Getting
to Know Your International Contacts – Part 3
During the past several weeks my contact Jessica Taeden who lives
in Bulgaria and works for The Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
and I have had many conversations via phone and e-mails. During our recent conversation Jessica stated
that many professionals in Bulgaria are required to have
a complex understanding of child development and early education issues in
order to provide rich, meaningful educational experiences for all children and
families in their care. Accountability
for outcomes is very high and resources for professional support are limited. She stated that many of the teachers in
middle schools in Bulgaria do not possess the knowledge, skills, or practices
required to help children learn as well as prepare them for entry into
school. For this reason, many of them
need much assistance when beginning school.
Children are not provided with rich educational experiences that they
need in order to develop properly. Jessica
stated that her professional goals, hopes, and dreams are to help creates
better high-quality programs that are geared toward helping all children
regardless of their status. She also
stated that children with special needs have more access to better
opportunities that will allow them to reach their full potential and not be
left behind because of their disability.
My second contact Tara Myers who works for OMEP-USA in Jamaica, stated
that many educators in Jamaica do not engage in continuous professional
learning opportunities or those who do many times do not apply that learning to
increase student achievement. Advocacy
for young children is very low. Many of
the so called high quality programs that are offered are merely programs with
little lend very little significance for children to yield the best possible
learning experiences. Many educators are paid very little and feel that they
should not be required to go above and beyond to help these children who do not
attend school on a regular basis. They
feel like they are wasting their time. I
really could not believe that teachers with this mentality were even hired to
work with young children or children period.
Tara said her professionals goals are to further her education, and
become a principle of a middle school.
Her hopes and dreams are to become a mentor for professionals in order
to help them to become citizens in society whose main focus is for the future
of our young children.
Kesha,
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that professionals in Jamaica do not participate in and utilize professional development. I found, from my international contact, that opportunities for professional development in Mexico are extremely limited. So maybe this is the case in Jamaica too. I was amazed at the quality of the education system in Bulgaria. It really seems that they place a high priority on education and those with varying abilities. I hope that we can work towards a system that sounds as solid as this one.
Thanks for the information,
Amanda
Kesha,
ReplyDeleteI was pleasantly surprised to learn that Bulgaria offered high quality education to students that have special needs. I wonder if the teachers in Bulgaria have to wait a long time to get their students assessed for special services like we do in the US. When children are able to get intervention services early, they often go on to be very self- reliant successful adults.