Final Blog Entry EDU6162

Three consequences that I have found about learning about international early education is that it is a global issue. Early education cost money for everyone and many nations struggle to find money to pay for quality care. Many nations pay for early  care/education but it does not come with out cost. When the government starts to see the benefits of early education then they find the funds. Policies are not all universal many nations have minimal requirement for the environment. Some nations have no requirements for teachers and others have high qualifications. I can see how it is not just the US that struggles to make policies and requirements for the early education field. I do not see an end in sight to understanding the real issues with early childhood education and why we can not put in forward it in many political agendas. We are not give manuals for children and we need to educate all parents. This is another thing that is an issue around the world. My goal for international awareness is to still find a professional to learn from so I can become more aware of other countries early education policies and issues.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

For this week's blog I chose to look at the alternative. I was able to read a paper on early childhood care in New Zealand. The paper I read was a UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood. There are many things that I found interesting and gained knowledge on. The first thing that I learned was that New Zealand has no requirements educational wise when it comes to home-based care caregivers. They have laws that govern the environment but not the caregiver. In the 20th century more parent were seek the home-based care because they wanted their children in a home environment. " A key reason for Government support and regulation is that the quality of early childhood services, including home-based services, is linked to long-term educational and social benefits for children and families" ( Podmore, 2002, p.2). This paper looks at why there needs to be regulations on home-based care for children. I found that New Zealand views the early education and care of to be very important for children and their society. The government provides the same amount of funds to home-based care versus center based. The government sees that an infrastructure needs to be present in order to help provide the high quality care for the children. What I gained from this article is that we are not the only society that struggles with not having an infrastructure.


Reference
Podmore V. N. (2002) Home-Based Early Childhood Services: The Case of New Zealand Retrieved on February 19, 2016 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137381e.pdf

Sharing Web resources Week 6

For this blog I went and explored different links on the DEC's Website. I found a letter about inclusion. I found this letter very interesting because it encourage states and programs to embrace inclusion. The letter was written by Arne Duncan, Secretary U.S. Department of Education and Sylvia Matthews Burwell, Secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. An interesting thought in the letter was:

"Through the policy statement we released, we aim to support and encourage States, early childhood programs and schools, teachers and providers, national professional organizations, advocates, and families to take action to expand access to high-quality inclusive early childhood programs for all children. This policy statement is one effort in a series of Federal actions promoting the inclusion of young children with disabilities in high-quality early childhood programs. The Departments intend to work with our partners in the community to raise public awareness and identify resources to support high quality programming and inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs."

The reason I found this interesting is because it raises the point of how important inclusion is for children. All children desire high quality education.The only part about inclusion is some children require more accommodations and who pays for these costs. Because inclusion is suppose to be not limiting do providers get reimbursed or is it on the parents? These questions were not addressed in the letter. 

This research has lead me to understand that cost is not always the first subject that comes up. I read the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION POLICY STATEMENT ON INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS and no where did I see about cost and access. Yes we need inclusion but we need to make all type of education and care affordable. I know with my daughter I have to provide all the accommodating material for her at school. This is partly because it is a private school and they do not fall under IDEA. I do not understand this fact but it is true. So, when our legislation talks about inclusion it is for all public schools or public facilities. I have been doing quite a bit of research and I have not found where private schools or programs that do not take federal or state money that they have to comply with the law IDEA.

"Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation, such as private schools, private child care programs, or private preschools; regardless of whether an entity receives federal funds"(US Department of Health and Human Services, 2015, p.3)

But the private schools do not have to provide accommodation they just can ask you to find another program or school

Reference

United States Department of Education (2015) Dear Partners Retrieved on February 12, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/office_of_secretary_decision_joint_letter.pdf

US Department of Health and Human Services (2015) Education policy statement on inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs. Retrieved on February 12, 2016 Retrieved from www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/policy_statement_on_inclusion_of_children_with_disabilities_in_early.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I have been trying to communicate with my international contact and have had no luck. It seems we have different schedules. For this week I am going to do the alternative. Exploring the website Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” I found something interesting when they talk about working with other countries other than the United States. They have to work on translating the research information not only by language but by culture. I thought this was very smart and interesting because they are taking in the uniqueness of the country and culture. Another thing that I gain was that the work that they are doing in Latin American they believe can help them learn lessons globally,regionally and locally. 
"The project team members work together to understand the implications of what they’re learning as they implement in community-based settings – including an understanding of who the intervention is working for, who it’s not working for, and why" (developingchild.harvard.edu, p.1, 2016). This innovation cluster is about learning fast so they can incorporate their findings. I found this very interesting since in our country it takes a while to implement new ideas and findings. Another thing I found interesting was the Grand Challenge Canada, Savings Brain seeks to improve the lives of children living in poverty within the first 1000 days of life. They want to expand the reach of products, services and have polices to protect and nurture early brains. I found this imformation to be very encouraging and insightful because of how work around the global is supporting young lives.


Reference
developingchild.harvard (2016) Innovation Clusters http://developingchild.harvard.edu/innovation-application/key-concepts/innovation-clusters/