Consequences and Goals

It has been another amazing leg along the road to completion; this time taking me halfway around the world to gain perspective of how early childhood education differs in Africa through the eyes of my new “friend” Mahamadou. As a consequence of this course component, I not only reached a bit beyond my comfort zone and initiated contact with a stranger, but also became more aware of how resources are allocated throughout many regions of the world.

With this new perspective I explored additional links closer to home, which raised the question of “If the US has committed to aid early education in other countries, who is committing to help us?” Even though most of our children “enjoy” greater comforts than many around the world (clean water, electricity, toilets), early care and education are still not accessible to everyone and thus we are setting ourselves up for dependence on other nations when our children are less able to compete in the global market. Nonetheless, the fact remains that there is a large population of children right here at home that need our help – I’m not saying that we should deny others, I would just like for us to take care of our homes before we reach out to our neighbors. Prioritize. (That isn’t intended to be as selfish as it sounds, nor am I being contradictory to my other posts.)

I hope for our profession that we continue to speak as one voice around the globe to influence policy all the way from our site supervisors to world leaders. We must all follow our passion as we have in the past to eradicate inequity in early education (all education) not only for children and families but for teachers and professionals as well. 

For you my friends, I look forward to continuing along this journey with you - meeting new voices, sharing new perspectives and reaching towards a world where we can make a difference for all children.

Education for All by 2015

Since I have not heard from my Mali friend lately, spent some time exploring the UNESCO sight, more specifically information related to the Education for All initiative. I really can’t say how my research this week has influence or even pertained to my professional goals other than to say it has continued to raise my awareness of how much there is still to do if the goals set forth by UNESCO are to be achieved by 2015. In just three short years billions of dollars must be rerouted towards education to address the millions of children who are still not in school. 

As I looked into the figures presented in last year’s EFA Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO, 2011), which focuses on the education outcomes for children as a result of military conflict one comment that stood out was that so many developing countries spend a greater percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP) on the military than on education. The latest World Bank statistics for the US show that educational spending has held steady since 2007 at 5.5% over military expenditures that have unfortunately increased from 3.3% to 4.5% in the last decade (The World Bank, 2012). Comparatively, Mali’s numbers reflect educational monies at 4.5% and 1.9% on the military, which is down over the last few years (The World Bank, 2012). Statistically, world wide, many other countries are fighting this inequity in spending but what I find interesting is that even though the US and Mali (not really a fair comparison – more like apples to oranges) spend a greater percentage of their GDPs on education there is still far fewer children gaining the benefit of a quality education than there are soldiers who are equipped with their tools for success.

Professionally, how does this impact me? I’m not sure. Perhaps it is just another statistic that emphasizes the need for advocacy for underprivileged children and their families. Perhaps it is a growing perspective of how government spending reflects the values of a nation and the concerns of a generation. Perhaps it is a sign of urgency for today's pre-service early childhood educators (even to the extent of secondary students) to join in the effort and continue to carry the banner high to demand equity in our profession and support our nation's/world's children.

UNESCO. (2011). Education for all global monitoring report 2011. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/reports/2011-conflict/

Global Campaign for Education

While reviewing the information located within the ACEI website – I explored a link to the Global Campaign for Education. This site contains a variety of information, primarily presented as a Blog.  The latest article touts recent efforts of children worldwide to raise awareness of the millions who are still without access to an education by presenting the UNESCO Director-General with thousands of drawings from around the world. As per the article, there are still over 200 million children around the world annually who have limited or no access to an education due to poverty, poor nutrition and inadequate care – these children “will not attain their development potential” without prompt and adequate intervention (GCE, 2012, p 13). Not only does the article continue with additional information on the event, but is actually a follow up from previous posts.

As I continued to explore I found an interesting publication from the GCE (2012) that analyzes educational efforts from around the world and notes that the North America/Western Europe enroll nearly 80% of pre-primary children in early learning educational programs with only a minimal increase in the last decade, but in Sub-Saharan Africa (including Mali) enrollment has increased more than 40% since 1999 which sounds great until you realize that this increase still only includes less than 20% of children under the age of 5.

I continued to expand my research of this sight, I followed the square, orange link at the top of the page to “Your Country” to find more information about how the US is participating in these efforts. According to one article, President Obama has pledged $2 million for global education (http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/about/education-for-all); saying that since other countries have dropped the ball, it is up to the US to take a lead in these efforts. However, another section identifies the Obama Administration as excluding education as a developmental priority (http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/about). Seemingly conflicting information to be sure. More investigation is necessary to fully understand these claims. On a personal, and apparently cynical if not selfish note, I would like to think that this means that our government recognized that there are millions of children here in the US who need assistance before funds are invested in children overseas. Yes, we can participate and we can make a difference – but if the US is going to be able to compete and participate globally, we must support our own children’s education in order to ensure that we have strong leadership for our future.

For a quick video on one groups efforts in Washington:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VBSK5HiHevc

GCE (2012, April). Rights from the Start. Retrieved from http://globalactionweek.org/app/webroot/files/reports/GAW_RFTS_FINAL_ENG.pdf

[The Global Campaign for Education, U.S. Chapter (GCE-US) is a broad-based coalition (click here for a complete list of our coalition members) of U.S. organizations including faith-based groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), teachers unions, foundations, and think tanks dedicated to ensuring access to quality basic education in developing nations.]http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/about/education-for-all

Equity in Education

"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another"

-      

Nelson Mandela

Mahamadou sent me a link this week to a recent publication regarding educational data collected from Sub-Saharan Africa.  While admittedly there are some countries that are providing well for their students, the majority “fall far below” as we would say. The information collected from 45 countries in the region illustrates a variety of factors that affect the quality of education for these children including teacher training, resource availability (ex: text books), and basic services such as electricity, sanitation, water.

As I read through the articles that are written by and intended for Americans, the information seems appalling that we have such a disparity between early childhood education from one school, county, state to the next. But when I look through the pages of “have nots” in this article I gain a larger perspective of what we do have and take for granted every day.

I fuss because I only have 29 text books and 34 students, but in many areas of Africa there are less than ½ the necessary books to go around, in fact, in Cameroon there are 13 children for each mathematics text book (UNESCO, 2012, figure 4)! What is more unfathomable is the fact that in many countries, less than ½ of their schools have no toilets or potable water.  And the next time I want to scream because I have more students in my classroom than I have chairs – I’ll remember the under-trained teachers in Mali who have between 55-65 students in their 1^st thru 3^rd grade classrooms and consider that the primary reason for lower class sizes by the 6^th grade is the fact that many students do not stay in school that long.  In addition, it is estimated that an increase of more than ¾ of the current teaching force will need to be added within the next few years to keep pace with the rise in school age children (2012, p. 10)

Equity issues do certainly exist and must be address in America – that is not argued. But when I look at the images of these children, I have a new respect for those who are fighting tirelessly for real change overseas.

UNESCO. (2012). School and Teaching Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa, Analysis of the 2011 UIS Regional Data Collection on Education. UIS Information Bulletin No9. Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/ib9-regional-education-africa-2012-en-v5.pdf