Getting to Know your International Contacts (Part 3)

I investigated the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) site and clicked on themes, and then I found info on strengthening education systems for many school ages, I decided to focus on Early Childhood. The information provided in the early childhood section is centered on access, quality and investment. In regards to access,

Countries are realizing that all children especially poor must have access to education and that they should expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and governments are working toward ensuring an equitable distribution of resources among different populations and especially those who live in the most disadvantaged regions to ensure access to education for all children. (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/access/).

In the quality section, there is a call for early childhood care and education programs to emphasize on the child’s holistic development and that high quality childcare should promote motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness and particularly for disadvantaged children. There is no universally accepted definition of high quality in early care and education however teacher training, active involvement from parents and learning materials are necessary factors for a quality education.

 In the investment section, funding plays a very important role in meeting the needs of young children. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive high quality affordable education for young children and the greatest difficulty faced by countries in their efforts to expand and improve the quality of early childhood care and education is the mobilization of resources. Some countries are still developing a primary education program and that leaves very little resources available to fund early care and education which forces parents to enroll their children in private care with parental payments and the governments assist those who can’t afford care.

UNESCO affirms that Early education is a need and it should be accessible for every young child.

References:
UNESCO (2004, October). The early childhood workforce in 'developed' countries: basic structures and education. Retrieved from
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137402e.pdf