Establishing AND expanding professional connections throughout one’s life is imperative to the growth and effectiveness of any educator. This week I investigated two early childhood organizations outside the United States: the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) website – http://www.eecera.org/ , and the International Child Resource Institute website – http://www.icrichild.org .
I was curious about the trends of European ECE after reading Roger Neugebaurer’s (Exchange, May/June 2007) article on the global trends of EC. I was amazed at the discovered trends of Italy’s pitiable image of children, and the deficiency of morals in younger generations. I took a look at EECERA’s Special Interest Groups and decided to try making a more subjective connection after a closer look at their SIGs http://www.eecera.org/sigs/currentsigs.asp .
The International Child Resource Institute (ICRI) was another fascinating find. ICRI has such a broad array of programs and services that I was overwhelmed at the enormous impact that has been made on so many countries around the world, such as Kenya (http://www.icrichild.org/kenya )—from building bridges to access high quality EC education for remote African children to offering generous financial support to encourage EC initiatives. Whenever growth is desired, there should be credible resources of professional consultants available for educational guidance. International Child Resource Institute is such a resource (http://www.icrichild.org/consulting/ )!
Regarding the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators organization that was contacted a few weeks ago, I have researched the possibilities of making a more substantial connection with this EC establishment. In Article 2 of their NAECTE Affiliates handbook on page 6 (http://www.naecte.org/docs/Affiliate_Handbook_9_09-nf.pdf ), I realized that there was something that NAECTE offered that fit my personal passion which is to educate educators. Stay tuned as I embark upon the processes of making and maintaining a very positive, fruitful partnership in the ECE field.
Hi Elezar,
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to read new friends comments and outlook on the early childhood profession. This week has allowed me to look beyond my community and open my eyes to other nations. My daughter is taking a GSI class and it has been facinating looking at all the different mapping that has been done and needs to be done. Through her program we can see all the efforts being made to build bridges, provide drinking water, and establish medical and educational needs for people in less develpoed areas around our world.
I look forward to following youe finds.
Kristi
Hi CC,
ReplyDeleteI also like the goal of educating educators. How can we stay on top of our game and abreast of all of the issues and trends in the early childhood field? New York State requires child care center staff to accrue a minimum of 30 continuing education training hours every two years. Some feel that the requirement is too great. They feel that constraints on time and resources make this requirement nearly impossible to meet. I feel 30 hours over two years is too little to really keep up on all that is occurring in the field. What do you think? Are there minimum training requirements in your state?