On the World Forum Foundation site,
I viewed a video by Rob Blatz in Canada. As the director of his early childhood
center, he has a goal and passion to find and encourage men to join the field. His
advice is to purposefully address men in advertising. Specifically he
recommends when advertising for an opening to place the ad in the general job
section, and to use verbiage that encourages both men and women to apply. Most
encouraging is that his approach is working! I truly hope others are able to
bring caring men into the field after seeing his successful suggestions.
Through the features of the Global Café
I also learned about Florentina, an amazing woman who was offered a learning
opportunity through the UN. Grabbing this opportunity she worked hard to bring
solar power to her remote Mayan village. Leaving behind her own children for
five months, she flew to India, to join women from villages around the world to
learn how to harness solar energy. Returning to her village, and provided with
the necessary materials, Florentina installed solar power panels in her
village. Imagine the impact this will have on everyone’s lives, children
learning and reading longer, less fire dangers. Her new goal is to impart the
knowledge she learned about maintaining this resource to others in the town.
Florentina seems to have thrived on this opportunity to learn, it is exciting
to think how many more in her village will also develop a love of learning
because of her. This was a very humbling read.
Exploring
the UNESCO site I viewed several sections. One was a report on Caring and Learning
Together, a “Cross-National Study on the Integration of Early Childhood Care
and Education,” which discusses the program’s approach through both policy and science
to accomplish getting “to a point where care and education will not be seen as
different actions that relate to each other and are complementary, but as
integrated services of care and education, that is, inseparable parts: the same
gesture that cares also educates, the same gesture that educates, also cares.”
(Nunes, Corsino, & Didonet, 2010). This program has been implemented in Brazil,
Jamaica, New Zealand, Slovenia, Sweden, and one municipality in Belgium. The
program brought about a larger understanding of the importance “To put into
practice the policy- pedagogical idea of the child as a whole, with indivisible
body and mind, and the interdependence of physical, social, emotional and
cognitive aspects;” and they have seen relative success (Nunes, Corsino, &
Didonet, 2010).
Nunes, F., Corsino, P., & Didonet, V. (2010). Brazil Caring
and Learning Together: A Case Study of Brazil. UNESCO. Retrieved from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001878/187884e.pdf
A press release by UNESCO hits on
many important point in the EC battle. ““It is no coincidence that the first
Education for All goal focuses on the youngest and most vulnerable children,”
said Koichïro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO. “Improving their well-being
at the earliest age must be an integral and systematic component of education
and poverty reduction policies. High-level political endorsement is essential
to getting early childhood care and education on the agenda.” “Early childhood programmes make for strong foundations and pay high
dividends,” says Nicholas Burnett, director of the Report. “Each year in the
developing world, over 10 million children die before age five of mostly
preventable diseases. Programmes that combine nutrition, immunization, health,
hygiene, care and education can change this. They are also a determining
contributor to better achievement in school. Despite this, the children who
stand most to benefit from such programmes are those least likely to have
access to them.”” Again very humbling to read about the battles for education
taking place in countries outside of the USA.
UNESCO. (2006). Early childhood care and education the
forgotten link claims new report published by UNESCO. Retrieved from: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35377&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
That report led me to 2013/4 Education for All Global
Monitoring Report, full of recent data and insights in regard to equity and
quality in education.
Retrieved from: http://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2014/teaching-and-learning-achieving-quality-all
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