Final Blog Post

     Professionals in early childhood education share the same passion and drive towards helping and developing children. Over the last eight weeks, I was able to gain information about trends and issues within the EC community from an international standpoint through researching different organizations in other counties. I learned that there are many issues EC professionals are battling to bring awareness to with lawmakers/ policymakers with the hope of changing the perspective of the EC education. I chose the following consequences:  

1.       Awareness- I learned that issues within the early childhood community are a global issue. Such as quality care, diversity, and availability.  Professionals and families everywhere want a good quality of education for their children. Issues such as funding, resources, policies, EC professionals, and availability are things that can hinder or help a program be successful EC program.

2.       Advocacy-Through the awareness I gain from the course, my classmates, and my professor has motivated me to become more involved in programs within my local community and internationally. Advocacy is a way of bringing attention to countries and current issues that plague EC educational programs.

3.        Equality- Having an equal opportunity to earn and achieve a high-quality education is something I learned is not equally available to children and families. In some countries, there are cultural rules that sometimes play a part in whether or not a child receives an education. In some villages in Africa, young girls stay at home with their mothers to work instead of going to school to get an education. There is also a lack of knowledge of government programs and subsidies that can assist families in enrolling their children in high-quality programs.

      My goal is to coordinate to visit local schools or child care facilities when I travel to other countries. By doing this, I will be able to talk with other EC professionals to gain knowledge of their educational system. I also think it would be great to build relationships/partnerships with international EC professionals.