Week 5: Research Around the World

This week I had the opportunity to study Early Childhood Australia’s website (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/).  Their mission is to “advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years”.   Their website is very organized and easy to navigate.  Their ideas and the information they share is similar to what you would find on the NAEYC website, except the information is geared toward Australia, rather than the US. 

From the home page, you can choose from a variety of topics such as their code of ethics, membership, early childhood news, research themes, and my personal favorite, the catalogue.  By clicking on the catalogue tab, you can be redirected to a long list of categories that offer a wide variety of information.  I decided to choose the category of Preschoolers, as I am a Pre-K teacher at the moment.  I ended up finding 61 different resources that were available to be purchased.  This is a great way to get literature out to parents and teachers.

The Voice, found under the menu tab on the homepage, is a newsletter intended to update its members on what is going on in the early childhood field, as well as inform its members of the organizations current advocacy efforts.  The issue I read (Vol 14, No. 2, 2012), shared an interesting article about how the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) is taking the National Quality Standard one step further by offering and Excellent rating for services that have achieved a rating of “Exceeding National Quality Standard” and maintained this rating for at least two consecutive assessments.  What an awesome way to acknowledge the hard work and dedication that has to go into a program that not only exceeds the National Quality Standard but also maintains it on a day to day basis.

In Early Childhood News this month, was an article urging the support for quality early education and care.  Early Childhood Australia’s chief executive Samantha Page was quoted saying “every child deserves access to quality early education and care services” (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_news/july_2012_media_release_children_deserve_bipartisan_support_for_quality_early_education_and_care.html).  It looks like the United States isn’t the only one pushing for quality care.

Quality care is a reoccurring theme in the news archive, which dates all the way back to May of 2002.  Politics and government officials were called on to act on behalf of the children and their best interests.  Budgets and funding were also an important topic in the news.  

In addition to the Early Childhood News section, there is also a section entitled Research in Practice Series.  By clicking on the RIPS index tab, a list of current topics will appear.  These topics include partnerships,  diversity, portfolios, engaging families, and storytelling.  Once a selection is made, the resource is shown along with a description of the selection, the published price, and the option to view a portion of the publication through a pdf file.  Another great resource for parents, teachers, or anyone who is a part of the early childhood community!

Research that benefits children and families

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you already know that both of my girls have been diagnosed with ADHD.  I am not fond of medicating children, as I have seen through my profession that there are times when children become over medicated and end up “zoning out” most of the day.  I did not want this for my children so I tried several alternatives before finally having to put my children on medication so they could focus during school hours.

           Since their diagnosis, I have always kept an eye out for articles that deal with ADHD in hopes of some new findings as to new things to try in place of medication.  Anyway, as I was looking this week, I came across an article entitled “Timing of ADHD Medication Affect Academic Progress”.  I was immediately curious about this article because maybe I have been looking at my children’s medication issue the wrong way.

           After reading this article, I realized that maybe taking my children off their medicine or replacing it with something else might not be the best idea.  This article definitely helped me realize that having my children on some medication to help them get through their school day doesn’t have to be a negative thing. 

           I wanted to share this article with you in hopes that maybe it could help you or other families you know understand the importance medication can make on children’s academic progress.  Just something to think about!

Resource

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine (2012, June 25). Timing of ADHD medication affect academic progress.  Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120625065338.htm.

My personal research journey

                Moving along my educational goals with Walden University, the next 7 weeks will cover my research journey.  Although I am a little apprehensive in the beginning, I feel sure that I will be fine, as I have been all along.  I have excellent support through my peers, professor, and other Walden staff so here goes.

                Jumping into the text, we were given an assignment to complete a research chart, which we will be adding to every week as we work through the text book.  Through the research chart, I was able to narrow “the research process” down into ways in which I could understand it better and make it more personal.  The first section was for key terms.  The terms I defined dealt with collecting and analyzing data.  Sampling, validity, and reliability are all key terms in ensuring that the research data collected is accurate and will provide sustainable data for the research being done.  The next section involved highlighting a topic from the text.  The topic I chose was design research.  Through this, I learned that research can follow a plan that you map out from the beginning but it can also deviate depending on the approach you use.  The final section of the chart was for reflection.  I chose to talk about the step of the research process that I thought would be the most difficult for me.  I get overwhelmed when I am faced with a large task, especially when there is a lot of information to read and look through.  Because of this, I felt like formulating a research issue or question would be my hardest task.

                So far in this class, I have chosen a broad research topic then I broke that down into three subtopics.  This week, I was asked to decide which of the three subtopics I wanted to focus my simulations over the next 7 weeks.  For the remainder of this course, I am going to research the topic of play therapy.  I chose this topic because I have been hearing a lot about it from parents of children I teach as well as my daughters’ doctor who suggested play therapy for their ADHD.  I look forward to learning more about this topic and would love for you to share your experiences with play therapy if you have any!

Reflecting on international websites and podcasts

Outcomes I have from studying podcasts and websites related to the international early childhood field are:

1  
      1)      Issues like poverty are global.  Anyone can be affected for a number of different reasons.  Thankfully, there are several organizations working to help those who are less fortunate and help overcome these issues.

      2)      Understanding issues and trends on a local level as well as an international level can help broaden our viewpoint on the early childhood field.  It can also help spark new ideas or offer new suggestions to solve problems in our own community.

      3)      All children are entitled to quality education, regardless of their background or where they live.  Advocating for children has become an important part of my personal and professional life.  Learning about issues and trends on an international level has opened my eyes to how big these problems really are.

4    4)      Through my weekly blogs, I have learned the importance of having a network of people who have a common passion.  Maintaining contact with my colleagues will be an important part of my role as an advocate.  I have grown personally though my blog but I have also grown by reading and corresponding with my colleagues. 

I believe a goal for the early childhood field in terms of international awareness of issues is to keep educators and advocates informed on both the issue and what is being done around the world.  Because early childhood exists everywhere, everyone needs to work together, share ideas, and empower each other to help make a better world for our children.  No one country, state, county, or city should try to overcome the issues related to early childhood alone.  If we put our resources together and work as one, our children will see a brighter tomorrow.

Internation Contacts- part 3/ ALTERNATIVE

This week, I investigated UNESCO’s Early Childhood Care and Education webpage, which can be found at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/.   Three things I learned through this webpage are as follows:

1.       1. I found out that UNESCO organized the first World Conference on ECCE in September of 2010.  Through this conference, a global action agenda known as Moscow Framework for Action and Cooperation: Harnessing the Wealth of Nations was put into place.  Since the World Conference, UNESCO has been working with Member States, partners, and other stakeholders to follow through and make sure the Moscow Framework is being implemented as planned.  

2.       2. I learned that April 22^nd through 28^th was Global Action Week.  The Global Campaign for Education organized this event as a way to raise awareness on the importance of education for all children on a global level.  The slogan for this week was “Rights from the start!  Early Childhood Care and education now!”.  The focus was on one of the goals of Education for All, which is “expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children”.

3.       3. The last thing I looked at was an article that talked about 10 reasons to invest in early childhood education.  Some of these reasons were 1) it is a right, 2) it is crucial to children’s brain development, 3) it encourages values in children, and 4) it yields higher investment returns.

I learned a lot through my investigation but the one thing that sticks out to me the most was the article about investing in early childhood education.  Throughout this class, we have been talking about different issues and trends in early childhood.  Until this class, I never really looked at early childhood as an investment in terms of an economical standpoint.  Since that portion of this class, I seem to be finding this information everywhere.