The role of early childhood education in establishing a sustainble society

Qemuge mentions Urad Front Banner is a small, remote, poverty-stricken town in Inner Mongolia in North Central China with a population of 574, 000. It provides an insigth into difficult situations as fast as sustainable development is a concern. This includes a series of problems that the rapid desertification of grasslands has caused, such as sandstorms and natural disasters. Economic development is increasingly challenging lives due to higher energy consumption, the pollution of water and the threat to the most important water source, the Yellow River. The scary part, only a small portion of the citizens worry about it.
So where does this leave the educational system? How does this effect the children? Sustainable development on the part of individuals is both a prerequisite for enabling people to live harmoniously together in the world and a constitutional right. Early childhood education should play an important part in building a sustainable society because it can be seen as the first stage in building a sustainable lifestyle. In Urad, the rapid economic progress had not only helped the citizens overcome poverty, but has made people realize the importance of knowledge. We need knowledge to understand the connection between quality of life and social development. The attitude of ECE has rapidly changed in recent years. In the 1980's, because of poverty and low levels of adult literacy, there were misunderstandings of ECE. Now, they believe that ECE is very important phase for children's long-term development. This changed occurred because of the development, assistance, and community. In the 1980's there were only two programs. Now, there are two public and 11 private. Overall the programs in Urad, have improved over the years. The children are provided the opportunity to learn in a private or public school. Like the article mentions, knowledge is power. To learn, is to teach.

Education for peace in a sustainable society

According to Fuentes, education has a relevant mission to help individuals in creating identities for peace. Girls and boys who had an identity that gives them security, a capacity for contact and empathy, are beings of peace. On the other hand, those who are conceived as weak, isolated and lonely, become hostile and sad beings. To remove them from this situation is a difficult task. Those with a positive identiy contribute to peace, to nations and communities that value themselves, without deteriorating that values of others. Current conditions in Latin America- such as pollutio, ecological deterioration, industrialization, the unplanned expansion of citites with a huge urban maginality, that rates of deforestation, erosion and reduction of cultivated land, reduced space for the survival of indigenous minorities, difficult access to water and natural resources, which are increasingly precarious are explained by some of those undesirable effects of development and modernization.
My question, how does a country that is in such needs, have their needs met when it comes to early childhood education?

The Contribution of ECE to a Sustainable Society (UNESCO)

At first, I was overwhelmed when I down loaded this article. To make it less intimidating, I decided to read over the contents and decide which articles was most interesting. After looking at the first two, I decided to read the entire article.
Overall, there was a consensus of amoung the participants that ensuring access to quality of early childhood care and education for all children with an important pre-condition that enables societies to be sustainable as well as an essential goal towards which all countries must strive. Every child has the right to adequate care, learning, development, and protection, and a sustainable society is where everyone's rights are recognized, respected and fulfilled. Increasing investment in improving access, quality, and equity of early childhood provision and supporting families is an urgent necessity. This requires government commitment and leadership, around which other stakeholders, including international and donor communities, can be mobilized (Chalmer, 2006). According to Delors (1998), the four pillars of learning proposed by the Delors Report (UNESCO, 1998) learning to be, learning to do, learning to learn, learning to live together- are so relevant in developing early childhood education in service of sustainable development.
Fuji and Izumi (2007) explains the Silkworm Project in Kyoto Japan. This project at the Takatsukasa Hoikuen Childcare Center is a hands on environmental educational program for children. The children learn how to nurture, care, and maintain the silkworms. This project begins at the age of three and continues with the children as the get older.
I believe that this type of learning can happen in Hawai`i. There are so many natural resources that can be used in the classroom.

Crossing Boundries Preschool Stories

This article created Preschool Stories as a tool to examine the creativity of children through art. The teacher would use the child's art as a form of assessment. However, this tool contained a interview and parent participation. According to Rinaldi in Project Zero & Reggio Children 2001, viewing children as "component and strong" accompanies the actions of documentation as learning is made visible and "enables reading, revisiting, and assessement in time and in space, and these actions become an intergal part of knowledge-building process."
I do agree that there needs to be alternative assessments for keiki. For our program we administer the Dial 3, PPVT, and Worksampling System. In addition, we are implementing the Positive Behavior Support Program within our division. I do agree with some of the assessments we use. I don't think that there can be one true program that works. I think as a professional, you need to find what works for you.
I liked the idea of utilizing preschool stories, however like the concerns with limitations, I had questions about the process of preschool stories. What were the ages of the children? Does the teacher do this of all of the children? Personally, I would love to try this with our keiki, but I don't think that I would be able to complete this will all of the children. In this article, I like the way Sarah was able to complete and explain her collage and drawings. However, would I be able to have 2-3 year olds do this? I am not sure.
After reading the entire article, I realized that this was done not only a year, but for a few years to show the child's growth.
Overall, I agree that there should be alternative types of assessment, professionals need to use what works best for them.

The Love of Play

According to article by Sheryl Reinisch and Will Parnell, the Helen Gordon Center’s Reggio-inspired practices, documentation is thinking about thinking, talking about learning, revisiting the subject matter studied, and displaying it for further discussion and learning opportunities. Developed over time, this has become a way for the learning field to communicate what is being learned, how, and why. Documentation has become a meta-cognitive process for children, teachers, and the community. Children revisit documented panels and representative work, create new stories about their prior learning with parents, friends, and co-learning teachers, and talk about past happenings while looking at their own languages on the walls and display shelves of the school.
Ceppi and Zini (1998) describe it as following:
It is not a question of styles. A relational space is an environment fabric rich in information, without formal rules. It is not the representation of a school, but a whole made up of many different identities, with a recognizable feel about it, in harmony with a set of values and references that guide each choice and line of research. In this space, the aesthetic quality depends (also) on the quality of the connections. (p. 13)
This website shared a great description about the Helen Gordon Center. I am more concerned about providing opportunity for children to learn through play by using their imagination. So if your program is well funded, with a beautiful school, quality curriculum, expensive equipment, then its this the best type of play for children?
As I teacher, I like to provide the children with opportunity. The opportunity for them to share their knowledge from home to school. Then, we set up a curriculum based around their knowledge. Then, we scaffold with different materials, books, and continue to teach the child. During free center time, the children are allowed to go to any center they choose to go to. At this time, the children use build social skills, incoporate imagination, invent, build curiosity, persistance.
I am not saying that the Reggio Program is not good. All I am saying is that children do not need expensive instructional materials to play. All they need is themself and other children.

Supporting Grandparents who raise Grandchildren

According to Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf (2009), in spite of the fact that families continue to work together with one shared goal- to give all children opportunities to pursue their dreams and achieve success. For me, this an important practice. I feel that every child learns in their own way. However, you need to keep in mind of the challenges that families are faced with. With the fall of our economy, increased drug use, and other challenges, as early childhood educators we need to nurture, guide, and work with families. As educators, we need to collaborate with families to meet the needs of each child.
With our program, at the beginning of the year we do home visits. The purpose of the home visit is for the child to become familiar with his/her teacher. For all children, this is their first learning experience. Therefore, the home visit helps the children to feel comfortable sharing their space with unfamiliar adults. This usually makes transition smoother for the child.
In addition, we have three rating periods- fall, winter, and spring. For each rating period, there is a parent/teacher conference. For the fall conference, we set goals for the child and parent. In addition the parent will share any questions or concerns they may have with their child. At times, there are grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, or aunty's that may come to the conference. Many times parents are not able to get off from work. Therefore, we may share some of the information with the adult. However, I do a telephone conference with the parent.
For our program, we have mandatory parent meetings in the evenings. This is to accommodate working parents. For the past few years, it has been very successful.
If we do have further concerns for a child, our program offers additional support. We now has a full-time counselor. The counselor will work one-to-one with the child and families. This is new for us, but since we have had a counselor, it has been such great help for the parents.
More and more, I see grandparents taking the role as parents. There are personal reasons because of this. However, as educators we need work with our kupuna and kokua. With kokua it maybe reminding them of daily routines, upcoming events, and going the extra mile. As a result, it will make the classroom a better learning environment for all families.

From Whitlam to Economic Rationalism and Beyond

After reading this article, it made me reflect on the changes in Early Childhood Education in the United States. Has is improved? Or has service decreased? If it has improved, how has it improved? Or how has it decreased?
For Australia, there has been a shift in change. During the years of the Whitlam Government, there was substantial funding for child care. Funding changed where there was a fee subsidies for users for-profit services and the removal of operational subsidies to not-for-profit services in 1997. In 2000, there has been an introduction of the Childcare Benefit to stimulate private sector investments in child care. The Australian Government announced a 30 percent fee rebate scheme to further enhance the appeal of childcare provision to for-profit operators and investors. By 2004, fewer than 30 percent of children attending long day care services attended not-for-profit services, a dramatic contrast to the Whitlam era when almost all were not-for-profit (Sumison, 2006).
In my opinion, money is the driving force behind all Early Childhood Education Programs. Is this right? No. I feel that money should not talk for a program. On Kaua`i, there has been a serve decrease in Head Start hours. The employees start at 7:45 am and end at 11:30 am. So why such a drastic change in hours. The reason is decrease in funding. As a result, the children suffer. I feel that we need for advocate for our children. There needs to be policy for all children to receive early intervention. How do we do this? We need to write to our leaders who we placed in office. Will it make a change? I am not sure. However, if just sit back and watch changes happen then I feel that we agree to disagree.
President Judy Radich (2004) has emphasized, however, the need to make our advocacy efforts more 'strategic, effective, and sustainable'. In this article, I go a step further to argue that we should consider shifting our priorities from advocacy to activism and from policy to politics. These are fine distinctions and warrant elaboration.