Harvard University’s
“Global Children’s Initiative” website is a valuable resource for those in the
early childhood field and for those seeking information about issues related to
the field. In an explicit effort to build an integrated
international approach to child survival, health, and development in the
earliest years of life, the Center on the Developing Child has launched the
Global Children’s Initiative as the centerpiece of its global child health and
development agenda (Center on the Developing Child, 2010). The main objective for the site and the
information that they reveal is how important and crucial the first
three years of life is and investing in our children globally is our true
responsibility in order to properly meet their needs.
The site provides great
information in video segments and in print about how a child’s brain develops,
child mental health, as well as the projects and efforts that are taking place
globally. What caught my attention was a short synopsis
of a current project taking place in Santiago, Chile. The project is called “Un Buen Comienzo’ the
purpose of this project is to provide professional development to those
teachers in the early childhood field in Chile in order for them to provide
quality education to children ranging in ages of 4-6 years. The project, which began in 2007 with
four demonstration sites, will eventually encompass 60 schools (Center on the
Developing Child, 2010). Now what intrigued me the most was that, UBC also incorporates a
comprehensive evaluation: a cluster-randomized experiment in all 60 schools.
This type of longitudinal evaluation in early education has not been carried
out in any other country in Latin America and will place Chile at the forefront
of demonstrating the impact of a high-quality early education (Center on the
Developing Child, 2010).
It is no surprise to anyone that in the states
one of the biggest issues (among many) is the getting some policy makers to
understand the value of early childhood education, professionalism, knowledgeable
and the importance of a creative teacher. I believe that slowly as a nation we
are starting to push back and realize the harm we are causing our most young
children by pushing them towards practices that are truly inappropriate. Our fight is slow, but steady. It would be interesting to see the data and a
breakdown of the correlation between a teacher’s professional development and
the impact of high quality education. In
the states, we have moved a great distance from true appropriate practices to
an assessment driven society. Hence, my
curiosity to see the data as it will once again prove to the skeptics in this
field that qualified, knowledgeable, and well prepared teachers can
appropriately meet the needs of young children with appropriate materials to support
their learning. Providing the necessary tools,
strategies, and education in the first three years of a child’s life will allow
them to lessen the risk of mental illness, diseases, or stress in later years.
A video clip (in English and Spanish) on
the Harvard University’s site titled “In Brief- The foundations of Lifelong
Health” addresses the importance of a healthy physical and mentally appropriate
environment. Dr. Shonkoff shares something
in the video that was quite poignant.
Dr, Shonkoff stated, early experiences are built into our bodies,
whether they are negative or positive (Center on the Developing Child, 2010). The video also
elaborates on the importance of laying a healthy foundation the first three
years because our children are truly our future
References:
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard
University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/
