The first organization is the World Organization for Early Childhood Education.  It can be found at www.omep.org.gu.se/English/.  It is an international, non-government and non-profit.  There may goal is to defend and promote all children’s rights to have an education.  One of their projects that I found interesting was called Birth to Three.  Its purpose is to provide education for sustainable development and WASH from the start.  (WASH stands for water, sanitation and hygiene).  The individuals working on this project go into homes, community health centers and preschools to ensure that all children have clean water, use proper sanitation and have proper hygiene.  The organization works with the UN, UNICEF and many other international organizations.

      While there were no current jobs listed, I would like to do the job of National President of a region in Europe.  This person produces newsletters, attends national meetings and represents their assigned area in all educational aspects of Early Childhood.  I would love to represent a region in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece or Ireland because I love traveling abroad and have always had an interest in what it would be like to live and work abroad.  For this job, I believe you would need to be organized, fluent in the language of the region where you live, in addition to speaking English and be very knowledgeable on that regions educational systems to you could discuss what is going on within the region and also recognize areas that you would need help in. 

                The second organization I found is the Association for Childhood Education International which is located at acei.org.  There motto is “Bright futures for every child, every nation”.  There are different advisory groups all over the world (Canada, Peru, Oman, India, Singapore) and anyone can pay dues and be a member of this organization.  This organization produces various professional educational magazines and gives a lot of opportunities for networking with people in other areas of the world.  The one program I really liked was the “Love Me, Teach Me” program/campaign which encourages parents and teachers to interact more deeply with children.   All children have the right to have an identity, to participate in education, and the right to have security, stability and protection.  The campaign focuses on teaching adults how to do this with the children in their lives.  I also liked that there is an ACEI radio station and they have broadcasts posted on the website of various topics that are discussed.

                The position that I thought looked interesting was their Country Liaison Program position.  I could pick any place in the world and move there and my job would be to gather information about the Early Childhood practices and policies there, share this information with members of the group, provide ideas on staff development and promote international and intercultural understand (www.acei.org).  Again, you would have to be organized, knowledgeable of the educational practices of the area and willing to travel frequently for meetings and conferences.

                Another organization I found was the Pacific Early Childhood Research Association found at www.pecera.org.  I searched this website more out of curiosity because I do not know much about the Pacific Island culture or educational system.  The purpose of this organization is to support and research Early Childhood education and get the word out to others about it.  They strongly promote research and studying of EC.  They have an annual conference, produce various journals and there is a database of members that other members can connect with.  Another interesting thing I found is that the founder and honorary president, Bernard Spodek, is a professor at the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana, which is one of my state universities located just a few hours away. 

                The last organization I searched information also had a job I found interesting because it is a job I used to do.  The site is reggioalliance.org and they have a position for a preschool teacher in Japan.  The person that does this job would work with families from Japan, the US, the UK, Belgium, Taiwan, and India.  This job is interesting to me because I have never worked with such a diverse group of children before.  I would have to have creative lesson plans based on the Reggio Emilia concept, be a good communicator with my parents and maintain an organized classroom.

                The website, reggioalliance.org is the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance and they have various conferences individuals can attend, different networking opportunities and a lot of really neat pictures and information about schools based on Reggio Emilia from different parts of the world.  The section of the website that I really liked is from Reggio Emilia, Italy and gives information on infant, toddler and preschool centers in the area.

 

References

www.omep.org.gu.se/English/

www.acei.org

www.pecera.org

reggioalliance.org