Global Initiatives on Excellence and Equity

During my exploration of the website I have gained new ideas about early childhood systems around the world. I particularly liked the Global Children Initiative that is focused on improving early childhood practices and children’s healthy development by working with policy makers, educators and researchers. I really like the fact that an importance is being placed on early intervention strategies. Most often, there are problems that pre-existing that can really pose problems to a child’s development and learning. As mentioned in the article, “supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track” is part of the strategy used to help children with some of their problems that they are experiencing. (Global Children’s Initiative, 2010, p.1).

In addition, as a part of this Initiative, I learned that Africa has taken steps to improve their early childhood practices by developing an assessment test that tracks children developmental progress before and throughout their school years. Zambia has developed this test so that they can measure the effects of the anti-malaria project used to help children who may be affected by sickness.

In conclusion, another insight gained is the awareness of different illnesses that effects the healthy development of children. Many children around the world are affected by issues such as, poverty, illness, and more. The Global Children Initiative has implemented programs around the world to help assist with these issues concerning the healthy development of children.

References:

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

The Association for Childhood Education International has been a very interesting and informative sight to study. I particularly found interest in the section on Global Summit on Childhood and their annual conference. This is important to my professional development because it allows early childhood professionals to come together to learn new and informing information, as well as the different issues that are affecting children and their families. As stated by ACEI, “the  Executive Board has opted to offer Summits on Childhood throughout the Decade. This will provide continuity to the discussions on childhood and hopefully provide continuity for relationship building and collegial networking as well” (2012, p.1). Being able to network with other early childhood professionals is very important to professional development.

Also, while reading the different articles on the website, I did read something that made me feel controversial, as well as, something that made me think about children’s rights and the association of businesses. I read an article entitled, Children’s Rights and Business Principles. There was a sentence that read, “at the close of the launch, difficult questions and considerations were brought out, particularly concerning how to mainstream children's rights and how to make them a business driver, as opposed to a set of requirements” (ACEI, 2012, p.1) The article had some great things to say concerning children, but I am a bit confused by the statement.

In addition, the website also highlighted how different countries and politicians have supported equal rights for the education of all children. India has upheld new laws concerning all children be able to get a quality education regardless of income. I think this shows how people from different countries are starting to see the importance of quality early childhood education.

In conclusion, I found an amazing amount of information concerning topics such as; gender discrimination in education, child poverty in economically advanced countries, global trends and more. One important thing I learned from researching the website is that children all over the world suffer from the same things. Poverty, poor nutrition, lack of quality education, and other issues seem to plague children worldwide. All of these things are issues that have to get better in order for children to have a fighting chance at becoming successful in their adult lives.

References:

Association for Childhood Education International. ACEI Upcoming Conference Schedule (2012). Exploring new ways of joining together. Retrieved online from,

            http://www.acei.org/acei-news/acei-upcoming-conference-schedule.html

World Poverty

Hi, I tried to contact several professionals, but yet no luck. I decided I better start studying the website so that I could gain insight into child poverty in another country. I studied childhood poverty in China. I learned that although China has a very huge population they have taken steps to reduce poverty by over 27% in about 22 years. Another interesting thing I learned was that poverty in the rural communities declined far better than urban communities. I think that more interest has to be placed on urban communities. My question is why is this happening? Through the research of poverty I have learned that many places have problems with poor living conditions and poverty in the urban community. Also, I learned that China’s poverty line is lower than the national standards which may contribute to more people living in poverty. As stated by CHIP, “China's transition from a centrally planned to a globalized market economy has helped reduce chronic poverty and disadvantage, but also created new forms of vulnerability and poverty” (2012, p.1). The western part of China has not been as fortunate concerning economic growth as eastern China. I guess China is similar to the United States because some areas of the United States experience more poverty than other areas.

References:

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP). (n.d.). Country Overviews. Retrieved on July 12, 2012 from, http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization I selected is the Association for Childhood Education International website. This organization focuses on providing quality education, living, well-being and promoting the rights of children. A primary focus is to improve living conditions and to make sure that all children have a good quality of life by lobbying for laws, improving quality care from educators and those that provide services to children. The specific article was retrieved from, http://www.acei.org/global-news/urbanization-and-meeting-the-needs-of-children.html

One current issue that caught my attention was the article retrieved form the Association for Childhood Education International website. The report was on children living in a more urban world while some are advantaged and some will live in more poverty with less adequate living conditions. As stated by UNICEF, “ cities and towns have generally lacked the capacity and infrastructure to keep up with rapid growth; as a result, the disparity between those who have access to urban advantages and those living in poverty is increasing” (State of the World’s Children, 2012. P.1). This is important because many children will lack developmentally in many areas because of poor living conditions, environmental hazards and more. As an early childhood professional it impacts the children in the classroom and how to help children in spite of these issues becomes a concern.

In conclusion, I learned that this is an awesome website. There were many articles concerning children throughout the website. I definitely will use this website for future reference. As a professional, this website provides information from issues affecting children to ways that professionals can improve their personal and professional development.

References:

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/