Research Around the World

This week I explored the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa website.

Two topics that caught my attention when exploring the publications were Involving Fathers in Early Childhood Care and Development and A Guide for Effective School and Parent Collaboration: A Cooperative Development and Delivery Approach. While reading the publications, it became clear that early childhood educators all over the world have to deal with some of the same obstacles in order to provide quality care for young children. An insight that I gained from exploring this site, was that while the field of early childhood is always changing and evolving, the educator’s heart is for young children and families. This is the case in my personal passion and it was wonderful to read about the foundation that educators are receiving through the work of ECDVU. As a lover of online learning, I was very interested in learning about the programs for educators that are provided through the Early Childhood Development Virtual University. One participant stated that the program allows for a person to work on the job and learn and put into application new knowledge, as well as stating that it was what educators had been waiting for.  That made my heart sing! I know from my own personal journey that the best way I learn is to practice the techniques in tangible ways in the classroom. I also found it interesting that ECDVU uses international advisors and instructors. I believe that this is an amazing feature that truly binds educators from all over the world together. It is in my opinion the very definition of “It takes a village”. All of us together with the same goals can effect major change in the field of early childhood education.

References:

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): 
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php