ultimately, I turned to Facebook as it seems to have been designed for exactly such a purpose! I found Early Childhood pages and groups for educators in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, and Europe. Thus far, I have heard back from a professional in Canada, named Alyssa. I look forward to discussing issues and trends with her in the future. I look forward to making contact with other educators as well.

While exploring websites I decided to finally subscribe to two that I have enjoyed using throughout this program. Those are the sites for NAEYC and the Center on the Developing Child – Harvard University. While reviewing the NAEYC site I found a great article which I have shared below, and with my family and friends. It reminded me that I had wanted to share information from the Harvard site with friends and family too. You can find each link below.

An excellent point: “Early childhood educators can’t be outsourced or automated. They are developing the capacity and curiosity of our future workforce—and they are a linchpin to the strength and vitality of the workforce and economy of today.” (Allvin, 2017).

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/making-connections

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/five-numbers-to-remember-about-early-childhood-development/ Top of Form

References:

Allvin, R.E. (2017). Making Connections. Early Childhood Educators and the American Economy: An American Story. Young Children. Retrieved from: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/making-connections

Center on the Developing Child (2009). Five Numbers to Remember About Early Childhood Development (Brief). Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.