My international contact, Charlotte, is currently a Kindergarten teacher in Germany. While she completed her undergrad and graduate coursework within the United States, she has aspirations of continuing her line of work with the German school systems. Based on her own upbringing and experiences in education in East Germany, she believes she will create the biggest impact within her own country as an Early Childhood educator. Currently, Germany's field of early childhood which is labeled as Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), has issues regarding the lack of data and research associated with early childhood which impacts policy and lawmakers. With the lack of support that data provides, many law and policy makers are left without a strong foothold to make any true changes. While America and other Anglo-Saxon European countries have a long-record of data regarding ECEC, Germany has a lack of scientific inquiry which affects data needed to make change. Charlotte says that this is mainly due to the disinterest in German politics back in the sixties and seventies which meant a lot of public funding was pulled. Without funding, data-driven research becomes nearly impossible.
Charlotte says that she has been attending Professional Development (PD) courses during the summer months the past two years in Berlin that deal with how educators themselves can conduct their own research for future use. In fact, Charlotte has had to partake in quite a bit of PD on her own time and dime (or Euro, essentially). This is mainly due to the lack of funding her school receives as she is located in a small village, away from any major city. Most of their funding comes from alumni and private donors. As it is a K-12 school, most of the PD is centered towards the later grades as those are seen "more important" as these are the years that students choose their future workforce as discussed in a previous post on this blog. If Charlotte and her Kinder-colleagues wish to further their professional development, they are usually forced to apply for grants from local colleges or donors.
In terms of future aspirations and goals, Charlotte hopes to make an impact in her school system by challenging the lack of attention early childhood educators and other field members receive when it comes to funding and resources. She hopes that she can challenge her colleagues to join her on this journey so their voice may be heard at the national level for the need of funding. However, Charlotte says the first step is obtaining data and research so that their requests are supported with evidence.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to hear that Germany does not have the funding to make sure that there teachers are up to date on all the new things that is available for them and that if the teachers do want to learn about things that they have to pay for it out of their own pockets. Professional development should not have to be paid for my the teachers. Thank you for sharing.