Week 5 6162

I am still awaiting a reply from UNICEF and I am also awaiting a response from one podcast member. I decided to explore the Harvard Website heavily and find out what exactly are the aims for Early Education in other parts of the world. After reading the initiative, I could tell immediately that the program is aiming at policy makers, research, and advocacy. I think that this is a smart approach instead of head on tackling the educators. Once policy's are in place, educators will be held accountable to follow policy for quality education. In order to get high level decision makers to invest in policy that benefit early education, solid research must be available for presentation and review. Global research will allow for policy makers to think about the global investment and lean more towards a universal standard for quality care and education. In order for researchers to be able to collect the data they need, early education facilities and families need to approve. Educating the community, care facilities, and families on the importance of research leads to advocacy and researchers can extend their efforts because others will be more compelled to let them in their homes and other facilities. These three components: policy makers, research, and advocacy, are strongly linked and needed together in order for the global initiative to make a difference. In their mission statement they state "Catalyzing the implementation of effective, science-based public policies through strategic relationships and knowledge transfer"; this statement is the driving force behind the program and their international approach. The website also offers a newsletter that you can sign up for, as well as articles with research information, and what efforts are being made in other areas of the world. As with any child development website, I explored the employment section and the School of Education is looking for data analyst and researchers. Research and data is so important because it is the key to our foundation and it proves that our field is just as important as primary and secondary school.