Sharing Web Resources - ISSA

In my explorations of the ISSA this week, I stumbled across a new publication they just released.  It is a book entitled “Early Childhood Programs as the Doorway to Social Cohesion: Application of Vygotsky’s Ideas from an East West Perspective.”  It caught my eye because of its obvious correlation to the issues and trend in the field of EC.  We have been discussing how investing in EC pays out at least double in the long-term.  That’s right, there have been NUMEROUS studies that prove that investing in EC programs will monetarily benefit the community and the government many times over the initial investment.  This book takes that idea and puts it on a global level, in eastern and western contexts, and how Vygotsky had these thoughts and theories long before it was publically accepted.  This was the closest thing I found that related to this week’s topic of economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support of our field. 

One thing about the ISSA that fascinates me is that it is shared among many countries.  It demonstrates teamwork among people with potentially differing opinions, and I think an organization like that sets a fantastic example for the children and families it is designed to reach. 

I will leave you with a line found in one of the ISSA leaflets I found on their website:

“ISSA is open to exploring new partnerships and

is eager to engage in joint initiatives that aim to

strengthen democracy, encourage active civic

participation, promote quality teaching, and celebrate

diversity and inclusion.”

Poverty Around the World

After many struggles to contact EC professionals in other countries, I have come up dry, and will be using the alternate assignment. 

This week I listened to a podcast via the World Forum Foundation radio website http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php.  The podcast I listened to was with Mr. Meridas Eka Yora.  He is the founder and director of Fajar Hiayah for Islamic Education and director of the Yayasan Fajar Hidayah Foundation.  As many of us remember, there was a great earthquake in 2004 located in the Indian Ocean.  Indonesia was the closest land to the epicenter of this earthquake, and the territory of Aceh was devastated.  225 Indonesians died and 500k were left homeless.  In the wake of this devastation, what are homeless orphans to do?  Where are they to go?  This organization ran preschools for these orphans.  They also had nurses and psychologists for the children.  Yora spoke of a holistic approach to care.  He said it gives a family-feeling to the children. 

I hoped to find information about Indonesian childhood poverty from the CHIP organization (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/), but I saw information for China, India, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia.  I chose India because it is on the Indian Ocean like Indonesia, and unlike the other three options.  Also, we have a large Indian population in Richmond, VA.   

I learned that India is home to the majority of poor people in South Asia.  Almost half of the population is under the age of 18, and half of those children are malnourished.  India is also home to the largest number of working children in the WORLD…nearly 1/3 of these children are under 16 years of age.  This makes me uncertain if I should buy thing “made in India” to support these poor souls, or abstain from buying these products to boycott child labor.  I am amazed at the poverty level in this country…more than 25%.  Surprising enough as this is, the poverty level in Richmond, VA is 25%. I live in Henrico County (neighbor to Richmond City) and our poverty level is 9%, with a state-wide poverty level of 10%.  I can’t imagine if my entire country operated at this level of poverty.

(Poverty statistics for Virginia retrieved from www.census.gov)

Global Resources - International Step by Step Association

As I stated in my last blog post, I have chosen the International Step by Step Association for my web resources exploration – http://www.issa.nl . 

“The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is a membership organization that connects professionals and organizations working in the field of early childhood development and education. ISSA promotes equal access to quality education and care for all children, especially in the early years of their lives.”

Google Map of the ISSA Network
Retrieved from the http://www.issa.nl

 

I found this organization on my search for an international contact for the other part of my blog assignment for this class.  I saw the website for the ISSA attached to most of the names and countries on the Global Alliance of NAEYC page and decided to check it out.  My thoughts were that if that many countries had a connection to this organization, it would be well worth my time to check it out.

As I explored this site, my first instinct was to find some sort of newsletter.  I did find a newsletter that the organization puts out, but upon closer examination, I began to notice that all the articles were at least 2 years old…everything was dated 2010 or before.  This puzzled me, so I did some further investigation.  I found a place to become a member, and I believe you can only receive CURRENT newsletters if you are a member, which makes sense.  Being that I am a full time student with a low paying job who was also not in the countries to which the newsletters pertained, I decided to save my money and use the old newsletters that I COULD access instead.  I know that 2 years is rather out of date, but I figured it wasn’t SO out of date that I could not get a broad view of the kinds of things that are going on inside this organization. 

It appears that after some period of time (about 2 years), the newsletters for the ISSA are “released.”  I found a Winter 2010-2011 newsletter and in this newsletter was an article about Eurochild’s 7^th Annual Conference.  I read a little further to see what kinds of things might have been the topic of discussion at this conference.  After reading for a while, it seemed very similar to a NAEYC conference.  I have not been to a NAEYC conference, but I have been to and presented at a VAECE conference, which is the Virginia Association of Early Childhood Educators conference, and the topics seemed quite similar. 

One objective that caught my eye because of its correlation to this class of issues and trends in the field of EC, was ”In the framework of the European Year of Combatting Poverty and Social Exclusion, the conference highlighted the importance of EU efforts in helping member states fight child poverty and social exclusion, and brought suggestions of how this effort can be reinforced in the future.”  This was proof to me that America is not the only country that deals with these issues.  As I read on, I also learned that they seem to have some of the same difficulties with funding that we do.

I am excited to dive deeper into this organization that appears to be so similar to those I am already familiar with. 

Connections and Explorations in the EC Field

Here I am again...back at my keyboard...typing about my passion. 

This course will hopefully be the eyeglasses into my field that allow me to see more clearly the issues that we face as Early Childhood (EC) professionals.  Through this course I hope to gain more tolerance and understanding of those who are and who think differently from me.  This week's post is the beginning of a 2 part journey...the first part is a connection with an EC professional in another country...the second part is expanding my resources through website exploration.  Here are my findings form the week:
 

At first, my efforts to make a connection with EC professionals in other countries had proven exhausting and fruitless.  I spent hours searching blogs, and sending emails.  All of my emails were met with delivery failure notifications.  So, I tried something different.  I went back to the blog of a classmate I met a few months ago, and in her blog for this class (which she took LAST 8 weeks), she mentioned that she knew many people (friends and family) in Indonesia that are in the EC field.  I leapt for joy a little on the inside when I saw this!  I quickly sent her a message for some contact information and I am waiting to hear back.  I also have a co-worker who is from Serbia and I plan on asking her for help contacting someone she might know in Serbia in the EC field.  There is hope yet and I’m not quite ready to give up. 

The second part of my international journey the next eight weeks is finding more resources and expanding my library of places to turn for EC information and guidance.  I looked through many websites.  One of my favorites is the Zero to Three website because I work with infants.  I explored this site in detail in another one of my classes and if you have not yet, I HIGHLY recommend it!  Unfortunately, I have already explored this site and wanted to broaden my horizons a bit with something more international.  In search of another site, I explored many, but one really caught my eye:  http://www.issa.nl/global.html. 

 

This is the International Step by Step Association.  In all my efforts to find an EC professional in another country, this organization kept popping up.  When I explored it further, I saw that their main focus seems to be supporting EC professionals.  Bingo!  There is a books and tools tab that connects you to all kinds of great resources for EC teachers.  There was also contact information for each country’s ISSA Core Member.  I very much look forward to exploring this website in depth.