Transcript The Right to Education for Every Child Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009 Early childhood development programming for excluded children International Conference The Right to Education for.

The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Early childhood development
programming for excluded children
International Conference
The Right to Education for Every Child:
Removing Barriers and Fostering Inclusion for Roma Children
Belgrade, June 2-3, 2009
Dr. John Bennett
Roma Early Childhood Inclusion Project
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Summary of the presentation
 The two major messages of research
 The policy implications of these messages
 How should countries program for excluded
populations and their children?
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
What does the research tell us?
 Neuroscience research shows that a loving, secure and
stimulating relationships with parents and caregivers
in the earliest months and years of life are critical for
every aspect of a child’s development.
 In parallel, educational research from both developed
and developing countries suggests that high quality
care and education services provide young children,
especially those from poor and excluded groups, with
a good start in life and education.
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Implications
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
We need to start earlier
Early childhood is an optimal moment to support sensory, cognitive, social & language
development
Language
Sensing
Pathways
(vision, hearing)
-6
-3
Higher
Cognitive Function
0
3
6
9
1
Months
4
8
12
16
Years
AGE
C. Nelson, in From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Vocabulary Growth – First 3 Years
Vocabulary
1200
High SES
Middle SES
600
Low SES
0
12
16
20
24
26
32
36
Age- Months
Source: B.Hart & T. Risley. Meaningful Differences in Everyday Experiences of Young American Children, 1995
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
But starting early doesn’t necessarily mean this!
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Nor even this !
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
We need to ask Roma mothers what they want
 “loving, secure and stimulating relationships” – to
support them to provide more secure…
 Better pre-natal and post-natal services
 Home visiting by trusted nurses or local primary
health taken in charge by Roma mothers and NGOs
 Information, advice and support about parenting,
talking with their children …
 Home-based and community-based approaches until
children are ready for kindergarten… with flexible
rules, good parental involvement
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Some Roma attitudes to early childhood services
Many Roma families are reluctant – and with reason – to
entrust their children to national early childhood services:
 They have suffered genocide attempts and still suffer greatly from
discrimination
 National and municipal services often refuse their children
 When accepted, their children have and continue to be placed in special
classes
 In national services, only weak efforts have been made to acknowledge
the culture or language of Roma children or to enhance the self-esteem
of Roma children
 Like most excluded (from the mainstream economy) groups, Roma
women wish to rear their children at home
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
So, rather than crèche services, something far more
comprehensive in accordance with Roma culture and in which
Roma parents have agency
Comprehensive health
services that meet
children’s vision,
hearing, nutrition,
behavioral, and oral
health as well as
medical health eeds
Early
Learning
Family
Support
Health,
Mental
Health and
Nutrition
Early identification,
assessment and
appropriate services for
children with special
health care needs,
disabilities, or
developmental delays
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Early care and
education
opportunities in
nurturing
environments where
children can learn
what they need to
succeed in school
and life
Special
Needs/ Early
Intervention
Economic and parenting
supports to ensure children
have nurturing and stable
relationships with caring
adults
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
At the same time, many urban Roma families wish
better access to kindergarten for their children
 High quality centre-based programmes enhance the
school achievement and behaviour of young children;
 These effects are strongest for poor children and for
children whose parents have little education;
 Positive benefits continue into late elementary school
and high school years, although effects are smaller
than they were at the beginning of elementary school;
 Programmes that are continued into primary school,
and that offer intensive early intervention, have the
most sustained long-term effects.
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
The RECI Project
 A research project sponsored by OSF, the Roma
Education Fund and UNICEF
 Goals:
 To gather data and information about how Roma
children are included/not included in national early
childhood systems in selected CEE countries
 To identify priority concerns and issues for Roma
families and children
 To emphasise progress achieved and successful
practices that can be mainstreamed
 Will cover 4 countries – written by mainstream and
Roma researchers
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The Right to Education for Every Child
Belgrade, 2-3 June, 2009
Thank you !
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