Friday, May 11, 2012
Exploring Roles in teh ECE Community: Local and State Levels
I chose Child Care Aware of North East and North Central Kansas as the state organization to explore. This organization has a mission to help families find access to affordable, high quality childcare. They have several jobs in their organization including marketing and communications, finance, directors for quality initiatives, infant and toddler project managers, data and tech specialists, healthy kids coordinator and rating system specialists. I chose this organization because they are influential in my state and I believe in everything they are working for. Also the variety of jobs available gives more people a chance to collaborate with others. I did not see any job opportunities at the moment. The qualifications for most of these jobs is a B.S. degree in the related field. Another organization that I chose is our local Child & Resource Center Smart Start Program that I currently work for. I have been at this job for 5 years now and enjoy working with child care providers and center staff to help educate and improve their environment as well as their professional development opportunities. We currently have two positions open as Early Childhood Facilitators and the qualifications they are now looking for is a M.S. in ECE. The other job that I chose is the job of a professor at the university. I like this job because they collaborate with other organizations in our country as well as around the world. They are then able to do research that they can then try out in their lab preschool. I also like the teaching part of the job. I would have to have a PHD in order to do this and I do not see that happening. However, some staff for the undergraduates do have their M.S. degree's only. So, we will see what happens in the future. I do know that I would like to be involved with some kind of issue where I can actually make a difference and see change. Not that I do not get that on a smaller scale in my current job, because there are always success stories.
It’s a small world indeed
by Barbara Ischinger
Director for Education
Earlier this week I attended the Transforming Education Summit in the Emirate state of Abu Dhabi. Some 15 ministers and former ministers from all regions of the world, from countries in all stages of development found—perhaps surprisingly—a lot they could agree on when it comes to education: the importance of raising the status of the teaching profession so that qualified candidates apply, the need to strike a better gender balance among teachers at all levels of education, and the need for trust in education systems—trust between governments and teachers, and trust between parents and teachers.
What this says to me is that our expertise in education policy can and should be shared more widely; and the OECD stands ready to work with non-member countries as they seek to improve their education systems. Already, 29 of the 75 countries and economies that participated in PISA in 2009-10 were recipients of Official Development Assistance. And we see that the share of public budgets devoted to education in many ODA recipient countries is equal to or above the OECD average.
What can non-member countries gain from working with the OECD? Take participation in PISA. PISA provides internationally comparable data and benchmarks for comparing the quality of national education systems. Evaluations of education policies help non-members to better understand their PISA results, identify why their students are performing they way they are, and help these countries and economies find feasible ways of addressing shortcomings. These kinds of targeted evaluations help countries to direct money to the right places.
In addition, we can conduct peer reviews of national education policies. Since 1992, more than 70 reviews have been conducted in countries in southeast Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa region, some in collaboration with the World Bank. These reviews are jointly organised by national authorities and the OECD. Policy recommendations, which can be used for planning development aid, target all areas of education systems. They tend to stimulate broad public discussion and are used by governments and multilateral organisations as reference in shaping reforms. Perhaps most important: we talk to all stakeholders—representatives from different areas and levels of education, and unions too—at the same time.
And we learn from our experiences with non-member countries too. The OECD is proposing to introduce several new indicators to measure progress towards development. These include average teacher salary as a percentage of GDP per capita, enrolment and completion rates by education level, the school-to-work transition as measured by unemployment rates by education level, measures of equity in education achievement by gender and background characteristics, and the extent to which highly educated students emigrate out of ODA-receiving countries, what is known as brain drain.
Throughout our 50 years of working on education policy, we’ve found that good ideas come from countries large and small. In sharing those ideas, we can create better policies for better lives all around the globe.
And speaking of our small world, if you’re interested in speaking in our small world, I recommend leafing through one of the OECD’s latest books, Languages in a Global World: Learning for Better Cultural Understanding. Did you know that the world’s seven billion people speak about 6 000 languages? That there are over 30 times as many languages as there are states? This provocative book, which sweeps from history and sociology through psychology and neuroscience, to music, philosophy and ethics, makes the case with wit and irreverence that learning languages is now more crucial than ever.
Find out more about: OECD work on education in non-member economies
Director for Education
What this says to me is that our expertise in education policy can and should be shared more widely; and the OECD stands ready to work with non-member countries as they seek to improve their education systems. Already, 29 of the 75 countries and economies that participated in PISA in 2009-10 were recipients of Official Development Assistance. And we see that the share of public budgets devoted to education in many ODA recipient countries is equal to or above the OECD average.
What can non-member countries gain from working with the OECD? Take participation in PISA. PISA provides internationally comparable data and benchmarks for comparing the quality of national education systems. Evaluations of education policies help non-members to better understand their PISA results, identify why their students are performing they way they are, and help these countries and economies find feasible ways of addressing shortcomings. These kinds of targeted evaluations help countries to direct money to the right places.
In addition, we can conduct peer reviews of national education policies. Since 1992, more than 70 reviews have been conducted in countries in southeast Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa region, some in collaboration with the World Bank. These reviews are jointly organised by national authorities and the OECD. Policy recommendations, which can be used for planning development aid, target all areas of education systems. They tend to stimulate broad public discussion and are used by governments and multilateral organisations as reference in shaping reforms. Perhaps most important: we talk to all stakeholders—representatives from different areas and levels of education, and unions too—at the same time.
And we learn from our experiences with non-member countries too. The OECD is proposing to introduce several new indicators to measure progress towards development. These include average teacher salary as a percentage of GDP per capita, enrolment and completion rates by education level, the school-to-work transition as measured by unemployment rates by education level, measures of equity in education achievement by gender and background characteristics, and the extent to which highly educated students emigrate out of ODA-receiving countries, what is known as brain drain.
Throughout our 50 years of working on education policy, we’ve found that good ideas come from countries large and small. In sharing those ideas, we can create better policies for better lives all around the globe.
And speaking of our small world, if you’re interested in speaking in our small world, I recommend leafing through one of the OECD’s latest books, Languages in a Global World: Learning for Better Cultural Understanding. Did you know that the world’s seven billion people speak about 6 000 languages? That there are over 30 times as many languages as there are states? This provocative book, which sweeps from history and sociology through psychology and neuroscience, to music, philosophy and ethics, makes the case with wit and irreverence that learning languages is now more crucial than ever.
Find out more about: OECD work on education in non-member economies
Photo credit: Sphere of letters / Shutterstock
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The importance of Pre-primary education
Pre-school education is essential for your toddler because it is the building block of your child’s elementary education. It helps in laying down a healthy foundation for the all-round development of your child. It is necessary to provide your child with good pre-primary education for him to be prepared for future education. Here are some reasons why your little one should be provided with good nursery education.
Pre-primary education prepares your child for kindergarten and future school. It allows your child to build a base for his future education.
It allows the child to expose his inner skills so that the child develops his personality. It allows a child to give vent to his inner desires in positive ways. Some pre-school franchisees have activities designed for children in such a way that their inner talents are exposed.
Pre-primary education exposes the creativity of the child, thus allowing the child to develop his personality in a natural way.
The child learns to adjust with his peers and learns to interact with outsiders. He learns to find a life outside of his home. The child develops an independent personality outside of his home. Becoming independent is the first stage of growth and besides learning to eat independently, sleep independently, child learns to exist independently.
It is essential to the growth of the child that by the age of three, it starts showing signs of independence.
A good pre-primary school like Little Millennium comes to your aid here. Their scientific curriculum ensures the all-round development of the child. Your child is well on his way to attending kindergarten and regular school.
Pre-schools like Little Millennium who have franchisees all over India, ensure the physical, mental and emotional growth of the child. The child develops his cognitive skills in the scientific curriculum that nurtures the child.
Good pre-schools teach a child not only social skills and develop its ability to adjust in its social environment but also teach it how to deal with bullies. Your child may be facing bullies in his pre-school, but may not be telling you about it. Find out whether your child is hesitant to go to school. Does it try and avoid school. The reason could be there is a bully at the school. Good pre-primary schools, ensure that bullies are not scaring other children so that they avoid school.
Pre-primary schools are also responsible for teaching social etiquettes to your child. Some of the group activities involve teaching manners and etiquettes to your child.
The group activities that nursery schools conduct are what develops the complete personality of your child. The children may be taken on field trips, where they are taught the importance of discipline. The children also learn to eat independently and many are also potty trained by this age, so they know how to handle themselves to an extent.
Pre-primary education is one more step in the growth of your child. For your child to grow into a healthy, socially well-adjusted child and individual, it is essential that you send him to a good nursery school.
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