Comparative Analysis of ECD/ ECE Programmatic Guidelines

Comparative Analysis of ECD/ ECE Programmatic Guidelines

Synthesis and Summaries of Different Programming Guidelines


I. Head Start program

The Head Start Program is based on the premise that all children share certain needs and that children of low-income families, in particular, can benefit from a comprehensive developmental program to meet those needs. The Head Start approach makes the following assumptions:
A child can benefit from a comprehensive, interdisciplinary program to foster development.
Because the family is the principal influence on the child's development, the child's family, as well as the community, must be involved in the program.
Local communities are allowed latitude to develop creative program designs so long as the basic goals, objectives and standards of the comprehensive program are maintained.
The overall goal of the Head Start Program is to bring about a greater degree of social competence in children of low-income families. Social competence means the child's everyday effectiveness in dealing with both the present environment and later responsibilities in school and in life. Social competence takes into account the interrelatedness of cognitive and intellectual development, physical and mental health, nutritional needs as well as other factors. To achieve social competence, Head Start objectives and performance standards provide for:
· Improvement of the child's health and physical abilities, including appropriate steps to correct present physical and mental problems and to enhance every child's access to an adequate diet.
· Improvement of the family's attitude toward future health care and physical abilities.
· Encouragement of self-confidence, spontaneity, curiosity and self-discipline that will assist the development of the child's social and emotional health.
· Enhancement of the child's mental processes and skills, with particular attention to conceptual and communication skills.
· Establishment of patterns and expectations of success for the child that will create a climate of confidence for present and future learning efforts and overall development.
· Enhancement of the ability of the child and family to relate to one another and to others.
· Development of a sense of dignity and self-worth within the child and his family.
A comprehensive preschool program for children from low-income families
Project Head Start, launched as a summer program by the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1965, was designed to break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children and their families with a program to meet their social, health, nutritional and psychological needs. Head Start is now a $4 billion dollar program that provides comprehensive services to low-income children from age three to the age of school attendance. A new program, Early Head Start, serving children from birth to three years was initiated in 1995. Head Start serves nearly 800,000 children and families nationwide, through a network of approximately 1,450 grantees.
Head Start has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years, more than doubling in size since 1990. The program currently receives approximately $21 million in federal assistance and serves more than 3,200 children each year in the following critical areas:
Education
Each child receives a variety of individualized learning experiences to foster social, intellectual, physical and emotional growth. Children participate in indoor and outdoor play and are introduced to the concepts of words and numbers. They are encouraged to express their feelings, develop self-confidence and their ability to get along with others.
Health and Nutrition
Head Start emphasizes preventive care and early detection of health problems. Every child receives a complete physical examination including vision and hearing tests, immunizations, a dental exam and identification of disabling conditions. Follow-up services are provided. Through the nutrition program, children are served a minimum of one balanced meal and a healthful snack each day.
Parent Involvement
An essential part of every Head Start program is the involvement of parents in education, program planning and operation. Parents play an active role in all aspects of the program. Through that involvement and other training and activities, parents also have the opportunity to gain skills and secure employment. Many employees at both the grantee and delegate agency levels are former Head Start parents.
Social Services
A case management program assists families in assessing their own needs, identifying and securing services and building upon their individual strengths. A variety of community resources are available to families in addition to crisis intervention and emergency assistance.
Disabilities
At least 10 percent of Head Start's enrollment is dedicated to children with disabilities or other special needs. Specially trained staff work closely with community agencies to provide services to disabled children while simultaneously providing them with an integrated, developmentally appropriate early childhood experience within the Head Start classroom.
Mental Health
Mental health professionals work with staff and parents to increase awareness of the special problems of children and provide a link to mental health resources.
Source: http://phoenix.gov/YOUTH/headstrt.html

II. Learning Menu Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (Generic Learning Menu)

The ECE Learning Menu Guidelines is one of various sets of guidelines developed by the Directorate of Early Childhood Education (DECE) in collaboration with experts, practitioners, and caregivers of young children who are involved with the ECE Forum and the Central ECE Consortium. The DECE was established by the Ministry of National Education (MONE) as a result of the Indonesian government’s awareness of the importance of early education. It operates under the Directorate General of Out of School Education and Youth (DGOSEY) and is expected to be able to encourage and facilitate the community in ECE services (0-6 years old), particularly those children who are denied access to ECE services due to their poor living conditions.

The guidelines, the arrangement of which also involved the MONE Curriculum Center, were later called Generic Learning Menu, meaning it was not intended to be rigidly followed and should further be developed by ECE providers. In addition, the guidelines, which are arranged according to children’s age, are expected to be viewed as a continuum of processes so that it must not be interpreted rigidly. That is, an activity may be applied to children of any age; yet with different level of depth or variations.

The guidelines were designed to be used until a standard one can be made available. Therefore, it will continuously be refined based on actual practices and recent research findings in the field of child growth. However, should any refinement be considered necessary in the future, its basic principles should be kept in tact.

Shortened as Learning Menu, the ECE Learning Menu Guidelines is a set of plans and arrangements for development and education activities that is designed to function as guidelines for the implementation of educational activities. As a Generic Learning Menu, it is a holistic ECE program (0-6 years old) that can be utilized in providing development and education activity service at any type of programs intended for young children.
Source: Directorate of Early Childhood Education, Directorate General of Out – of – School Education and Youth, Ministry of National Education, Indonesia, “Learning Menu Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (Generic Learning Menu)”
III. Global Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century

In 1999, under the direction of Sue Wortham of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) with Leah Adams and Ulla Grob-Menges of the Organización Mundial para la Educación Preescolar (OMEP), a symposium was held in Ruschlikon, Switzerland to develop global guidelines for early childhood education and care. Early childhood and care professionals representing 28 countries attended the symposium and developed the guidelines entitled, “Global Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century.”

Using items from the Global Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century, ACEI sponsored a second initiative to form the ACEI Global Self-Assessment Tool. The instrument was first piloted in Chile and the United States in 2000 and again in 2001 in Nigeria, Botswana, China, and additional sites in the United States. By 2002, the instrument development was completed.
The purpose of the ACEI Global Self-Assessment is to provide a practical method for helping early childhood educators in countries around the world to assess and improve program quality. The ACEI Global Self-Assessment contains items for examining program quality in five areas:
Environment and Physical Space;
Curriculum Content and Pedagogy;
Early Childhood Educators and Caregivers;
Partnerships with Families and Communities; and
Young Children with Special Needs.
Source: Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project, Inc., http://www.chtop.org/GPselfassessment.htm
This Self-Assessment Tool was designed to enable early childhood education and care sites to assess and evaluate their program using basic guidelines for quality.
The Global Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century co-sponsored by the Association for Childhood Education International (A.C.E.I.) and the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (Organisation Mondiale pour L’Éducation Préscolaire: O.M.E.P.) indicate that “every child should have the opportunity to grow up in a setting that values children, that provides conditions for a safe and secure environment, and that respects diversity” (International Symposium of Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century: Global guidelines, 1999, p. 5). The International Symposium was a thoughtful deliberation on the parts of 83 early childhood professionals from countries around the world to operationalize "quality education and care for all children in accordance with each countries own needs, resources, and culture" (Self-Assessment Tool Adapted from the Global Guidelines for the Education and Care of Young Children, 2003).
Source: Child Care Resource and Research Unit, University of Toronto, http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=86209&AA_EX_Session=03bdba7075dae5441f5fbd84ed4a1398

IV. What Barangay Officials Can do to Set Up a Child – Friendly Society
The Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) was launched in 1996 to act on the resolution passed during the second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) to make cities liveable places for all; in UNICEF terms, for "children first." The Conference declared that the well-being of children is the ultimate indicator of a healthy habitat, a democratic society and of good governance.

The Child-Friendly Movement has energized many parts of the Philippines. But many communities remain uncertain how to make the movement work for them. "What Barangay Officials Can Do to Set Up a Child-Friendly Locality" is a useful guide to creating child-friendly communities that will help realize the vision of a good quality of life for the Filipino child in the 21st century. The booklet is intended to be simple and user-friendly. It is designed to be used at community level as a tool to assess itself and track its progress towards creating conditions that help children develop to their full potential. It describes 7 foundations in order to fulfil 24 Child Goals. The 24 goals are:

(A) Child Health:
(1) All children are registered at birth.
(2) All infants are exclusively breastfed up to about 6 months.
(3) All children are fully immunized against Tuberculosis, Diphtheria/Pertussis/Tetanus, Polio and Measles.
(4) All children 0-2 years old are weighed monthly and mothers counselled on health, nutrition and psychosocial care.
(5) All children are well-nourished.
(6) All children 1-5 years old are given Vitamin A capsules twice a year.

(B) Maternal Health:
(7) All births are attended by trained personnel.
(8) All pregnant women get at least four pre-natal checkups.
(9) All mothers are immunised against Tetanus.
(10) All pregnant or lactating women are sufficient in Vitamin A and are not anaemic.
(11) All pregnant women who are at risk get emergency obstetric care.
(12) All pregnancies are spaced at least two years apart.

(C) Education:
(13) All children 3-5 years old attend early education programmes.
(14) All children 6-16 years old are in school and finish high school.
(15) All schoolchildren pass the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT)
(16) All out-of-school-children are identified and reinstated, or are provided alternative education.
(17) All illiterate parents and caregivers are enrolled in functional literacy programmes.

(D) Special protection:
(18) All children are removed from exploitative and hazardous labour, prostitution and pornography.
(19) All cases of physical and sexual abuse and violence are eliminated in the home and community.

(E) Family practices:
(20) All families have safe drinking water.
(21) All families have access to and use only iodised salt.
(22) All families use sanitary latrines.
(23) All family members share in child care and other domestic responsibilities.

(F) Child Participation:
(24) Children 12-17 years old participate in socio-cultural and community development activities, for example sports, children’s theatre, cleanliness drives, community fund raising campaigns and information dissemination on child right issues.

The 7 foundations are: a functional Barangay Council for the protection of children, a functional children’s organisation, a functioning justice system, a functioning health and nutrition system, a functional early childhood care and development centre, child-friendly schools, a community managed knowledge dissemination and exchange system addressing issues concerning children and parents. A self-assessment method has been linked to these points. The method was developed in careful consideration of the existing evaluation tools of the Council for the Welfare of Children. The publication has been jointly prepared by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), League of Barangay Officials, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Source: UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, http://www.childfriendlycities.org/news/index_information_material.html