When I Think of Research...

Since taking this course, I have gained and immense amount of knowledge regarding research. While I was extremely overwhelmed when learning of the content in this course, I am extremely pleased with the outcome and with all I have learned and am still learning.

I have a completely changed idea regarding the nature of research. While the term research seems tedious and exhausting, I have learned that it is indeed complex however, worth putting in the work and the effort.

I have learned detailed descriptions of research designs and planning and implementation. I have learned to always keep ethical issues as a priority of what to avoid.  

Throughout the duration of this course, I struggled with my applications and getting my content to meet the criteria of our professor.

As a result of this course, I have a lot more respect for research in the early childhood field. It was not until this course that I realized the amount of work and effort that goes into research studies.

I want to take the time to thank all of my peers for supporting me throughout this course. I was very overwhelming for me and the support, comments and feedback has been a great help! I look forward to working with you all again.

Final Blog Assignment- Issues & Trends

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field are knowing about the struggles in other countries as well as worrying about our own struggles, avoiding a specific profession due to knowledge of issues and trends in a specific field, and not wanting to develop professionally based on fear of inadequacies in the field.

One goal for the field of international awareness is to be able to globally advocate for every child and not just our own nation.

On a final note, I just want to thank all of my colleagues for making this course such an enjoyable learning experience. I look forward to working with you all in the near future!

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

In speaking with my professional contact in Ireland, I was able to receive great responses to many of the questions listed in this week’s assignment. Like in the United States, Ireland is focusing on affordable quality childcare for every family. They are also focusing on professional development in hopes that with will contribute to quality programming.

It is interesting to see, that although we are in different countries, many places struggle with the same things that we struggle with in the United States. It is also reassuring to see that there are early childhood activists all over the globe. I believe that together, we really can make a difference!

Sharing Web Resources

This week, I decided to explore, in detail, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). While I have been on this site many times, I have never taken the opportunity to truly explore it and understand it. I was first introduced to NAEYC when I began my professional career as a government employee. On military bases, child development centers are required to be accredited through the NAEYC. The NAEYC's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources. Their website provides early childhood professionals and advocates with tons of information pertaining to issues and trends in the early childhood field. Not only in this site a news-worthy site, it is full of information pertaining to profession development as well as accreditation.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts –Part 2

One thing I discussed with my contacts in Ireland this week is the rise of early childhood education. In the past, it was less popular to place your child in an early childhood education type setting. With the economy the way it is in Ireland, working mothers and fathers are becoming more prominent and the need for quality childcare is a necessity. However, the cost for quality childcare is something that is nearly unaffordable for most families. I thought this was interesting because we also struggle with this in the United States. Ireland as a counrty is very focused on Early Childhood Education and providing the best programs for their young children. They take an approach contisting of play and creative expression rather than testing.

Research Around the World

I chose to research the European Early Childhood Education Research Association for this week’s blog assignment. The EECERA is an independent, self-governing, international association which promotes and disseminates multi-disciplinary research on early childhood and its applications to policy and practice. This was a particularly interesting assignment for me this week because it coincides with my issues and trends class that I am also taking. Early childhood is not just a hot topic in America; it is being talked about everywhere, to include Europe. I am particularly interested in studying European early childhood education because I grew up in Europe and I have family that lives there. On this particular site, there was an article discussing child and researchers and what the best practices are. This was coincidental because that was a part of this week’s discussion. There were several other research topics that are listed on this site. They range from technological topics to political topics. I really liked how several research topics related to linguistics and how speaking in multiple languages benefits a child. The thing I liked most about this site is that involves all European countries and not just one. It is interesting to see different countries come together and share their insights and challenges.  

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA)

http://www.eecera.org/

Sharing Web Resources

The great thing about early childhood sites is that they are all relevant to us in some way. Although I do not specifically work with children who are considered “early childhood”, the information I am reading about is helpful because I may one day work with younger children and I can attribute several qualities that the youth I work with now have obtained from their early childhood years. In reading our course resources for this week, I gained a new found respect for those who do not necessarily work in the early childhood field. There are several economists, politicians and neuroscientists who support early childhood and its importance. It is interesting to see that all over the world, early childhood education is being a popular thing to be concerned about. While I am sure that everyone who is in the field of early childhood education thinks that it is a top priority, it is encouraging to see that others think it is a top priority as well, including those in Washington D.C.