Thursday, June 13, 2013

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally
For this week’s blog assignment we were asked to choose three international organizations dedicated to work in the early childhood field.  In researching these organizations we were asked to determine what their mission and goals are, as well as discover potential job opportunities.   Below are the organizations I found to be interesting.

1.      Hope Worldwide
The slogan for this organization is “Bringing hope. Changing lives.” (Hope Worldwide, 2011).  They were founded in response to the Bible which calls everyone to have the heart of Jesus by helping the needy around the world.  Their vision is to “bring hope and change the lives of the world’s most poor, sick and suffering” (Hope Worldwide, 2011).
In the area of early childhood, Hope Worldwide is focused on improving the quality and availability of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs in South African disadvantaged communities.  “It is estimated that 21% of South African children between the ages of five and six participate in any sort of ECD programs, 15% of three to five year olds, and only 5% of children between the crucial ages from zero to three years old receive any form of care” (Hope Worldwide, 2011).  Hope Worldwide intends on improving these statistics by providing ECD services to young orphans, assisting parents with training and skills development, and working with local government to improve collaboration and coordination.
Other than senior leadership, Hope Worldwide offers a variety of volunteer opportunities.  They range from duration of service required.  I would be interested in serving for a week of service at a time.  The description for this category includes disaster relief and week-long service trips, working to help in any way possible.  People of all backgrounds are welcome, but of course experienced early childhood professionals would be able to offer valuable assistance.
2.      Cross-Cultural Solutions
The slogan for this organization is “Change Their World. Change Yours. This Changes Everything.” (Cross-Cultural Solutions, 2013).  They have a variety of volunteer programs. I am particularly interested in the family volunteer program.  This program allows your entire family, as long as your children are eight and older, to travel to multiple countries and immerse into their culture serving in a variety of roles.  Everyone in your family “develops a lifelong sense of service and a cross cultural understanding” (Cross-Cultural Solutions, 2013), not to mention the lives you will change in the process.
3.      Global Teacher Education
The slogan for this organization is “Educator Preparation Resources for a Global Age” (Global Teacher Education, 2013).  Their mission is to ensure teachers are properly trained to prepare our young people to thrive in a culturally diverse world.  They want to train teachers to become “truly global citizens – confident in their own culture, yet able to understand and appreciate other cultures with which they will increasingly interact in their personal, social, and economic lives” (Global Teacher Education, 2013).
There are several ways to get involved.  They are seeking educators to become members of their organization and post blogs, share resources, contribute financial support, and inform others of events relating to internationalizing teacher education.  I feel I could learn so much from becoming involved in this organization, and hopefully have something to contribute as well.

References
Cross- Cultural Solutions. (2013). [website].  Family Volunteer Opportunities.  Retrieved June 13, 2013
            Opportunities.
Global Teacher Education. (2013). [website]. What is Internationalization of Teacher Education? 
            Retrieved June 13, 2011 from: http://www.globalteachereducation.org/what-internationalization-
            teacher-education.  
Hope Worldwide. (2011). [website]. Early Childhood Development.  Retrieved June 13, 2013 from:



3 comments:

  1. Sarah,
    Each of the organizations you listed sounded like they are involved in compassionate efforts to make a positive impact on the lives of young children and families. I was not familiar with any of them before reading your entry. Thank you for sharing the information.

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  2. Sarah,
    Thank you for sharing. I have never heard of Hope Worldwide. It sounds like it would be a great organization for me to add to my COP list because my school will be a Christian school.

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  3. Dear Sarah,

    The same as Judi, I did not know anything about the existence of the three organizations you have shared, either about the ones I shared in my own blog, isn’t amazing all the available resources we have to learn from?

    Cross- Cultural Solutions is the one that got my attention, because it offers great opportunities not only for the adults, but for the whole family. I have always thought that anything the family does as a group has better results for every member than the individual work.

    Thank you for sharing Sarah!

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