Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Three new ideas I gained about issues related to international early childhood education UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage...

 1. The Roma (aka: gypsies) are the largest ethnic minority in Europe with over 10 million residents. Sadly, over 50% of Roma Children do no finish primary school, even with efforts to expand and improve education.

2. The Roma are at greatest risk of being poor, uneducated and unemployed. It points to European and national opinion surveys that show many European citizens have negative views about this group that are often based on stereotypes and prejudice dating back several centuries.

3. To meet the challenge of Roma exclusion and continuing deprivation, the Governments need to employ upstream financial, social and work policies to reduce family poverty and give young children a fair start in life. UNESCO and the Council of Europe are working to improving access to early childhood educational opportunities and the Roma’s transition to quality primary education.

This week I listened to the podcast that interviewed TJ Skalski. TJ is the Principal of The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School (MECCS), the first and only Indigenous charter school in Canada. Her first year at MECCS was very unpleasant. She was the 5th principal in 5 years and the school had only been open for 5 years. In her first year, she had gone through 2 superintendents. She is the first principal to stay for the 2nd consecutive year. Now she’s on her 6th superintendent and there is a whole new board of directors. She has had 2 years to learn about the evolution of the school. Her focus is investing into the kids. She focuses on creating a community where culture is put as a priority and culture and language is on the forefront. She feels that so many students are caught and trapped in this cycle of depression, poverty and hurt. When thinking about her own life and how she avoided those feelings, she realized that it was b/c of her family values, having grandparents who were very strong and a mother who had a strong work ethic and wanted to provide for her family. She notes that the kids who she serves are lacking that at home. Students are coming to her school feeling damaged, hungry, wounded, scarred, depressed, and not feeling of any worth. So being at the school for her is about building dreams and inspiring kids to do something with their life. She wants them to realize that there is something beyond the walls of the school. She shares her story with the kids and how she grew up living between 2 worlds to inspire them and give them hope. I found her story inspiring and I could definitely connect with her. I have made these same realizations with her. I was a very blessed child and was lucky enough to grow up in a home where I was raised healthy, loved, and cared for daily. Not all children are as lucky, especially ones where I teach. We have social service workers in our school and a guidance counselor to work with our children with mental and emotional problems. I have the same hopes at TJ for my own students. I really enjoyed listening to her podcast and making some personal connections with someone in the field outside of our country.