Getting to Know your International Contacts-Part 3

While reviewing the UNESCO website, the first insight I gained was from thier policy on curriculum.  They mention that providing a universal curriculum for early childhood programs can be hard considering the low amount of training many teachers have and the high rate of varying abilities in the children being served.  They suggest short guidelines on building curriculum to meet the needs of children in various areas.  The guidelines would be easier to follow than a universal set of standards and can be a starting point for untrained teachers.  While I realize that it is a reality to have teachers who have no early childhood training, I feel that this is an extremely important goal for the early childhood field; I also think that a universal curriculum would be hard to establish considering the major differences from one area to another and even from one child to another at such early ages, so a short set of guidelines may be a better alternative.  As a center teacher, and hopefully one day a program director, I would use the guidelines to develop a curriculum that would suit the needs for my center. 

Another insight I gained from the website was on the issue of accessability/inequality.  I learned that many countries are striving to find a way to universalize early childhood education without causing inequalities.  They want all children to have access to early childhood programs, yet they recognize that disadvantaged children would be likely to recieve lower quality programs than those of more advantaged children on account of funding and teacher training.  I am glad to see that it is a goal for many countries to try to ensure a quality early childhood experience for all children, not just privelaged children. 

One last insight I gained was that of investments.  Many countries realize that without proper funding quality education and care for early childhood simply isn't going to happen.  While this is a reality, a lot of governments aren't supporting early childhood programs.  There is little funding for them to provide the type of quality children deserve.  They are now realizing that private sector funding may be the way to overcome this obstacle.  While this may be true, I feel that private funding will cause more inequalities from program to program.  Private organizations are likely going to only provide support for programs that will benefit them the most, thus leaving programs in disadvantaged neighborhoods without funding sources.  This seems like a good short term plan, but ultimately I feel the government needs to step in and provide more support for early chilhdood programs to minimize the inequalities. 

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/investment/