Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

World Organization for Early Childhood

http://www.omep-usnc.org/

 

OMEP stands for Organizacion Mundial para La Educacion Preesolar. It translates to the World Organization for Early Childhood, but the acronym does not match. This organization is located in over 60 countries including the United States (OMEP, 2010). They are involved in many research, development, and advocacy programs for early childhood (OMEP, 2010). For example, they have provided books and school materials, sponsored volunteer service days for children, and organized childcare in disaster areas.

Although I couldn’t find any direct job opportunities, I feel this is an organization that I would like to join. As a member, I could work with relief efforts and initiatives in our country and even around the world to improve early childhood education. At the very least, I could donate or organize a fundraiser to collect extra books and school supplies to be used in developing countries for early childhood education.

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/about-us/about-us.html

The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) is dedicated to providing children around the world with a quality education to prepare them as great citizens. I choose this organization because of their global outreach to extend education to all children. Also, I was attracted to their focus on “providing environments of equality and fairness” since it is closely related to my passion and challenge in this course (ACEI, 2011a).

The only job opportunity that I found was a paid internship with the organization that would require researching and compiling data for briefings, articles, and other types of resources (ACEI, 2011b). A requirement is that you must be a graduate student in a program that focuses on a global education issues with a particular interest in childhood education (ACEI, 2011b). I believe we could all apply for this internship since we’ve become excellent researchers for our challenge and response.

Furthermore, if I were to join ACEI as a professional or professional plus member, I would receive volunteer and leadership opportunities that include networking opportunities (ACEI, 2011c). This is definitely something that interests me.

International Step by Step Association (ISSA)

ISSA believes the way to social justice and equity is by working together to provide children with quality care and education so they can become strong, contributing citizens (n.d.). I chose this organization to share because of their commitment to quality care and education for young children and their support of families, communities, and professionals in providing it.

“ISSA advocates policies that ensure that every child regardless of gender, race, religion, nationality, or ability has the opportunity to develop his or her full potential” (n.d.) As a response to my challenge of cultural acceptance, I want to work with families to create a learning environment that is suitable for children. To do this, I also need to offer professional development and collaboration time for teachers. ISSA is an additional way to expand my community of practice and learn more about international approaches to quality care and education in the early childhood field.

References

ACEI. (2011a). About us. Retrieved on June 11, 2013 from http://acei.org/about-us/about-us.html

ACEI. (2011b). Internships at ACEI. Retrieved June 11, 2013 from http://acei.org/about-us/internships-at-acei.html

ACEI. (2011c). Professional plus. Retrieved on June 11, 2013 from http://acei.org/about-us/about-us.html

Step By Step Association. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.issa.nl/index.html

OMEP. (2010). About OMEP. Retrieved on June 11, 2013 from http://www.omep-usnc.org/