UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage

Getting to Know Your International Contacts – Part 3

Alas, the search for a contact has produced no fruit, no results, nothing, zilch, nada.  But I will not despair, I will press on.

So, I took a trip to UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/). 

The Early Childhood Care and Education page of the UNESCO site has the following introduction:

“EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION

Early childhood is defined as the period from birth to 8 years old. A time of remarkable brain development, these years lay the foundation for subsequent learning. 

In the developing world, 10.5 million children under 5 die from preventable diseases every year.

UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children's holistic development. ECCE is part of a range of programmes that promote inclusive education.”

I loved the picture of the small boy playing with toys because it had the caption “@UNESCO Kingston” which is in JAMAICA.

Upon reviewing other aspects of the site in detail, I gained the following insights about issues related to international early childhood education that related to my professional goals:

• ACCESS - The 2000 Dakar Framework for Action reaffirmed the importance of early childhood education by including the development of early childhood care and education as the first of its six main goals.   If all nations in the world made a commitment to expand and improve early childhood care and education then the world would be a much better place in the future.   As educators, we all have a role to play as advocates to ensure that this is achieved.   Governments, through the citizens of their countries, should be called upon to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of resources especially for children from poor background.  This should be done to ensure that they have access to mainstream early childhood services.

• QUALITY – Though there is no universal standard outlining what qualifies as “quality” early childhood care and education, each country should develop its own standards to ensure the holistic development of children.  However, there are guidelines in the education field which policy makers the world over can follow, namely, pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting and parental education and involvement.  The UNESCO site has an October 2004 Policy Brief on Early Childhood entitled “The Early Childhood Workforce in ‘Developed’ Countries: Basic Structures and Education”.  This can be found at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137402e.pdf  It is an interesting article which noted that the workforce in early childhood services in all countries must respond to 2 related developments: (1) the divide between care and education is breaking down; and (2) the professional role is becoming more complex with growing recognition of the importance of working with parents and other services and the of the competence of young children as learners.   
• INVESTMENT – This section of the website noted that “The greatest difficulty faced by countries in their efforts to expand and improve the quality of early childhood care and education is the mobilisation of resources. This is particularly daunting in developing countries, where early childhood may be overshadowed by other pressing priorities, such as universal primary education.  Governments, if they deal with the issue at all, often approach early childhood from the context of national social policy or health services.”  It was observed that countries should recognise the positive value of early childhood education and this can only be realised if professionals in the field advocate and let their voices be heard.
•      GOVERNANCE – In a UNESCO Policy Brief dated January 2003 entitled “Cross-Sectoral Co-ordination in Early Childhood: Some Lessons to Learn” it was observed that the varying government sectors must coordinate their efforts to ensure maximum impact on a child’s holistic development and the efficient use of government resources.  The article can be found at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137394e.pdf.  It was stated that must be a clear understanding of where the co-ordination is to be centred, and more importantly the identified leader should be able to exercise the necessary authority, while mustering a partnership with all the sectors involved.  This eventually amounts to the importance of a national decision on the lead sector for early childhood, without which even a compromise, moderate measure such as setting up a coordination mechanism will not generally be very effective.

While going through this website, I realised that all early childhood professionals have similar concerns, though they are innumerable.  Yet, with the diversity and wide range of concerns, each person pulls out their own individual professional goals which may overlap with those of other professionals.  When we all work together and achieve our individual goals in our own sphere of influence, then we can make the world a better place for our children.