I am beyond thrilled to report that my persistence has paid
off! It may have taken more than half of
the class, but I have finally made four international connections and have
received an informative response from one of my contacts in Australia! I am incredibly appreciative of the
information that was shared with me and hope to learn so much more about
methods across the globe.
I have learned that, in Australia, they operate in much the same
fashion as we do. The particular center
discussed utilizes a Reggio Emilia approach in conjunction with influence from
Rudolf Steiner. They have instituted a
national policy referred to as EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework) which
offers a much more holistic approach to learning than we currently offer in the
United States. This policy was just
adopted in 2009, so I feel that we have much to learn from the benefits they
are receiving from an approach that we had implemented so long ago, but have
since neglected.
We have become so consumed with testing and standards that, more
often than not, we focus on “teaching to the test” rather than respecting the
individuality, respect, and acceptance that this nation was founded upon. In Australia, especially in Tasmania, where
my contact is from, they readily practice within our ideals of a strong
community, family support, and individual instruction. If we truly desire to “catch up” with the
rest of the world once again, we need to put our egos aside and embrace the
values that we have always held dear, instead of becoming “slaves to the system”. We will survive—we always have—but only if
we maintain the morals and principles of a productive and empathetic social
value system
Hi Dana,
ReplyDeleteAs usual, I enjoyed reading your post this week. American education definitely need to be fixed in order for us to catch up with the rest of the world, however, I don’t believe that national standards and testing are the way to do it. So many of our children leave high school without basic knowledge or skills, Americans education should be more competitive. National standards and testing are supposed to ensure that all children are ready for college or the workforce and will hopefully advance the educational standing of the United States, but unfortunately this is not the case.
Dana,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the Australian approach to early childhood education. I like that they use the holistic approach as well. It would be very interesting to see the how are programs compare to each other and even the differences. I believe it is always important to take in account how other programs work and learn from them good or bad. I look forward to reading more about your contact in Australian and their early childhood program.
Thanks
Tanya
Dana,
ReplyDeleteIt is so great that you have reached your contact.The Early Years Learning Framework also referred to as the Framework is a guide for early childhood educators, yet it speaks to all Australians to children, to families, to community members and to other professionals who work with young children and their families. It acknowledges the diverse nature of Australian society and strongly supports inclusive practices. Great blog and contacts!!!
Great job Dana! I truly commend you on making four international exchanges and I hope to gather vital information from you and your global sources. Contrary, I do strongly believe here in America countless EC programs offer holistic approaches pertaining to learning and individual instruction. Considerably high quality programs and adequate school systems use assessments in order to retain guided information for the essence of analyzing the effectiveness of educational practices. Without implementing these necessary elements there will be little to none national standards or measurement for the future of education across the world!
ReplyDeleteHi Dana, YEAH!!! I am happy read that you were finally successful with connecting to your international contacts!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the information that you found regarding the field of early childhood in Australia! I love that they have not forgotten about how they truly view children as it is such an important part of what we do! Now that you have made contact, I look forward to reading the similarities as well as the differences that you will discover.
Thank you for sharing!
Take care,
Stephanie
It's so great to hear that your persistence and diligence paid off! I really like how you highlighted the importance of holistic practices in Australia. We should definitely strive to keep up with the global initiatives and practices. We can not only learn from others in our communities but others across the world. The access to international resources is something I have struggled with in this course unfortunately. But I am glad to see that some of us had success.
ReplyDelete