ST. KITTS – Twenty (20) Caribbean and international researchers in Early Childhood Development (ECD) will meet with selected policy and programme persons from the region at a regional “Learning Event” in St. Kitts-Nevis from June 23rd to 26th 2008.
The “Learning Event,” under the theme “Child Rearing in the Caribbean 2: Early Learning” is facilitated by the Caribbean Child Support Initiative’s Learning Community Programme (LCP).
A range of topics within a regional context will be presented by researchers who are currently conducting or have completed work in specific areas:
– “Early learning practices within the home and community”,
– “Learning to speak and to read”,
– “Learning in adverse circumstances”,
– “Learning moral and spiritual values”,
– “Evidence from what works: in home/community settings for children” and
– “Evidence from what works: in school-based programmes for children
Mr. Larry Schweinhart, President of High/Scope Research Foundation, will be the special guest speaker on the 25th and will describe the application of the High/Scope model in the Caribbean.
Presenters include Dr. Carol Logie, Dr. Rose Davies, Dr. Herbert Gayle, Prof. Christine Barrow and Prof. Maureen Samms-Vaughan from the University of the West Indies; Dr. Isabel Rios Leonard of the Latin American Reference Center for Preschool Education (CELEP), Havana, Cuba, Ms. Fiona Scott, Director of Research, Roots of Empathy programmes, Toronto Canada, Dr. Tessa Livingston of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Dr. Jaipaul Roopnarine of Syracuse University, USA, Ms. Sian Williams ECD Adviser UNICEF Caribbean), Dr. Eleanor Wint of the University of British Columbia, Canada and Dr. Wendy Janssens of the Amsterdam Institute for International Development.
On Thursday, June 26th, regional policy makers and ECD practitioners will join for an Applications Day. This will afford them opportunities to hear summaries of the research presentations, and to discuss ways to develop policies and sustainable programmes in early learning based on best practices and evidence of effectiveness.
Coming out of the first such CCSI Learning Event held in Dominica in 2006, a number of follow-up activities were realized. These include the publication in November 2007 of a Special Caribbean Issue of the International Journal of Early Years Education (IJEYE) that includes six-articles by Caribbean researchers giving focus to many of the issues that were central to the Dominica meeting.
Additionally, there is the collaboration of the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the UK’s Open University to produce a TV series ‘Child of Our World,’ inspired by the BBC 1 production ‘Child Of Our Times’. The collaboration will similarly follow 30 children from 30 countries for six years, commencing in 2008.
From 2008 through 2011, the LCP will organize annual Learning Events to facilitate exchanges among researchers, policy makers and practitioners. The general topics for subsequent
Learning Events are:
– 2009 – Gender Roles and Child Rearing Practices
– 2010 – Sibling Relations
– 2011 – Early Attachment
The Learning Community Programme develops informal working networks of researchers and research institutions examining selected aspects of child rearing practices within the Caribbean, giving special attention to the early years.
The Caribbean Child Support Initiative (CCSI) is a programme of the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration, CARICAD, with support from the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
