Consequences of Learning About the International Early Childhood Field

     For the past eight weeks, I focused on learning about various problems in our Issues and Trends of Early Childhood class. We discussed various areas of improvement for early childhood both nationally and internationally. For the sake of this post, I will be focusing on the international perspective of this assignment.

    By learning about the international issues relating to early childhood, I became more aware of the work to be done in order to improve early childhood care and education on an international level. Being tasked with observing and keeping up with various organizations allowed me to learn more about the unique needs around the world. Some preschools need quality teachers, while other young children need clean water so that they are healthy enough to learn. In addition, I learned about the differences between early childcare centers around the world. In each preschool, there is a one-of-a-kind culture. These differences in culture are even more prevalent when you compare early childhood centers around the globe. Lastly, I learned about various organizations looking to provide aid to cities and communities looking to improve their early childcare practices. It is so relieving to know that where there is a need, individuals are willing to stand in the gap and provide help so that these communities can thrive. Learning about these organizations and their wide-reaching influence encourages me to positively influence my own circles.

    Going forward, I aim to find ways to better advocate for children on an international level and collaborate with various organizations to achieve this goal. Although I do not know what that will look like yet, I will actively search for opportunities to achieve this goal. As a whole, the field of early childhood has come so far, but there is still a ways to go. My hope is by supporting early childhood on an international level, we will see the early childhood field continue to grow and thrive everywhere, not just in the cities and countries with more than enough research and resources.

This is a picture of me in the classroom I taught in while in Fiji.

I focused on teaching hygiene and social-emotional literature while I was there.