Time Well Spent!!!

As I sit here writing this final blog post for my Master of Science in Early Childhood Studies the emotions are all over the place.  I am excited, saddened, and encouraged.  As I started this program I was scared that on-line learning was not going to meet my needs, but I learned very quickly that you can have the same deep discussions that would happen in a live classroom.

I was challenged to be a better student by my instructors as well as my fellow colleagues.  I have learned just as much from my fellow colleagues and while I knew that was a characteristic of quality adult learning, it still was surprising.  I am extremely proud of the work that I have been able to accomplish and I felt supported through the entire process.

My one long-term goal is to make ensure that ALL children have access to high quality child care.  I hope that my work will ensure that the quality of child care in Oklahoma is better than it is today.

Saying goodbye to my colleagues and my instructor is bittersweet.  I am glad it is over, but  I will miss the encouragement and continued quest for learning more and more.  I challenge all of us to be life long learners.  Please stay in touch!  Dr. Teri thanks for the feedback and the encouragement!  This class was the best because of you!

My new favorite quote thanks to Towanda!!   Brigham Young once said, “Educate a man; you educate a man. Educate a woman; you educate a generation”.   Go forth colleagues and educate a generation!!!  

We did it!!!  

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three organizations I selected to discuss were Save the Children, International Step by Step Association, and Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  I chose these Save the Children and OECD because their mission most closely matched my personal goal of improving the lives of children and families.

Save the Children has a campaign titled Preschool for ALL.  This slogan is very similar to the some of the words I selected on my Wordle at the beginning of this class.  Assess to quality child care for ALL children.  I expanded that to include all children birth to 8, and this is focusing on the preschool aged child, but it still matched up to my personal goals best.

Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) seeks to improve the economic and social well being of people around the world.  Their education policy is to expand access to service without attention to quality will not deliver the good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society (OECD, n.d.). 

International Step by Step Association focuses more on what is actually going on in the classroom for young children.  I selected this group because in my job we provide training for teachers so that they can improve practices for young children.  That seems to be a similar goal for International Step by Step Association.

International Jobs:

There were three jobs that were very interesting to me in my search unfortunately,  when looking at international jobs it seems that fluency in other languages besides English is a requirement for many of them.  The first job I reviewed was for OECD titled Researcher/Analyst--PISA.  PISA is Programme for International Student Assessment.  This job sounds very interesting because you will be writing and implementing education policies across the world.  The  requirements for this job include:  Advanced degree in statistics, education, social sciences, economics or related field.  3 years of experience policy oriented research, and extensive contacts within the international education policy community.

There were two jobs with Save the Children.  The first job with Save the Children is titled Learning Research Specialist, Department of Education and Child Development, this job focuses on providing technical assistance to the global partners.  Very interesting job.  The qualifications for this job are as follows:  Master's degree in International Education, International Development, Economics or related field; Proficiency in STATA, Proficiency in French, Spanish, or Arabic highly preferred and must be able to travel internationally 30 to 40% of the time.

The second job with Save the Children is titled Specialist, Early Childhood Development and this jobs focuses on the design and monitoring of the Save the Children ECD Interventions.  The qualifications for this job are as follows:  Masters in early childhood education or related field, 3 to 5 years experience in early childhood program development, excellent communication in English and Fluency in Spanish, and must be able to travel 30 to 40% of the time.  This job seemed like a great fit for me until I read the part about Fluency in Spanish. 

It was very exciting doing this international search because I would have never considered looking at an international early childhood group and after this assignment it might be something I will look into for the future.

Reference

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.oecd.org/home/0,2987,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html