Professional Contacts From Around the World 

            I was looking forward to making personal contact with early childhood professionals outside of the United States; however, after contacting several people I know who live in other countries, I have been unable to establish contact with anyone who could help with my assignment for class. This is a disappointing turn of events, but I guess this means I will need to follow the instructions for the alternative assignment.

            I am still holding out hope that I will hear back from a teacher in Thailand, so I chose to explore the information available from the World Forum about that country. Thailand has actively been addressing the issue of poverty over the past 40 years. Overall poverty levels have dropped from 21% in 2000 to 8.5% in 2007. The numbers specifically ascribed to the children of Thailand have dropped from 38.7% in 1990 to 10.3% in 2007 (World Forum Foundation).

One thing that may be partially responsible for the drop in the children’s numbers is that there are fewer children in the population. According to the report, the reproduction rate has dropped from 45.1 % in 1970 to 22% in 2007. The prediction made by the World Forum was that it would drop even further by 2011 to about 20%. These numbers are significant because the report pointed out that larger families are more likely to suffer from poverty. Also, the country's leaders realize that this drop in numbers will affect the country's future; this realization has caused a greater focus on the education of the children.

http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/  

                                                 Web Resources for ECE

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
http://www.naecte.org/
(Newsletter: http://www.naecte.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=29 )

I chose the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators because I think it most closely aligns with my future goals. This is a fairly new group, with a membership just under 400, based out of Wright State University. Their focus is on the training of early childhood educators. Their position statement says: “Teachers qualified to meet the unique developmental and educational needs of children between the ages of 3 and 8 are knowledgeable about the developmental and learning characteristics of these children and use this knowledge to inform appropriate teaching techniques and assessments. Since teacher preparation and certification should be relevant to the teacher’s position, NAECTE recommends that state certification agencies and school districts adopt the following policies: 

• Require an early childhood certificate and/or endorsement for those teaching in classrooms for children five years old and younger in state funded pre-kindergarten and in kindergarten programs. • Give priority in hiring and placement to teachers with an early childhood certificate and/or endorsement for public school classrooms for six, seven, and eight-year-olds (1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades).

 • Require that early childhood certification and/or endorsement be based on completion of teacher preparation programs that meet professional preparation standards consistent with those established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (www.naecte.org).”

            One of the topics discussed in their most recent journal was about how to guide new teachers when it comes to guided play. This subject intrigued me; unfortunately, because I am not currently a member, I was only able to read the first of a twenty page article. I began to research the cost of the article/journal and that of a membership, I discovered that it would cost $40.00 to purchase the article, $180.00 to purchase the entire journal (yikes!), or $75.00 for a membership – which included the journal. Obviously, it would make the most sense to pay the membership fee, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that at this point. It seems as though I may need to move on to another a group’s site for assignments for my class.

                                         Issues and Trends Week 1 Assignment

            This week’s class assignment was to establish contact with two professionals outside of the United States. Future assignments will require communication with these professionals about current issues and challenges in the field of Early Childhood Education within their respective countries. I chose to contact the leaders of ECE groups within the countries of Germany and Ireland. I explained who I was, what I was looking for, and why. I also contacted a former employer whose daughter is currently working as a nanny in Italy; she is forwarding my email address to her daughter. My thought is that she will be able to give me specific contact information for someone who works in the field in Italy; I will use this information if one of my original contacts falls through. I also have a friend who is a head master at an international school in Thailand who I can contact if another of my initial contacts falls through.

            The second part of this week’s assignment was to choose a website of an early childhood organization to study. I originally thought that I would go with Pre K Now because I have spent most of my professional career teaching this age group; but, after looking at a couple of the other websites, I changed my mind. I decided to go with National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. Although access to some of the information on the website is limited to those who are members of the association, I found many of the topics that I saw this in site quite interesting.