Economist Influence of Early Education

Did the people at NIEER get a copy of the course syllabus for this class? This blog posting on Preschool Matters Today for this week was right on topic. Megan Carolan, Policy Research Coordinator for  NIEER reported on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) holding its high level roundtable “Starting Strong: Implementing Policies for High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)” in Oslo, Norway this week. The round table was held January 24^th and 25 ^th.

 I learned that the OECD has 34 member nations that collaborate as a way to allow governments to share best practices and address common problems in many areas. The OECD has made early childhood and early care (EDEC) a special initiative since 1996, recognizing the impact of high-quality early learning on all of society.

The blog provided a link to video footage of the roundtable. Steve Barnett director of NIEER was the keynote speaker. Norway Minister of Education Kristen Halvorsen shared the progress Norway has made in improving access to quality EDEC. As a country Norway chose to address the issue of division of class and look at it root cause, access to education and especially early education was seen as a major cause. In 2003 Norway chose to look at how EDEC was funded and through 2010 has increased funding. They now have equal treatment of grants to public and private institutions and fund EDEC programs for all children, not just programs for children in poverty. The goal was to create equal access for all.

One of Norway's Outdoor Preschools

Minister Halvorsen argument, as former Minister of Finance, was that human capital was 70-80% of Norway’s wealth. Halvorsen stated the key to the countries future success was to have children that had a happy childhood, because a happy childhood last a lifetime. Therefore, the EDEC programs use a holistic approach rooted in play where curiosity, exploration and innovation are the focus. She also focused on the importance of having the ability to form and maintain human relationships.

Norway’s current goal is to increase staff competence, especially those working with very young children, but also throughout the EDEC field. Currently with an average 1-4 ratio only about 1/3 of the staff are qualified preschool teachers.

I was pleased to hear of Norway progress in EDEC and that their approach had allowed children to keep their childhoods. The fact that their former Minister of Finance, who is now the Minister of Education sees the value of early education but also the value in retaining childhood was encouraging to me. I hope that the US can learn from their progress and their approach!

Resources

 Preschool Matters Today retrieved from http://preschoolmatters.org/2012/01/27/early-education-on-the-international-scene/

 OECD Round Table. Norwegian Ministry of Education retrieved from http://media01.smartcom.no/Microsite/dss_01.aspx?eventid=6688

Childhood Poverty- International Contact

I have been communicating with Godfrey an Early Childhood Education Specialist from Kenya, Africa. (My second contact did not respond to any of my follow up emails.) In his current position Godfrey is working to train and educate teachers in early childhood development.

After sharing with Godfrey that the poverty level in the United States is growing and now at 14.3 percent as a nation and in New Jersey, where I live, it is 29 percent for children he replied that in Kenya the poverty rate is 56 percent. More than have the population is living in poverty and on less than a dollar a day.

Poverty affects the schools in a similar way to those in low-income areas of the US. There is limited or non-existent resources and low quality. There is a lack of materials and equipment necessary for effective learning to take place. We also discussed how play was important for learning and that many  early learning centers that are established in the slums or marginalized communities have very little land and therefore no place for the children to play. The educational outcome for students attending these centers is lower than students that attend schools in established communities where there are more resources.

Recently non-governmental organizations have become involve to help support the government’s efforts which he believes are insufficient in providing an equitable and quality education for all students even though they adopted the Education for All initiative. The Education for All initiative (EFA) is an international initiative of a coalition of national governments, civil society groups, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in affiliation with the World Bank to bring education to “every citizen in every society”. You can learn more about EFA by following the link below.

Since EFA was established in Kenya in 2003 basic education is now free but early childhood education was left out, resulting in very little governmental support. The most that is offered are a few grants to selected centers making quality early education unaffordable to most families in Kenya. Resulting in what we often see in the US, children of families that can afford to pay for early education enter primary school better prepared than those children that had no early education.

The same issue affects the quality and training of the teachers. Due to cost, very few teachers are trained in early childhood education, which results in the children being taught by unqualified personnel.  Godfrey also shared that the teacher salaries are very low in the poor neighborhoods leading to low morale and low quality of services provided.

Godfrey believes that positive change may be coming in Kenya as they passed a new constitution last year and now county governments will be responsible for early childhood education. He believes local communities will be better at effective change. He sees the biggest challenge will be the wide gap between the rich and the poor. He fears this will continue to influence the upward economic mobility of the poor.  

Another related issue is health care. Health care facilities are not easily accessible for most of the population in Kenya. Many families must travel a considerable distance to get to health care facilities or clinics. This results in many illnesses not being treated or vaccinated against. Many children become very sick or die from diseases which are easily treatable or preventable through vaccination. 

I now have a clearer picture of how so much of any nation’s economy and stability is tied to the education of it poorest citizens. I also now understand how parental education, access to health care and access to basic transportation are intertwined in their effect on children, their education and future earning potential. The mission of the EFA is an important one, as every citizen deserves a quality education for the good of all citizens.

Education for All http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20374062~menuPK:540090~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.html

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I chose to follow is NIEER, National Institute for Early Education Research.

The link to their website is http://nieer.org/ 

 Additionally you can follow NIEER of Facebook, Twitter or an RSS feed. I have chosen to follow on Facebook and to subscribe to their newsletter.

NIEER is affiliated with the Rutgers Graduate School of Education which is located in my home state of New Jersey.

When you arrive at the NIEER home page there are six distinct areas of information for you to choose from. The first is The State of Preschool Yearbook 2010, which provides an overview of preschool programs in each state. Effectiveness, enrollment numbers and state spending is reviewed.

The second is the most recent news about anything related to early childhood from across the country with links provide to the original article. Third is a listing to upcoming events and conferences related to early education around the world. Fourth is links to latest research in the field. Fifth is a featured NIEER publication.

Lastly is the link to the NIERR blog, Preschool Matters Today. The January 11, 2012 posting by Steve Barnett, Director of NIERR discusses the lack of economic mobility currently in the United States and how that adds urgency to the current debate over universal public pre-k. This issue is one that caught my attention.  Barnett states that recent research by the Brookings Institute found that 42% of children born into the lowest income will stay there as adults.  Barnett also reports that the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project finds the strongest link to children’s economic, educational and social-emotional outcomes is related to their parent’s education level in the United States.

The great debate over publicly funded pre-k is happening throughout this country especially during these tough economic times. Barnett and other members of the early childhood community are arguing for publicly funded pre-k for all students regardless of income. The benefit of reaching a larger percentage of low-income children is what struck me as strongest argument for universal pre-k.

As we discuss the effects of poverty on developmental outcomes for young children and research has shown that in order to break the cycle we need to raise educational levels of parents, shouldn't we start by giving each child the foundation they need in preschool for later school success changing the outcome for future generations? This week we learned that the fasted growing population in the US is Hispanic but they are also the population struggling the most educationally, with the lowest college graduation rate (Gándara, 2010). If we as a nation chose to offer universal pre-k, therefore reaching a larger percentage of low- income students but  also providing school- readiness benefits to all students we can have economic benefits for the entire nation (Barnett, 2012). Hispanic students, regardless of economic status would receive a quality pre-k education giving them they foundation they need for later success. With greater educational success for the largest growing population in the US we can have a positive impact of future economic mobility in this country.

References

Barnett, S., (2012, January 11). Lack of economic mobility add urgency to pre-k debates. Retrieved from National Institute for Early Education Research website http://preschoolmatters.org/2012/01/11/lack-of-economic-mobility-adds-urgency-to-the-pre-k-debates/

Gándara, P. (2010). The latino education crisis. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 24–30.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

In order to connect with early childhood professionals from outside the United States I reached out to members of early childhood groups on Linkedin. I participated in a Forum offered through Walden Universiy, Positioning Yourself for Success in Early Childhood. One of several recommendations on how to stay current in the field was to create a Linkedin account and become a member of the early childhood education groups that were of interest to me.

I have reached out to several member of the group in the hopes of getting two positive responses. I was very excited when I receive the second one this morning. I will be corresponding with Godfrey from Kenya and Lynn from Vietnam.

Godfrey is an Early Childhood Education & Development Specialist and is currently training teachers in Kenya. Lynn is an experienced international educator and is currently a Location Manager for an international childcare center in Vietnam. I am looking forward to communicating and learning from their experiences.

I have decided to study the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) website http://nieer.org/  . NIEER conducts and reports on current research in the field of early childhood education. I have found myself using many of the articles they have published during my coursework as I work towards my Master’s Degree. I firmly believe that the most influential way to create positive change in the field of early childhood to broaden the understanding of its importance. Compelling scholarly research can influence policy makers which in turn influences funding. As the nation, states and local communities make decisions about educational funding during this economic climate, having an understanding of the value of quality early childhood education for all children is imperative. I feel the work done by NIEER is of great importance in this area.

Advice to my colleagues is to keep reaching out when trying to make connections; it took multiple attempts before I got a positive response to my inquiries.  Also, think of alternative ways to connect with people; our classroom parents are so diverse now they may be able to connect you to someone from their home country. Good luck to all!