Getting Ready~Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This week marks the start of the third class on my journey to my masters.  Our first assignment was to contact several early childhood resources from around the globe.  My first thoughts were completely and totally skeptical.  Why would any early childhood professional (and by professional I really mean high up on the food chain) want to take time to respond to my lowly little email asking for help…but I was game.

I contacted Ec-Pec Foundation (International Step by Step Association) in Budapest, Hungary. Ec-Pec Foundation was established in February 2001 with the intention of promoting the child-centered Step by Step pedagogical program in institutions (preschools, schools) educating disadvantaged children, and supporting program development in educational institutions already using the program. I originally contacted this organization because I was curious if any of Dr. Emmi Pikler’s (Lóczy/Pikler Institute) inspirations may be found because of the general area the foundation was located. 

I emailed an Eva Deak as indicated in our course contact list…later having found another name listed on the actual website, I feel I may not get a response. I will have to wait and see what comes of it, but will keep my fingers crossed!

The second organization I contacted was the Ajoke International School in Nigeria. I chose this location because of its African location. In the fall I watched a documentary called “Babies” In the movie I found four very different and diverse approaches to child rearing. The one that struck me the most was of an African tribal group.  This is because the tribe has nothing earthly to speak of. They are living in stick huts in a desert like area.  No running water, no electricity, no modern conveniences, every day is life or death for them. Through it all the children are happy and taken care of.  Here in the United States we hear talk of poverty, even severe poverty but honestly we have nothing to relate to the poverty they see and live over there. Mostly I am very curious about the culture of the country.  Is it industrialized and modern like our country or is it more rural like some other African countries, like that of the family I saw in the movie.

More than anything I want to learn about how these two very different countries care for their children, what values and expectations do they have for them, and how do they teach them. At this point, I haven’t heard back from either contact but am quite anxious to.

This week we were also to explore an international early childhood agency or organization.  I checked out several of them, I honestly didn’t really know what to expect to find at some of the sites, and so maybe that is why I am still a little sketchy about picking one…I don’t know what I should be looking for. Several wanted you to donate or purchase a membership, some of the listed resources seemed to have a lot of broken links or missing information.  I looked at the following:

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
http://www.naecte.org/
(Newsletter: http://www.naecte.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=29 )

International Child Resource Institute http://www.icrichild.org/ (Review also the international projects at: http://www.icrichild.org/kenya ) Click on the International Projects tab at the top to see a list of the available projects.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/ (Review also the online Resources listed on the right: Selected publications, Country Profiles, or Policy Series)

Perhaps I wasn’t looking in the right spots, maybe I was looking for a presumed content.  I will keep looking. I know that the information I might want is out there waiting for me to find it.  It is very helpful to have the internet to connect us with people and organizations on other continents doing the same thing with the same hopes, dreams and wishes for young children.  It is a professional goal of mine to attend and international or global early childhood conference someday…I have been looking at the World Forum on Early Childhood Education. It is my hope that I can write the cost of attending into our STARs program budget and be able to go to some place sunny and warm to get a new perspective on educating children at a global level. How many people get to do that?