WEEK 4: Sharing Web Resources

Early Childhood Australia is an organization that advocates ensuring quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years.

The specific section that seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development is on their position statement on the issue of children of Asylum seekers. I believe currently in my path towards professional development, advocating for the rights of children to healthy living and quality education irrespective of whatever differences is a goal I desired to pursue

In the Australian context, Asylum seekers are people who have entered Australia, claiming refugee status under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and seeking the protection of the Australian Government. The treatment of asylum seekers in Australia varies depending on how they have entered the country and applied for refugee status. They may be placed in detention centers while their claims are processed or they may remain in the community while their claims are processed. It is in the context of these immigration policies and practices that children of asylum seekers and refugees are experiencing their childhood in detention or in the Australian community.(ECA position paper 2011) A summary of their position papers addresses concerns on how the needs of children of asylum seekers would be met given their situation. Meeting their basic needs of health care, nutrition, quality education and healthy interactive and stable environment like any other children as well as special needs as a result of trauma due to loss, complete change of culture and other damaging .Thesexperiences e needs must be addressed in a secure stable and healthy environment and relationship, preferably a primary caregiver; the mother, which usually cannot occur in detention centers they are sometimes placed. Therefore a call for support for the welfare of children and families of refugees is paramount The goal is to ensure the protection and healthy development of all children as well as achieve durable solutions which are appropriate to the immediate and long-term developmental needs of children. more

The new insight I got from their Resources themes is related to experiences that affect human lives. The issue is on global warming and the debate on why children should be informed. This information is written in consultation with the ECA Victoria Environmental Sustainability Special Interest Group, 2007, by Tracy Young of the Swinburne University of Technology. This issue has made me realize the need to educate children early on those factors that affects their development negatively or positively. This education would be done in an age appropriate manner, so that children can see themselves as active participant of change. For example, play and other creative activities.

Why do young children need to know about climate change? Are we really sure this is happening

It may be comforting to deny the scientific information about global warming, but the evidence is now overwhelming. Recent reports from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) prove that vast quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, created by human activities, are warming the planet. As former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, ˜The question is not whether climate change is happening but whether, in the face of this emergency, we ourselves can change fast enough.' (Annan, 2006).

Climate change will directly affect the lives of young children both now and in the future. It would be irresponsible for us not to share this information with children, to give them the opportunity to learn how their actions impact on the health of the planet. This knowledge enables children to learn how to be part of the climate change solution and teaches them that they can make a difference.( Young,2007). more

The information I got posted on their face book page and related to this week topic on contributions from other field is a video clip and a short insight on how science has help better understand importance of the early experiences to brain formation and the lifelong benefits. The video is part one of a three-part series titled "Three Core Concepts in Early Development" from the Center and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. The series depicts how advances in neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics now give us a much better understanding of how early experiences are built into our bodies and brains, for better or for worse. Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation. 

According to Jack P. Shonkoff, MD, Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University , neuroscience suggests that stronger returns on investment could come from programs that not only provide rich learning experiences for children but that also build the capacity of parents and other caregivers to protect young children from the consequences of toxic stress.“The circuits in the brain are very vulnerable to toxic stress, so even in the presence of good education later, children will not achieve as much as they would have if they’re not protected from this adversity early in their life,” said Dr. Shonkoff.

                                  Link to the video-

   http://youtu.be/VNNsN9IJkws

The other new insights I got from exploring the website of ECA is from their September 2012 Webwatch, Issue 147 on what makes children feel safe?

As part of National Child Protection Week (last week, 2-8 September) Save the Children Australia has talked with children aged as young as four about what makes them feel safe. Giving children a voice on this issue is the Safety Report. For a summary of their ideas and suggestions, check the Top Tips. The overarching aim of this process was to give children a voice so adults in their lives have a better idea about negative and positive things that improve or diminish their feelings of safety.(Save the children Australia ,2012).This to me is a good step in allowing children guide parents and caregivers on their needs and goals

                                                             Reference

Early Childhood Australia: The Australian Early Childhood Advocacy Organization
http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/
https://www.facebook.com/earlychildhoodaustralia?fref=ts

Week 3: Issues and Trends: Poverty

This week we are addressing issues on poverty and how it affects children and the early childhood field and roles of various professionals and organization in addressing it. My effort to exchange contacts with a professional in the field was not fruitful, so decided to adopt alternative B, I read and listened to the podcast from world forum foundations. World forum foundation brings the international community together to exchange ideas on the early childhood education. I was particular more focused on the professionals that addressed issues of poverty and its related attributes. I read more information from their website on what they do to address poverty in the early years also and I explored the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy centre (CHIP)

Fajar Hidayah  Foundation  

http://www.fajarhidayah.com/en/photogallery/others/Fajar_Hidayah_brief_history.pdf

Meridas Eka Yora is the founder and director of the institution Fajar Hiayah for Islamic Education and Director of the Yayasan Fajar Hidayah Foundation. Meridas developed three boarding schools for children orphaned as a result of that devastation in Aceh which was a result of the earthquake and tsunami in which more 225,000were killed and 500,000 were left homeless. He created a family kind of environment for the children alongside their learning, teachers were trained to be father and mother to these kids while teaching them, psychologist were initially employed, to help children traumatized by tsunami and war, but they later realized the children needs more of a feeling of home, so the children were made to relate,like  brother and sisters, helping one another ,like if they were in their home.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Fajar Hidayah’s corporate social responsibility is reflected in its socio financial policy manifested

as follows:

1. Free education for the children of Fajar Hidayah’s teachers and employee.

2. Free morning snacks and lunch for Fajar Hidayah’s teachers and employees as well as their children who study in Fajar Hidayah.

3. Free extended education for poor families with children age 4 to 15, in the surrounding neighborhood of every Fajar Hidayah School.

4. Scholarship for orphans from other schools.

5. Scholarship for higher education.

6. Free life skill training for orphans or poor families

7. Free family and Shari’a counseling.

Liberty Foundation

www.libertyfoundation.org.uk

It provides care and education for abused and abandoned children in Belize, Central America, Although Belize has the second highest per capita income in Central America, the average income figure masks a huge income disparity between rich and poor. The 2010 Poverty Assessment shows that more than 4 out of 10 people live in poverty. “Drugs, violence, prostitution and teen pregnancy are an all-too-common reality for Belizean children, who have few positive alternatives.”
(UNICEF)

Delfena Mitchell is Director of the Liberty Children’s Home, on the outskirts of Belize City. This program opened in the summer of 2005 and is licensed to house up to 40 children, predominantly between births to 5 years of age. However, older children who have younger siblings in care are and will always be accommodated.  it  aimed to give children much more than just shelter and food, by providing an environment where children are respected, nurtured and treated as individuals. The foundation helps abused and abandoned children regain their self-esteem, to develop trust in adults and to form healthy relationships. Liberty works closely with the Belize Human Services Department and strives to ensure successful placements with foster or adoptive families, if not reunification with a family member. It provides education for up to forty pre-school children in the local community of Ladyville, including those with special needs. (liberty foundation,2012)

                     

                             CHIP - http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=rationale

Poverty denies opportunities to people of all ages. Lost opportunities in childhood cannot always be regained later - childhood is a one-off window of opportunity and development. Poverty experienced by children, even over short periods, can affect the rest of their lives. Malnutrition in early childhood, for example, can lead to life-long learning difficulties and poor health.
Today's poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents. Poverty can be passed on from generation to generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families and of society as a whole. Tackling childhood poverty is therefore critical for eradicating poverty and injustice world-wide.
The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre is a collaborative research and policy programme which involves Save the Children, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and partners in China, India, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Running from 2001 to 2005, it aims to contribute to global poverty reduction efforts by:
• Deepening understanding of the main causes of childhood poverty and poverty cycles, and increasing knowledge of effective strategies to tackle them in different contexts
• Examining economic and social factors at different levels - international, national and local - which contribute to poverty in childhood
 Informing effective policy to end childhood poverty, communicating research findings to policy makers, practitioners and advocates
• Raising the profile of childhood poverty issues and increasing commitment to tackling them through anti-poverty policy and action.

. In partner countries and through its global programme of work, CHIP focuses on and draws attention to the ways in which poverty affects large numbers of urban and rural children, not only particularly disadvantaged groups such as street children or child-headed households. The CHIP programme emphasizes the importance of preventing poverty in the particularly vulnerable first years of life thereby reducing the chance of poverty persisting over an individual’s life course or through the generations. (Chip, 2012)

Reading through these website and listening to the professionals in the podcast have further broaden my knowledge on poverty and how it affects children in the early years and how it could cause along lasting damage and a reoccurring chain of poverty. I have also realize the need to address this issue seriously and how as a professional try as much to be a part of change. Children should have the opportunity grow, develop and learn attain their fullest potential, poverty should not be allowed to make it a choice to choose from.

                                                                     References


 Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre.

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Fajar Hidayah  Foundation  http://www.fajarhidayah.com/en/photogallery/others/Fajar_Hidayah_brief_history.pdf

Liberty Foundation

www.libertyfoundation.org.uk

WEEK 2-SHARING WEB RESOURCE

EARLY CHILDHOOD AUSTRALIA

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

The organization I decided to explore their website in order to learn about issues affecting children and their family and the early childhood field is early childhood Australia. The organization is a non-profit, non-government organization that acts in the interests of young children aged from birth to eight years of age, it advocates to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years. Last week I subscribed to their newsletter but I am yet to receive any mail. So I decided to read through the latest news development from their website

This September 2012, was for the first time the publication of  Early years workforce strategy. The Strategy is an important document which sets out for the first time how all governments will support the early childhood education and care workforce to gain the skills they need to continue to provide Australian children with the best start to life. It reflects a commitment by governments to address the immediate priorities for the early childhood education and care workforce, while at the same time working towards a broader long-term strategy with a focus on supporting more integrated ways of working across the early childhood development sector.The Strategy supports the workforce for all early childhood education and care services including long day care, family day care, in home care, occasional care and preschools whether stand alone or operating within schools. It is also relevant to outside school hour’s care and vacation care.(Early childhood Australia,2012)

The Australian and each state and territory government have committed to developing implementation plans which outlines the steps that will be undertaken to support people to join the early education and care workforce and to get the qualifications and skills they need to support children from diverse backgrounds and with differing needs.The Strategy builds on Investing in the Early Years—A National Early Childhood Development Strategy, which was endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in July 2009. The vision of the ECD Strategy captured the aspirations of governments that by 2020 all children will have the best start in life to create a better future for them and for the nation.(Early childhood Australia,2012)

This Early Years Workforce Strategy reflects a commitment by governments to address the immediate priorities for the ECEC workforce, and at the same time work towards a long-term broader strategy for the workforce with a focus on supporting more integrated ways of working across the ECD sector. The ECEC workforce comprises educators working in education and care services including long day care services, family day care services and outside school hours care as well as in preschools and kindergartens.The Strategy will help build a highly-skilled and capable workforce, which is essential in fostering high-quality services and achieving the best outcomes for children. There is increasing recognition that the work of caring for and educating young children is complex and requires enhanced qualifications and ongoing professional development. Programs delivered by qualified educators are particularly effective in improving outcomes for vulnerable children. The Strategy provides the first commitment by all governments to an agreed vision and long-term framework for the early childhood education and child care workforce. It will be used to develop immediate areas of action and longer term policy options.Responsibility for developing a sustainable ECEC workforce is shared between service providers; early childhood educators; the peak bodies for the sector, including unions; the Australian, state, territory and local governments; training providers; families; and communities. All of these stakeholders contribute to workforce development for the sector and can drive change by working together.(Early childhood Australia,2012)

Read the Strategy

·         Early Years Workforce Strategy ( PDF 454KB |  DOCX 418KB)

Another information I noted while going through the website from the early childhood Australia web watch which seems to be related to the topic this week is the issue 146, August 2012, which addresses the issue of racism. In 2011, the Australian Government committed to develop and implement a National Anti-Racism Strategy for Australia.the Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner, Helen Szoke, launched the new strategy (the full document is available here). ‘This Strategy aims to raise awareness of racism and the harm it causes, and empower individuals and communities to take action against it,’ said Dr Szoke.

Australia is a multicultural country, with people of different cultures Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, as well as Australians who identify with more than 270 ancestries, Racism becomes an issue of concern.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

After reading through the instruction for this week blog assignment, I decided to go for option A because I felt communicating with a professional from another country would helped me have varied perspective to issues and trends in the early childhood field. I decided to choose Egypt and Australia as my countries of interest, although I sent to other countries in order to be on a safe side. I chose Egypt because of the recent revolution and I wanted to know what are the issues were been addressed currently in regards to children and their families. Egypt UNICEF strike my interest because UNICEF as an organization is worldwide and have been known to address several issues to support child development, Australia on the other hand is a country I always wish to settle down and raise my family, it is a beautiful country filled with beautiful natural endowment .I was then curious to know about issues that affects children there and how organizations tend to address this challenges.

I wrote to some organizations but I have only received a response from UNICEF Egypt stating that my request would be forwarded to the appropriate quarters; meanwhile I could go through their website for more information about them and what they do. This is a copy of the letter in English and Arabic, I am still waiting for a response.

THE LETTER

Thank you for your interest in UNICEF, your email will be forwarded to the concerned staff.

For information about UNICEF programmes in Egypt, please visit our UNICEF Egypt Country Office website on: http://www.unicef.org/egypt.

 You can also learn more about UNICEF global actions on: http://www.unicef.org


نشكر لكم اهتمامكم باليونيسف ، سيتم تحويل بريدكم الإلكترونى الى المسئول المختص

www.unicef.org/egypt لمزيد من المعلومات عن برامج اليونيسف فى مصر يمكنكم زيارة موقع يونيسف مصر

http://www.unicef.org للمزيد من المعلومات عن انشطة اليونيسف على مستوى العالم برجاء زيارة موقعنا

I went through their website and  read about services they render such as Child survival and development, Basic education and gender equality, Children and HIV /AIDS, Child protection, Policy advocacy and partnership. I also read through their press release on how they have supported displaced families of Libya and Syrian crisis along the Egypt's borderline. UNICEF helped through deployment of staff and humanitarian relief supplies in Egypt to provide support, especially in the areas of child protection, water and sanitation, health and nutrition. I also read that Etisalat Egypt; a communication organization and UNICEF signed an agreement to provide safe water connection to 1000 households in Qena Governorate

As for the organization I choose to explore in order to get to know specific ways in which the organization supports the Early childhood community and the resources it offers,I chose Early Childhood Australia.i subscribed to their newsletter for regular update and also decided to follow them on face book page,in order to be able to read comments and opinions on issues posted for discussion.

Early childhood Australia’s mission is to advocate in ensuring quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years. Their advocacy is achieved through conferences, seminars, research work and publications. I intend to read more about their role in supporting children and their development, this would give me the opportunity to understand how they address these issues and the knowledge gained can probably be applied elsewhere in the world