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.