Time Well Spent

It is hard to believe that this journey that I set out on almost two years ago has finally come to an end. I started this journey with a four-month old little girl and added a little boy half way through! There were so many times that I felt I would not make it through a course due to my hectic everyday life. I learned so much from this program not only academically and professionally but also personally. 

One thing that I learned is that I need to be confident in my abilities as I doubted myself all the way to the end of the program, this last course actually the most, but I always ended up doing well. Transferring this to my professional life will help me to instill confidence in the young children that I work with and to teach them perseverance.

            This program taught me that I need to do more. Getting by with just doing the minimum for the children and families that we serve is not acceptable and educators always need to do more. I found myself thinking this during almost every class in this program in many different aspects. I need to be an advocate for the children and families that I am working with. 

             I learned that there is so much more to diversity than I ever imagined. I now understand the different types of diversity and am able to recognize bias when I see it. It takes more for me to point it out to others but that is something that I am still working towards. It is hard to stand up to others, but I know that we must in order to make things right for young children and their families. 

            When thinking of the future I will continue on my path of being an anti-bias educator, always learning about this approach and the early childhood field. If given the opportunity, I would like to work with parents even more to give them resources and support in their lives as well. This may take time to get a position where I am the one working in a partnership with families but it is something that I would like to do in the future. 

            To my colleagues and instructors, I must say thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and always giving me feedback that will help me professionally. While I am looking forward to having free time again I will miss the opportunity to collaborate with all of you, my colleagues, that live all over the country and work in many different areas in early childhood. Each of you has brought a unique perspective to our program and my eyes have been opened multiple times as I hope that I have brought insight to you. Thank you and good luck in molding the minds of young children. 

            

ECE Community: International Level

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is an organization that I have done some research on in previous courses and have found that their mission, saving the lives of children and defending their lives not only in early childhood but also through adolescence, is one that I believe does great work (United Nations Children’s Fund, n.d.). One position within UNICEF that is available is an International Professional who would serve in an area outside of their country (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2017). There are many requirements for this position which I absolutely do not qualify for, such as proficiency in another language, previous work experience in developing countries, and also technical knowledge and skills (United Nations Children’s Fund, n.d.). I would also need a degree in a specific field, which I would not currently have from this program. 

            FHI 360 is another international organization that appeals to me as they want people and communities to reach their highest potential, while the organization uses locally driven solutions to reach this goal (FHI 360, n.d.). I like the idea of finding local solutions to problems as each area has unique needs and strengths. In the many open positions within this organizations, such as the Work and Learning Department Director or the Program Assistant, I really do not meet the qualifications at all due to experience and necessary skills (FHI 360, n.d.). While having a degree in Education helps for the position of Project Manager in Social Marketing and Communication, I do not have experience as a project manager (FHI 360, n.d.). Other skills necessary for many of the positions include communication skills, knowledge of the necessary information, and be able to speak the language of the host country if the position is in another country (FHI 360, n.d.).

            The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development focuses on improving social and economic life of people all around the world (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.). This organization focuses on people that are all ages to help them with skills so that they are able to work effectively now as well as in the future (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.). There were positions open in this organization, however, I do not qualify for any position available. There is also a Young Professionals section that only applies to people born after January 1, 1981 and are from a country that is in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.). 

            Overall, I feel like I would need to do a lot more searching and gain much more experiencing before being able to work in an international organization that work for positive social change, especially those that have a focus on children and families. While I feel that I have many skills, not being able to speak a language other than English is one big way that I am not meeting the requirements for many positions. Perhaps that is something to look into once this Master’s program ends. 

References

FHI 360. (n.d.) Vision and Mission. Retrieved August 11, 2018 from https://www.fhi360.org/about-us/vision-and-mission

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.) About the OECD. Retrieved August 11, 2018 from http://www.oecd.org/about/

United Nations Children’s Fund. (n.d.). Unicef’s work. Retrieved August 9, 2018 from https://www.unicef.org/ 

United Nations Children’s Fund. (2017). About UNICEF: Employment. Retrieved August 9, 2018 from https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_qualifications.html