I did not hear back from anyone this week, therefore I had
to go the alternate route. I found the website to be very informational.
One of my goals is to open up an early childhood center so I
thought looking into quality on their site would be helpful to me. I learned
that high quality childcare, particularly coming from disadvantaged
backgrounds, promotes motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic
development and school readiness. There are no universally agreed criteria for
qualifying ECCE quality but they do give some useful factors to consider:
pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting and parental education
and involvement. When it comes to the
actual service setting and infrastructure, one will notice in pictures that are
going to vary within countries.
The greatest difficulty faced by countries in their efforts to expand and improve quality care and education is the mobilization of resources. Developing countries have the hardest time. This may be because early childhood is overlooked by other priorities. The 1990 Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (EFA), stated that countries should view early childhood as part of basic education. Once countries see the positive value of state investment the next challenge will be mobilizing the funds. Right now, government funding for early childhood care is very small.
The
last piece of information I would like to share is about access and
equity. Governments were urged to expand
equitable access to quality early childhood services underscoring the
importance of instituting a policy for the poor. Countries then had to promote
services for the poor children with limited or no access to mainstream early
childhood services which can be cost-effective. Concerns were made about
sustainability and quality. In places where resources are scarce, the government
has no option other than to redistribute resources by reducing state support
for the more privileged. It is the
governments job to ensure an equitable distribution of resources among
different populations and especially the disadvantaged regions.
Victoria,
ReplyDeleteI think it is wonderful that you are wanting to open your own childcare center. While reading your post, it seems to me that there are some helpful information that you could use. I love that we focus on the less fortunate families, but I do believe that children who come from a stabled home needs help as well. I have seen in some cases, families who are fortunate refusing to enroll their child in a quality program because they didn't have much concerns about their child's education. It's not often that this happens, but I have witnessed it.
Great post
Latasha
Hi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteI also think that it is great that you want to open your own childcare center! I hope that you can accomplish this goal one day!
I also reviewed the information on the website and it was very informative. I saw that it is difficult for early childhood education in other countries as well. I am glad though that there are organizations and people working to fix this problem.
Hi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteI think its great that you incorporated the pictures in your post. I think having a visual is good when it comes to discussing quality, access and equity. I share your dream to open a early childcare center. Best of luck to you.
Victoria,
ReplyDeleteKudos on your goal to open your own center. What type of center is it that you want to open?
Cheers
Jeff