As a Kindergarten teacher, the way our national and international organizations handle early childhood education is very important to me. One of the most important aspects of this is the access of this education for all families with children. Luckily, there are many organizations out there that are fighting the good fight! These organizations include the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and of course the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to name a few.
One way the NEA is helping improve early childhood education is by supporting the Strong Start for America's Children Act. As Mary Kusler says, in a letter that the NEA sent to their senators/representatives:
The first years of a child’s life—when the brain is still forming—are a vital window of opportunity. Research shows that children who attend high-quality prekindergarten programs are less likely to drop out of school, repeat grades, need special education, or get in trouble with the law later on. Such quality programs play a critical role in putting a child on the path to success—in school and in life— so every child should have access, not just children whose parents can afford to pay. (Kusler, 2013)
Supporting our children is vital to all of our futures. As the old phrase goes, "Our children are our future." Therefore, we should do whatever is necessary to make sure that they start off with a very string foundation. The NEA is trying to do that by supporting this Act. (For more details on this Act, please click on the link provided in the references area.)
One new thing I learned while on the NEA website, was about the Head Start Program. Similar to the Act mentioned above, the Head Start Program is geared towards making sure that young children have a chance to enter elementary school well prepared. It makes me happy to see that there are multiple programs, Acts, etc. going on at the same time in order to help people with this very important time in their children's lives. (For more details about this program, please click on the link provided in the references area.)
The AFT are also strong supporters of the above ideas. The way they are trying to help early childhood education is by being supporters of the Every Student Succeeds Act (more commonly known as ESSA) that just recently got passed by the U.S. government. Just like the Act above that the NEA wants passed, this Act also is intended to help establish that early education is of high quality. Since ESSA covers up to secondary education, the AFT summarized the parts of the Act that are important for early childhood education advocates, such as myself, on their page. (For this summary, please click on the link provided in the references area.)
UNESCO is probably one of the most famous organizations in the world. Being a part of the United Nations (hence the UN in UNESCO), this organization has a lot of influence in the world. Throughout its over 70 years of existence, it has started many programs, established many goals, supported many movements, and has made many declarations. One that caught my attention is called the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030.
The reason this one in particular caught my attention is because it is named after the city of Incheon in South Korea, the country I currently live and work in. Even though this Declaration is meant for all UN member nations, it holds a special place in my heart since it bears the name of a city in the country I now call home. The Declaration itself is meant to set goals that UN member states are to try to fulfill by the year 2030. The part that spoke to me in particular was Article 6. In it, UNESCO encourages member states to try and have quality early childhood education for all children.
UNESCO also releases many reports in order for people to be able to see how the UN member states are doing in regards to reaching their goals in their programs or declarations. One such report is the 2013/4 EFA Global Monitoring Report. This report is full of of knowledge about education all over the world. The part that related to early childhood education, although brief, was very eye opening. One of the biggest takeaways was the fact that there are other organizations out there that one might not think about at first that are also helping children get quality education. Organizations such as the World Food Programme helped pre-school children in Uganda, and the World Bank helped in creating 400 Kindergartens in Jordan (UNESCO, 2014, p. 48). After reading things like this, it makes sense. However, before reading this, it never occurred to me that of course there are non-educational organizations helping out. As I stated above, education is very important for our futures, therefore, there must be many out there who want to help.
Overall, I was very happy to see how much work is being done all over the world in order for low income families to have access to a high quality early childhood education. Not just in the United States, but in many of the member states of the United Nations as well.
American Federation of Teachers. (n.d.). Every Student Succeeds Act: A new day in public education. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/essa_early-childhood.pdf
Kusler, M. (2013, November 18). Letter to Congress on the Strong Start for America's Children Act (S. 1697/H.R. 3461) [Letter to Senator/Representative]. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from http://www.nea.org/home/57367.htm
UNESCO (2014). Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for all. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002256/225660e.pdf
UNESCO (2015). Incheon Declaration Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable education and lifelong learning for all. Retrieved Febuary 3, 2017, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002338/233813m.pdf
United States Department of Health and Human Resources, Office of Head Start. (2017, January). About us. Retrieved February 3, 2017 from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/about
United States Library of Congress. (n.d.). S.1380: Strong start for America's children act of 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1380
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