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.)
Hi Deepa
ReplyDeleteI took a look at the link you provided to the information on play versus learning. It is true that early childhood educators are caught in a tug of war between preparing for school readiness and allowing creative play as the basis of a program. The site provided an excellent graphic of child and teacher participation and the resulting teaching style. Although they point out that direct instruction is often used due to the need to achieve assessment scores, they do state that finding a balance between free play and teacher driven instruction is the challenge that early childhood educators are challenged by.
Carolyn
Hi Deepa,
ReplyDeleteNAEYC does great work in informing professionals in the field about public policy. They also provide us with the tools to advocate for the early childhood at all levels. Their resources are amazing and serve as guidance for all teachers in the field. Every year they coordinate an annual conference where early professionals gathered to conduct workshops, conference and training in all topics. I went to their conference last year, and It was a great experience. I encourage you to participate of this professional development I promise you will not regret it.
Hi Deepa,
ReplyDeleteAs educators we need to be continually informed about policy which directly effects our profession. Organizations such as the NAEYC play a vital role in keeping professionals abreast on policies that will effect how we will perform. I am still baffled though on how non-educators make rules for us. (That is a whole different story.) Yes, there is a push for literacy and math. From our studies on play, play in early childhood education is developmentally appropriate for young learners.