Robin's Early Childhood Studies Blog: EXPLORING OUR WEB RESOURCES

Friday, December 9, 2011

EXPLORING OUR WEB RESOURCES

For this posting I decided to look even further into the website for Early Childhood Australia: The Australian Early Childhood Advocacy Organization (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/) that I had previously posted as one of my new resources. The link I chose to investigate further was the QIAS/QA support link. This link allows you to choose further information on family day care, long day care, or outside school hours care. Since I am in the family child care business, I chose to delve further into the family day care link. I find it to be really interesting to find out what standards different countries have in common and which ones sound like great ideas to implement in our own country.

For this website I compared the Quality Assurance (QA) systems which are an initiative of the Australian Government whose aim is to ensure that children in care have stimulating, positive experiences and interactions. I liken this system to the QRIS system I am currently working with in my own state.

The link gives other links such as: www.ncac.gov.au – This is for the National Childcare Accreditation Council who is responsible for the implementation and administration of the Quality Assurance (QA) systems for family day care, outside school hours care and long day care across Australia. I could be mistaken but I compare this agency to NAEYC (naeyc.org). (Another organization I spend a lot of time using as a major resource for my studies.)

There is also a free copy of Early Childhood Australia’s latest book catalogue, which contains quality-assured early childhood books. Books on this list must meet the following criteria: is in the best interests of children; is evidence-based; is appropriately inclusive; uses accessible language; addresses the appropriate age range; is dated and authored; is referenced where appropriate; is attractively designed and presented; and clearly acknowledges any commercial interests and/or biases. The list of titles is extensive and I found a lot of interesting titles on specific issues that I have never seen before in print. I would highly recommend viewing this list if anyone likes to read extensively about issues, including, but not limited to understanding excellence and equity in early childhood care. Some of the titles are a bit pricey but I hope to be able to find the titles I would like to read here in the United States.

The more I follow links and view this website, the more information I find that is so helpful for my resource file. I highly recommend spending some time looking around this website if this type of content is of interest to any educators and/or parents.

Reference

August 2011 Catalogue Page 1 - Early Childhood Australia Catalogue. (n.d.). Home - Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved December 09, 2011, from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/shop/results.cfm?category=33

3 comments:

Mary LoremanDecember 10, 2011 at 9:12 AM
Robin,
One of my contacts is from Australia. I will certainly have to look through this website, to help me communicate more fully with my contact. I also have a child care, and may find it interesting to compare and contrast, as well as to find new, useful information. Thanks for the information!
Mary L.
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cutepreschoolersDecember 10, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Last year I had a colleague who is from Australia, in the course of our interactions, she mentioned how government is in support of early childhood education in Australia, particularly how universal access to early childhood education is incorporated into the system. I remember that on one occasion she mentioned that play-based learning is being recognised as the most effective way for children to learn and is being accorded a prime place in the curriculum. Unfortunately, she did not stay in our school long, she left after three months. As you pointed out, it will be a good idea for policy makers from different countries to compare notes and make use of ideas that are working (effectively) from other land.
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JaimeDecember 11, 2011 at 1:30 AM
Sounds like another great find for you on this site. If I remember correctly, when you wrote about this site earlier, it was very educational even for me hearing and learning a bit more about another country so far away. I can understand why it is somewhat of an "addicting" journey to take on when visiting this website. I'll have to take a look at that specific link you brought up, sounds facinating. Again, thank you for sharing.
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PERSONAL CHILDHOOD WEB

When constructing my personal childhood web I needed to remember those who contributed to a feeling of being loved, left me feeling special in some way, and cared about. This was a difficult task as my memories of my childhood, especially from the years of ten and up, were more of surviving this time instead of enjoyment.

Those individuals who did leave a positive impression in some way during the course of my early childhood and middle childhood are: my maternal step-grandfather; my mother; my father; my sister; and my mother's long-term boyfriend and father figure in later years.

My maternal step-grandfather, Monty Crytzer, was the one person in my childhood that I could always count on the keep me laughing and see the fun part of childhood. Even though we are not biologically related, I attribute my sense of humor and how I look at life to him. When times get tough, I always remember how he taught me the importance of being a kid at heart. One specific memory is of him pushing my sister and me around K-Mart in a shopping cart telling us to yell for our mom and grandmother. We had fun, they were totally embarrassed. I have many wonderful memories of my time spent with him.

My mother, Sarah, had her ups and downs as a parent. Most of my memories are not of fun times but to give her credit she did the best she could under the circumstances she found herself in during my later early childhood and middle childhood years. She took care of the basics in order for us to be healthy. She made sure we ate, had clothes, got up for school, etc... It was in the department of showing love that she had a tough time in. I always assumed she loved us but just did not know how to show it.

My father, Eddie, was a great father when we were little whenever he was around (which was not often because of work). He was very interested in technology and I credit him with my interest in all types of gizmos, gadgets, and computers of any type. The times I remember the most fondly were spent in his workroom as a young child being instructed on how to use his Ham Radio setup. Unfortunately, he slowly disappeared out of my life when I was around ten or so.

My sister, Wendy, is older than I am but we always shared a room. We were close later in early childhood and in early middle childhood due to the environment we lived in. Specific memories are painful to remember, but it was and is important that she was there when times were tough. We went through a rough time in later childhood but are now as close as ever.

My mom's long-term boyfriend, Ralph, was and still is a father figure for me. Since the age of fifteen, he has been the person who pretty much took on that role in my life. We never lived in the same house but do live only two houses apart. Aside from taking on some of the roles as father figure, he is a great listener as well as full of information that he loves to share.

There were others who had an impact as I progressed into adulthood but these are the five that came to mind for my early childhood and middle childhood. I do believe we are a product of our environment in so many ways and even though three of the five mentioned are no longer alive, the impact they had on my life is still present today.

Robin's Early Childhood Studies Blog

Friday, December 9, 2011

EXPLORING OUR WEB RESOURCES

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