Quality from an ECCE stand point

UNESCO is a world wide network that specializes in Education. They head main quarters is located in Paris, with an additional 52 locations all around the world, including Bangkok, Beirut, Dakar and Santiago . Their strive for expanding progress in Early Education is dispersed across five different regions; Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America and Latin America and the Caribbean. UNESCO focuses on a number of themes geared to different aspects of Early Education, as well as, provides its' viewers with a plethora of educational programmes suited for the advancement and awareness of early education.


UNESCO'S ECCE, Early Child Care and Education, elaborately describes the importance of quality and access in early childhood programming on their website http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/.


"Early childhood care and education programmes should emphasise the child’s holistic development and extend beyond assisting the child’s transition to formal schooling. High quality childcare, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, promotes motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness" (UNESCO, Early Childcare quality programmes).
Adequate quality programming in early childhood education has been the discussion of debate for many years. Questions are asked of how does one determine if programming is or is not adequate enough, based on the economical status of a community? Other's may conclude that maybe the lack of qualified teachers contributes to the insignificance of quality programming. Despite the debate at hand, all in all, our children are suffering because of the lack of quality programming; particularly in low income communities. This not only occurs in the U.S., but this is an international dilemma. The inclusion of active parent involvement and adequate learning through Play ensure that children learn using tools to their fullest capacity, while engaging in full interaction. Although conducted on a regular basis, I have emerged more methods of learning through Play into my classroom, with the multi-use of different materials, some purchased with my own funding.


The international crisis of investments and financing in early childhood programming is a world wide dilemma. As the U.S. makes attempts to play a more pro-active role in the investments of financing and minimizing equities in early childhood programming, government officials in other countries struggle to accomplish this same goal. The struggle to mobilize resources needed to promote quality in early childhood plays second to the overlapping issues associated with universal education as a whole. Although the 1990 Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (EFA) declared that countries should view early education as a part of basic education, government funding for early education is so minimal, the mobilization of such funding seems almost impossible. Working for a non-profit organization, it appears that non-profit seems much more effective, as programming is supported by government subsidies, as well as, provides assistance for children and their families, particular of low income families.