Week 5

I have had no luck of writing to professionals from the podcast and hearing back from them.  So for this assignment I researched  the Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative."  The initiative works with Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and has a program called Saving Brains. The title of the last one caught my attention.  "Saving Brains seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life," (Harvard University, 2010). Saving Brains uses science to to address the issue of children who do not reach their potential, (Harvard University, 2010). The program operates  in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Latin American.  I think this sound amazing and I want to learn more. 
In Brazil, the initiative works with law makers to strengthen leadership and policies for early childhood. They are translation research for a Brazilian audience to understand the science of early childhood. 

I found it odd that there is an initiative in Canada. When I think of global initiatives, I think of poor third world countries. The initiative in Canada works to  support research in early brain development, and  translate the research for policy makers, healthcare, and the public, (Harvard University, 2010). 

I continue to be amazed at all the information available and the efforts that so many are making to make quality early childhood education a reality for all. I like that they talked about using science to encourage lawmakers to make changes and make it so that the audience can understand it.  

I do not know if I just over looked it, but I was unable to find the link to the "Current Issues in Comparative Education." However, I did find an article on the Center for Global Education that talks about equity.  "Educators agree that understanding the world and demonstrating critical skills such as empathy, communication, collaboration and perspective-taking are foundation to an equitable education," (Center for Global Education, 2016).  The article went on to talk about how a school in London made great improvements and using it as a model for other schools. The school in London achieved success by having, "A belief that all children can succeed and a relentless focus on improving teaching and leadership capacity, using data at the school and student level, and creating effective and highly collaborative networks and partnerships, drove success," (Center for Global Education, 2016).  They  came up with four key points to make a education system high quality. They are: teacher development, consistency of policy and supports, community voice, and flexibility for local leaders and educations in responding to the needs of students in their communities," (Center for Global Education, 2016).  I bookmarked this as I think it is a great resource to use. 

Reference
 Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/

Center for Global Education. (2016). Global Competence and Equity. Retrieved from http://asiasociety.org/education/global-competence-and-equity