Some of the current international research topics that I found to be very interesting were:
- Improving the Quality of Childcare Through Parenting Enrichment and Training of Trainers: The Eritrean Model by Abeba Habtom of Eritrea, Africa – This is really interesting because this topic demonstrates that in other countries there is a need to improve quality. Here in Virginia our center participates in Virginia Star Quality Initiative which is a program that provides mentors to early childhood centers and family day homes that would like to improve the quality of care they provide to children and their families. During our time in this program we have renovated our center, teachers have achieved their CDA (Child Development Associate) from the Council for Professional Recognition in Washington, DC and a few are enrolled in a Community College to achieve their Associates degree in the early childhood field.
- Involving Fathers in Early Childhood Care and Development by Rosemary Hua of Nigeria, Africa - In my view when partnering or developing relationships with parents of preschool children the majority of the time it is the mother that develops and maintains the relationship. It is very rare to see a male involved with preschool education.
- Curriculum Development Using Community Resources by Wunesh Woldeselassie Bairu of Eritrea, Africa – This topic was also interesting because curriculums and how they are executed in education are so important. As professionals learn more and more about young children opportunities are presented to improve current curriculums.
What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website? Some of the information that was interesting is the fact that their studies are similar to the needs that are here in the United States: curriculum development, parent involvement and quality programs.
What other noteworthy information did you find on this website? The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) commitment is great. “The ECDVU is committed to improving the quality of life for children and their families in Africa. The program seeks to accomplish this through working, on a sustained basis, with ECD leaders from across the continent” (ECDVU, 2007).
References
Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) , 2007. Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/about.php
I too visited this same site and really enjoyed the research project regarding the involvement of father's in early childhood care. It would seem culture plays such a huge influence in a father's role--I too agree with you that father's do not take an active role as much as they should. I do however see a trend towards more of a presence in the program, especially among really young fathers, but mothers do take the lead.
ReplyDeleteHi Carmen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the things that you found, it seems as though the ECDVU Sub-Saharan Africa website has some really great information. I agree with you that the information we learn about from our international resources can be applied to the issues that we look at here in the US. It is interesting to get another perspective on them and see what angle researchers from other countries have on a topic and what unique issues they are facing. The topics you chose to post here sound really interesting; it's great that this program seems to have a focus on involving families and recognizing their importance in early childhood development/education. This seems like it would be a good resource for both early childhood professionals and parents!