Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 3

       I still have not received response from my international contacts so for this week I studied the " Early Childhood Care and Education" webpage on the UNESCO website and studied three papers that I felt were good resources issues that we are we are currently facing in the United States in regards to dual language learning, universal standards and curriculum, and finding funding resources to improve early childhood programs.
      The first article of interest was "Papua New Guinea's Vernacular Language Preschool Programme."(UNESCO.org)  Papua New Guinea is an island nation in the South Pacific north of Australia and east of Indonesia and is the of the developing countries that has a bilingual education policy, which was launched in 1995 when the vernacular  language movement began and required that the formal education system included vernacular language education in the initial years of a child's education  with a gradual transition in the use of English as one of the languages of instruction. (UNESCO.org)  Papua New Guinea is the world's most linguistically diverse nation with 823 living languages spoken by 5.2 million with only 50,000 of the people speaking English as their first language and unless individuals reside close to towns, they have very little exposure to the English language. (UNESCO.org)  In 1979, Bougainville Island expressed concern that the English only school systems were alienating their children from their own language and culture because if children did not pass secondary school entrance exams had to return to villages but were unable to integrate into village life so the Islanders proposed giving two years of preschool education in their own language before primary schooling, this scheme became known as Tok Pies Pri Skul (TPPS) or "vernacular language preschools." (UNESCO.org)  During the 1980's three other communities followed the initiative and the Vernacular language preschools spread throughout the country and with involvement from the provincial government, the movement later became part of the government's Education Reform policy  and remained in the realm of non-formal education from 1979-1995 and had no standard curriculum requirements, less qualified teachers who were mostly volunteers . (UNESCO.org)
     Another article I found of interest was " Mandatory Funding for Early Childhood Education: A Proposal in Brazil." (UNESCO.org) Brazil has a mandatory education fund for primary education called FUNDEF (Fund for the Development of Primary Education and Teacher Development) and requires that 60% of the local governments education budgets to be spent on primary education, which helped increase enrollment in primary education from 92.7% in 1994 to 96.4% in 2000 and brought the country closer to the ideal of universal primary education and benefited children from marginalised populations.  (UNESCO.org)  Policy-makers were encouraged by the success of the FUNDEF program and are now drafting a Congressional Bill to establish a mandatory funding scheme for early education, 0-6 year olds, with hopes of similiar results and will expand early education in the country. (UNESCO.org)  This effort takes on great challenge due to the current funding system for early education.  With a three-tiered government system consisting of federal government, states, and municipalities, FUNDEF usually excedes it's 60%  budget and the allocated 40% left over for early education is often diminished to very little due to municiple spending.  At the level of local governments, which are directly responsible for allocation and execution of budgets for basic education including early childhood education and is currently putting the issue up to debate on whether to seperate a mandatory fund for early childhood.  Recently , the President made a firm committment to fighting literacy and pledged that major investments would be coming in the area of early education but programme options have not been fully explored. But hopefully if the conviction of concerned policy-makers resonates with the public, then perhaps a bill will be passed for funding for Early Education, despite the odds against it.  (UNESCO.org)
     The third article of interest, titled " Curriculum in Early Childhood Education and Care," discusses the ongoing dilemna facing curriculum designers.  (UNESCO.org)  On one hand,  there is the need to guide personnel in early childhood centers especially if they have limited training and education but must also be broad  and contribute to a child's overall development and prepare them for later success in school and because of the learning patterns of young children, social-emotional and cognitive process at their own place through play and active methods so a detailed cognitive curriculum may not be the best approach so the aim is to encourage a shared sense of purpose between parents and early childhood centers to promote social and cultural values important for society ensuring a certain unity of standards.  (UNESCO.org)  In a study of children in the Reggio Emilia schools who utilized a negotiated curriculum which encourages identify  formation, positive attitudes, communication and negotiation results in children.  (UNESCO.org)  The results from this study are that the learning  achievements were high when conducted by well trained professionals.  To conduct an open framework approach like this one staff must be well trained and well supported and requires advance knowledge of child psychology  and strong pedagogical training, research in several countries highlights the link between achievement rates in programmes and these requirements but these conditions and requirements are often hard to come by in developing countries. (UNESCO.org)

References:

Wroge, D. (2002).  Papua New Guinea's Vernacular Language Preschool Programme  Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137383e.pdf

Choi, S.  (2003).  Mandatory Funding for Early Childhood Education: A Proposal in Brazil  Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137406e.pdf

Bennett, J. (2004).  Curriculum in Early Childhood Education and Care Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/00137401e.pdf