INTER-AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR OEA/Ser.W/XIII.6
INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT (CIDI)CIE/GT/PI -1/15
19 November2015
INTER-AMERICAN COMMITTEE ON EDUCACIÓN (CIE)Original: español
Working Group 3:
Comprehensive Early Childhood Care
______
BUILDING OF THE INTER-AMERICAN EDUCATION AGENDA
DRAFT WORK PLAN FOR THE WORKING GROUP ON
“COMPREHENSIVE EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE”
(Presented by the delegations of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua,
lead countries of the Working Group)
The Work Plan was elaborated during the I Planning and Coordination Meeting to build the Inter-American Education Agenda, which took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 23-24, 2015. The document was further discussed by the leaders of the Working Group. The WG agreed to send the document to the Member States for validation, contributions, and feedback.
MemberState Leaders of the WG: Dominican Republic (Chair), El Salvador (First Vice Chair), and Nicaragua (Second Vice Chair)
Countries that have expressed interest in being part of this Group: Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, and Costa Rica
SUBTHEME 1: To Learn about and to Exchange Policies, Programs, and Outstanding Experiences in relation to Comprehensive Early Childhood Care in Formal and non-Formal Modalities
Proposed Activities:
1A. To Prepare a State of the Art of how Public Policies Address the Wide Range of Comprehensive Early Childhood Care Interventions.
Proposed deadline for completion: Six months. Priority: Immediate.
Steps to be taken:
– Design the general structure / template for the survey, by the leaders of the WG. Form Attached.
– Share this template with all MemberState countries through the leaders of the Working Group.
– Collect and systematize information to create a final report for distribution to the Ministries of Education of the Member States.
1B: Exchange of experiences using the OAS Virtual Platform for Education Cooperation, including non-formal education experiences and considering those carried out by international organizations and non-governmental institutions.
Proposed deadline for completion: First quarter of 2017, IX Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education.
Steps to be taken:
–Permanently encourage, motivate, and share experiences through the Platform. The motivation shall be undertaken by the leaders of the Working Group by sending, for example, communications to the Ministries of Education. It is hoped that such communications will motivate different sections of the Ministries of Education to exchange experiences.
– Create, within the Virtual Platform for Education Cooperation of the Americas, a special forum on Early Childhood to share the experiences collected. A virtual forum for the Working Group will also be set up on the Platform to discuss the published experiences.
– Systematize the collected experiences and prepare a report on the main characteristics, trends, lessons learned, and challenges of the shared experiences. This report will be presented at the IX Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education.
SUBTHEME 2:Strengthening of Teacher Professional Development and Preparation for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care.
Proposed Activity:
2A. Establish articulation with the Working Group on Strengthening of the Teaching Profession, in order to identify online continuous training options that address the general components of Comprehensive Early Childhood Care.
Proposed deadline for completion: 6 to 9 months after the adoption of the proposed Work Plan.
Steps to be taken:
– Organize a first meeting between the two Working Group Chairs, to learn about each others’ priorities and to set work goals.
– Collect information on available opportunities for continuous training. The Chair of the Working Group shall send a letter asking Member States to submit information.
– In parallel, contact international organizations to identify or create new options for continuous training.
SUBTHEME 3:Recommendations for public policy for the strengthening of teacher preparation for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care
Proposed Activities:
3A: Each country, in accordance with its own legal framework, shall consider acknowledging/assessing the role of the Ministry of Education in the Teacher Preparation Plans for Comprehensive Early-Childhood Care.
Proposed deadline for completion: 12 to 15 months after approval of Work Plan to establish permanent communications with the Education Ministries.
Steps to be taken
– Ask Ministries to establish articulation mechanisms with universities and training institutes.
– Create a space to discuss the different articulation experiences between Ministries of Education and preparation institutions in a Forum on the Virtual Platform for Cooperation to explore the role that the Ministry of Education has (or does not have) in the design of Teacher Preparation Plans for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and the opportunities for articulation.
3B. Development of recommended standards and curriculum for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care.
Proposed deadline for completion: to be determined. Priority: Medium Term
Steps to be taken
– Collect and explore first-hand experiences of other countries in the region – for example, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia– in order to analyze them and prepare recommendations for the development of standards and curriculum.
– Organize workshops. The first workshop shall take place during the second half of 2016. The Working Group leaders shall secure funding with countries with relevant experiences that could serve as hosts and thus provide first-hand knowledge of experiences.
– The Working Group leaders will design a project to request funding in order to learn about the aforesaid experiences first-hand and to recommend standards and curriculum.
– Design a mechanism to create a seed fund with voluntary financial contributions from the countries for the sustainability of the Working Group, specifically for the promotion of cooperation.
ROLES OF THE TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT OF THE CIE
The Technical Secretariat of the CIE shall provide support for the completion of the proposed tasks by:
- Supporting the communications sent to the Ministries of Education through e-mail and phone calls.
- Forwarding communications sent by the leaders of the Working Group to the Ministries of Education through the official channels of the OAS and the Permanent Missions to the OAS.
- Disseminating information on the activities of the Working Group to the rest of the Working Groups, the Ministries of Education and the Permanent Missions
- Provide logistical, administrative and technical services to facilitate communications between this Group and the other Working Groups and other actors considered relevant, for example, international organizations, networks, universities, etc.
- Providing technical advice to the leaders of the Working Group in the preparation of questionnaires, forms, or charts to gather information.
- Providing technical advice to the leaders of the Working Group in the processes of identification and gathering of information/practices, as well as the integration, systematization, and report preparation.
- Creating the necessary spaces in the Virtual Platform for Education Cooperation for: a) The uploading of experiences; b) Organizing virtual discussions (for example, through forums)
- Providing technical support to the leaders of the Working Group in the preparation and technical facilitation of conferences and workshops.