Children of the world!!

     One of the things that I love about having international students in my classes is listening to them talk about the early childhood system in their countries.  It is often eye-opening for me.  I think that we look at early childhood education from our frame of reference, which is how it is in our own country.

     I found three different organizations that focus on international childhood education.  One is the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI). 

http://www.acei.org/

  This organization states that they want bright futures for every child, every nation.  I love that concept!  I was also drawn to their mission, which is to promote innovative solutions to educational challenges and inspire action that creates sustainable futures for children world wide.  I LOVED the phrase "inspire action". 

     Another one is OMEP, which is the World Organization for Early Childhood Education.  http://worldomep.org/en/.  This organization defends and promotes the rights of child education and care worldwide and supports activities that improve access to high quality education and care.  I like that this organization focuses on RIGHTS.

     Another organization that appealed to me is the International Early Childhood Education organization, known as ICF.   https://www.icf.com/campaigns/education/international-early-childhood-education.  This organization does a lot of work in India, but provides early childhood training and technical assistance, coordinates research and evaluation efforts, and supports corporate childcare.  They work to achieve the highest possible quality, performance, and greatest impact possible.  I really like that one focus of this organization is to create NATIONAL licensing and accreditation standards.  I think that this is a fantastic idea!

     I did look at careers with each of these organizations.  However, I live in a very rural area with very few large organizations located anywhere near me.  These three were no exception.  All of the openings were either out of the country, or all in very large cities.  I would have to consider relocating a great distance if I ever wanted to work in any of these positions.  That is something that I am not interested in doing.  I have lived in the same small town all of my life and have no intentions of leaving!

    

     Whenever I think of jobs that I would really like to have (if I didn't have my current job), my mind usually takes me to different organizations that I collaborate with and different members of my current community of practice.  I do a lot of work with our local health department.  Although I am not a health person (medical things are not my favorite), our local health program actually offers very comprehensive services to the families of the community that I work in.  They have people that work there that go into homes of local families and help them in many, many different ways.  I would love to have a job with the local health department, going into homes and offering intensive services that helps the family to keep their children in the home and to do so in the most effective manner for optimal development.  The problem is that most of these jobs usually require a RN or else a LCSW... I am neither.  I really love the social work aspect of some of the services that our local health department offers to families.
http://www.pikecountyhealth.org/jobopportunities.html


  The other two places that I really think that I could find my niche in are the Missouri Head Start Association and also the Missouri Head Start Collaboration Office.  Both of these organizations do so much to help Head Starts all over the state of Missouri.  They hold trainings, offer resources, and do a lot of collaboration work.  I love the idea of being a trainer with Missouri Head Start.  I have also been a part of several collaborative efforts spearheaded by the Missouri Head Start Collaboration Office and I learn so much from each one.  Both of these organizations send early childhood professionals out better prepared to help families than they were before the meetings, trainings, or collaborations.  I would love to be part of that. I have the education and experience to work in either place (if the appropriate job were to be open).  However, neither are located close to where I live.  All of these types of organizations are located about two hours from my house (I live in a very rural area).

http://www.moheadstart.org/Job%20Opportunities.aspx

http://www.moheadstart.org/Missouri%20Head%20Start%20State%20Collaboration%20Office.aspx
     Although these two both appeal to me, I really LOVE the idea of teaching college courses.  I would love to teach early childhood courses at a local college or to direct or teach at an early childhood center that is ran by a college to train those working to be early childhood teachers.  There are not any of these types of programs near me.  There are colleges, but they either don't have openings to teach the early childhood courses, or else they require a PhD.  I would LOVE to teach online classes.  I do a lot of internet searches and it looks like there are rare online teaching opportunities for me once I get my masters, but most of them prefer experience teaching online courses at a college level.  It looks like it will be a difficult profession to get your foot in the door.  I really hope to find an opportunity with this once I get my Master's, but it looks like it will be a lot of searching.  Fingers crossed!