Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

During my search online for three international organizations or communities of practice, I found three that stood out to me.  The first organization was ICF International at www.icfi.com.  This institution works to support the field of early childhood education programs by providing assistance with meeting mandates by building upon skills that are essential through trainings and technical support.  The goal is to produce programs that are high quality and effective.  The institute has consultants who can work where their clients are and provide hands-on support as needed.  The institution also works with programs to stay competitive and current with requirements at the federal level (ICF International, 2015).

ICF International’s mission is to support business, people and government by having a large impact in areas that are important.  They work to support partners by providing solutions to issues through innovations, providing advice, and execution. The vision of the institution is to work without boundaries with clients, individuals, and shareholders in order to find success in the world with continuous change.  The institute values maintaining focus on their clients, committing to their passion to complete work that needs to be done.  They provide rewards to encourage continuation of growth in performance.  They strive for excellence through providing rigor in areas of applied experiences creativity and intellect.  Lastly, three components support following the way of ICF.  They work with the passion to help clients meet their goals.  Providing expertise through providing experiences in areas of technical support, analytics, and knowledge in the industry and program.  They also work with programs from the beginning to the end in order to achieve results that are compelling (ICF International, 2015).

I selected this institution because of their work in early childhood education to provide trainings and hand-on support.  In 2007 India launched services from ICF International Early Education to assist with addressing education challenges in early childhood.  ICF provides programs technical assistance and training using research and evaluations supporting plans and projects (ICF International, 2015).

When I searched ICF International’s website for careers in early childhood education I selected one that stood out to me.  The positon is Education Technical Assistance Specialists-Office of Child Care (Nationwide).  When I reviewed the qualifications, I realized that I am qualified.  Those qualifications are that I must have a Bachelor’s degree in or related to the field of early childhood education.  I have to have twelve years of experiences that is relevant to the field.  I need to be able to provide training as well as technical support in the field.  I saw one area that I would need to gain more experience in and that was with using TA tools.  Also I am proficient with MS Office Suite, Adobe and webinar tools and E-learning (ICF International, 2015).

The second organization was SRI International at https://www.sri.com.  This is a research organization that works as a non-profit providing services to industries and government.  The organization address problems faced by the word by working collaboratively in order to great new solutions and ideas.  This organization was started by Stanford University in 1946 and in 1970 independently separated from the university and changed their name to SRI International in 1977.  The organization works to promote safety, productivity and health (SRI International, 2015).

SRI International has a center for education and human services that work collaboratively with practitioners, policymakers and founders to make improvements of effectiveness and implementation of the programs and the policies using researching early childhood education through the products and services.  I chose this organization because of their work to collaborate to find ways to make change in the field. There were not only early childhood education positons in my job search, however I saw a position titled education researcher assessment in California.  I do not meet the qualifications, but I thought it was an interesting position supporting the use of assessments which I have used in the field.  I need to have a PhD in measurement, statistics and social research methods, psychology and related areas along with three years of experience (SRI International, 2015).

The third organization I selected was International Step by Step Association.  In 1999 this organization was founded in the Netherlands.  Members are at almost 40 countries around the world primarily in Europe and Central Asia.  This organization brings together non-profits and professionals who work in education and provide quality care available to children birth to age ten.  There is an alliance called Early Years Regional Alliance where various organizations share common goals.  The mission is to ensure programs have high quality, equal access to education by all children and professionalism.  The organization works on providing empowerment to families and the community supporting learning and the development of children.  Support is also provided for continued professional development.  Works to create an effective partnership with individuals working with children and families form Roma (International Step By Step Association, n.d.).

I chose this organization because of their work to improve quality care through continued professional development and provide education access to children.  After browsing the website there was no search engine to see if there were any job vacancies.

 

References

 ICF International. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.icfi.com

 International Step By Step Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.issa.nl

SRI International. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.sri.com