"People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children."
-Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Research Around the World

I decided to answer the following questions through the website, EECERA, the European Early Childhood Education Research Association.  The link is http://www.eecera.org/conferences/. 
What are some of the current international research topics?

                I read that the organization just had a conference in September of this year in regards to how researching is being done in early childhood, and where exactly can they expand and improve.  In fact, to word them correctly, “This theme focuses on what practices exist for early education and what should be developed?” (EECERA. (2011)

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

                From the notes of the conference, I was able to observe that the same issues they were discussing, economic versus education, obtaining an inclusive classroom, educator training and qualifications, are the same issues we have been discussing throughout our Walden journey. 

What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

                I found a topic titled “Aims of EECERA” and within this tab I read the organization lives up to.  They perform and create new and advanced ways to research everything that deals with early childhood.  With the changing times and more and more people suing over every little thing, I would guess that finding ways to research without crossing anyone’s boundaries would be a little difficult.  I also read that they offer awards to students who are currently enrolled in a postgraduate college who choose to write research papers and present them to the organization.  Many of the requirements were familiar to me from what I have learned from my current class. 

EECERA. (2011) 21st EECERA Annual Conference Switzerland 2011. Retrieved from http://www.eecera2011.org/.

3 comments:

  1. It seems that more and more we hear about the battle of "economics vs. education". How sad for your children, and our children's children that their education has become so strictly based on where the economy is at a given time. Our children deserve better, our students deserve better and honestly...we deserve better. I can see that the battles that we face here in the US are all too much like the battle

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  2. Tina,
    I, too, was impressed with similar endeavors from the ECDVU website. Like the EECERA article you spoke of, great efforts are made towards creating new and advanced ways to develop early childhood programs and curriculum. GReat attention towards indigenous implementation of local views into the EC curriculums was impressive to me.


    Great post!
    CCWhite

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  3. Tina,

    I also find it sad that the state of the education system is based solely on the economy. We make investments in every other place we can, when all we should invest in is our future; the children in our country. Sadly, it's almost comforting to read that it's not only our country that is suffering like this.

    Great post!
    Raina

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