International Collaboration

Through my conversations over the past 8 weeks with Dr. Sriram in India, I will take 3 essential pieces of information with me as I continue my professional development in the field of early childhood:

• Poverty is an issue that must be addressed on an international level.
• Educational inequities exist in various capacities worldwide, and advocacy for equality is needed globally.
• Funding limitations plague early childhood care and education on an international basis, and in no way are budget restrictions limited to the United States.    

One of my professional goals deals with working towards finding equity in early childhood care and education for all.  I will strive to establish and maintain contact with early childhood professionals worldwide in efforts to collaborate in tackling issues facing our field today.  While poverty, funding limitations, and inequities certainly challenge the field throughout the United States, these issues exist abroad as well.  By working collaboratively, we can work towards finding solutions to these challenges on a global scale - a necessary step if we are searching for true equity for all.

Getting to Know International Contacts - Part 3

Dr. Sriram reports that much like the United States, the issue of equity and excellence in education needs to be addressed.  She reports that one huge issue in India is the major differences in resource levels.  Although there are now more people in the Indian middle class than the entire population of the United States, it was not that long ago that more than half of the population made less than $1 a day.  There are many "stret dwellers."  It is also a very young population.  40 percent of the people in India are under the age of 18.  With so many children, it becomes increasingly difficult to reach all of them.  Providing all children with equitable educational experiences is certainly not happening in the current system.  Home life reflects this as well, as for many children, there may be no reading material in the home, and the parents may be illiterate.  

Another issue applies to educational settings.  The British heritage in the educational system is about rote repetition and a teacher focus, reminiscent of the teaching practices many teachers are forced into utilizing the United States as a result of increased assessment and rigorous standards.  While this style may be effective for some children in some ways, it is not consistent with what we know about learning and young children.  Dr. Sriram would like to focus more attention on building conceptual knowledge through deep exploration rather than fact recall.  

In her experience living in India, Dr. Sriram has visited many educational settings.  She reported observing preschool classrooms where two-year-olds were sitting quietly on a bench "obediently," and other settings where they where young children were actively involved in exploration and interaction.  In these cases, the inequity is clear.  Similarly, she reports observing programs in which minimal funding has led to limitations in resources and supplies are hard to come by.  Some programs are unable to afford scissors or new crayons, Dr. Sriram suggests.  In some settings, however, funding flows from the wealthy and their programs have very nice things.  All children in India deserve a high-quality education, unfortunately, great inequity currently exists.  Dr. Sriram would love to see more funding available for early childhood programming, as she continues to advocate for young children and their families.    

Sharing Web Resources

By following the outside links provided on the National Black Child Development Institute website, I was able to find an informative article, A Framework That Works: How PreK-3rd Can Be A Smart Strategy for Black Kids, Families, and Communities.  The framework provided includes 6 areas considered to be critical to the positive growth and developmental well-being of Black children.  These areas of focus are, "Effective and aligned instruction across consecutive years, positive relationships between children and teachers, strong family and community engagement, high-importance placed on social-emotional development, access to full-day high-quality PreK and Kindergarten, and successful, supportive and seamless transitions."

 This week I explored the area of NBCDI's website related to child health.  Identifying that health issues are extremely complex and wide-ranging, the organization is focusing on financial health for Spring and Summer of 2013.  The wealth gap between White and Black people has almost doubled during the recession.  The results are staggering as the average household wealth or net worth of Whites is currently $110.729, versus only $4,995 for Blacks, according the the NBCDI's website.  The article provides many recommendations for working towards financial security, ranging from talking to children about money to suggestions for free physical activities for the summer - which aim to improve health concerns, a heavy financial burden for many families.

The National Black Child Development Institute's mission ties in well with our study of equity, or inequity, in early childhood education and care.  The NBCDI is focused on generating positive developmental growth for children who are either living in poverty or facing racial discrimination, or both.  While many of us will certainly advocate for equity in education and care, organizations such as this remind us that the battle is challenging and complex.  I feel that advocacy groups would benefit from joining forces and collaborating in efforts to bring equity to the field.  Many groups seem to share similar goals, but the disconnect in planning and organization leads to groups working in isolation.  I feel that we must come together to effectively address policies creating numerous obstacles and barriers stemming from inequity.            

Getting To Know Your International Contacts - Part 2

When considering issues of excellence and equity pertaining to India, Dr. Sriram described themes similar to what we have been studying within the educational system of the United States.  There is currently a rights-based approach to education, and equity is being sought.  Sriram suggests that much work is needed to overcome the great inequality that current exists in India's system, and while great efforts are being made, high-quality education for all remains elusive.

India is following The Dakar Framework for Action, and is seeking to make high-quality education available for everyone.  There is an emphasis placed on ensuring the availability of free and mandated high-quality programming, especially for vulnerable and disadvantaged youth, children of ethnic minorities, and girls (efforts are being made to increase literacy skills for women, an area men have long dominated throughout India's history).  Sriram feels that gender equality will help improve the overall quality of education, making it easier to reach the country's goals of improving life skills, as well as literacy and numeracy skills.  

From this information, it certainly appears that gender inequalities in India are reminiscent of years past in the United States.  While we are seeing more equality among genders in the United States, we are still seeing great disparities between educational opportunities for people from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.  As research continues to support the importance and need for high-quality early childhood programming, India, much like the United States, is attempting to be much more intentional in seeking equity.  I am hopeful that efforts are rewarded in both countries.         

Sharing Web Resources

Through exploring advocacy work of economists, scientists, and politicians this week, I have learned that investments in early childhood care and education are aimed primarily at children alone.  I believe that in order to maximize benefits of investments in early care and education, family engagement and parenting education programs must be considered as part of the investment package. 

Understanding that parents are children’s first and most important teachers, National Black Child Development Institute places heavy emphasis on family engagement. They define family engagement as a “systemic and sustained commitment that occurs across time, spans many settings, and requires shared responsibility from all parties.”  Although NBCDI acknowledges the critical role families play, many schools and early childhood programs struggle to “successfully engage and empower parents and the broader community.” 

While policy makers also acknowledge the importance of family, current policies and practices are falling short in support of teachers and parents, “nor is anyone held accountable for comprehensively and consistently engaging a diverse range of families.”  

Although NBCDI recognizes that strong parent education programs exist in the United States, many of them fall short of providing “the depth of cultural relevance that allows the curriculum to fully resonate with Black parents.”  As NBCDI works to ensure high-quality care and education is provided to low-income families, they emphasize work with families as an essential component of that care and education. 

NBCDI has created and is implementing the Parent Empowerment Program (PEP), which they call “a comprehensive, culturally-relevant, self-discovery curriculum for parents and guardians to improve their effectiveness as the primary positive influence in the lives of their children.” 

NBCDI believes race and culture bias has been unfortunately embedded in the lives of our children and families. After exploring new information on the organization’s website, I understand that in order to ensure parent engagement and strong connections with families, there must be a deeper and more complete understanding of families and community members before effective policies representing their best interests can be developed.