I am sad to say that I have not had the opportunity to communicate with an international early childhood professional, however, I have had the opportunity to listen to podcasts from international early child hood professionals.
This time, I listened to podcast # 5, a speaker named Irma Allen. Irma lives in Swaziland which is a small place in Africa. There, she is doing great things in the area of early childhood education. She states that a challenge that they face in Africa is to train teachers and community people to become teachers. She says that where she is located, there are no classrooms. She has to use the environment around her as teaching opportunities. She states that they use the ground and the grass and water (on days where there is water) and there is so much to learn from the environment.
I also studied that UNESCO website for international information.
I found that the UNESCO mission is in line with one of my professional goals. In their mission, "they support early childhood policy development with the aim to build a solid foundation for a child's life long learning."
Along with that, they also seek to improve the quality of teacher education in Africa. I thought that this was great to read, especially after listening to the podcast.
The final insight that I have gained from this website is the knowledge that UNESCO exists. I am aware of other international organizations that are doing similar things, but I am glad to know that there are more. I hope to come to know more of them!
References
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/about-us/how-we-work/mission/
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/world-forum-radio/
Hi Christina,
ReplyDeleteI thought the information you shared from the podcast was insightful. It made me think of how we take things like a classroom with material to teach in and people willing to learn to teach. I think its great that the lack of certain things does not keep them from trying to teach children. Thanks for sharing.