The organization that I
chose to study further for the purposes of this course is Early Childhood Australia. This organization offers teaching tips
and tools for teachers as well as opportunities for teachers to further their
education. It also offers resources for parents on how to handle various
developmental problems and an e-newsletter that is full of articles on current
events and tips as well as news on policy making and government involvement in
the early childhood field. The link to this website is: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/.
One issue that the newsletter from this organization that
I noticed that we would relate to in America is that of offering parenting
classes to young people of various cultures. In the December news article there
was talk of an organization helping young Aboriginal men how to become good
fathers and often times we find that young men and women in low income areas
and households also need some teaching on how to be quality parents. Maybe it
is their age and maybe it is their circumstance but it is a fact that parenting
classes are something that should be offered to a lot of people both here and
in other countries.
One thing that I learned from this organization is that
no matter what country you live in there is always room for more professional
development and everyone takes the education of young children very seriously. Studying
the way other countries experience their early childhood programs and the
education of their teachers is helpful in leading me toward my goals of having
our nation take on a bigger role in the education of our youngest children.
Everyone stresses learning for kids in K-5 classrooms but what about smaller
children. Other countries take serious this area of study while every state in
our nation has a different set of guidelines for what their teachers have to do
to teach. This organization takes the time to stress education and provides
teachers with opportunities to do further their education. America should
consider this as a nation and not just individual states.
Jennifer, thank you for sharing about Early Childhood Australia. I had never heard of them before. I agree with your comment about how we as a nation need to have consistent guidelines across our states like other countries do. It bothers me that we have such a wide range of requirements for preschool teachers in each state. We need to be able to provide consistent, quality education to all students regardless of where they live. I have to wonder how other countries have arrived at those consistent guidelines for their programs.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer for sharing information with the Early Childhood Australia, it's always good to learn new information on places and organizations that I never knew existed. Yes it is stressful that all states aren't on one accord with the requirements that teachers requirements to teach children. I'm for one who agrees with Universal preschool that provides the same education to all no matter the income guideline or where you live. Thanks Jennifer for the helpful information!
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this resource, it was very informative. I totally agreed with you when you stated no matter what country you live in there is always room for more professional development and everyone takes the education of young children very seriously, I was trying to contact a few acquaintances over in Africa referring to their early childhood educational programs or facilitates but noone has heard of such "professional" organizations, not even professionals per say. There is always room for improvement just like in the US, now we are talking about teaching Cultural Diversity in the early childhood stages to better prepare our children for the future, due to the demographic changes in our communities and the country over all. Great Post.