I studied the website Center on the Developing Child. From the learning in this course, I know the relationship between early childhood education and the country’s future economic prosperity. The center aims at using science to enhance child well-being through innovations in policy and practice.
Scientific facts can be the most powerful tool to explain to policymakers, professionals, and parents about the importance of healthy development for a young child. Most of time, I would like to talk and share the things from my experiences, and now I know more and more people and organizations are advocating to explain early childhood educational field in a more scientific way. The center is committed t building a unified science of health, learning and behavior, leading the design, implementation, and evaluation of innovative program and practice models, catalyzing the implementation of effective, science-based public policies, and preparing future and current leaders to build and leverage knowledge. Above are the commitment that the center wants to do in general.
The center also focuses on the developing countries, like African countries, and Asian countries. When we talk about all the wonderful resources and practices, most of those happen in developed countries, and the voices that we often hear are from those countries too. All the children in the world have the equal right to access to early childhood education, and they should have the right to grow up in a healthy and safe environment. However, they are so many countries are suffering from diseases, natural disasters, and poverty. All those make early years education difficult to be practiced in those countries, as they do not have resources or budgets to take care this area. The center cares about children in those countries too.Recently the center has lunched Global Children’ Initiative which focuses on three strategic objectives. First, they want to reframe public discourse about the early childhood period by educating high level decision makers. Then they would like to support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in selected countries to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens.And the last objective is to build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions in low-and middle-income countries.
They lunched many different projects in many other countries to help them fight against their own issues. For example, the center has a project in Zambian to help children there fight against malaria. The project started in 2009, and it is an ongoing one. The collaborators of this project hope the effort that they made can improve the understanding of child development in this context, and also can help identify key interventions towards improved outcomes in a rapidly changing developing world.
Sissi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comment. You gathered a lot of information. I also believe that we should not only focus on children in international countries, but globally. Children are suffering so much today at an alarming rate. I believe more focus is internationally due to the growing rate of poverty and poor educational systems in developing countries.
Also, as we study about trends and issues, a lot of issues are right here in the United States more so than aboard. In the United States we have the economic power to help other countries yet we are slowly falling behind academically as well as technically. This can create a dilemma in the near future of our children if we as professionals do not use our expertise to education all children, rich or poor.
Hi Sissi, I enjoy reading your post. I agree with you about the scientific facts people are looking at right now. We used to talk based on our personal experiences, but now to be more specific and evidential to support children's healthy development, we have to use data to back up our thesis. I also feel the same way as you about the education in developing countries. More support should be given to these countries to ensure all children have the equal right to access education. The early years are very crucial for young children and being an advocate to support children can help make the voice louder.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Lufei
Hello
ReplyDeleteYour post offers support of the scientific research that supports the necessity for early childhood education. It is good to know as we learn of the efforts of other countries on childcare and development that they are understanding that it is essential to invest in the future ...the children.