One Size does not fit all

Each country adapts the Step by Step program to address national educational standards and local culture, as well as economic, political and social issues.

Changing Policy: Collaboration with Ministries

Step by Step works in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and other relevant public bureaus and seeks accreditation and financing for specific training courses, in order to facilitate the widest access to the program. SbS invites the participation of local and national policy makers in all aspects of program implementation. Step by Step teams provide their ministries with technical expertise on national early childhood policy development and are often partners on projects supported by international organizations. In many countries, the principles of Step by Step have been accepted as the national standard for early childhood education.

As I think about the different needs of communities and countries around the world I really appreciate that Step by Step provides a framework for the local experts to use to move forward an early childhood agenda that is right for their society.

There is much to be learned from each other.  There are nations whose governments are fully engaged in supporting education for all.  There are others that do not.  As I develop further into my career I appreciate how much we can learn from each other.  I hope that as I work to help all children in the US access quality early childhood programs that I can learn from and help other nations along the way.

I often talk about wanting qualtity early childhood programs for children but from review the website I have come t o discover a better way of thinking especially when thinking from a global perspective.  My goal is to support programs and policies that allow all children to be happy and reach their full potential!

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   ISSA’s Overarching Goal
   is to promote inclusive, quality care and education experiences that create the conditions for every child to be happy and reach his or her full potential. ISSA does this through: raising awareness of the importance of quality care and education; developing resources; piloting/evaluating programs, influencing policies, building capacity of organizations in the network, disseminating information; advocating; and strengthening alliances.
   
   
   
   

Meet Delfena Mitchell

I have not heard back from any of the 5 people I tried to contact.  I also reached out to a colleague who had some international contacts in hopes to make a personal contact.  Although my collegue indicated she would send me contact information I have not recieved it yet so I went ahead and listened to several of the World Forum podcasts.  I am going to share a little about Delfena Mitchel.

Delfena Mitchell lives outside Belize City, Belize.  Belize is a small county just south of Mexico.  Delfena works with children in a residential facility for children of abuse.  Delfena explained that Belize has the highest rate of child abuse in the Carribean.  She talked about working with a child who had not spoken in a year.  He had been abused and had witnessed the abuse of his sister.  He had tried to return to school but was unable to and was asked to leave.  Delfena built a relationship with this child.  One day when they were on a horseback ride together he began to talk about his past.  He eventually began to talk all the time.

My biggest take away form this week's focus on poverty is that we can not get caught up thinking about poverty from a culture of poverty perspective or a stereotype.  We can not except the myths that say all poor people are drug addicts or lazy or they do not value education.  As with people with diverse abilities we need to understand cirrcumstances, recognize strengths and build systems to help create a culture that supports young children and their families to obtain good health care, nutrition and qualitiy early learning experiences so they can thrive and become successful adults.

International Step by Step Association

International Step by Step Association

ISSA's Profile

Vision

A society where families, communities and professionals work together to empower each child to reach her or his full potential and embrace values of social justice and equity.

Mission

ISSA's mission is to support professional communities and develop a strong civil society that influences and assists decision makers to:

• provide high quality care and educational services for all children from birth through primary school (birth through 10 years old), with a focus on the poorest and most disadvantaged
• ensure greater inclusion of family and community participation in children's development and learning
• ensure social inclusion and respect for diversity.

ISSA's overarching goal is to promote inclusive, quality care and education experiences that create the conditions for every child to be happy and reach his or her full potential. ISSA does this through: raising awareness of the imp ortance of quality care and education; developing resources; piloting/evaluating programs, influencing policies, building capacity of organizations in the network, disseminating information; advocating; and strengthening alliances.

International Step by Step Association (2013) Retrieved from: http://www.issa.nl/issasprofile.html

This organization caught my attention because of its international visibility with members in 31 countries.  They have a vast amount of research based resources offered on their website including courses for preschool and kindergarten teachers on child centered practices, a resource packet on quality pedagogy, and a joint publication on diversity and social inclusion.  They also have an extensive collection of children's books written by authors around the world and available in many languages.  

I see their focus on quality early experiences for all children world wide so they can be happy and reach his or her full potential as something I would like to be a part of.

Establishing Global Contacts

Today I reached out to 5 Early Childhood Professionals from across the globe.  As I started I wanted to reach out to someone from Europe, Asia, Central America, Africa and South America to get a diverse perspective.  After doing a little searching on the Global Alliance page of the NAEYC website I was unable to find an email address for an organization in South America so I chose a second organization in Europe and I decided to contact someone in Haiti rather then in the main part of Central America.  I am hoping to hear back from at least of 3 of the contacts in the next few days.

My plan if I do not hear back from any of these contacts is to touch base with some of my NAEYC colleagues who are connected internationally to see if they could introduce me to some of their contacts.

Many of the contacts I attempted to make were part of the Step by Step International Association.  Because I had no previous knowledge of SSIA I decided to look at their website more closely.  After reviewing the website I found it to be very comprehensive.  I was especially drawn to the bookstore page, which featured children's books written around the world.  I had quickly move off the page for fear of my credit card balance.  I am planning on becoming a member of their online community.