Professional Hopes and Goals




DIVERSITY MATTERS

The past eight weeks have been a journey discovering and exploring new paths, and acquiring knowledge. When I began my course EDUC 6164 my understanding of diversity was different race, different color, different language, different culture, different nationality and different abilities. But now I have realized that diversity extends beyond what you see on the surface. Our emotions, our behavior, our gestures, the way we perceive, parenting styles can also define diversity. Therefore one goal I have in relation with my work with early childhood is to be culturally responsive, overcome my biases and understand each family, build a supporting relationship with the families, partner with them in order to support the learning and development of every child. 

My hope is that the society would realize the human interconnectedness and be cooperative rather than competitive, gain deeper understanding of the unique needs of young children and their families.

I would like to thank each and every colleague who has been very supportive to me these past eight weeks. In our anti-bias journey, as we continue to grow and learn, let us keep going, keep moving and keep being committed. 


Welcoming Families from Around the World

Being in United Arab Emirates, where majority of the population here are people from different parts of the world, I as an early childhood educator encounter children from diverse backgrounds. Until this course on diversity I had not realized the need for a background study on the child’s country of origin. As a model practice for my future class, I am to imagine a child whose family has recently immigrated is going to join my group. I am supposing the child is from Croatia, a country I know nothing about.

 

 As my effort to welcome this child, I would  

1. Search the internet on the country to acquire basic information that I would need.
     
2. Get help to translate our program’s forms and other written communication, as well as our monthly procedures and activities into the child’s home language.
    
3.  Learn a few key words and phrases (greetings, requests for help, terms of comfort and encouragement, etc.) in the child’s home language ‘Croatian language’ to be able to communicate with the child and build continuity between home and early childhood center. I would also print out pictures and signs to use in situations where non verbal communication would be necessary.
    
4.  In order to build a personal relationship with the child and the family, and support the needs of the child better, I would discuss with the family regarding their family routines, religious practices, music, household customs and diet.
    
5. Borrow photographs of the family members to display and also partner with families, giving them a voice in decision making.                   

As “building effective partnership with every family is essential in promoting the development of the whole child”, (Lopez, 2010), it would be necessary for me as an educator to explore the many cultural differences and similarities represented among the families and staff in order to bridge the gap between the home culture and the dominant culture. 

 

Lopez, M. (2010). Valuing families as partners. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/valuing-families-as-partners

 

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

All of us have multiple social identities which create in us internalized privilege and internalized oppression in our everyday life based on the institutional isms. Whether the form of ism is direct or indirect, explicit or subtle, spelled out or hidden, the outcomes create advantages for some and disadvantages for others.

For this week’s post, I would like to share a scene from a recent Indian movie that depicts the oppression, prejudice and bias against a person because of her identity. True! English is an International language. But not everyone has the opportunity to master it. Here is a middle class Indian woman, a house wife and a mother used to being only at home and serving her family. She has never gone abroad or experienced the world around her. For the first time she gets an opportunity to come to US. In a strange new place she is sensitive, feeling vulnerable, insecure and conscious of the lack of privilege she is susceptible to because of her identity. 

This is not one stand alone incident. All of the non native English people go through these micro aggressions. I remember my father (who is no more) feeling discriminated when he landed on the US soil first. He worked here in Abu Dhabi for 32 years dealing with different nationalities- Arabs, French, English, Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Thai’s and others. They never had a problem in communicating with him and neither did he feel less privileged. Maybe it has also to do with the fact that UAE being a diverse country everyone is more understanding especially in issues with language. But when he migrated to the US he was suddenly feeling prejudiced. He felt hurt when people asked him to repeat what he was saying. It was not that he had bad English only that he did not speak with the American accent. This was 13 years back when my parents migrated to the US. Though after a couple of years things looked more positive, the initial phase was difficult and diminished equity.

Only change in behavior can modify beliefs and attitudes, because, ‘equality matters!’

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Here is a media presentation by the bestselling author Derald Wing Sue explaining what microaggression is, how it manifests itself, how it impacts people, and what can be done to address it.


Recalling a personal experience of verbal microaggresion, that occurred just last week that left me feeling quite uncomfortable, something of an insult:

 

 
True, teachers all over are not paid as high as the other professions, but I believe sitting at home and doing nothing will not get me even the little that I get. More than the money, the teaching job brings a sense of achievement which cannot be compared to any other profession. I felt her superiority complex as a qualified MBA, able to get much higher remuneration than a low paying job of a nursery teacher, belittle me, leaving me in a ‘catch -22’, not knowing how to react, whether to ignore it and suffer the consequence or to raise the issue. “Microaggressions is cumulative in nature where one act adds to another” ((Laureate Education, 2011). Similar statements by her in the past, added to this, made me difficult to cope with this issue, leaving me spiritually sapped.
 

Human mind is so quick to categorize people based on the stereotypes or misinformation that are perpetuated in the society. Society needs to begin to look at the moral, spiritual connectedness with each and everyone. We need to ensure accurate exchange of information in our interactions to overcome bias and develop interconnectedness. Let us together join in the journey to become a fair, just and humane society. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

“Everything we do is related to culture”, Louise Derman-Sparks.

“Culture is a set of unconscious rules that govern everything we do, that we learn early on.” Janet Gonzalez-Mena.

These profound statements by internationally respected authors encompass the whole meaning of culture.   However, let us find out how other people different in their race, culture, age, and profession view culture and diversity. For this purpose I interviewed three different people:  

Katie is a white skinned British teacher teaching 3 to 4 years old at the same nursery as I teach in. She is married to a black skinned African man and have 3 children. She is a catholic and he is a protestant which made her an ideal candidate to define culture and diversity. Her response was

Culture is what makes a person - their history, their customs, where they come from, their traditions, and their morals, what they believe in.

Diversity is what makes you different from everyone else, makes you an individual.

Livia is a 13 year old, 8^th grade Indian, attending the Indian School in United Arab Emirates. Her school has a mix of students from different parts of India and therefore the school celebrates festivals of different Indian cultures. Her response was:

Culture is the traditions and customs, or the habits what a person, a country, or a place follows. For example, I follow my religious cultural tradition of not wearing ornaments when people around me do so.

Diversity is the differences in the culture and tradition that we see around.

Jenny is an Indian house wife brought up in India but now residing in United Arab Emirates. She is a supportive wife of an engineer working in a multinational company who through her hospitality projects her culture, and a mother of 3 girls who is always ensuring that her girls are standing firm in their culture and tradition and not deviate from it.

Culture is everything - our way of living, our surrounding, our religion, our race, our ethnicity all determine our personality, who we are.

Diversity – Differences are everywhere. Within one place itself there are differences in religion, in the ways of religious practices, differences in language and style of language. Each of these differences makes our unique identity.  As the saying goes ‘Unity in diversity’ is what is needed to get along with the differences.

From these interviews it was evident that each of their life’s experience influenced their definition of culture and diversity. In fact, it is our unique experience with family culture and group culture that defines who we are, our personal life and our professional life. Looking at Katie’s response, the diversity to which she has been exposed gives her a broader perspective on culture and diversity. Livia’s exposure to her school’s value of culture in celebrating the different cultural festivals limits her conception of culture to what is seen on the surface as in holidays, festivals and traditions. Her example of wearing ornaments indicates her cultural socialization which defines the way she lives. Jenny’s perspectives too were broad as in including our way of living which is based on her cultural socialization.

However, we have been learning that culture is deeper that what we see on the surface (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010). Our personality traits whether we are competitive or empathetic, or our role behaviors such as do we chose to be leaders or care giver, our gestures, the way we talk, the tone we use,  our parenting styles, our outlook on others culture all indicate our cultural influence.

Learning about culture and diversity, as well as reflecting on others viewpoints it is clear that our cultural socialization shapes our way of life, our perspectives, and our beliefs, how we judge others, determines how we feel about our membership and determines whether we want to continue, modify or reject our cultural values and traditions.

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

My Family Culture

Every day, in every action, we express our particular group culture and our individual relationship to our culture. It is our way of being in the world. Our thoughts, our gestures, our actions and reactions, the very way we perceive, reflect our unique experiences with our group culture and our family culture. It’s just that most of the time people don’t notice their culture unless they find themselves in the midst of another culture. For example, in a hypothetical situation where I would have to leave my country with three items that is precious to me, I would take my Bible, my passport and my academic credentials. All of which reflect who I am.

 My social identity of that of a born again Christian, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and relying on His word for His guidance and leading, would prompt me to take my Bible with me. In an unknown place, in the midst of confusion and chaos, surrounded by uncertainties not knowing what lies ahead, my bible which is a ‘lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path’ (Psalm 119:105), would provide me with the assurance, support and strength that I would need at that critical time. My passport would be the only proof of who I am. Especially as a refugee in a foreign land I would need my passport to prove my identity since it records my name, my date of birth, and my nationality. In order to be able to make a good living, I would need my academic credentials with me which would prove my academic qualification and entails me to a rightful position in the job front.

Though these three items reflect my social identity, Bible of that of a Christian, passport of that an Indian and my academic credentials of an early childhood educator, if asked to give up any two of these and keep the third item, I would select my academic credentials. Bible I would always be able to buy a new one and moreover the basic foundation has already been laid which cannot perish or fade away. Passport would not be of further need if my country is totally devastated and I would be able to establish my refugee status in the new country of residence. Whereas my academic credentials are something I would never be able to replace. From the age of 3 one toils to gain these credentials and therefore losing them would be an irreplaceable loss.

 In everything they do, families communicate their culture’s values, beliefs, rules and expectations to their children. It is my family’s values, beliefs, rules and expectations that is reflected in me when I chose the three items I did. When I finally narrowed the items to my academic credentials, it was my family values of being able to provide for myself and not stretch out my hand before others being reflected. Through this exercise it was clear that our cultural identity also influences how we live our other social identities.

When I Think of Research...

When I think of research now after my EDUC 6163, it is not as intimidating as I thought it to be when I began this course. It is all about answering questions, following a systematic investigation of a topic, exploring relationships between events, comparing approaches, and building new understandings. 

The past eight weeks have truly been an educational journey where I learned that developing the right attitude, considering research as a tool, and not the only paradigm itself, being critical of what we read and evaluating ourselves, putting aside our own biases, being open to modifying, reconsidering our beliefs and practices is what is required in doing research effectively. Researcher may use different methods and techniques depending on the focus of their research question. What is important in planning, designing and conducting a research is that it follows the systematic steps from selecting the topic to writing the report in order to generate a research that is ethical, meaningful, persuasive and significant.

We can be easily guided by our own personal values and morality, and be biased when we conduct an investigation. Therefore, when doing a research in early childhood, it is imperative for the researcher to possess additional skills such as be a good listener listening to children in different ways and recognizing that they can be competent participant in the research with the right to be heard, provide multiple opportunities for children to express their views and experiences, and, be objective keeping aside one’s own experiences, biases, emotions and even cultural and social norms. 

The past eight weeks has not been easy. Every week was stumbling upon challenges, discovering and gaining insights and overcoming the challenges. Right from the first week, in selecting the topic I was faced with challenges. Early Childhood Field is a vast and diverse field that deciding the research topic, taking that first step was the hardest part. The next week came up with the next challenge of finding relevant literature. With the availability of online databases, access to information being limitless, especially since the early childhood field is vast with various diverse issues, finding relevant literature turned out to be difficult and time consuming. However, learning that using the key words or concepts would help refine our search and quickly access information helped me gain access to more scholarly based articles. 

The research process involving children and their families can be quite a challenge, but considering the benefits that early childhood research brings to society and shaping the future, we as early childhood professionals should be willing to rise to the challenge and give this client group the opportunity. This course has been an eye opener for me not just in terms of what research means but the relationship that an early childhood professional, be it as a researcher or a teacher should have. When working with young children, an early childhood professional need to build a confident relationship with children giving them the feeling of familiarity and intersubjectivity that will enable children to express freely their views and ideas, build a relationship minimizing adult-child power relations, and build a relationship that is built on ethical considerations and shared thinking.

Research is a ‘tool’ that produces knowledge, give us new insights into the early childhood field that would enable us as early childhood professionals to be better equipped with the techniques and strategies needed to handle an ever growing diverse group of children. The knowledge that research contributes, the ideas that it provides that foster the development of early childhood professionals and, its benefits for children, makes research indeed essential.

 Learning this ‘tool’, for a novice researcher like me would not have been possible without the help and support of my colleagues. Your thoughts and insights helped me gain knowledge and confidence that enabled me to face the hurdles and pitfalls along the way. A big thank you to all of you especially Dr. Davis for the extremely valuable support.

Research around the World

Innovative research in the early childhood field is happening all over the world. There are various international web sites that are dedicated to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years. EECERA (European Early Childhood Education Research Association) is one such influential organization dedicated to early childhood http://www.eecera.org/ . This organization publishes a journal called European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ), which is one of the most well respected early childhood journals in the world. EECERJ is peer reviewed, scholarly and is particular interested in research which has application. It aims to provide a forum for the publication of original research in early childhood education in Europe.

Some of the topics that are currently being researched that are published in the current issue of EECERJ volume 20, Issue 3, 2012 http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/recr20/current are:

Infant’s experiences of early childhood education and care settings. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704758

Teacher-child relationships among racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704759

Parental influence on the development of the children’s language competence - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704760

School readiness of children and importance for early interventionists. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704761

Role of human capital in determining value for money in early years education http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704764

Outdoor environment as part of an educational practice http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704766

Exploring this journal, we can find that issues of concern in early childhood field are the same in every part of the world. Child care and child care settings, the influence it can have on the development of the child is the utmost need across the globe and one that needs to be addressed. Of the several research articles that are available for online reading from this journal, I found the one with the importance to outdoor environment especially interesting.

Did you know

Norway is one country that has realized the importance of natural environment as educational practice and has already emphasized the use of outdoor environment in both schools and kindergartens as part of the pedagogical/educational practice.

Gagen , E. A. 2000 . “ Playing the part. Performing gender in American Playgrounds ” . In Children's geography. Playing, living and learning , Edited by: Holloway , S. and Valentine , G. 213 – 29 . London : Routledge .

Natural environments give children the rich experiences that they need to become avid learners. Through play children make connections between the forest space and ‘the modern world’, building bridges between different contexts, or one could say recontextualize the given space. From this website I was led to a partner site http://www.educationarena.com/ which has a whole page dedicated to this topic connecting to various research and articles relating to play, outdoor activity and children’s health, http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/PlayVI_1.pdf.
 

Research Benefits Children and Families

Research benefits children. Without research we would not have the understanding of child development we have now. The body of knowledge that research contributes, the questions that it answers based on early childhood, uncovering and enabling the emergence of new understandings and insights, the ideas that it provides that foster the development of early childhood professionals, makes research indeed essential.

Dr. Jack Shonkoff, a pediatrician and a director of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, a leading research scientist through his brain development research affirms that what happens to children from birth to five is tough to overcome and unlikely to be undone.

Here is a video excerpt with Dr. Jack Shonkoff about the Toxic Effects of Stress on Early Development.




Here is a link to a facts sheet on toxic stress and it effects.

Toxic Stress and its Effects

Here is the link to the report by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explaining how persistent highly adverse experiences actually damage a child's brain circuits

Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain.

From these reports and findings we can see how intensive and prolonged stress can disrupt early brain development and compromise functioning of the nervous and immune systems. It is because of such revolutionary research that we now have the knowledge about the impact of stress on the developing brain. As a result of such scientific research there are sufficient evidence-based implications to develop and implement policies that affect the health and well-being of young children. We now know, both public and private actions can prevent the adverse circumstances capable of damaging a child’s healthy development. Healthy development in the early years lays the foundations for a successful economically productive society. Communities need innovative educational, health and social solutions to address the toxic stress in children’s lives. Therefore investment in our youngest children is necessary as our future depends on them. What happens to them from birth to five shapes the rest of their lives! There is no do over’s in raising children!

My Research Process

“Doing anything for the first time is a challenge”. Research is something I had never done before, and now, having to actually attempt it seemed daunting. Being a novice researcher, the first challenge I faced was in deciding the topic for my research. Since the early childhood field is vast with various diverse issues, as a preschool teacher and a mother, every topic within each issue is interesting and informative. Deciding on the direction I must take, the topic I should choose, taking this first step in my research process was the hardest part.

It is one’s experience that influences them. Based on my experience, I tried to analyze which topic in the early childhood field would interest me personally, that would benefit the development of the children under my care. Residing in United Arab Emirates, the early childhood programs includes children from different culture, backgrounds, ethnicity, languages, family configuration and abilities. We can find children who spends most of their time alone because either they are the single child or because both their parents are working to make a living, children whose parents believes in training up their child to be self defensive as being victims or belonging to war bound countries themselves and so on. As a result children are often found to be aggressive, preferring to be alone and egocentric. They don’t know how to share, play together with others and control their expressions of anger. Therefore, based on my circumstances and the situations I face, I decided to choose the topic ‘PROMOTING PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN YOUNG CHILDREN’ for my research simulation.

I believe, when young children do not know how to identify emotions, handle disappointment and anger, or develop relationships with peers, a teacher’s best response is to teach! As educators we have the responsibility to instill in children the tendency to engage in prosocial behaviors that will help them interact with one another and support each other, be helpful and cooperative and build respect for each other and understand one another, all of which is necessary to live in a community.

Since each child is unique in their character, sometimes the strategies that have worked with one child may not work with another and we as teachers may run out of ideas. I am always wondering how best to care for and educate the children under my care and therefore seeking internet for ideas to handle the ever growing diverse group of children. However, it is when I started this course, only did I realize not all the information on the World Wide Web can be considered high quality even though the publisher may be reputable and not to be swayed and draw conclusions quickly. I need to be skeptical and critical in my evaluation of what I read and am told. Developing the right attitude, considering research as a tool, and not the only paradigm itself, putting aside our own biases, being open to modifying, reconsidering our beliefs and practices is what is required in using research effectively.

Since collaboration between the practitioners and researchers is the key to developing and understanding young children’s development and learning, I would welcome any ideas and suggestions that my colleagues would like to share on how you handle such issues in your classroom. The information available online is limitless, but quality research requires knowledge, skills and experience. Therefore the information you provide would enable me in gaining new understandings, insights and knowledge, which would help in developing my research.

Reflection

The past 8 weeks have been a very educational journey where I was able to get insight into issues I never had such deep understanding of.

To me the term poverty brought the image of poor people begging on the streets of India. It is only when I did this course and looked into the issue of poverty did I realize that poverty has many faces. It is not only the amount of income but also the instability and the unpredictability that it causes that matters for children.

I learnt from my colleagues and my international contacts that changing demographics is a global issue and most of the time teachers do not know how to handle the diversity in their classroom. However, developmentally appropriate and evidence-based practices are being recognized and implemented in many countries. Exploring the NAEYC website was very enriching as it included resources that supported my professional development with information on how technology can be integrated into the classroom and curriculum to support positive development of young children in a diverse setting.

I also realized from my international contacts that increased pressure on literacy and math is another global issue. Many of the areas of learning such as social, emotional and physical learning are overlooked. People’s attitudes about pre-k need to change, because preschool years are the exceptionally transformative years in a child’s life.

We as educators need to think more broadly and participate in group efforts to promote improvement in services to young children. I think this must be our goal to be committed and dedicated to provide a good start in the life of children and work towards caring for the ‘whole child’.

I would like to thank my international contacts: Fahra, Wanda, and Clair for without the information they shared compiling my blogs these past 8 weeks would not have been possible.  I also want to thank my classmates who have been part of my educational journey for all the valuable information that you posted on your blogs as well as supporting me with your comments and encouragement.

Let us together be the change that we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi

Equity and Excellence in the Early Childhood Profession

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge” – Albert Einstein

However, early childhood teachers are not given the due recognition they deserve nor their efforts valued or appreciated. They have been considered ‘mere babysitters’ lacking professionalism. Without structural support and poor paychecks, what will keep an early childhood teacher motivated, what will sustain their commitment, what kind of quality can be achieved?  

Let us this week go back to my contacts in Indonesia, Germany and UAE to look into the early childhood field there and see how these countries support the early childhood professionals, provide opportunities for professional development motivate and sustain them and achieve quality

Trends in INDONESIA,

My contact in Indonesia is Fahra Amiroeddin, who is currently working in The World Bank prior to which she worked as education curriculum consultant in UNICEF and Save the Children.

Indonesia is lacking qualified early child professionals. In term of quantity, many of Indonesian children (rough estimate is 15 million) are not enjoying early childhood education. The existing early childhood centers have teacher-children rationales of 1:30.

“In terms of quality, Indonesians in general are not particularly interested to be early childhood professional because most of us are not familiar yet with early childhood education. People assumed that it is ‘easy’ to teach early childhood children. They don’t think it’s necessary for childhood professionals to understand stages of child development, early childhood learning that stimulates children, etc.

The usually un-lucrative benefit package for early childhood educators also exacerbates the people’s interest to become early childhood educators/professionals. Only few childhood education centers and/or organizations give substantial benefit package for their professionals and those are usually ones located in big cities” 

In order to cultivate a mutual professional relationship with my contact when asked on her goals, professional hopes, dreams and challenges:

“My professional goal is to continue building the capacity of education stakeholders (from early childhood until university level) to provide quality education for children in Indonesia.

My dream is: Someday, Indonesia’s education system at all level will become one of the best one in the world and that each and every child here can enjoy it. The challenges are of course including government’s commitment, community minimum awareness on the importance of education and unpreparedness of the human resources to materialize that dream” Fahra (July 7, 2012).

Trends in UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

My contact in UAE Clair Watson is on vacation and hence I did not get any response from her.

However, being in UAE myself, working as an early childhood teacher from what I am aware of, here the ECE field is developing. Up till now, early childhood was not given much importance as it was regarded as merely babysitting. As a proof of that is what our designation is on our labor card (Here, we need a labor card or work permit to work in any organization). It is 'Nanny'. There were not any qualification requirements to work as a preschool teacher. But now things are getting better. The education ministry has realized that ECE is equally an important field and therefore teachers have to have at least teacher training to work as a preschool teacher. For this reason the ministry of education offers training program which they are insistent that every unqualified teacher must take. They have also begun to realize the need for standard curriculums that cater to the developmental needs of the children. For this reason there are even companies now who hire employees qualified in education and curriculum development just to prepare these curriculums. This is where I see my future. I love teaching. But I feel somewhere down the line I would like to be part of the preparation and building a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate based on all the knowledge and learning that I am getting.


Trends in GERMANY

My contact in Germany Wanda Martin did not respond to my mail. So sorry I have no first hand information to share. But as far as trends in Germany in relation to excellence and equity in the early childhood field is concerned what I found when searching the web is

Availability of childcare is a major problem in Germany, especially for younger children because of Germany's views that mothers should stay home and care for children before they reach school age. Only 1/3 of children age 5 and under has a slot in full-time childcare in Germany. However, Germany today is in ‘a situation of transition’. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is high on the political agenda in Germany for ‘childcare’.
http://www.oecd.org/education/preschoolandschool/33978768.pdf

Sorry I could not find any further information. Hoping my contact will respond and I will be able to update my post.


Since anything we as early childhood educators do impact the lives of children, we have a great responsibility in articulating what we do, take assertive steps in acquiring respect for our profession. Only then would we be recognized and the need to invest by the government for our further advancement would take place. Only up to date training and mentoring would help sharpen our skills essential for effective professional performance, update our knowledge, help us grow professionally with opportunities to collaborate with other teachers and thus improve our work with young children. Professionalism is a “matter of awakening” an “ongoing lifelong developmental process”.

Sharing Web Resources - new unexplored links

As I continue to navigate through the NAEYC website, there were links that connect to within the NAEYC as well as outside that I had not yet explored.

NAEYC hosts a radio program that focus on different topics each month related to early childhood education that can benefit both parents and educators alike. The link to the NAEYC radio is
http://www.naeyc.org/newsroom/NAEYCradio

I found this link particularly interesting as there were topics that related to education and equity discussed that can further add to our understanding of this issue. For example, the topic for this month that is aired is Strategies for Dual Language Learners by a lead consultant Karen Nemeth, Ed.M. which clarifies misconception on the topic and shares practical strategies.

http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WNAEYC.Billboard.cfm

Besides a whole lot of other topics that I found in their broadcast archives there were also topics on  
How Federal Policies Affect Early Childhood, and
Underpaid Early Childhood Professionals: Finding the path to better pay.

For people like me who prefer to listen than sit in front of the monitor reading pages after pages, this link was particularly appealing.

On the NAEYC homepage under the resource tab there is link to Earl Childhood Organizations listing websites to number of organizations outside NAEYC that share in the same commitment and provide resources that can enhance our work with young children and their families.

For Example,

 Association for Childhood Education International supports the optimal education, development and well being of children worldwide. For information outside the US on the needs of children, this site is very informative. There was report on May 30, 2012 on Child Poverty in the World’s Wealthiest Nations. Topics such as these can influence the professional growth of educators by providing timely data that is necessary to advocate and plan evidence-based policies needed to tackle the issue of poverty and its effect on the early childhood education. 

Another interesting link I found was the website to Educational Equity Center at AED. Since it related with our current topic it caught my attention. The purpose of this EEC is to develop programs like professional development, consulting services and community partnerships and materials that promote bias-free learning thus eliminate inequities based on gender, race/ethnicity, disability and level of family income

Exploring the website, it is clear that there are plenty of resources out there than can empower teachers and others involved with early childhood programs to ensure children arrive at school with the tools they need to learn and to thrive. Knowledge is the cornerstone of effective change. Let us as educators figure out how we can put this knowledge to ensure ALL children have access to high-quality early learning and development programs that help them get ready for school.

Issues Related to Excellence and Equity in the Early Childhood Field.

Every nation value early childhood education according to their own views of childhood and their own values for young children. Therefore the care and education of young children varies vastly from nation to nation. While some nations may provide services that may be extensive, others may provide inadequate ones. This vastly affects the children’s learning experiences and development leading to issues related to excellence and equity. I contacted my international contacts to get information on issues related to excellence and equity that are at the forefront of professional discussion in their countries.

Trends in GERMANY

My contact Wanda Martin stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany is a teacher in the Department of Defense teaching special Ed at the high school level.

Preschools in Germany have standards that guide their daily lessons. However due to their diverse population they are allowed some leeway in how they instruct the children. They use an Environmental Rating Scale to show the quality of the education in the environment. This is to make sure they are using the standards. However they haven't had any new standards added. In order to lessen the achievement gap the public school system has stopped letting American children enroll in the preschool program. This has opened more slots for the German children to start school early. The American children can attend the private preschool programs on the German economy. The German system supports their families financially while the child is in school, “which I feel is a wonderful program to inspire parents to keep their children in school”, Wanda (July 26, 2012.


Trends in INDONESIA

My contact in Indonesia is Fahra Amiroeddin, who is currently working in The World Bank prior to which she worked as education curriculum consultant in UNICEF and Save the Children.

Early childhood care in Indonesia is segregated widely into private and state-owned early childhood care centers. The government of Indonesia is now striving to disseminate early childhood education all over Indonesia. There is a significant increase on the number of Early Childhood Education (ECE) centers build in Indonesia. However, its quality is an issue. Under-qualified teachers, the inexistence of standard curriculum, the low awareness of the parents to send their children to ECE centers are the tip of an iceberg of the problems faced by the government.

The government has produced the technical guidance for setting up the (ECE) centers. However, curriculum applied in the state early childhood education centre in Indonesia is not yet standardized. Recently the government of Indonesia is prohibiting read-write-counting test at early childhood centre since they believe it might discourage children from learning. Different private ECE centers in Indonesia are using different curriculum. The most common found in big cities, and usually preferred by parents are the International Baccalaureate (IB) certified schools and teachers which promote the multiple intelligences (personal, emotional and social skills). These centers, is very expensive thus not accessible to most children in Indonesia.

In terms of school readiness, it’s part of the ECE centers mission in Indonesia to prepare children in accepting information at the elementary school.

However, a research conducted by World Bank showed that school readiness of children in Indonesia is scored higher than those in Philippine and Jordan http://www.aiid.org/uploads/File/projects/18_ECED%20brief.pdf?PHPSESSID=843e721de6b3e0880444023a29242f1b

Although another research conducted by UNESCO suggested that all ECD programs in Indonesia still need to be completed with health and nutrition programs, improve language proficiency programs, modify the tendency to make scientific knowledge as the centre attention, improve the capacities of the non-formal teachers and supportive government laws and regulations.

Academic gap between students in Indonesia is determined by their economic status. Children from high economic background can access quality education, usually at private school, since they are in kindergarten until university, unlike children from lower economic background.

“The obvious example is, my 2,5 years old niece who attended a 400 US$/month ECD centers while a 4 years old helper’s son is attending the free ECD centre sponsored by government. My niece has more vocabularies than the helper’s son and starts to speak bilingually. If I compare ECD centers and schools in Indonesia’s remote areas to private schools in big cities, I’m amazed how those children can learn. In rural areas of Indonesia, you will find schools without teachers for 6 months and 6 grades students who can’t read and write yet” Fahra (July 26, 2012).


Trends in United Arab Emirates

My contact in UAE is Clair Watson, is an Early Childhood Consultant currently working as a teacher trainer in UAE with prior work experience at the government level.

There are two bodies that govern the nurseries and schools here in Abu Dhabi. One is the Ministry of social affairs who looks after the private nursery schools and Abu Dhabi Educational Council who oversees, regulates and drives development initiatives in all education sectors, including both public and private P-12 education, and higher education.

So far, anyone with a high school certificate could be employed in a nursery as a main teacher. The Ministry of Social Affairs has issued some basic standards which are very open to interpretation. There are no standard curriculums being followed. However Nurseries that follow all the guidelines set out by the EYFS of England and Wales are viewed as ‘Excellent’

There are apparently ‘new’ standards currently being written. There are now strict rules that a teacher before signing a contract with the school or nursery must first undergo so many hours of teacher training. ADEC has updated their standards and policies and are enforcing them in schools and nurseries to follow which are based on the current research and practices. This is the site for ADEC http://www.adec.ac.ae/English/Pages/default.aspx

Government KG’s in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain come under ADEC and they have been working in Partnership with a number of Providers to raise standards since 2006. ADEC has a range of educationalist from all over the world working together with the Emirates. ADEC has their own curriculum. Many government KG’s in the UAE now operate at a higher standard than private nursery schools. They are constantly inspected and they look at all elements including Health and Safety, Curriculum, assessment, management etc.

“Having previously taught as a teacher I have seen children come into the school with a huge range of skills depending on the Nursery they have come from. Many children can recite letters of the alphabet and numbers to 20 but can’t apply this knowledge and have little understanding. Children may have good pencil control but lack confidence, decision making skills, cutting skills, imagination, independence or creativity.

I feel that there are huge gaps between private nurseries and school expectations. With no standards being enforced and unrealistic expectations of Primary Schools due to high competition and lack of school places. Also, because many different nationalities resides in UAE, each with their own curriculums, standards and expectations”, Clair (July 26, 2012).

When we analyze the issues these countries face regarding education excellence and equity, we can see how children’s access to, and learning experience is affected by where they live, their socioeconomic status, race, quality of educational services, quality and competency of teachers nature and application of regulation and availability of resources.

Various research in neuroscience, molecular biology, genetics, developmental psychology and child development stress on the impact early experiences have on a brain’s architecture. According to the research it is in the first five years that children develop their cognitive, social - emotional and language skills. Since a maturing brain is affected by a child’s environment, such as stimulation, nurturing and nutrition dispensed at home and beyond, creating an early childhood system for ALL children and equalize the baseline of program quality can prevent inequity and inequality.

Sharing Web Resources

As I continue to explore the NAEYC website, though every section on the website is interesting and captivating the Public Policy section was particularly interesting as it was relevant with our current learning. NAEYC’s public policy is aimed to work directly with policy makers at the federal, state and local levels to advocate for high quality system of early childhood education. The Federal Development section under the Public Policy allows one to view the archive of recommendations made to the congress and administrators as well as receive updates and alerts on issues related to child and family being considered by the congress. State Trends section under the Public Policy focuses on research and tracking national and state trends and informs interested parties such as the policy makers of these trends. Since policy makers have the benefit to shape the learning expectations and experiences of young children in numerous ways, early childhood community must be encouraged to take proactive steps in political discussions to ensure that policy makers make the right choices. This is exactly the purpose of the Early Childhood Workforce Systems Initiative section under the public policy - to assist early childhood education professionals to support states in developing, enhancing and implementing policies.

Currently since policy is made by people outside the early childhood field, many of areas of children’s learning such as social, emotional and physical learning is overlooked and more emphasis is given to academic success forcing children to spend most of their time in learning literacy and math which is in most times against a teachers belief’s and learning. The article I found on the NAEYC website “Research News You Can Use: Debunking the Play vs. Learning Dichotomy”, By Snow. K. added further to my understanding of this topic.

 Play vs Learning

With the No Child Left Behind Act, there is increased pressure on literacy and math. In order to accommodate both worlds, best is to balance play and instruction to nurture each child’s development in all the ways that are important for them (Snow, n.d.)

Issues and Trends related to Poverty

Poverty is the worst form of violence
– Mahatma Gandhi

More than 1 billion people on earth, half of them children are victims of poverty. Poverty has many faces. This video by World Bank gives an idea on how poverty is measured.

Therefore, to reduce poverty would require dedication and commitment to provide a good start in the life of children and work towards caring for the ‘whole child’.

Let’s look at how this issue of poverty on young children is dealt in different countries. To know the trends in Germany, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates, I contacted three Early Childhood Professionals in these countries.

Trends in GERMANY

My contact Wanda Martin stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany is a teacher in the Department of Defense teaching special Ed at the high school level. 

According to the website http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/germ-m08.shtml the poverty level in Germany has dropped by 750,000 since 2006. According to the new report by the Joint Welfare Association, one in seven children under 15 in Germany are dependent on welfare payments. This figure rises to one in four children in East Germany. Half of all children dependent on welfare live in a single-parent household.

“I looked up the information on Germany and was surprised by the information as they do so much for their families. When a woman becomes pregnant she is allowed to take off for up to 3 years with pay. The amount of pay decreases by the 3rd year encouraging mom to return to work. The families receive child support until the child graduates or quit school, which they can at the age of 16. As the child gets older the amount of child support decreases.” Wanda (July 12, 2012).

Trends in INDONESIA

My contact in Indonesia is Fahra Amiroeddin, who is currently working in The World Bank prior to which she worked as education curriculum consultant in UNICEF and Save the Children.

Government of Indonesia has tried to help poor families in Indonesia by waiving tuition for basic education (elementary school and secondary school). However, the cost of studying not only consists of tuition. Children need books, uniforms or clothes, transports to be able to attend school. In health department, though the government has tried to provide free health service for the poor, its quality is questionable and some hospitals are reluctant to accept the poor family since the subsidy from the government are always late or sometimes corrupted. Early childhood is somehow missed out in their concern as they perceive education for all as basic education i.e. elementary and secondary only. However they have now started to build early childhood centers and hopefully will grow more in the future.

“I happen to work in the field of education and child protection in my home country Indonesia and the two issues often cross-cut in early childhood education as you can see in my response. I still see Indonesia as a poor country. Despite government claim that it’s been decreasing I still see the gap between rich people, middle class and poor families as very wide. Poverty has been affecting people in ways that they’re not able to access health and quality education to say the least. Impoverish family are usually unable to send their children to attend early childhood education or are unaware of its importance. I honestly believe that early childhood is the golden era of a child where their cognitive, emotion and psychomotor develop. The Failure to stimulate this stage of development, children will be unable to reach their full potential. Education is the most powerful weapon to eradicate poverty” Fahra (July 10, 2012).

Here are the links that might help to get a picture of early childhood in Indonesia
            http://www.childresearch.net/PROJECT/ECEC/asia/indonesia/report12_01.html
            http://www.childfund.org/indonesia/
            http://www.unicef.org/indonesia/children.html       
           http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTINDONESIA/Resources/Publication/280016-1152870963030/ReportECED.pdf

Trends in United Arab Emirates

My contact in UAE is Claire Watson, is an Early Childhood Consultant currently working as a teacher trainer in UAE with prior work experience at the government level. I did not receive an email response from her, but was however able to contact her by phone.

Thirty years ago the UAE was one of the least developed countries of the world. But today, the United Arab Emirates is one of the wealthiest nations in the world and its citizens enjoy the highest standard of living in the Middle East. UAE population consists of the UAE citizens and the expatriates (citizen of another country employed here which accounts for around 88.5 per cent of the country's total population). The UAE Government offers to all its UAE citizens’ free services which include education, health and other benefits. This is the link to information on the UAE’s economic status http://www.uaeinteract.com/uaeint_misc/pdf/perspectives/12.pdf. Without a job visa and sufficient financial status an employee cannot sponsor his family here. This means there is no issue of poverty and children facing such challenges.


From the various approaches we see how poverty has been reduced. However, it also reminds us how much work is there to do in fighting poverty because poverty still exists. Let us join hands with UNICEF and other similar organization in their quest to make this world a better place.  

Sharing Web Resources

NAEYC’s http://www.naeyc.org/ mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources (NAEYC Bylaws, Article I., Section 1.1). NAEYC's mission is based on three major goals: Bettering well-qualified practitioners and improving the conditions these professionals work in, improving early childhood education by working to deliver a high-quality system of supporting early childhood programs, and encouraging excellence in childhood education for all children by constructing an extraordinary, all-around organization of groups and individuals who are committed to promoting excellence in early childhood education for all young children.

As part of its endeavor their current issue of Young Children, Vol. 67, No. 3, May 2012 deals with the issue of using technology in the early childhood programs. According to McManis and Gunnewig the authors of the article “Finding the Education in Educational Technology with Early Learners”, many of the current research points out that technology can extend opportunities for learning and development when it is developmentally appropriate for children, used as tools to help teachers and is integrated into the classroom and curriculum. This article was particularly interesting to learn how technology when integrated into the classroom and curriculum would support positive development of young children in a diverse setting. The changing demographics would be immaterial and instead would create a welcome adaption for the child into the new community. There are softwares that can be adapted to suit the child’s needs and the teacher can manually move the child through the levels as the child is ready. These software also provide reports through digital portfolios which would be a much effective way for a teacher to communicate with families irrespective of their diversity. “Children working with technology in teacher-led activities or in peer groups can be a powerful type of learning, particularly for additional language and social skills development.” (McManis & Gunnewig, 2012) http://issuu.com/NAEYC/docs/mcmanis_yc0512/1

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources – Week 1

Part 1 - Establishing Professional Contacts
Goal for this course is to establish contact with two early childhood professionals outside the United States, to grow in our understanding of their perspectives on some of the issues and trends explored in this course.

As part of the search, my initial plan was to go into website with links to podcasts of conversations of EC professionals, thinking it might be easier for me to get information. However, I was pretty occupied in moving house. Having disconnected the internet to apply for connection in the new place, I did not have the access or opportunity to internet for the past 4 days. I had only one option in front of me to be able to submit this assignment by the due date – Walden University. Thanks to Walden, I was able to get connected to EC professionals across the globe during my course. I have contacted two professionals, from Germany and Indonesia and am awaiting their reply.

 Part 2 - Expanding Resources 

The field of early childhood education includes an abundant of resources that are rich in information for any early childhood professionals. They include not only the written articles and journals but also nationally and internationally relevant early childhood organizations that support the professional development of early childhood teachers, help them to stay current on early childhood issues, and participate in group efforts to promote improvement in services to young children.

While reviewing some of the websites listed under the resource list, the website of NAEYC National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development http://www.naeyc.org/ interested me. It is not the layout or the design of the webpage alone that is impressive but the amount of information that it showcases that captures ones attention. This website is a storehouse of information for Early Childhood Education. NAEYC is dedicated to improving the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8. The Association administers a voluntary, national accreditation system for high-quality early childhood programs, sponsors a variety of initiatives to improve professional preparation of early childhood educators, and produces a wide array of early childhood resources, which includes books, videos, journals and other publications, links to recorded sessions of annual conferences, which can assist in the teaching of young children.

NAEYC offers a national, voluntary accreditation system that helps early childhood programs meet high professional standards and helps families identify high-quality programs. The Right Choice for Kids (http://www.rightchoiceforkids.org/) is one such program that was created by NAEYC to inform families about the importance of high-quality early childhood education programs for young children. The Right Choice for Kids regularly updated Resources offers families and teachers tips, links, and general information about young children and early childhood education. For example they have an article on Understanding and Responding to Children Who Bite. This article will help one to understand the reasons young children bite and give ideas and strategies for responding appropriately. This was interesting to me as I face this situation in my class and wanted to know how to deal with it effectively. (http://www.rightchoiceforkids.org/families/biting).

Developmentally appropriate practice is the foundation for all of NAEYC's work—publications and conferences, professional development/training, policy/advocacy, and accreditation of both college-level preparation and child care programs. The principles and guidelines outline practice that promotes young children's optimal learning and development to which I also agree with and hence this site was meaningful to me.

My Supports

To be upheld and supported is the greatest assurance one can have. We cannot walk this world alone. We need the support in the form of help, encouragement and guidance from our family, our friends, our faith, our colleagues, our neighbors, our society. Looking into my life, I know I need and receive supports of various kinds, be it in the form of physical support, or emotional support or practical support, on a daily basis. All the supports I receive are so very vital to me. I could not manage a day with these supports. My husband who supports me by his understanding when I sit to do my assignments, with his physical support like when he drives me to my place of work , with his emotional support by standing by me when I am feeling down, My mother who is not only a great physical and emotional support in taking care of my 13 year old mentally challenged son but also a source of encouragement and inspiration to me with her words of wisdom and expression of confidence in me, My principal by mentoring to me and my colleagues who have been very understanding and patient with me giving me their time when I needed to interview them as part of my assignment, My church members who not only helped lay the foundation on which I stand but still supports me with their prayer especially in relation to my son. Above all, my God who has promised to never forsake me nor leave me but support me by being my refuge and strength, assisting me, directing me and managing the outcomes so faithfully in my journey are just a few examples of the personal supports I receive. Were I to name each and every support I receive from them it would outnumber the pages and I would not be able to recall each of them as we surround ourselves with the supports that can only come in numbers. Besides these supports there are the supports I receive from inanimate objects like technology, a grocery list or to do list. I am a very list oriented person like most women. I cannot schedule a day without a ‘to do list’. Without these supports I would feel lost, the road ahead would seem foggy, twisted and scary.  

One possible challenge I can imagine in my future is trying to advocate for the cause of young children, implementing a child centered curriculum and supporting the child’s home language. I would not be able to do this by myself. I would need the support of my principal and colleagues. I would definitely require the support of the parents. From my previous experience, I know how some non English parents feel about teaching their children their home language. They send their children to school hoping their children would immediately start speaking fluent English to be able to stay in par with the society. As a staff myself, I think we would need the administration’s support by facilitating teacher’s growth through carefully planned professional development, and by advocating for the possibilities and benefits of multilingualism. Research suggests that bilingual children may develop more flexibility in their thinking, can promote literacy and knowledge, and increase their self esteem. Without the understanding and the cooperation from the people involved these adaptations would not be possible and education would not be meaningful and accessible to all children.

My Connections to Play

"Play is the work of childhood." Author: Unknown

“Play is the beginning of knowledge.” ~ Anonymous

  Are two quotes that I feel best defines play.

Children act out through play their life’s experiences. This was true in my childhood play as well. Going down my memory lane and trying to recollect my childhood days, I remember my favorite play was acting out the church scene. I used to dress up in a sari and pretend sitting in the church singing songs and acting out taking part in the Lord’s Table. I would get my younger brother to play along. If my cousins came over it was even merrier. My other favorite toy was the doll I had which used to go everywhere with me even to the grocery stores and on airplanes travelling across continents. My doll played various roles, if she was my student at one time, she would be my daughter for whom I had to cook with my cookery set and feed at another instance, or even my patient for whom I had to give injections to bring down the fever. I could stretch my imagination to far extents. As children progress their level of play also progresses. As I grew older, I enjoyed board games like monopoly and I still do (though I enjoy playing Cluedo now more than monopoly).

My parents were a great support, such that my mother used to go to the sari shop and get the cut remaining pieces of the sari material left for me to play (for those who don’t know what a sari is – Indian women wrap a 6 meter long material that either comes as a single piece or in a roll which has to be cut as per the meter one would require depending on the way it is worn). My father was always ready to buy me toys and even play with me games like carrom board or take me driving in the car with me on his lap where I would soon be imagining myself driving away to my fantasy land. My only sibling, my brother who enjoyed playing with his match box cars, would succumb to my desire to play house or church or whatever my girlish ideas would direct. We would go down to front of the apartment which was all sand and build sand castles with our friends from the next house.

 

(Photos of myself in my childhood days with the play items that were most important to me – Sari and doll)

I feel much of that exploratory and creative play is lost in today’s technological world where even the very young children of today is hooked on to TV, computer games and the latest various different types of three dimensional interactive games like the Nintendo’s and Wii’s. These games may be engaging but it forces children to interact with virtual friends instead of other human children and therefore fail to build negotiation skills and social competence. Even at school, children are denied opportunities to play as more time is devoted to being taught and being tested. Many parents prefer greater importance on academic achievement and therefore teachers are pressurized to increase academic performance by reducing the time ‘wasted’ for play.

What is merely seen as ‘play’ actually helps develop the ‘whole child’. Therefore, we need to educate ourselves as well as the parents to relax and stop pressurizing their children. Children have a great potential for growth and learning. With little scaffolding from us as educators and setting the pace for learning so that it is consistent with the child’s development we can help them succeed. “The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.” ~ Plato (Greek philosopher). “It is in playing, and only in playing, that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.” ~ D.W. Winnicott (British pediatrician)

Relationship Reflection

Consistent quality relationships with caring people, characterized by trust, support, and growth form the foundation for healthy development. I believe for man to exist in a society it is essential to form an environment of relationships because proper human relationships form the basis of society. They incorporate the qualities that best promote competence and well-being – individualized responsiveness, mutual action-and-interac­tion, and an emotional connection to another human being. It is relationships that help us define who we are, what we can become, and how and why we can impact another life. 

Beginning from my birth up to this very day there are several nurtured and stable relationships that play an important role in my life. Starting with my relationship with - my God, my parents, my husband, my son, my husband’s parents, our siblings, my relatives, my colleagues, my students and their families, our church members – makes me who I am and what I have become today. My religious faith has laid the foundation on which I stand and it is my personal relationship with my God that gives me the assurance and the confidence that I need to face my life’s challenges. The relationship with my husband is built on mutual trust and understanding that has kept us together for the past 14 years, even through the times of sorrow and loss when I miscarried and lost our twin boys and through our life’s daily challenge of raising a mentally challenged child. The relationship with my mother is that of love and care which she has so unconditionally bestowed upon me and even sacrificed her desires and her health to stay with me and be a support for me in taking care of our son. Admiration and respect has been the basis of the relationship with my child care center director who has been a mentor to me, guiding me and encouraging me to make me the teacher I am today and motivating me to learn further because of which I am now doing my masters.

Off course, life is not a fairy tale where everyone lives “happily ever after”. In real life there is no magic recipe for happy relationships. Maintaining relationships requires effort and perseverance. Especially, with the relationships that I share with my colleagues and friends. As each person is an individual from their own culture and upbringing, whose experience, education, gender and professional affiliations all differ, it can be quite a challenge to coexist. The road to a successful relationship can be full of potholes and detours, but “staying on course” and maintaining important relationships is a worthwhile endeavor. Appreciating each other and respecting each other, giving each individual in your life the value and significance they deserve, demonstrating empathy and concern, being honest and supportive is the key to maintaining the relationships.

Some of these relationships that I share is more than just mutual interaction, they are more personal, and is therefore the foundation of bidirectional partnerships. Effective partnership is based on agreement of aims, of goals, and of the means to achieving those goals. However, it's unrealistic to expect that everyone will agree immediately on everything. So a relationship that is founded on respectful negotiation is the key to building effective partnership.

As an early childhood professional, building effective partnership with every family is essential in promoting the development of the whole child. Recognizing that human relationships are the ‘building blocks’ that are required for the child’s development and building on partnership with the families of the children under my care, overlooking the biases I may unconsciously carry, building individualized, respectful, responsive and supportive relationship with the families, is the basis for building effective relationships because “Life is about relationships. We all need one another”.

Reflection

As I pause and reflect over the past weeks of my journey in the early childhood development field, I have learnt that as a professional, our role is to only help guide children to grow and develop in a natural way, be good observers and foster children’s development without pushing them because development will occur if they are nurtured. Every child is an individual developing at their own space, pace and time.

I like this song that I have uploaded since it means what I have learnt and believe in.

Thank you, to all my colleagues for supporting me and making my journey through this field a memorable one.  

Testing for Intelligence

School-age children are assessed to measure their intellectual aptitude by measuring their reading, mathematics, writing, science and other subjects, with norms established in each subject for children of a certain age or grade. However, these norms that form the basis of these tests reflect the culture of the people who wrote these tests and are based on items that cover a broad range of content that often represent a mismatch between what is taught locally and what is taught in other states. These intelligence tests are biased against children from other cultures and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, intelligence tests do not measure creativity or persistence, which are also important indicators of later success in life. Moreover, the child's actual behavior in the classroom and at home is often a better indicator of a child's ability than an abstract intelligence test. Traditional tests of intelligence do not take situational and contextual information into account. Even a mentally challenged child may perform better in their familiar environment than in one of these tests. As a result, most of the time, these children receive inappropriate IQ tests that may even be administered improperly and end up labeling them inappropriately penalizing a child for a creative or unconventional answer. As a person is given a fixed I.Q. score, his/her intelligence is taken to be a fixed, unchanging entity.

It was the French psychologist, Alfred Binet who developed the first IQ test, with the purpose of finding a way to identify children who would experience difficulty in schools and need specialized assistance. His test referred to today as the Binet-Simon Scale provided the basis for the modern IQ tests used today. However, Binet himself stressed the limitations of the test, suggesting that intelligence is far too broad a concept to quantify with a single number. Instead, he insisted that intelligence is influenced by a number of factors, changes over time and can only be compared among children with similar backgrounds (Siegler, 1992). Standard IQ tests measure only part of the brain potential as no tests can measure the potential without also measuring the achievements.

IQ Assessment in India

In India, The Standford-Binet test has been adapted as the Binet-Kamath Test. Most intelligence tests are designed to provide an I.Q. (intelligence quotient) score, which is defined as: I.Q. = Mental Age/Chronological Age x 100. Thus, a ten-year old child who has a mental age of a 14 year-old, will have an I.Q. of 140.

Fortunately, I.Q. tests are used selectively in India, mainly by psychologists who assess children with learning problems. In such situations, an intelligence test may provide valuable information regarding a child's cognitive profile over and above the single I.Q. score. Even though I.Q. testing has not pervaded the Indian educational scene in a big way, the conception of intelligence in school settings is similar to those who developed psychometric assessments. Parents and educators view intelligence within a narrow framework. Thus, even though most children do not undergo formal I.Q. testing, school tests and examinations serve as proxy intelligence tests. Children who score high marks in school are deemed more intelligent than those who do not. 

In India, the term “intelligence “ is used quite narrowly and is measured based on performance on academic tests which , by and large, do not provide an index of a child’s creative or critical reasoning skills. Performance in mathematical and linguistic tasks which form the bulk of academic assessments, are taken as the yardstick of a student’s overall intelligence. Other abilities of the students are overlooked and they are not given sufficient opportunities to explore and excel in other domains. The cultivation of positive self esteem is often neglected in schools as children are judged solely by their scores in scholastic tasks. Children who excel in sports, music, dance or drawing are seldom given any recognition by the system. Also the contribution of environmental factors for the development of intelligence is often overlooked. Culturally “intelligence” is viewed as being more innate; and is not given due recognition to the external factors that are as important as, if not more, than one’s biological endowment.

Children are put under the pressure of these assessments right from their preschool years which reaches its peak in their high school. If the pressure to do well in these assessments in their preschool years is to gain admission into good schools, the parental pressure to get high marks in their high school assessments is to get admissions into a top university for the golden chance of a high-paying job. Getting high scores has also become a symbol of social esteem, as a result the exam season in India has also become unfortunately the suicide season when students take “the extreme step" because they fear the shame of a bad report card. Newspapers carry tragic daily reports of youngsters who have killed themselves as a result of the pressure on these children to perform well on these exams. Even children as young as 11 years fall victim to this. Here is link to the BBC news report of a young child of 11 years who took her life because of the exam stress http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8473515.stm

Here is another link to a newspaper article of a boy who committed suicide due to exam stress. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2880221.ece He was a good student active in sports and social services but the pressure these assessments poses on children like him was too much for him to bear.

It's hoped that young people
will have a brighter future

What is the point of these assessments if it permanently damages children if the scores were assigned more importance than originally intended? We will always need some way of making intelligent decisions about people. But what we need to realize is we're not all the same; we have different skills and abilities. Teachers need to be aware of the fact that traditional tests do not necessarily reveal a student's potential. Therefore, infant and preschool intelligence testing (IT) should be discontinued, state laws requiring IT for admission to remedial programs should be abolished, and that assessment procedures for developmentally delayed children should focus on what a child can do. Early cognition should be redefined as functional, everyday problem-solving skills, and the illusion of precision in psychometric data must be faced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) 

As assessment is an integral component of most schools, educators will benefit from evaluating their own assessment standards and criteria.

Consequences of Natural Disasters

A  Stress on Children’s Development

A landslide is a geological phenomenon, a natural disaster, which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Debris flows, also known as mudslides, are a common type of fast-moving landslide that tends to flow in channels. Landslides are caused by disturbances in the natural stability of a slope. They can accompany heavy rains or follow droughts, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions. Mudslides develop when water rapidly accumulates in the ground and results in a surge of water-saturated rock, earth, and debris. Mudslides usually start on steep slopes and can be activated by natural disasters. Areas where wildfires or human modification of the land have destroyed vegetation on slopes are particularly vulnerable to landslides during and after heavy rains.

Here is a video clip of what exactly landslides are and what causes them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrV4uCVwmfk&feature=related

The reason I chose to write on landslide is because of a tragedy that took place in my family. I was just about 4 or 5 years old when my cousin, a talented and charming young man to whom I was very much attached became victim of this fatal natural disaster. He was out with his friends in a waterfalls area when suddenly there was a flash flood leading to a landslide. On hearing the oncoming gush of a strong current, his friends managed to get to the shore leaving just him and a friend stranded in the middle just holding on to a rock.
I found this video in Youtube that fits exactly the descriptions that we heard from his friends  – have a look at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5SyBTy6j24&feature=fvst

The news of this tragic event came as a bolt to me and something that I found difficult to accept at that very young age. Ever since any water body has always terrified me and has always send shivers up my spine at the thought of getting into water. Till date I have not been able to cope with this fear. Going to places like water theme park has always kept me away.

Environmental hazards create a greater impact on the younger children’s mental health, growth and development than on the older, more developed ones. Young children are the most vulnerable ones at times of crisis, and the effects of stress during critical periods of brain development and physical growth may be irreversible. Natural disasters and man-made catastrophes, such as war, are major causes of emotional and behavioral manifestations and disorders in childhood. Most children will be able to cope over time with the help of parents and other caring adults. However, some children may be at risk of more extreme reactions. The severity of children’s reactions will depend on their specific risk factors. These include exposure to the actual event, personal injury or loss of a loved one, dislocation from their home or community, level of parental support, the level of physical destruction, and pre-existing risks, such as a previous traumatic experience or mental illness. Symptoms may differ depending on age but can include: 

• Preschoolers—thumb sucking, bedwetting, clinging to parents, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, fear of the dark, regression in behavior, and withdrawal from friends and routines.
• Elementary School Children—irritability, aggressiveness, clinginess, nightmares, school avoidance, poor concentration, and withdrawal from activities and friends.
• Adolescents—sleeping and eating disturbances, agitation, increase in conflicts, physical complaints, delinquent behavior, and poor concentration.

Talking to children about disasters, creating an open environment where they feel free to ask questions, we can help them cope with stressful events and experiences, and reduce the risk of lasting emotional difficulties. A website that I found by the American Psychiatric Association gives guideline on how to open such a conversation with children and make them aware of the catastrophe. http://www.healthyminds.org/More-Info-For/Children/Talking-to-Children-about-Natural-Disasters.aspx

Storm Sendong in the Philippines
Only a few months ago, tropical storm Sendong (international name: Washi) landed in Mindanao on the Southern tip of the Philippines, bringing with it hours and hours on end of torrential and unrelenting rain. Flash floods then followed causing landslides, ravaging property and leaving Filipinos hapless against the power of nature. In only two days, Sendong ravaged Mindanao, leaving in its wake flattened houses, lost property and disrupted life routines. But, beyond this, Filipinos, most of all, mourn 1,268 of their countrymen who perished under the ruthlessness of Sendong. The floods may have, by now, become forgotten and many believe that things are back to normal, but they are not. Hundreds of thousands remain affected by Sendong. The children who woke up in the middle of the night to find their homes being washed away by the floods are still living in evacuation centers. The families who lost their livelihoods are still struggling to figure out how to feed their children, how to gain an income, how to rebuild their homes, and how their children will be able to go back to school after the summer.