POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT> Univ of Louisville, KY: Early Childhood Ed

January 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

University of Louisville Early Childhood Education - Four Positions Positions begin August 1998

The School of Education at the University of Louisville invites applications and nominations for a Senior Scholar and Three Assistant Professors who will carry out a program of research and teaching in the newly formed Interdisciplinary Center for Research on Early Childhood Issues and Initiatives. The School of Education is committed to seeking new faculty who are dedicated to helping the University become responsive to a changing society and to take the lead in preparing children and the early childhood teaching profession for the challenges facing the nation.  We seek faculty who are enthusiastic about involvement in the continuing evolution of the School of Education, who are serious about improving teaching and learning for all students, and who have the vision, expertise, and willingness to contribute to these efforts.

Successful applicants shall have:

Doctorate in Early Childhood Education with an emphasis in Special Education or Child Development or a doctorate in Special Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education. Strong commitment to excellence in teaching. Ability to work and contribute in a team environment. Demonstrated commitment to collaboration with schools and other professionals in the community. Ability and commitment to work within a diverse urban setting. Potential for promoting educational innovation and technology . Evidence of familiarity with current reform efforts.

Research Scholar – Director:

This senior researcher, who has a record of achievement that warrants appointment as a tenured, full professor, will lead in conceptualizing, developing and implementing a systematic research program for studying the education and development
of young children, cutting edge educational practices in early childhood-special education programs, the impact of public policy initiatives, and how best practices can be modeled in local early childhood sites. Candidates for this position shall have the qualifications listed in the previous section and the following: Significant scholarly productivity and publication record on issues in early childhood. Professional experience with young children (birth – age 5) and their families. Proven capacity to raise funds for research or training Strong record of leadership Ability to link departments, school systems, and other educational programs, business, and policy-making constituents.

An interdisciplinary perspective

Assistant Professors These three faculty members will be involved in the development and teaching of graduate courses in early childhood/special education; conducting research and other scholarly activity; working with colleagues in other disciplines; advising students; securing external funding; and providing service to the university community and the community at large. Candidates shall have the qualifications listed in the first section and: Evidence of or potential for significant scholarly research/productivity. Capacity to write and/or collaborate in the development of grants Three years teaching/professional experience with young children (birth ñ age 5) and their families .

 

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Our Youngest Kids Go Without — Donna Awatere Huata

January 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Ministry of Education Report into early childhood education underlines Trevor Mallard’s cynical treatment of our youngest kids, ACT EducationSpokesman Donna Awatere Huata said today. “Getting in early is the only way we can hope to reduce spiralling drop-out and illiteracy figures. ”Mr Mallard is starving the early childhood sector of funds, yet grandstands about making preschool compulsory for every four year-old. The Ministry ofEducation Report highlights his lack of credibility.

“Only eight per cent of the Budget’s $320m increase for education was destined to help early childhood education this year: that tells us more about Trevor Mallard’s priorities than any of his empty rhetoric. ”A lack of teacher training standards cripples the education of kids who do make it into kindergartens, kohanga reo and creches. This problem is identifiable by any parent, yet has been cynically ignored by Mr Mallard.

“Our most destitute kids miss out completely on any level of early education. Low participation rates for Maori and Pacific Island children correspond to increased drop-out figures later in life. ”Periodic episodes of grandstanding from Mr Mallard do not help educate the young kids who desperately need a head-start. It’s time for him to pay more attention to this vital sector,” Donna Awatere Huata said.

 

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Early Childhood Report is Utter Rubbish — Donna Awatere

January 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today’s report on the early childhood sector belongs in the garbage    can, ACT Education Spokesman MP Donna Awatere Huata said today.

“This document isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, let alone the thousands of taxpayer dollars that have been wasted. Calling the people who put this together a ‘working group’ is a joke – all these bureaucrats have done is launch a selfish attack on privately-run early education centres. “The bigotry and ignorance espoused in this report is staggering. ”If the Government adopts a single recommendation of this ridiculous report, they will drive a huge wedge between the wealthy that can afford pre-school and the poor that can’t.  ”Cost is the biggest barrier to access. These recommendations are guaranteed to increase the cost of providing services, and that’s going to put pre-school out of reach for the poor.  ”Independent early childhood centres are opening up opportunities in poor centres. It is offensive to recommend a moratorium on new centres.

“The entire increase in participation in early childcare in the last decade was a result of 130 percent more children enrolling in privately-run centres. Enrolments in state-owned centres actually decreased by seventeen percent. Yet this ‘working group’ consisted almost entirely of state-owned bureaucrats and academics.

“Kids have been forgotten by the committee who put this report  together. Mr Mallard must reject every recommendation. New Zealand’s parents will fight tooth and nail if these opportunity-denying recommendations are implemented by the Labour Government,” Mrs Awatere Huata said.

 

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Sweden: Womb to Tomb Social Control

January 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Eric Brodin is Professor Emeritus from Campbell University. He currently holds the position of president of the Foundation for International Studies, a charitable organization in Buies Creek, North Carolina. This article was previously published in the Coastal Piedmont Leader on November 24, 1999. Prof. Brodin has kindly consented to the present publication of his article.

There is a clear threat facing the natural or nuclear family. TV entertainment and other media as well, are reinterpreting what is a family. Whether in the Swedish parliament or North Carolina State Legislature there are proposals to expand the states’ roles in parental and family issues. One of these is “Early Childhood Education” which is a catch-phrase which is increasingly, finding itself a subject of discussion in the state legislative.

Legislation is being proposed which would extend the state’s purview of education to preschoolers as young as three or four years old. On the Federal level the phrase and proposals were inserted in the extensive packages of educational reforms discussed by the U. S. Congress in HR 1001. There have been a number of studies since that time, both by those who would advocate this additional intrusion by the state and the educational apparatus into an area hitherto the reserve of the family or privately run kindergartens and by those who fear the consequences of this extension of state authority. Allan C. Carlson of the Rockford Institute and editor of The Family in America; Gordon Jones, head of United Families Foundation; John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute; Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum; and numerous other parental, educational, religious and family related groups have researched and written extensively about the possible consequence of this type of legislation.

Phyllis Schlafly in her report of February 1986, for example, points out that “absolutely no replicable evidence shows that putting children in school at an earlier age makes them brighter, or better able to achieve academically, or better able to socialize positively with their peers as they move along in school. The evidence indicates that it saddles tots with burnout, stress, and frustrations which inhibit later learning.”

And conversely Mrs. Schlafly reports: “Enormous evidence shows that children who spend more time with their peers than with their parents prior to the 5th or 6th grade will become peer dependent. They learn to knuckle under to the rivalry, ridicule, habits, manners and values of their classmates rather than their parents. They are negatively socialized and become captives of social and moral trends.

The North Carolina State Legislature is discussing Senate Bill 312. “Early Education Program.” The purpose,” as stated in the bill, is “to enhance and expand the existing community based delivery system of child development services to accommodate four year olds in full or part day early educational programs chosen by their parents, and to provide for and encourage parental involvement in the design and provision of early educational program service.” These provisions sound` innocent enough. After all, who would be opposed to a greater involvement by parents? But the details of the bill also give evidence of the establishment of a professional child care class which would in no time supersede “parental guidance” as has been done in so many countries.

The requirements of the teachers, for example, are “a four year higher education degree in child development or a four year higher educational degree in a related field. With two years’ experience working with four year olds.” Already, by these provisions, we see the suggestion that parents or teachers in private or denominational child care centers for these age
levels who do not fulfill such requirements are really considered disqualified. This author’s experience with such legislation in the Swedish Welfare State may be instructive for the course it may take in the U. S. In Sweden such legislation was proposed a long time ago and has long been in effect, and the evidence is clear for anyone to see.

One of the early advocates for the compulsory preschool care program by government agencies in Sweden was very clear in his intentions. Pehr Gahrton said: “The parental monopoly cannot be broken solely by indirect measures - the State must intervene directly by, for example, taking the children from the parents part of their growing-up period, perhaps a few hours each day so that the balance of power is clearly expressed…. It is for the best of the children and society that a universal and compulsory pre-school program be clearly indoctrinating in its formation enabling the society to more directly intervene when it comes to the socialization of the children’s values and attitudes. In 1980 a mother and a professional social worker, in Sweden, Anna Wahlgren, reported the result of the institutionalization of pre-school care:

“Children are drugged. Infants are given nerve medicines. Healthy, normal, ordinary children are given tranquilizers so that they will sleep. There are four-year-olds who have developed dependency symptoms. There are child day-care centers where half of the children are given sleeping pills and others where prewritten ready-made prescriptions are readily available without a doctor giving as much as five minutes of his time to either child, or parent.”

Finally, one of Sweden’s foremost medical doctors and a sociologist, Nils Bejerot, reported on the effects of this collectivized care on the youth of Sweden’s “womb-to-tomb” welfare society: ‘We must seek for the causes of the destructive behavior of the young in the basic foundations of the welfare state. During a long period of time there have accumulated so many and so  serious disturbances in the system that we now find ourselves in a deepening crisis of the system, where the welfare state itself, through its mechanisms, produces young analphabets, juvenile delinquents, alcoholics, narcotics addicts, physically and psychologically ill, tranquilized and rejected people at an accelerating speed.” This is not what we want for America, but it will be if we do not take strong counter-measures in defense of the family v

 

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John Stuart Mill

January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Thanks for the story on Mill’s early ed., Rick.  I also find it interesting that seemingly as a direct result of his father’s tutelage and restrictions, Mr. Mill fell into a severe mental depression during his twentieth year.  When he recovered he rejected much of his earlier instruction.  In particular, he thought “his capacity for emotion had been unduly weakened by strenuous training in analytic thought.”  He sought a cure in romantic poetry.

I hesitate to draw any lessons, but three thoughts come to mind.  (1) Intensive early training to mold a child into the parental image of perfection takes a heavy toll on the child.  (2) Although the transition can be traumatic, people seem powerfully resistant to just such molding (this addressed to those whose fear is that many forms of education — including home schooling — produce irreversible indoctrination).  (3) After coming out of his depression and modifying his life-course, Mill seems still to have reaped a benefit from his early education (though having the rest of his life, I speculate, also bear residual negative effects of his upbringing).

I don’t remember reading anywhere, including Mill’s autobiography, that he rejected much of his early education.  I think it stood him in good stead all his life.  He championed the work of his father’s friend Jeremy Bentham in particular.  He was always sorry that his childhood was joyless and that essentially he had been robbed of a childhood, but the contents of the knowledge he had gained, and the understanding he had developed in a great many areas, were, I believe always important to him, and not rejected except insofar as any idea is rejected when another appears to super cede it.
He did turn to poetry and other arts also, as you said, but in order to SUPPLEMENT what he felt was missing from his early education, which was primarily scientific and analytic.  He did not seek to replace what he had earlier learned, but to supplement it.
The mental crisis he went through is what most of us referred to in the 1960′s as “an identity crisis”.  Mill describes it in his autobiography beautifully but at a length I won’t go into here. Essentially he found for a while that nothing excited him anymore and that even imagining his every wish to come true, it did not seem like that would bring him any joy.  ”I seemed to have nothing left to live for.  At first I hoped that the cloud would pass away of itself; but it did not.  A night’s sleep, the sovereign remedy for the smaller vexations in life, had no effect on it.”

 

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Early education a federal concern: union

January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Preschool education should be free, funded by the Federal Government and integrated into the public school system, the Australian Education Union said yesterday. These were recommendations of the union’s recent report, No Small Matter, which argued that access to quality preschool education had significant advantages for children’s intellectual and social development.

The report recommended the Federal Government give funding to, and develop a national framework for, early education. The report found children who attended preschool developed greater social and emotional maturity than those who did not. As adults, they had higher employment rates and were less likely to depend on welfare. The deputy president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Jennifer Leete, and Said: “In NSW we have a very small number of preschools attached to primary schools, and a number attached to TAFE colleges. The very great majority are run by local councils, community organisations or by profit-making organizations. “We strongly endorse the call for a free, public and secular system

Children should not be denied access to preschool education because of the inadequate income levels of their parents.” The AEU federal president, Denis Fitzgerald, welcomed Labor’s announcement that it would spend $100 million on early education as part of its schools policy, and called for the Coalition parties to match the commitment. He said preschool education must be recognised as a key area of educational inequality, and as a federal responsibility.

 

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Bush’s Disgusting Toying With Young American Children

January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Critics say the test is flawed and meaningless for such young children, whose development is in enormous flux. Nate had arrived at school — among the first Head Start centers in the nation to administer the test — with an eager smile that morning. It was his turn to be his teacher’s morning helper. But he was clearly nervous as he took the test. He pointed tentatively to the picture of a canister, not the vase. The principal made a notation, but gave no sign of whether Nate had gotten the right answer.

She is not allowed to. The test instructions require that children be given only “neutral encouragement.” “These children don’t know how to play the testing game,” Mrs. Stevens said. “You don’t know if they really know something, or they guessed.” Experts also say the test fails to take into account the complex lives and needs of children living in poverty.

“When you get an answer from a child living in poverty, it’s not a very good indicator of their capacity,” said Dr. Edward Zigler, a psychologist, a founder of Head Start, and the director of the Center on Children and Social Policy at Yale University. “They have a variety of motivational factors that get in the way. If you grew up in poverty, you become wary and suspicious of adults you don’t know, and testing situations.”

Wade Horn, the federal official in charge of Head Start, said that extensive field testing had been done to make certain not only that the test is reliable, but also that children find it “fun, interesting and enjoyable.” The test was clearly not Nate Kidder’s idea of fun. When Mrs. Stevens showed him four pictures of people with different facial expressions, and asked him to point to the one that matched the word “horrified,” he bit his lip and looked at her for reassurance.

But following the test instructions, Mrs. Stevens gave nothing away. Nate pointed to the picture of the woman, with her mouth wide open and her hands rose toward her face, who was supposed to look horrified. Mrs. Stevens said later that she found the question, among others, ridiculous. “`Horrified’ is not a word we teach children,” she said.

Samuel J. Meisels, a specialist in early childhood assessment who has developed his own system to evaluate young children and is president of Erikson Institute, a graduate school in child development in Chicago, said he saw several problems with the test. For instance, Dr. Meisels, as well as Mrs. Stevens and the teachers at the West Center, said they thought the black and white drawings used to test language and vocabulary were poorly conceived.

“Our children don’t see pictures like that,” said Nate Kidder’s teacher, Jana Little. In addition, Dr. Meisels and the teachers say that many of the drawings — and the questions — are out of context and not part of the children’s experience. For example, Mrs. Stevens said, how would the children at her center know that the drawing of tree stumps and long grass sticking out of water is supposed to be a swamp?

“We don’t have swamps in Midland,” she said. As for the vase question, many children at the West Center, Mrs. Stevens said, may not have vases in their homes. The children — and others around the country — will take a similar test in the spring so their progress can be measured. Mrs. Stevens said she was not opposed to testing. She and her teachers do observational assessments all the time, she
said. But she said she felt uncomfortable giving Nate a formal test. “Most of us in early childhood are very nurturing people,” she said. “We want to nurture children — to say, `Gosh, yes, you did a good job, that’s right.’ “Mrs. Little said she worried that standardized testing would undercut the confidence of children like Nate, who is bright, but afraid of making mistakes.

“If you ask him to do something,” Mrs. Little said, “his smile freezes, and you see him worry, `Am I going to get this right?’ “For Mrs. Little and her colleagues, building confidence — as well as teaching children how to be a part of a classroom and not disrupt it, and how to share — is just as important preparation for kindergarten as teaching vocabulary words. But these skills are not part of the test, which reflects the Bush administration’s belief that Head Start’s priority should be helping children learn the basic elements of reading. Opponents of the test agree with federal officials that Head Start needs to be improved.

But they say its success over the years can be tied to its broad focus on children’s emotional, physical and social growth, as well as their cognitive development. They say they worry that Head Start teachers will start teaching to the test — and overemphasizing literacy and math skills. Many of the children at the West Center here have parents working at minimum-wage jobs at Wal-Mart, Burger King or other businesses.

Some parents are barely out of their teens. Mrs. Stevens said she had decided that the parents did not need to know about the new test. “They’re already stressed out enough as it is,” she said.

 

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“No Touch” Policies in Early Childhood Education

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I was recently discussing the issue of “no touch” policies that seem to be in growing popularity in the care of young children.  The male I discussed this with strongly believes that any APPROPRIATE touches, such as a pat on the back or shoulder, for example, should be kept out of a classroom environment because they are simply too controversial. Previously, I had rarely considered this because touch seems to be such an important part in an early education focused on the social, emotional and physical development of children, especially since many young children need some sort of attachment to a caregiver to be comfortable in a learning environment away from their parents/guardians.  In my experiences, these issues have never been a problem.  I was curious to find out, however, how controversial such policies actually are.  Are districts actually enforcing no touch policies, or is it more of an individual decision?  Some feedback on this would be very useful in expanding my knowledge of the subject.

I believe it’s an individual decision.  The district I work with does not have a “no touch” policy, but it is common knowledge that one should watch his or her actions.  Some teachers take it to an extreme and believe that any close contact is bad and others do not.  I personally believe, as you said, appropriate touches are needed at certain times.  There is no way to define what these “certain times” are because each situation and group of kids is different.  If a teacher does not feel comfortable with appropriate touches, maybe he or she can find other ways to let the students know that he or she cares.

 

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Maori to benefit from early childhood strategic plan

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Whänau whänui and their tamariki will be specifically targeted to increase their participation in early childhood education in a new government ten-year plan, said Mäori  Affairs and Associate Education Minister Parekura Horomia. “Early childhood education makes an important difference to the way children go on to develop later in their lives.  Mäori children currently participate in early childhood services at lower rates than non-Mäori children, so if we can encourage their whanau to get them into the education system as early as possible, they are more likely to stay in it,”

Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki, a major plan outlining a ten-year vision for early childhood education in New Zealand, was launched today by Trevor Mallard. This is the first long-term plan for the sector since Before Five, introduced in 1989 and abandoned by the then National government.

“We know that some tamariki are less likely to access early education, but stand to benefit the most if they do.  Increasing participation is crucial to reducing disparities that occur throughout the education system.” The plan aims to build a stronger framework for the delivery of quality early childhood services.  It will place a greater requirement on early childhood services and teachers to be responsive to the care and education needs of whänau whänui and their children.

“As part of the plan, we will work in partnership with Mäori  to develop a teacher education course for Mäori  immersion early childhood teachers. We’re aiming to increase the number of professionally trained teachers responsible for providing education and care for our children. “The Plan will get early childhood services working more closely with parents/ whänau, schools and social agencies such as the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Social Development.  There will be a strong focus on initiatives to improve the understanding and appreciation of the Treaty of Waitangi and the use of te reo and tikanga Mäori.

 

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Pacific kids to benefit from early childhood plan

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Pacific children will be targeted to increase their participation in early childhood education in a new government ten-year plan, Pacific Island Affairs Minister Mark Gosche said. “Early childhood education makes an important difference to the way children go on to develop later in their lives. Pacific children participate in early childhood at lower rates than non-Pacific children so if we can get them into the education system as early as possible, they’re more likely to stay in it,” Mark Gosche said.

Pathways to the Future: Ngä Huarahi Arataki, a major plan outlining a ten-year vision for early childhood education in New Zealand, was launched today by Trevor Mallard. This is the first long-term plan for the sector since Before Five, introduced in 1989 and abandoned by the then National Government. “We know that some children are less likely to access early education, but stand to benefit the most if they do.  Increasing participation is crucial to reducing disparities that occur throughout the education system.  This Government is working hard to provide all children with the opportunity to fulfil their potential.”

In 1990 around 3300 Pacific children were enrolled in early education services. By 2001 this had risen to over 8000. “Our drive to improve quality in early childhood services offers Pacific communities both opportunities and challenges.  We’re aiming to increase the number of professionally trained Pacific teachers responsible for providing education and care for our children. “The Government and Pacific communities will work together to identify and promote quality teaching and learning practices within Pacific early childhood services. “We will focus on being more responsive to the needs of Pacific children in pre-service training and professional development.  This will ensure that Pacific children in mainstream early childhood services benefit from improved quality across the sector.

 

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