I chose to look up information regarding Australia's early childhood research. I chose Australia because during the last course, my international contact was from Australia. I learned a great deal about early childhood from my correspondence with her. Trish is the director of an early childhood center that was made up of about 60 children. The main ideas regarding early childhood care in Australia is centered around the development of National Standards that oversee all early childhood centers within the country. The development of these National Standards has lead to an overhaul of the early childhood system in Australia and the new push is towards excellence in all centers.
From my contact with Trish, and from reviewing the website provided for this week, I learned that much of the current research in Australia is the same as in the United States. One such research aspect is the idea of higher levels of education for early childhood workers. With the new standards in Australia, the level of education required for early childhood teachers is increasing as the research shows that better care is provided by those teachers with higher levels of education. There is also a push in the standards for play based learning in classrooms, which comes directly from the current research regarding the way children learn. Low wages are also a current issue in Australia as the research also shows that those teachers who are paid better wages are more likely to stay with the career reducing staff turnover, which has been shown to have a positive effect on the children in early childhood programs.
I learned a great deal of information regarding the early childhood changes that are currently taking place in Australia. I think the information on the website, along with my knowledge from the last class, has provided me with a better understanding of the importance of quality national standards and the impact that they make on children in early childhood programs. I think in the near future, we will begin to see some of these changes taking place, particularly thanks to the current research on topics such as teacher education, higher wages, and play based learning.
I have also found that national standards and teacher education are common issues all over the world pertaining to the early childhood profession. I am often looking for guidance when reading up on this information within my own early childhood setting. I must admit it gives me a certain level of comfort knowing we are all struggling with the same issues, and I know by working together we will be able to improve the profession.
ReplyDeleteStacy,
ReplyDeleteHave you kept in contact with Trish since our last class? I have not heard from my contact Gayle in quite awhile! I looked at this website as well and also found many similarities in the field here in the U.S. and Australia!
Nice job Stacy. You too have some very valuable information. Austraila is just like our educational program in terms of having to meet certain requirements to be considered successful. It's also good that you were able to maintain contact with your international contact. Great job and keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that you got to use both information you were given personally and from the website. It is comforting yet sad that we are all fighting the same battles in early childhood education. The fact that we are should help make positive changes easier and quicker because of the commonality of the issues. Yet, it is sad because nobody has yet to figure out how to correct the issues. Hopefully there will be change in the near future and the children as well as the professionals can benefit from those changes.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we will start to see the changes in the early childhood field in the near future. I am sure education requirements for EC teachers in the US will increae as well. Worth keeping an eye on.
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