Course 5: Building Research Competencies

Dear Colleagues,
I am glad to have you as classmates in this journey aiming children's well- being.
Marlene.

International Early Childhood Field

Dear colleagues,

I am glad to be with you on this journey. I cherish our common constant in the early childhood field which is the commitment to the well- being of children, their families and the early childhood community. On my part, considering that I live in Eastern Central Africa, I have always been learning about this field from an international perspective.

The first thing that I will always thank this program for is giving us access to different research resources This is so valuable in my opinion.
The second thing is that I get comparative views of the subject. I am able now to clearly assess what needs to be done in my country to get to a quality early childhood education.
The last consequence is the fact that I get to acquire knowledge about the best practices.

One goal for the field that is related to international awareness of issues and trends is the opportunity to learn how to help as professionals.

I wish you all the best.
Marlene.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education"

Dear Colleagues,

I was very happy to see that the UNESCO's Early Childhood Care and Education webpage is filled with what we have learned in this masters program regarding the quality of education in this field. All the criteria to a quality curriculum are cited, like partnering with families in the children's education, play, children involvement, small ratio child- adult, well trained and well supported staff, to name but a few.

But what made me happier is to find responses to some of the questions that were still trotting in my mind. Concerning the importance of a small ratio child- staff in a classroom, here is what is said : 

"The notion of a reasonable ratio differs across countries, but fewer numbers help children to generate peer communication and engage together in project and group work according to their affinities and interests. The presence of sufficient numbers of staff also ensures that each group can enjoy the support of a trained professional who will lead children toward the attitudes, skills and knowledge valued in a particular society. In Sweden, for example, national statutory requirements for child-staff ratios do not exist, but the average across the age group 1- 6 years is 5.6 children per trained staff member. In the preschool class for 6-7 year olds, the national average is one teacher + assistant for 13 children. Such ratios and conditions are generally difficult to bring together in developing countries, but this should not be a reason for discouragement. To reach the levels of formal training found in richer countries may not be possible, but through the mobilisation of local mothers by community educators, programmes for young children can be generated at local level that enjoy satisfactory child-adult ratios and are highly relevant to the needs of participating children (Ball, 2002)". 

What means that my country Rwanda has a solution regarding the high number of children in classrooms.

Another thing that I found interesting is in the following paragraph:

"Early childhood care and education programmes should emphasise the child’s holistic development and extend beyond assisting the child’s transition to formal schooling. High quality childcare, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, promotes motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness". Yes this is true because while children in developed countries spontaneously attend school, in developing countries, due to the poverty culture, children have to be motivated, especially through their families or parents by giving them food in exchange of allowing their progeny to go to school.

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and UNESCO's Regional  Office in Dakar are launching "Childhood Culture", an inter generational African series of children's books. Through the experiences of Bouba and Zaza, the main characters of these series, children, young and older, parents and teachers are developing life and socialization skills outside the family context. These series bring on the table subjects affecting the lives of African families which parents sometimes are reluctant to address such as war and conflict, the HIV Aids Pandemic, the issue of water resources and environmental protection. These series address the issue of glaring shortage of children's books adapted to African contexts, when it has been demonstrated by a study that African children from 0 to 4 years of age generally have no books at home, especially in rural areas.

I find that this will play a crucial role in the journey to the quality of early childhood education in Africa.

Sharing Web Resources

Early education programs must respond to the needs of diverse families. This requires responsive caregivers and teachers, knowing that responsiveness, warmth and support from caregivers influence the development of important capabilities in children (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. 2004).

As a culturally competent communicator, a caregiver has to be able to value diversity, to conduct a self- assessment, to manage the dynamics of difference, to acquire and institutionalize cultural knowledge and to adapt to diversity and the cultural contexts of individuals and communities served (Goode, 2001, p.1).

The World Organization for Early Childhood Education made available a scale as a tool and a self- assessment tool for professionals. Where the scale is used by a single practitioner within their own setting, it can be applied to support curriculum development through identifying priorities, setting targets and managing change without difficulties. But wherever any form of comparison is involved between settings, there will be a need to ensure inter-rater reliability. It is important that users recognize the need for external or collective validation and that their ratings are to be collaboratively moderated. This should be achieved through:

• training to understanding the use and the role of the scale;

• training to ensure common understandings of the quality criteria (definitions and cultural variations) and in;

• in many cases a ‘critical friend’ should also be involved to provide support and validation (this may be a local authority adviser or an academic who has applied the instrument in other contexts.

References

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Young children develop in an environment of relationships (Working Paper No. 1). Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. Retrieved fromhttp://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/resources/reports_and_working_papers/working_papers/wp1/

Goode, T. (2001). The role of self-assessment in achieving cultural competence. Retrieved fromhttp://nccc.georgetown.edu/documents/selfassessment.pdf

The World Organization for Early Childhood Education. http://www.worldomep.org/en/esd-scale-for-teachers/

Issues of Equity in Early Childhood Development

Can we speak of an issue of equity in early childhood development in Rwanda? I don't even think that's a valid question since 90% of children from 3 to 6 years of age cannot access any form of early learning opportunities. And those that do are usually in privately operated pre- schools and these services lack an overarching application of standards, curricula, learning materials (UNICEF ECD Strategic Plan. June 2015).

But "good seasons start with good beginnings" according to Sparky Anderson and in Rwanda,  a new season for early childhood development has begun with 12 ECD and Family model centers built in selected communities in 12 districts. There are even plans to expand with an additional 18 centers to make it one center for each of Rwanda's 30 districts.

Rwanda's government recently reconfirmed its commitment by setting the target to provide quality community- based and family- based services for every young child and family in Rwanda by the end of 2017 (UNICEF ECDF Programme Summary. 2015).