UNESCO

The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945.UNESCO works to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon respect for commonly shared values. UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. After exploring their website, I was exposed to some information that is educative and insightful.

The first insight that caught my attention from the website Early childhood Care and Education is that Central governments must ensure an equitable distribution of resources among different populations and especially those who live in the most disadvantaged regions. This approach aims to expand access without creating serious regional inequities. However, where there is universal provision for a certain age group while the overall enrolment in other age groups is low, this policy can create inequity.

The second insight that I gained is that active involvement from parents and communities and relevant play and learning materials ensure that early childhood services remain relevant to the needs of the children and all other stakeholders and increases sustainability.

While the third issue that I found insightful is that investment and financing through mobilization of resources seem to be the greatest difficulty faced by countries in their efforts to expand and improve the quality of early childhood care and education. This is particularly daunting in developing countries, where early childhood may be over shadowed by other pressing priorities, such as universal primary education.

References

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

The outside link that I explored this week is Early Head Start National Resource Center. This resource is directly linked to Zero to three organization. The Early Head Start National Resource Center (EHS NRC) serves the Early Head Start community by creating new resources and sharing information related to the unique needs of infants, toddlers, and expectant families and EHS and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Programs. The EHS NRC delivers training and professional development activities to staff and sites nationwide. The EHS NRC focuses on three areas, which are Communication Systems & People Networks, Knowledge Building, and Program Development

While going through Zero to Three website, I explored new area that was in School Readiness Interactive Birth to three section under Care and Education.  It is a web-based, interactive learning tool designed to help parents and caregivers support their young children’s early learning. It has a lot of information on how children develop the four key skills—language and literacy skills, thinking skills, self-confidence and self-control—that are critical to later school success.

This week I have received my first an e-newsletter and one of the issues that have been  focused on is Helping Your Child Learn Persistence. It focuses on how children cope with frustrations and stick with a difficult task. While children are born with a motivation to explore and learn, it is persistence helps them accomplish their goals.

The new insight that I gained during exploring Early Head Start National Resource is that many immigrant parents mistakenly believe that in order to succeed in school, it is better for children to abandon their home language and concentrates on English.

 

References

http://www.ehsnrc.org/

http://www.zerotothree.org/

http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FromBabyToBigKid_Month27

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

For this week, I chose to explore the center for developing child, Harvard University. The center for developing child at Harvard University was founded in 2006 on the belief that the vitalityand sustainability of any society depends on the extent to which it expands opportunities early in life for all children to achieve their full potential and engage in responsible and productive citizenship. The Center generates, translates, and applies knowledge in the service of improving life outcomes for children in the United States and throughout the world. (Center on the developing Child at Harvard Unversity, 2010). While going through their website I really gained three informative insights.

The first insight is about Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância, which is a program in Brazil that aims to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families in Brazil.

 

The second insight that caught my attention is on their Science of Health and Development Initiative. The mission of the Science of Health and Development Initiative is to advance the scientific understanding of how genes, experiences, and environmental influences interact during prenatal, child, and adolescent development to affect brain development and lifelong outcomes in health, learning, and behavior. It also represents an intersection of the biological and social sciences at the Center on the Developing Child and encompasses research efforts and applied work related to the biology of adversity, the early origins of racial disparities, and toxic stress.

The third insight that I gained is on their student, education and leadership development. The Center’s Education and Leadership Development (ELD) agenda is a full suite of formal and informal opportunities committed to enhancing the growth of the next generation during the critical early stages of their intellectual development. They focused on building the capacity of career professionals to translate research into policy and action.

References

(http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/)

Sharing Web Resources

Zero to three is a very great and beneficial website that has lots of information about the importance of the early three years of child’s development. While going to the site, I found the section under behavior and development is very relevant to my current professional development, and would be very useful for me during my journey. .This section has many links about various   issues that affect children and their growth such as health and nutrition, brain development, early language and literacy, play, sleep, and other links that are extremely crucial for me as a teacher and as pregnant woman. By going to this section, we can gather variety of information, interactive tools, parent handouts, articles and other resources that are designed to help the educators and parents in nurturing the health and development of babies and toddlers.

As I have been looking to zero to three site, I did not come across anything that is controversial. I notice that their website is amazing and beneficial for anyone who cares about supporting children in their early stage, and assisting their parents to provide their children with a healthy environment that allow them to flourish and develop

Zero to three has also offers many resources for policy makers, advocates and Professionals  about early childhood field, as well provides many tools, current  research, ideas, and articles that could help parents to look for the best ways to foster their children’s intellectual, social and emotional development.

The insight that I gained from exploring the site is that the three early years from child’s life is very crucial and lays the foundation for later success. Thus, it is very imperative that all babies and toddler should develop in a safe, responsive and a positive early learning experience that allow them to enhance their capacities and skills.

 

http://www.zerotothree.org