The International Early Childhood Field

            Throughout this course I had a great opportunity to converse with two international professionals and discuss major concerns about children, families, professionalism as well as personal teaching experiences within the field of early childhood education. Through my contacts I acquired helpful information which relates to their commitment and passion for the field. Along with their commitment and passion for the field I acquired at least three consequences learning about the international early childhood field and they are cultural differences, poverty plus budget issues and defining quality of education.

            As I spoke with N. Wright my international contact for the country of the Philippines she expressed the importance of teachers having “cultural competence” (N. Wright Personal communication 2012) Teachers need to “enhance their cultural competence”, in other words get to know your students personally as well as their family values, beliefs and cultural backgrounds. She discusses teaching with little discrimination and judgment as possible. I understand this method for professional and personal development because without cultural competence and knowledge about the students we teach even internationally the consequences which may arise are lack of building relationships with student’s children and families. This issue can trickle down to being an effective teacher.  

            My second consequence learning about the international early childhood field is the poverty plus budget issues within one of the country of Thailand. Talking with P. Wetzel about budgeting and lack of school supplies helped me realize the importance of utilizing resources for teaching in the classroom. P. Wetzel shared her personal experience as a first grade teacher teaching in Thailand. She talked about her students saving chop sticks to use as counting material, using rubber bands and tying them together to create a jump rope to play with and using left over newspaper to cut or tear to make puppets. From her experience I saw her method of not only recycling ever day materials that most students take for granted but utilizing everything around us as teaching tools. She emphasized how the schools she taught at was very poor and was surprised to see that when she traveled to the United States years ago how most child development centers or preschools had little to no problem using pasta, rice or beans for craft projects. I began to understand the importance of children and families in other countries living in poverty with not enough of the essential foods like pasta, rice, and beans that can feed many children and their families. I couldn’t help to realize how policy changes in early childhood programs with using food as craft materials really impacts lives even teachers.

            Lastly quality in education internationally is slightly different than the United States. From other blog readings and international education websites I determined some countries have children in school for longer hours, are involved more within their community and need several support systems to ensure young children have their basic needs met first.  This information contributes to my professional and personal development because learning about cultural differences and education priorities builds my knowledge as well as opens up my awareness to accepting differences in teaching methods.

            One international early childhood education goal I would hope to see in the near future is building solid relationships with other international educational professionals. I trust the more communication is made with other professionals the more shared information and knowledge is learned between groups. Through communication educators can form better alliances that contribute to better futures for our children.

            I would like to take a moment to thank my colleagues that contributed to my understanding of issues and concerns within the field of early childhood education. As I continue my quest in early childhood studies I hope my colleagues continue to stay passionate about the field and continue to work hard in building and investing in ways to make better lives for our nation. I have enjoyed this course.

My International Contacts-Sharing ideas between EC professionals

                I was able to establish a phone conversation with each of my international EC (Early Childhood) professional contacts. They are Ms. Nestoria Wright from the Philippines and Ms. Pon Wetzel from Thailand. I asked them each of the major questions from the Blog Assignment in the following order

1) What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

2) What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

3) What are some of your professional goals?

4)       What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

As I listened closely to their answers I found that some of their answers were similar to each other. Although I wish I could share in detail each conversation I will try my best to briefly describe the similarities between each EC professional.

My first conversation began with Ms. Nestoria Wright from the Philippines and just in case you haven’t read my previous blog post (week 5) she is currently teaching classes at Minot Air Force Base Health and Wellness center for adults reaching their goals to quit smoking. Her previous experience included: teaching first grade students in the Philippines, receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching and Education, receiving her Master’s Degree and is currently working on her dissertation for PhD for Walden University.  

The main issue regarding quality with EC professionals discussed in her country by N. Wright (2012) is “modeling character development.” She describes the importance of teachers taking “time to understand their students and helping children understand their parent’s responsibilities… because teachers spend more time with them than their parents or nannies every day” she continues to say “teachers must cultivate their passion for teaching consistency and dedication.” The opportunities available for professional development is described as “limitless” (N. Wright Personal Communication 2012) she expresses the importance of teachers continuing their personal education and teacher’s in the Philippines are provided training by a sponsor for instance if a teacher wants to learn about “common behavioral issues, there is training for that and sponsors can help guide them to attend national conferences, seminars, workshops or meetings…it just depends on what the teacher wants to learn” (N. Wright Personal Communication 2012). Her professional goals include “applying my knowledge in the field, not giving up teaching because I love it so much, I try and take stress management and public speaking courses. Ultimately I just want to cultivate my passion in teaching and share my knowledge with others and pass it on…I want to continue teaching graduate students how to teach and teach well” (N. Wright personal communication 2012) One of her challenges she mentioned was keeping her attitude positive when she comes across difficult students. By difficult students she explains teaching students at the graduate level that are significantly older than her and struggle with retaining information. She experience difficulty with these students in a way that they often question her knowledge and character when she teaches them. However she says “despite them you must still be respectful to them but encourages me to be prepared, try not to take criticism personally…I try and be nice and be positive about those experiences.” (N. Wright personal communication 2012)  

My next phone conversation involved Ms. Pon Wetzel from Thailand; I was unable to mention her in my last blog assignment because I felt the assignment was going to overall look like I wrote a book.

P. Wetzel holds her Bachelor’s (teaching) degree from Thailand and taught pre-school up to 6^th grade. And a Child Development (CDA) credential from the United States.  In our previous conversation she described the major teaching issue in Thailand as not having enough money or a school budget for school supplies. The ways she and her colleagues made teaching work was to be creative in the resources that they had around them for example she compared a child development classroom as having materials to teach the students numbers and counting “in my country we don’t have that we use leftover chop sticks, clean them and bundle them up and lay them on the table to help children move them over to count to twenty, instead of having jump ropes for outside here in America we use rubber bands, tie them together so the children can jump and play…the schools were very poor.” (P. Wetzel Personal communication 2012)

The main issue regarding EC professionals and quality education by P. Wetzel (2012) is budget for schools in Thailand. She describes teachers overcoming this issue by “sharing each other’s strengths” for example “In America teachers go to training together but in Thailand they tell them to go out individually then at the end come back and share what they found out with everyone else…most of the time the teaching came from our ‘old people’ because they are much wiser and they know more” (P. Wetzel Personal communication 2012) Her experience she described was going out into the local community and going to the “old people” to help them find the tree or branch for paint and color or learn how to make clay pots or toys to play. Her answer also tied into professional development that exist in Thailand, going out and learn from the “older teachers” (P. Wetzel Personal Communication 2012) Her personal goals include just wanting to teach in a preschool here in the United States. Her challenges include having a “license to teach” in the schools. “ It’s hard because in Thailand once you have your degree there is already a job for you to teach, here in America you need a license.” P. Wetzel Personal Communication 2012).

One of the interesting similarities I found from both my contacts was there desire to learn from each other or other professionals in the field. I found that they both mentioned similarities in keeping up with the current technology and asking Early Childhood associations to donate and support in placing computers in classrooms. In terms of excellence and quality they both agreed quality begins in continuing professional development and to always train or learn.

Pictures from

http://www.ihbangkok.com/page/33-ih_bangkok_english_language_school_english_courses_for_thai_school_summer_break.html

Sharing Web Resources-Open Various Pathways (Ms. Jay)

As I continued to explore the Association for Childhood Education International website, http://acei.org/  I came across some interesting “quick links”acei.org (2012). The first link was called “Chapters” acei.org (2012) and this link took me to a list of states within the nation which provided names of educational leaders or associates that want to connect more and show information like news and current events that are happening within other countries. I decided to click on “Country Chapters” and follow the link to an international website for Hong Kong China.

 I found this website fascinating because not only did the website provide links posted in their native language but also pictures and hints of the English language as well. I clicked on the first link to the left of the screen with Lego blocks as the picture, scrolled down and found a newsletter for a 35^th Anniversary Conference held in the Philippines. Acei-hkm.org (2012) the website provided a pdf. File of the newsletter and delivered basic information and what the educational professionals addressed as far as inclusion, story-telling and emotional development. Since I didn’t see anything related to the topic this week I decided to go back to the Associate for Childhood Education International website and search some more. I found under the “Conferences” “quick links”acei.org (2012) again a link that said “Childcare: Exchange Childcare leaders” and found myself on a website which supports administrators and educational professionals looking for ideas with “Supporting early childhood professionals worldwide in
their efforts to craft thriving environments for children and adults.”secure.ccie.com (2012) this link provided information on an issue concerning raising money online.

 From reading this short information encouraged my thinking on how much people rely on social networks to keep in contact with each other and the network receives money. I thought what an idea! How awesome would it be to have a “social network” for individuals, teachers, researchers, colleagues, professors, and community partners etc. that have a passion for child development, current events, research, study and education? Imagine the type of funding for education can be raised worldwide through this social network? The possibilities with this network could grow pretty big. People can donate towards different areas of children’s needs like food, clothing, medical supplies, toys, and supplies for local schools and educational programs. What a massive communication tool for everyone.

 I then decided to look towards the Global Campaign for education link. I know I signed up to receive an e-newsletter and haven’t received one yet. I found that children of Chile are struggling for free education. How interesting to read on about people demonstrating their fight for their children’s free education by protesting. I read about how they protest by going on hunger strikes and sleeping in their schools. This information only adds to my understanding of equity and excellence in education by revealing the reality of struggles and hardships for those who truly want a better life for our world’s children. I provided a list of links below please check them out to further particular interests.

Reference Links

Chapters

http://www.acei.org/chapters/locate-a-chapter.html#CC  

Hong Kong

http://www.acei-hkm.org.hk/news.asp

Conference Link

http://www.ccie.com/conference_calendar/index.php

Exchange Link

https://secure.ccie.com/eed/issue/3048/

Global Campaign for Education Chile

 http://www.campaignforeducation.org/chile