Getting to Know My International Contacts

Aloha to all my colleagues!

During the first week of our course, I mentioned about getting in touch with my friends and school mate in college in the Philippines. I was very fortunate to have found them in facebook and accidentally, through my friend who visited me here in Hawaii last month (after so many years we did not see each other). Both of them teaches preschoolers in a private school in the Philippines but one of them started doing home school because her son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder so she decided to stop working and care for her son. They were very helpful in gathering information about the issues and trend in early childhood education in the Philippines.

During the first week that I exchanged messages with them, I do not have any idea what to ask or what information I need to gather from them. I wrote messages to them using our own language and they were surprise to hear it from me. I used Tagalog (language from the Philippines) to ask questions with the impression that they are more comfortable to answer. They told me that they prefer to give updates and information about early childhood using the English language. In response I told them that I am very glad because they will make my work easier by translating it for me.

I asked them about the government and private sectors programs for early childhood education in the Philippines . I would like to share with you the information I gathered from them. They said that the Philippine government has started implementing the universal kindergarten program in public schools this school year. The purpose of this program  is to improve the quality of education for young children which will help them in the future. They also believed that education is the key to solve the problems of poverty in the country. Kindergarten programs have become a prerequisite before entering elementary education. They said that this program is facing big problems due to lack of classrooms and lack of teachers. This has been an existing problem in the education system before this program has been implemented. Now, the people are asking the Philippine Government if they are ready for the implementation of this Universal Kindergarten Programs. In spite of these concerns; the government has imposed this program on its people. 

Another update on the education system is the proposal of an additional two-year program in elementary which is equivalent to middle school in the U.S. The proposal was created to meet the standards or requirements of the U.S. and other countries in the field of education. They expect to implement this program by the year 2014.

These proposals aim to improve the quality of education in the Philippine. It aims to improve the quality of life of the people, be known to the world and compete in the global market. On the other hand, families are facing difficult situation especially those who are already living under poverty level. They can no longer afford to send their children to school for another two years.  The implications of this proposal will affect the number of children finishing elementary, high school and college. It will probably benefit the 1/3 population who can afford it and the 2/3 of population (who are in poverty situation) fate are not yet determined.

Sharing Web Resources

The Early Childhood Council (ECC) is the largest representative body of licensed early childhood centres in New Zealand. It has over a1000 member centers which are both community-owned and commercially owned, it employ more than 7000 staff and care for more than 50,000 children.

There are two issues that I read this week that affects greatly the welfare of the children, their families and early childhood professionals in New Zealand. First is the removal of the 80 to 100% funding band and second, the child poverty in New Zealand.

Peter Reynolds, CEO of the Early Childhood Council (ECC) was concerned about the cutting of funds which will greatly affect the many childhood centers in New Zealand. He said that many centers have invested on educational programs to achieve government goals in order to get funding from the government will now feel that they have wasted their money and time. He said:” to remove the goal and its associated funding penalizes harshly those centres that have achieved it, and the impact on our membership is substantial” (ECC, 2011). A number of centers are now very concerned about the impact of this on their businesses.  The ECC believed that there were ‘alternative options’ for government to consider around this issue and would seek to meet with their Minister of Education to settle this concern.

The second issue that I would like to share is the poverty facing New Zealand’s children. Professor Dame Anne Salmond quotes: ‘An ageing society that does not care for its young has a death wish’ (ECC, 2011). She said that the New Zealand policy makers must have a death wish because the children live in homes where income levels are less than 60% of the median household income. The article also was concerned about the lasting effect of this matter to children’s growth and development in the future.

David Grimmond , an economist, found out that New Zealand ranks 28^th out of 30 amongst OECD countries across 20 dimensions of child outcomes. He found that countries like Netherlands use similar amount of funding for children but has better outcomes (ECC, 2011). He recommends that New Zealand increases both its level of spending and find ways to improve how the money is spent. He also says that ‘Access to affordable early childhood education is critical form of public investment leading to positive returns from good child outcomes. For vulnerable children this will be more effective when combined with support and education that enables parents to be involved and also up skill themselves‘(ECC, 2011).

I have learned that every country are having problems economically and has affected greatly the early childhood field. Cutting of funding by the government especially the services provide for the families and early childhood education will have great impact on child’s well being. I will share with you the article I read: Child Poverty and the 1000 campaign which questions and made us think how a household could manage an income that is not even enough to pay for rent or mortgages can provide the basic goods for their children? If families cannot provide adequate food, clothing and housing for our children, what problems do you think they will have as adults? How will their learning be affected?

Reference:
 Early Childhood Council New Zealand (EEC)
http://www.ecc.org.nz/MainMenu 
(Review also media resources at: http://www.ecc.org.nz/Category?Action=View&Category_id=159)

Establishing Professional Contact

Last month, I have a friend who connects with me again after 20 years we separated in college. She decided to visit me here in Hawaii before going to California. We talked about how our lives and priorities have changed over time and during our conversation, she mentions about a friend who turned out to be a teacher at a preschool in the Philippines. I asked my help to get her e-mail address, telephone number or get in touch with me through facebook. I started by leaving messages in her facebook account and she replied back, asking me what she can do to help out. She also gave her telephone number and e- mail account so we can exchange information her, information and ideas to each other. While navigating through the site, I came across another friend who is now an assistant professor in the university where I graduated. I wrote him a letter to help me find someone from the college of education who can assist and help me gather information the early childhood education.

I chose to establish contacts in the Philippines to connect again to my old friends in college and to learn more about the challenges, issues and trends in their early childhood education in today’s time and economy.  I am very fortunate to see my friends again, though everything seems by accident, I believe all of us will benefit learning from them.

The early childhood organization I chose is the Early Childhood Council New Zealand (EEC). I have read some interesting articles from their site regarding some of the challenges facing their early childhood programs. Some of it is the effect of the economy, government laws and some changes in the policies or programs in the early childhood field. They have lots of interesting articles on their site especially the promotion and inclusion of different culture or ethnic language in their program. Some articles can only be accessed by members of the council or organization only. I send e-mail to their organization requesting to allow me to be a member though I am neither a resident nor a part of any organization or institution on Early Childhood. I am waiting for their response and hopefully, I will have access to their site and I will keep you posted in the coming weeks of our courses. 



Early Childhood Council New Zealand (EEC)http://www.ecc.org.nz/MainMenu 
(Review also media resources at: http://www.ecc.org.nz/Category?Action=View&Category_id=159)
International Child Resource Institute