Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level (J Erno EDUC 6990)

      The last blog post was about organisations, agencies and communities of practice that worked at a local or state level. This week is organisations, agencies, and communities of practice that are national or federal. The Netherlands is about the size of a small state in the US so last weeks groups were usually active nationally. This week to expand I am looking at groups and programs that operate throughout Europe.

       The first community of practice that I would like to share is the European Anti-bullying Network (http://www.antibullying.eu). This is a project that attempts to coordinate anti-bullying programs and initiatives across the European Union. Members are encouraged to share best practices and raise awareness. One important goal of this group is to campaign and advocate for a European strategy to prevent bullying. "“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” Desmond Tutu stated and this is why it is of paramount importance for each and every one of us to take an action now against bullying" ("The Campaign", n.d.).

     The next website I found is an anti-bullying program called KiVa (http://www.kivaprogram. net). The program was developed in Finland and has been subjected to intensive research to determine its effectiveness in several countries. The focus of the program is prevention but there is also a protocol included to deal with bullying events. Even with the best prevention bullying still occurs and needs to be addressed in a proactive manner (Welcome to KiVa school, 2014).

     Through the website for EAN mentioned above, I found the website for CESIE (http://cesie.org). This organisation is described as a European centre for studies and initiatives. Their mission is "[t]o promote growth through innovative and participative educational approaches" (CESIE, n.d.). One of the projects that they support is called BODI. The aim of this project is the development of diversity education and inclusion to ensure that families and their children would not face exclusion (BODI, n.d.). 

     Another organisation I found through EAN is the YES forum (http://www.yes-forum.eu). YES stands for Youth and European Social Work and has children at the centre of everything they do. It is a forum for NGOs working with young people with fewer opportunities because of socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity, education or region. While the forum is not specifically focussing on bullying, they do address some of the underlying problems that can lead to bullying behaviour or becoming a victim of bullying.

      All of these groups require people who are committed to working for children and families. These organisations advocate for European policy that will address problems of bullying and exclusion. The people who work for them need to have experience with children and families as well as an awareness of the issues. You would need determination and perseverance to follow through without immediate results. I would be interested in working with KiVa as a trainer in their program. I think every school should have an anti-bullying program in place whether or not there is a perceived problem. 

References

CESIE. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://cesie.org

European Anti-bullying Network. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.antibullying.eu

KiVa International. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.kivaprogram.net

YES Forum. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.yes-forum.eu

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels (J Erno EDUC 6990)

       The issue that I chose to focus on during this capstone project is diversity in schools. Diversity means differences and differences can lead to disrespectful and bullying behaviour. I am looking at early intervention strategies to help prevent bullying and to encourage acceptance and tolerance of differences. I live in the Netherlands so for this assignment I have searched for groups in my area that are working to prevent bullying especially in primary school.

       The first organisation that I found is called "School en Veiligheid Stichting" (http://www.schoolenveiligheid.nl) which roughly translates to "School and Safety Foundation". Their main goal is to support schools in the creation of a safe, social climate. They do this through workshops, conferences, information on their website and a live help desk. The foundation is supported by the Dutch government and is targeting education leaders, teachers, parents, and other trusted adults as well as students. They promote social behaviour through the creation of rules and strategies to combat unacceptable behaviour in the areas of bullying, violence, aggression, discrimination, racism, intimidation and extremism. I chose this group because their mission fits in with what I think of when I think about anti-bias education. I also like the way they give concrete advise to schools and parents both on their website and through the help desk.

        "Stichting Aandacht voor Pesten" (http://www.aandachtvoorpesten.nl) is the second group that I looked at. This group tries to bring attention to bullying and give people correct information about it. Their target group is, in their own words, "iedereen die anders is" (Stichting Aandacht door Pesten, 2012) or everyone who is different. This foundation works on getting everyone, not just those who have been bullied, involved in stopping this kind of behaviour in all areas, schools, work places, and care homes among them. Their goal is to promote a social discussion around bullying and what we, as a society, can do to stop it. I liked the way this group tries to involve everyone, to make bullying visible in the community and therefore encourage victims to seek help. The website states as a part of their mission the connecting of people seeking help with those who provide it.

       The third is called "Kanjertraininging" (http://www.kanjertraining.nl) which literally translates to "Whopper training". This organisation works with schools, teachers, parents, students and other interested parties to maintain a good atmosphere in the class, prevention, or to help fix the atmosphere in the class, curative. Teachers can get a license and there are follow up sessions if needed. I chose this organisation because of the name to start with. While kanjer translates as whopper it is used to show that you are a champion. I like the positivity of this and the idea that there are things you can do to create and maintain a safe learning environment.

       I love my job and can not envision a time when I would give it up. If circumstances required me to look for something else, I would try to find a position where I could train others and share experiences. I could do this by joining a team as a workshop leader or being a content manager for a website. In order to do these types of jobs, experience with many cultures and problem solving skills would be a must. I would need to be a very effective communicator and know how to inspire people. I would need to work with many different ages and I would have to be able to modify and tailor my message to the group in front of me.

References

Kanjertraining. (n.d.). Welkom bij de Kanjertraining. Retrieved from http://www.kanjertraining.nl

School en Veiligheid Stichting. (n.d.). Over ons. Retrieved from http://www.schoolenveiligheid.nl/over-ons/

Stichting Aandacht voor Pesten. (2012, December).  De missie en uitdagingen van de Stichting Aandacht voor Pesten. Retrieved from http://www.aandachtvoorpesten.nl/ organisatie/de_missie_en_uitdagingen_van_de_stichting_aandacht_voor_pesten/index.html

From Passion to Action (J Erno 6990)

This is the wordle that I posted in my blog. I like the balance in this one.

This is another wordle that I made with the same words. I like this one because of the way everyone can learn jumps out at you.