Cross Cultural Perspectives in Child Advocacy 1607525313, 9781607525318

Table of contents :
The Irony of African Schooling Disruption Annette Richardson..............1
Chapter 2 Inhibiting and Enabling Factors that Influence Educator Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Faye McCallum..............27
Childrens Participation in HighPerformance Sports Gabriela Tymowski..............55
A Dialogue with Ecuador Carol Flake..............95

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CROSS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES IN CHILD ADVOCACY Edited by

Ilene R. Berson, Michael J. Berson, and

Bárbara C. Cruz

IAP INFORMATION AGE P U B L I S H I N G

411 West Putnam Avenue Greenwich, Connecticut 06830

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Sponsored by the American Educational Research Association Research in Global Child Advocacy Special Interest Group

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CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Ilene R. Berson and Michael J. Berson 1.

Social Injustice: The Irony of African Schooling Disruption Annette Richardson

vii ix 1

2.

Inhibiting and Enabling Factors that Influence Educator Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Faye McCallum 27

3.

Rights and Wrongs: Children’s Participation in High-Performance Sports Gabriela Tymowski 55

4.

When the Eagle Meets the Condor: A Dialogue with Ecuador Carol Flake

5.

6. 7.

8.

95

Child Advocacy and its Application to Education Professionals: International Symposium on Early Childhood Education and Care for the Twenty-first Century Deborah Eville Lo and Tata Mbugua

117

Walking the Talk: Realizing a Commitment to Our Children Donna Patterson and Rosanne Glass

139

Implications of Brain Research for Children from Low-Income Minority Families: The Need for an Ecological Perspective Jyotsna Pattnaik

155

Involving Preservice Teachers in a Program for ROM (Gypsy) Children in Northern Greece: Lessons in Child Advocacy Beth Blue Swadener, Evangelia Tressou, and Christodoula Mitakidou 189

Biographies of the Contributors

213 v

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the children and families who exhibit courage, resiliency, and an enduring vitality in the face of trauma, abuse, and exploitation. Their amazing strength, ability to cope, and perpetual hope for a brighter future encourages us to sustain caring and commitment to global child advocacy and to approach our research with energy and creativity. The editors have many people to thank for their assistance in developing this book series and promoting learning and research in global child advocacy. George Johnson, our publisher, has provided support and guidance to this project. We are very appreciative of his vision and assistance in highlighting this important work. Colleagues and peers from the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group on Research in Global Child Advocacy have assisted in the identification of problems and have provided opportunities to begin a dialogue about children’s rights and well-being. Aimee Fogelman, a doctoral student at the University of South Florida, assisted in the editing and revision of the book to ensure that the words and innovative insight of the scholars, educators, and policy makers whose work we have collected can speak with clarity and capture the essence of children’s issues. We deeply appreciate the special children in our lives who inspire us with their love, caring, and joy of learning. Thank you to Elisa, Marc, Cristina, and Amanda who have taught us to celebrate childhood with dancing, laughter, and song. Their beautiful smiles and loving embraces touch our hearts each day and serve as a constant reminder of the joys of discovery and the value of childhood.

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INTRODUCTION: GALVANIZING SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN’S ISSUES THROUGH AWARENESS OF GLOBAL ADVOCACY Ilene R. Berson and Michael J. Berson The 6 billionth child born at the turn of the century is likely to have begun a life marked by malnutrition, inadequate or no schooling, poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, gender discrimination, and abuse. That child is endowed with fundamental human rights. Together we must build a global alliance to ensure those rights—in the knowledge that to serve the best interests of children, we serve the best interests of humanity. —Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF. (http://www.unicef.org)

Universal success in meeting goals for children’s well being have remained elusive, but the current conditions of young people are not absolute. Positive change for many young lives has resulted from progress in the education of greater numbers of children, initiatives to protect children from abuse and exploitation, and national commitments to children’s issues. Social movements that promote the rights of children and advance humanity have made tremendous strides in the past decade. Continued mobilization of resources for a global movement to prevent the suffering of children is of paramount importance to secure the dignity and worth of children worldwide. Children are creative and vibrant contributors to our society; however, each day unknown numbers of young people struggle to survive acts that violate their rights and well being. In order to counter the threats to their functioning, children’s quality of life must be shaped by positive experiences and caring relationships that enhance safe and supportive communities. ix

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Although children’s issues have gained visibility, there continue to be major challenges facing youth, and the likelihood that children will be exposed to some form of victimization is immense. These difficulties include the marginalization of children; exposure to violence, abuse and neglect; poverty; lack of stimulation to foster emotional, physical, and cognitive development; and experiences with war and civil conflict. Exposure to traumatic experiences has both short- and long-term consequences in a child’s life and can contribute to physical and mental health problems as well as educational impairments. Investments in children’s present and future functioning necessitate allocation of resources to address education, physical health, socioemotional well-being, and economic security. Children are injured and killed in armed conflicts and used as pawns in the commercial sex industry. The goal is not only to reduce children’s mortality that stems from abuse, exploitation, disease, conflicts, malnourishment, and other areas of vulnerability, but also to improve the quality of children’s lives. Establishing a need for advocacy may be less salient than formulating mechanisms to compensate for the impact of poverty, violence, conflict, discrimination, disease, and limited access to education. There is now more common acceptance of the critical periods of childhood and of the cumulative effects of missed opportunities for physical, emotional, and educational development. However, the solutions for potential change and impact focuses our efforts on initiatives that have the greatest opportunity to span the needs of childhood, from the early years through adolescence. Regardless of age, children need secure and supportive environments where caring adults advocate for their safety and optimal functioning. Whereas young children require family and community-based supports which enhance the skills of caregivers to build a strong foundation for their development, adolescents require opportunities to help shape their future through active participation. Advocacy initiatives can provide the impetus for accessing the energy and ingenuity of youth who can be partners in improving the future status of their peers. Moreover, global efforts can be an asset to children’s issues because they strengthen international collaboration and they disseminate information that can foster children’s investments in the rights of the young. Awareness of the deficits and gaps in children’s opportunities to achieve their optimum capabilities across all realms of functioning highlights strides that have been made and emphasizes continuing areas of vulnerability. These areas in need of attention include public policies and legal actions which perpetuate responses that fail to recognize children’s needs and rights. Educators and education are critical to the process of intervention by providing safe and supportive environments where professionals and families have the opportunity to learn about abuses against children and their complex risk factors.

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Any future action on behalf of children must include interdisciplinary initiatives from partners whose diverse perspectives share a common focus on children’s well being and the necessity of an integrated response. The galvanization of support for action can only come about through dialogue. Ideally the dialogue may lead to a consensus regarding prioritization of goals and objectives for gains in children’s status and rights. At hand is the opportunity to find common ground and strengthen the cause for advocating for children. This entails efforts to share a language across the professions. Full participation requires a discussion of the vocabulary that separates our disciplines and opens access to information on the problems and solutions that has been filtered through the lens of these diverse perspectives. This dialogue expands our understanding, offers new options and transforms the creative potential to achieve possibilities for all children. Our vision for children entails an interdisciplinary partnership that is inspired by a common goal to improve the quality of children’s lives through awareness and action. As researchers in global child advocacy we have the task of measuring and charting milestones of progress that hold families, communities, political entities, and other institutions and professional groups accountable for their obligations to children. We can only measure progress by developing indicators that assess outcomes for youth. This process necessitates periodic review and critical discourse of the current status of children and efforts that have been developed to effectively promote the rights of the young. Furthermore, the dissemination of research across disciplines builds the capacity for increased collaboration and system-wide intervention which better informs efforts to monitor children’s well-being and evolve policies that advocate on behalf of children. As breakthroughs are realized the engagement of researchers with community partners ensures that all children can benefit from discoveries across the disciplines. This partnership not only maximizes access to the existing knowledge base, but it also provides an increased capacity for academic, social, and financial support. This book is the first in a series which will highlight global efforts to recognize deficits and facilitate protection of children from threats to their healthy functioning. Efforts to optimize human capabilities need to be directed by research which informs us of the conditions that contribute to the social, physical, and emotional development of children and those which deprive children of chances for success and happiness. The Research in Global Child Advocacy series offers readers a glimpse into the experiences of children and the expertise of researchers and professionals who diligently work toward crafting a framework for action that is integrated across disciplines. Despite the divergent perspectives and problems that are addressed, the shared commitment of the chapter authors to explore the issues and challenges of children creates a common vision and goal to recognize and promote the rights and well being of children worldwide.

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This exchange of information is only a beginning. It serves as a seed to ongoing efforts that foster future action for children. These initiatives are needed to enhance not only the involvement of professionals as advocates, but also the inclusion of children and families. Information can help advance a partnership for exploring, inquiring, and developing solutions that serve as a means for strength and an opportunity to attain dreams of safety and support. An indifference with regard to children’s issues comes at the cost of children’s futures. There is a stark contrast between established need and action, but the spark of social will combined with political forces and the allocation of resources can counter impediments to the momentum of an international response. In order to better understand the experience of children throughout the world, ongoing dialogue and data are needed to recognize past failures and current successes. Our tasks include the development of resources which contribute to the emerging knowledge of children’s issues, the creation of forums to focus on the progress which is possible and the interventions which are still needed, and the infusion of policies that foster new insights and seed opportunities for greater strides to be realized. The voices of children scream in the night yet their cries fall on adult ears that do not heed the stifled weeping for help. Advocacy for children offers a mechanism to amplify these screams so that no child goes unheard. Who are these children in need of a voice? They are the young who reside in communities everywhere. We must hear and see the atrocities experienced by children around us, and we must act to protect and support our youth. Our failure to do so exacerbates the suffering and tragedy of each new generation. By directing our passion and commitment to informing others, evolving solutions, and implementing action we can embrace and safeguard children’s right to grow and develop. Even the most disadvantaged and marginalized children can be represented in these efforts and have an opportunity to progress in their development and have their needs and rights heard. This work is of more than an academic concern. The combination of innovation and expertise can give shape and form to the dreams, visions, and voices of the children around us.

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CHAPTER 1

SOCIAL INJUSTICE: THE IRONY OF AFRICAN SCHOOLING DISRUPTION Annette Richardson

INTRODUCTION As a response to the atrocities and traumas inflicted upon children in the first half of the twentieth century, the United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established in 1946 to benefit children on an international scale. A laborious 30-year process culminated in the groundbreaking, progressive, and liberal 1989 United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which is the most ratified treaty in existence with only the United States of America and Somalia excluded as signatories. In 1990 the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand called for universal quality education with a particular focus on the world’s poorest citizens. Jomtien was followed by the Declaration of Amsterdam in June1994, which proposed a broad range of protective measures, including protecting the rights of children in armed conflict situations (Aldrich & van Baarda, 1994). As the Amman, Jordan mid-1990s review of the Jomtien Conference indicates, despite all of these measures the call for universal quality education has made only limited progress. At the 2000 Education for All Conference held April 26 and 27, 2000 in Dakar, Senegal UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, stated, “As we enter the third millennium, more than 110 million children—almost two-thirds of them girls—are excluded from schooling…. Given that we now have a global economy of $30 trillion 1

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annually, this is indefensible.”1 The recent 10th anniversary of Jomtien suggests that considerable progress still needs to be made—the original expectations have had to be extended to 2005. The International Conference on War-Affected Children that was held in Winnipeg, Canada from September 10–17, 2000 with international youth, child experts, and ministers of foreign affairs in attendance also addressed the complex myriad of problems facing children in times of political conflict. While many issues were discussed, no clear results have emanated. It is particularly striking, however, considering the warlike nature of the twentieth century, that not one of these conferences called for the right of children to be ensured safety in their schools. Unbelievably, the involuntary and forcible removal of children and teachers from their school environment has not been considered part of the human rights process. No thought whatsoever is given to making it a crime against humanity to disrupt the schooling of children because it is considered demeaning to the present crimes against humanity—while a consensus realizes that schooling is so crucially important for global development. According to Graça Machel (1996) education provides “a sense of security and continuity. Schools should be kept open as long as possible and informal classes established as soon as possible in camps. Schooling should be flexible in the safest place at the safest time” (Machel, 1996, p. 2). It is time to expose this complex educational problem because schooling disruption has far wider implications than the simple cessation of schooling—it detrimentally affects the whole societal fabric. The term “schooling” is used rather than education because this particular context focuses on the cessation of formal, non-random, time structured programs taking place in school buildings and being taught by certified teachers through state supported curriculum. Conversely, education, which is informal and non-random, is obtained through everyday life experiences and only ends with death. For the purpose of this chapter anyone up to age 19 will be considered a child. Since 1945 political (Mgadla, 1995), religious, ethnic (“The Causes of Ethnic Conflict,” 1999), and intrastate conflicts have become the catalyst for many pervasive educational problems. In the past decade alone, no fewer than 2 million children have lost their lives, 4–5 million have been disabled, 12 million have lost their homes or been separated from their parents, 1 million have been orphaned, and 10 million children have been psychologically traumatized (“Children in War,” 1999). Moreover, approximately 20 million children have faced internal or external displacement. Undoubtedly, these circumstances impact schooling. An appalling change has occurred in war casualties since 1945. Civilians now compose 90% of conflict casualties as opposed to 70% civilian casualties in World War II and 14% during World War I (Ayalon, 1998). This phenomenon is quite pronounced in Africa. In 1996, the age groups as a percentage of population in Africa from zero to age 14 was 43.4% and from age 15 to 64 it was 53.4% (World Bank, 1998). Despite the frequently vio-

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lated CRC “[a]t the beginning of this century, 90 per cent of war casualties in Mozambique were military; today about 90 per cent are civilian” (Thompson, 1999, p. 192). Sadly, horrific violence has become reality for several generations: two-thirds of Africa’s war victims are vulnerable children who bear the brunt of the suffering. An estimated 25 African children die hourly (Sorukwo, 1992). “There are more deaths in one month in Rwanda’s conflict than there were in Bosnia in two years” (“Wretched Rwanda,” 1994, p. 13). BBC African Correspondent, Jane Standley, reports that: …an estimated 3,000 of them [children] dying every day in early 1992 … I still dream of Burundi. Nightmares. The children’s bodies barely recognizable as human—destroyed by phosphorous grenades. The mother shot with her child. The father and I crying together. The helplessness as I have no words of comfort to offer him, no way of saying it will be all right. And no way of saying honestly “this is against international law, so you will be protected.” (Standley, 1999a)

Standley poignantly and correctly points out that the rhetoric is ineffectual in the face of the reality faced by the children enduring political conflict. In Africa racial ties or local kin group affiliations are strong. However, nearly half the African countries are affected by political, religious, or ethnic conflict, thus adding to the considerable burdens of formidable social and economic costs. Conflicts in Angola, Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, and Uganda, just to name a few, have resulted in Africa having by far the greatest number of conflicts on any continent. “Although the African incidence is less than in other regions when expressed as a proportion of the countries in each region, the number of deaths in Africa (direct and indirect) is the highest as a proportion of the population, exceeding 1% development” (Stewart, Humphreys, & Lea, 1997, p. 11). Conflict, then, has emerged as a major obstacle to educational development (Stewart, Humphreys, & Lea, 1997). Secondary education in Africa traditionally was geared to religious scholars and the upper classes while community interaction provided a practical type of schooling for everyone else. Today, exceedingly high population growth, the need for new schools and trained teachers, increasing costs, scarcity of funds, and a need for children to supplement family income are inhibiting educational progress in many African countries. However, it will be argued that these are not the only causes or factors prohibiting the educational development of Africa’s children. The lack of educational progress in Africa cannot solely be attributed to the aforementioned problems. Conflict—defined as a condition of opposition, hostilities, a fight, or a struggle whether armed, civil, ethnic, political, or religious—threatens to impede, and in some cases eradicate, the educational progress made for children over the last 50 years.2 In Africa the oppressors or aggressors of a conflict deem schooling to be inconsequen-

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tial to the needs of their purpose and allot it the lowest priority. In Mozambique for example, “[t]he government had the same attitude saying they had to deal with war, not support literacy” (Macabi, 1999). A gap in the educational and historical literature on this topic becomes obvious with even a cursory overview. It is striking that very few articles or books have been published on the topic of schooling disruption. Although a mere handful of articles discuss the experiences of education systems during conflict situations, none have linked it to global, historical, and repetitive educational experiences. Since education is central to communities everywhere, it is time that these historical parallels are examined and placed in the context of educational history. It quickly becomes apparent that a wide chasm exists between the human rights rhetoric of the CRC and Jomtien on one hand and the reprehensible realities of schooling disruption in Africa on the other.

RICHARDSON SCHOOLING DISRUPTION MODEL Whenever conflict occurs, internally or due to an external source, the education system is usually the first societal element to experience disruption. To illustrate the tragedy of Africa’s children in their disrupted educational odyssey, the salient points of the Richardson Schooling Disruption Model (RSDM; see Appendix A) will be used to indicate how severely the natural progression of political conflict affects African schooling. This model evolved from patterns that emerged while analyzing the evolution of twentieth-century European educational disruption (Richardson, 1998a,b,c). The historical parallels to universal conflicts are remarkably striking. The RSDM indicates that one disruptive element follows another and that all the salient points ultimately are linked together to create schooling disruption. In all the conflicts studied to date school buildings are the first to be affected—almost immediately—because they are conscripted and used as military barracks, hospitals, or for administrative purposes. In the majority of conflicts most school buildings are sabotaged, irreparably damaged, or destroyed. Teachers, nearly always important community members, especially if they are politically active, are purposely removed by the aggressor. Then uncertified appointees of the new regime generally replace them so that children can be indoctrinated with the aggressor’s propaganda. As the conflict continues and intensifies, teacher training programs are targeted so that student teachers are forced to espouse the newly derived patriotism. Families and parents also play an important role in schooling disruption. The family’s eldest child faces a discontinuation of schooling if a parental figure dies for he or she has to provide and care for the siblings. Curriculum, too, is changed through cultural effects such as the imposition of the aggressor’s language and ideology. Various propaganda techniques are also then employed to control schooling. Depriva-

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tions such as lack of teaching and school supplies, destruction of whole libraries and laboratories, paucity of food, lack of dental care, and subsequent malnutrition all lead to prolonged school absences. Displacement results in children becoming victims or combatants, and eventually schooling ceases. Cessation of schooling results in schooling disruption, which in some instances can last for years. This entire process can be viewed as the anatomy of schooling disruption (Richardson, 2000), which has been used by this author to study the educational evolution of numerous twentiethcentury political conflicts. The aim of this chapter is to illustrate that the RSDM is applicable to African conflict situations.

School Buildings One-sixth of the world’s population consists of children and youth ages 10 to 19 who are fundamentally entitled to receive schooling by international law through the CRC. In schools, children predominantly inhabit a safe, secure environment with caring teachers, classmates, favorite books, and a place for expansion of their creativity. Children require and subconsciously appreciate the normality with familiar routines and tasks. In many localities school buildings generally serve as the center of a community. When conflict commences the school system is disrupted immediately for school buildings are diverted to the machinery of the conflict. In the political conflicts studied to date, educational institutions, especially large boarding schools, are evacuated, enabling the aggressor to convert them to billet troops, house bureaucratic officials, establish hospitals, or create administrative centers, transport depots, or displacement centers. Consequently, schools that remain open for their original purpose become severely overcrowded and emergency schools have to be improvised. To compensate for the lack of physical space, schools are reestablished in various places, such as garages, lofts, and cellars. Quite often unstable or condemned buildings are appropriated, and children receive their schooling in hazardous conditions. Africa is no exception. “In Eritrea in the late 1980s, wartime classes were often held in caves, under trees, or in camouflaged huts built from sticks and leaves” (Machel, 1999). As the conflict’s administrative requirements increase, the loss of school buildings becomes desperate. In Somalia, where the College of Education became a camp for displaced persons, former classrooms and dormitories were damaged from the cooking oil that blackened the walls. The dust in the library made it unusable (Finnegan, 1995). School buildings are also subject to severe damage, especially from bombs. In the Congo, “the damage done to many schools’ physical facilities while under state management, including the stripping of desks, chairs, books, doors, and windows, was so extensive that some schools were permanently abandoned” (“Democratic Republic of Congo,” 1999, p. 2).

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In Mozambique more than 50% of the schools were destroyed (Sorukwo, 1992, p. 1) of those, some 3,000 Mozambique primary schools in 11 years of bloodshed (Ayalon, 1998). Aside from the destruction of 100 Algerian schools by Islamic extremist during the three-year insurrection, an additional 700 schools were damaged and 815 were sabotaged (“Algerian Schools Hit,” 1995). The renewal of the civil war in [Sudan] in mid-1983 destroyed numerous schools and many teachers and students were among the refugees fleeing the ravages of war. Other schools simply are set ablaze (Dawes, 2000). Nigeria’s “national armed forces bombed towns and villages with no discretion for school grounds.”3 In Ethiopia’s Tigray province, 34 of the region’s 54 schools either have been destroyed or need repairs (Bellamy, 2000). In Zambia school enrolment is decreasing because there are far too few schools and most of the existing buildings are in such a dilapidated condition that they are unusable (“School Enrolment Falling,” 1999). Violence also affects schooling. In Algeria six students were killed when some militants hid from police in a school building (Notes on Church-State Affairs: Algeria, 1995). Wherever schooling still functions in conflict areas, conditions are dreadful. One can readily agree with Ofra Ayalon who writes that the appropriation and/or destruction of schools “goes far beyond the loss of formal learning. It shreds a child’s connection and continuity with its community and culture, further perpetuating and exacerbating the already existing cycle of illiteracy, poverty, despair, and violence” (Ayalon, 1998, p. 10). Children undoubtedly have some difficulty adjusting to these frequent changes, for their lives are disrupted severely as soon as the conflict commences.

Teachers A positive relationship between a teacher and a student is crucial for normal child development. Teachers provide cohesion, continuity, a comforting presence, and the requisites of normal development. During conflict situations, children’s strong psychological bonds to their teachers are the only normalcy they can expect. In many countries children and one teacher go through three or four academic years together which intensifies their psychological bond and loco parentis connection. However, during conflict situations teachers become prime targets for inclusion in the conflict, with little consideration acknowledged for their compliance or recalcitrance. The aggressor in a conflict historically has dismissed teachers, conscripted them, moved them, arrested them for imagined espionage activity, used them as hostages or slave labor, or reassigned them to labor intensive work such as farming or construction. This leads to shortages of qualified teachers. In one province in Kenya only 1,043 teachers are available to teach 40,797 students (Ngunjiri, 1998). Of the few schools still operating in the Congo, overcrowding is severe, with one teacher for an

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average of 94 pupils (Bander, 1996). The student-teacher ratio after the war in Mozambique stood at 80:1 (Ayisi, 1996). Simply put, conflict results in a paucity of certified teachers (“Child Education,” 1999). Another tool the aggressors use to disrupt schooling is to kill the teachers who are considered as threats to the conflict—teachers know how to think and generally are not slavish followers of anyone who wishes to disrupt schooling. Insurgents in Rwanda killed a Belgian nun who also served as school director (“Rwanda,” 1999). In Sudan whomever “does not want to become a Muslim is in danger … I witnessed how a teacher was arrested and killed for that reason … First he was tortured and, when I went peeping that night, I saw how they dragged him near the river, slit his throat, and threw his corpse in” (Foek, 1998, p. 4). Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group killed 142 teachers (“Algerian Schools Hit,” 1995). To rectify the teacher shortage, especially in a protracted conflict, a newly appointed “teacher,” usually a nonprofessional who is new to the community, generally owes his or her position to the oppressor. This individual is instructed to use the aggressor’s propaganda and indoctrinate the children with a new ideology. Obviously the teacher is merely a tool to be used by the aggressor, but to children the teacher plays an important role during their formative years. The psychological shock children experience when their classes are removed from their school and the additional loss of a trusted teacher causes trauma they retain for many years.

Curriculum Changes Aggressors or oppressors attempt to alter culture through education and indoctrination, propaganda, and deportation. These features are especially prominent in prolonged conflicts. The RSDM considers implementing reform without adequate educational tools an impossibility, but the aggressors nevertheless insist on changing culture through schooling. One area of imposed cultural change occurs when aggressors attempt to convert students to their ideology through curriculum changes. The most commonly used tactic is the elimination of the local language. The four main language groups in Africa are: Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, Khoisan, and Afro-Asiatic, but approximately 3,000 indigenous languages, some with a five centuries old tradition, are spoken. The imposition of the aggressor’s language leads to problems of educational quality. If this change occurs before teachers are removed from their posts those implementing the language change usually are neither prepared nor qualified, as they generally were not exposed to the aggressor’s language during their teacher training program. Using a different language also creates learning difficulties for children who have recently mastered new vocabulary or learned multiplication tables in their own language, which for some is difficult enough. The

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stress of not understanding a thing the teachers say regresses a student’s development and can severely hinder learning capacity and self-esteem. Language is problematic, for example, in southern Sudan some 115 languages are spoken. Arabic is favored due to relatively close ties with the Muslim north, but English is preferred by some because there are other English-speaking countries in central Africa. Up to 1989, Arabic was the language of instruction in schools in northern Sudan, while English was used in the South. However, the new regime made Arabic the language of education in all of Sudan (Deng, 1998). New ideologies can be inculcated through schooling. Textbooks, for example, are examined for thoughts or ideas deemed inappropriate by the aggressor. Some books, especially history books, are censored because they do not conform to the aggressor’s ideology. In some instances whole libraries are carried off to the aggressor’s place of origin, and in many cases books are thrown on a very public bonfire denying a generation source materials from which to study. To compensate for the lack of books, the aggressors introduce their own propaganda by way of pamphlets and public lectures. A frequent ploy used by an aggressor is to close schools because the system does not conform to cultural expectations. In Algeria, for example, the Armed Islamic Group, a radical faction, continually threatens both students and teachers with school closure because Islamic precepts are not followed exactingly (“Algerian Schools Hit,” 1995). Obviously, cultural changes can be implemented during conflict situations and can easily lead to cultural genocide.

Children and Family Family transformation, due to the loss of a parent during conflict situations, deleteriously impacts the schooling of a child. A loving and secure family relationship with parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins are crucial for normal child development. Parents and caregivers not only provide emotional support but also incalculable cognitive stimulation. Family attachments often take on increased importance in emergency situations. Although children have been proven to be remarkably resilient if the family remains intact, children whose families are transformed likely have to disrupt their schooling in some manner (Bellamy, 1996). However, parents are sometimes unable to provide the requisite care. In conflict situations adults, too, are traumatized and removed from their livelihoods, causing their children to live without life’s necessary comforts, such as food, clothing, and shelter. The traumatic experience of losing either parental figure to conflict significantly impacts the schooling a child receives. It exacerbates the trauma experienced due to conflict and in many cases whole generations stagnate into a psychological morass. This situation is common throughout Africa wherever conflict situations exist. Thousands of Somalian children lost one or both parents in a three-

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month period ending in 1992. Jane Standley, a reporter for the BBC, reports that “[e]very Rwandan I met had a terrible story, every family has lost someone” (Standley, 1999a, p. 2). As a result, approximately 85,000 households in Rwanda are headed by children (p. 2). World Vision, in interviews with Rwandan children, estimates that “95% of the children interviewed lacked adequate access either to health or to education” (Haq, 1998). Children’s psyches are severely scarred upon the death of one or more family members. If in a stable and safe family environment in political conflict situations, children generally experience the additional trauma of the disruption and cessation of their schooling. For example, if a father is conscripted, arrested, or shot, the eldest child accepts responsibility for supplementing the family’s economic well-being or cares for siblings while the remaining parent works. Fifteen-year-old Solange’s schooling has been permanently disrupted. When Hutu militias killed her parents and neighbors, Solange was completing her last year of primary school. She accepted responsibility for the family and fled with her siblings into some swamps and “for two months, they hid by day and foraged for food” (Reitman, 1998, p. 2). Since she heads the household, she cannot continue her schooling. Solange’s story is not uncommon. In Rwanda, 13-year-old Epiphanie Nyirahabimana is responsible for her five member family. Since they forage for food, they are fortunate if they eat thrice weekly. Schooling is not a priority (Haq, 1998). A 1995 UNICEF survey of 3,000 Rwandan children reveals that political conflict subjected them to unprecedented levels of exposure to traumatic events during the genocidal massacres in 1994: more than 95% of the children witnessed massacres, more than a third had seen the murders of family members, and almost all believed they would die. Nearly two-thirds were personally threatened with death. Over 80% had been forced to hide to protect themselves, many for up to 8 weeks or longer. (Bellamy, 1996, p. 1)

The UNICEF Children in War report states that Mozambique had 200,000 orphans. Standley reported that in Angola, during the three decades of conflict, almost “every Angolan I met has lost someone” (Standley, 1999b, p. 2). During the 16-year civil war in Angola about 50,000 children have been separated from their parents (Sorukwo, 1992). The loss of one or both parents obviously eliminates any chance for schooling to continue. Due to economic necessities schooling for the eldest sibling cannot be considered, for many of these children head large households and the family’s economic viability becomes their responsibility. Consequently, three-fourths of Africa’s children discontinue schooling after fourth grade because they have to be the family’s income providers. The trauma of losing both schooling and family members quite often is not overcome psychologically and the child becomes troublesome to society. This loss of schooling certainly conflicts with the CRC.

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Deprivations Conflict engenders pervasive deprivations which prohibit the continuation of schooling. Children are deprived most commonly of school supplies, clothing, transportation, health care services, and food, leading to malnutrition. The paucity of school supplies creates many problems that contribute to schooling disruption. In a prolonged conflict the first year is somewhat bearable because supplies usually are on hand for the school year, but as it progresses teaching supplies become scarce. The economy is geared to the conflict and as it progresses the paper supply is restricted to official use. Students’ notebooks consist of lower grade paper and are rationed; in many places students are forced to use slates. Once the paper shortage becomes acute an additional impediment to teaching occurs. The RSDM indicates that generally during lengthy conflict situations children are forced to use out-of-date and diverse editions because no new textbooks are published. Even blackboards are not immune. In one three-room school “you’ll see that not only the human armies are our enemies but also the termites. Part of the blackboard is eaten away” (Foek, 1998, p. 6). The scarcity of materials provides considerable hardship in attempting to school children (“Child Education,” 1999). Shortages also contribute to considerable difficulty in teaching such subjects as needlework, physics, chemistry, and industrial training; necessary supplies are rationed severely or are removed by the aggressor. At the elementary levels, a paucity of cutting scissors, pencils, pens, crayons, and science equipment occurs—rendering effective schooling impossible. Obviously, the quality of schooling suffers. Environmentally suitable clothing, too, is essential for a child or youth to attend school. But as the conflict progresses many students lack adequate clothing, underwear, boots, or shoes because there is either little money, or clothing is rationed or unavailable. As a result, children stay at home and do not attend school. Transportation to and from school also creates perilous situations for Africa’s children. Walking to school has several negative ramifications including thirst and the threats of landmines, rape, and abduction. During conflict situations these transportation-related endangerments are impediments to the continuance of schooling. Many children require public transportation or school bussing to attend school. However, when the bus driver is conscripted, and the bus materials—parts, rubber, and steel—are appropriated for the conflict’s machinery, or if maintenance is too costly, the parents arrange for alternative methods. But, parents face the same problems—fuel is scarcely available, and as the conflict progresses the aggressor confiscates vehicles. The child is reduced to taking a bicycle. Eventually the bicycle is confiscated. This leaves children no choice but to walk.

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Stephen Appiah-Padi, as a young boy in Ghana, had to walk three miles to reach his school. He was exposed to intense dust and heat which affected his schooling for he was often exhausted and thirsty.4 Landmines also pose a grave danger for the child walking to school. “110 million hidden land mines lie in wait for 1 of every 20 children around the world. The human cost, 800 deaths a month, and thousands are maimed for life” (“Child Education,” 1999, p. 2). Other dangers await school children. In Algeria one little boy in Bouinam, a village south of Algiers in an area called the “triangle of death,” was the sole survivor among 11 school children when gunmen attacked their bus (Peterson, 1998, p. 2). When it became unsafe to leave home, children in Somalia simply stopped attending school. Rape is a problem faced by Africa’s girls. This reprehensible psychological terror mechanism is prevalent in all the conflicts in Africa. In Rwanda, for example, “between April 1994 and April 1995, more than 15,700 girls and women were raped” (Machel, 1996, p. 3). Some girls: have been singled out for rape, imprisonment, torture, and execution. Systematic rape is often used as a weapon of war in ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Teenage girls have been a particular target, and when impregnated, forced to bear ‘the enemy’s’ child. In some raids in Rwanda, virtually every adolescent girl who survived an attack by the militia was subsequently raped. Many of those who became pregnant were ostracized by their families and communities. Some abandoned their babies; others committed suicide. (Ayalon, 1998, p. 2)

In addition to rape and landmines the threat of abduction is an everyday reality for Africa’s children. In many instances it is simply too dangerous to leave home. Many parents fear their children will be abducted and many keep them safely home, thus disrupting their schooling. This was the situation in Mozambique, where, as Machel reports, “after the signing of the peace treaty in 1992, United Nations Observer Mission in Mozambique UNOMOZ soldiers recruited girls ages 12 to 18 years into prostitution” (Machel, 1996, p. 4). In Sierra Leone, in 1995 the Revolutionary United Front raided villages to impress children into its ranks and forced them to witness or take part in the torture and execution of their own relatives. Thus brutalized and often fed crack or other drugs, the children have been led to neighboring villages to repeat the exercise. Also, “[i]n Sierra Leone, rebel forces have systematically recruited children, some as young as 7 years of age. In Uganda, the Lords’ Resistance Army (LRA) abducts children from their schools, communities, and homes” (“More than 120,000 Child Soldiers,” 1999, p. 2). The intentional LRA increase in 1995 of child abductions deliberately targeted schools. “It is estimated that around 90% of LRA soldiers are abducted children, and widely believed that the group could not survive militarily without them” (“Stolen Children, Stolen Lives,” 1999, p. 1). In Sudan, too, “nine boys from primary schools, aged twelve

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through fourteen, and fifteen other schoolboys between the ages of fifteen and seventeen were conscripted along with eight teachers.”5 And in Uganda, “[t]he soldiers took me from school, they had guns and the teachers couldn’t stop them” (“Uganda,” 1999, December 26). A seventeen-yearold private “in the Angolan armed forces ‘ … didn’t want to join the Army, they made me join,’ they burst into his home … and took him away.” Attending school should not be fraught with such dangers. It is not surprising that many parents do not allow children to attend school under these circumstances. Obviously, such a simple act as walking to school can be fatally dangerous. An increasing scarcity of food during a conflict situation and the subsequent decline in health also affects Africa’s children. “There is a strong link between children’s health and school performance” (Bellamy, 1999, p. 2).6 During conflict situations searching for food is a full time job for some children and they simply have no time to attend school. Due to inadequate dietary intake one of every three African children is malnourished. Malnutrition is a violation of the CRC. Four overlapping types of malnutrition affect children: nutritional stunting and wasting, iodine deficiency disorder, and deficiencies of iron and vitamin A (Bellamy, 1998). Malnutrition is a serious problem for it damages brain growth and development, leads to lifelong physical disabilities, impairs the immune system and causes greater risks of chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher maternal health risks. In Angola “about 50,000 children have been separated from their parents with 25–30% younger than six suffering from severe malnutrition” (Sorukwo, 1992, p. 1). The Mozambique quagmire has destroyed some 50% of the primary healthcare units and only “30 percent of its population has access to health services—not to mention the more than 5 million estimated to be struggling against acute shortages of food and social amenities as a result of wars” (Sorukwo, 1992, p. 1). Moreover, there is no access to mental and reproductive health services. Lack of nutritional food and adequate dental care quickly results in sick children. Many of Africa’s children are too malnourished and ill to attend school, which results in severe school absences and a negative impact on schooling.

Displacement Another salient RSDM point is internal or external displacement which creates geographical, social, psychological, and economic problems that impair the normal development of Africa’s children. Displacement, which violates the CRC and accords concerning children’s right to safety, protection and development, occurs largely due to family disruption during conflict situations—when a parent is conscripted, removed from his or her domicile, or dies due to the conflict situation. Whenever homes and entire

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villages are destroyed, children are displaced. A child in this situation is forced to flee and is profoundly affected since displacement is threatening to his or her well-being, learning, socialization, and cultural continuity. Displacement destroys family structures and disrupts traditional survival skills. In the case of labor quotas or army conscriptions, displacement of teachers leaves students unprotected. The devastation incurred by displacement can best be conceived by using some statistics which are especially deleterious for children. “The waves of violence that have swept across the world in recent years have uprooted enormous numbers of people. The total number is currently about 53 million—one out of every 115 people on earth has been forced into flight, and at least half of these are children” (“Children in War,” 1999, p. 1). According to the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) in 1999, over “3 million people in 15 African countries were forced to flee their homes because of war, insurgencies, and repression during 1999, driving up the number of uprooted people on the African continent to 13.7 million” (Africa’s Refugee Numbers Climb As New Violence Uproots 3 Million People, p. 1). From April to August 1994 some two million people were displaced from Rwanda (Bleir, 1999). In Mozambique one out of three people has been displaced. In Sudan in the past decade alone, war has left an estimated 1.3 million people dead and another 3 to 5 million displaced—women and children comprising 80% of the displaced populations (“Children in War,” 1999). Hunger and exploitation in camps for refugees and internally displaced persons is rampant when men take control of food distribution, which results in food shortages for women and girls. Violence against girls and women includes rape and sexual slavery (Machel, 1999). Some children are displaced because they want to escape forced recruitment by the warring parties.7 Yet others are displaced twice because they are ordered to return to their place of origin. This was the case of 10,000 Sudanese boys who walked across 330 miles to seek refuge in Ethiopia where they found not only food, but schooling (Polleros, 1992). But the conflict in Ethiopia forced their return to Sudan. They ceased their schooling in order to attain some semblance of safety. Guinea is currently host to the largest refugee population in Africa, with close to half a million refugees-up to 65% of whom are estimated to be children— who have fled strife in neighboring countries. More than 300,000 of these refugees come from Sierra Leone. (“The Sierra Leonean Civil War,” 2000)

In Uganda, Raundalen’s research (1996) found that children of conflict could be divided into two groups. They either become victims of war or pupils of war. For the purposes of this discussion, these children will be termed “child combatants.” The victims of war in Africa were the children who remained in the village immediately after it was attacked. They scarcely identified with the aggressor. However, these children exhibit signs

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of “anxiety, depression, and grief. Many of them expressed an emptiness and stated that nothing mattered anymore” (Evans, 1996, p. 3). In Sierra Leone: Human Rights Watch field investigations in 1998 and 1999 revealed that children have been the frequent targets of brutal, indiscriminate acts of violence by the RUF [Revolutionary United Front], including murder, mutilation, torture, beating, rape, and sexual slavery. Both sides favour children in their ranks because they believe children are often easily indoctrinated, fearless, and have little sense of what is morally right or wrong. Many of the atrocities have been committed by child soldiers, some as young as seven years of age.” (“The Sierra Leonean Civil War,” 2000)

Child combatants are conscripted, coerced, and forcibly abducted from their homes and schools. These youngsters are prized by the aggressors, for at their young age they can be moulded and neither understand nor resist the endemic violence. They easily manipulate lightweight automatic weapons, which are simple to operate. The aggressor appreciates their obedience and compliance due to their tender age. These youngsters generally lack fear because they do not understand the ramifications of their predicament. Extensive forcible abductions throughout Africa result in children becoming combatants who initially are used as porters to carry the goods aggressors have looted. If they protest or are incapable of marching quickly they are killed. Escape attempts result in beatings or being hacked to death by more recent recruits. “In southern Sudan in the 1980s and early 1990s, thousands of young Sudanese boys were lured hundreds of kilometres from their homes with promises of education, only to be thrust into military training and battle … almost a third of the child soldiers were reported to be girls” (“Facts About Child Soldiers,” 1999, p. 1). Children as young as eight are abducted from homes and schools. Franice Sigauque, who was captured by aggressors at age six in 1988, was forced to strike a match and ignite his family’s thatched hut. As his parents and siblings attempted to escape the burning inferno, the guerrillas hacked them to death with knives. After decapitating his mother and father, they dragged the catatonic boy to their camp where he remained for seven months until his escape” (Moreno, 1990, p. 2). Franice still speaks haltingly. “I feel bitterness in my heart, but I can’t express it,” he said (Frankel, et al., 1995, p. 2). At the Winnipeg Conference, Graça Machel noted that currently there are around 300,000 child combatants globally, an increase from 250,000 in 1995 (Machel, 2000). On the African continent child combatants are documented in Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Congo, Djibouti, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda (“The Global Use of Child Soldiers,” 1999). For example, sixteen-year-old Ethiopian Kadir Abulkadir from Jigiga “claims he was forcibly recruited from school,” and “17-year-old Dowit Admas … claimed that he was playing football in

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Gondar High School when Ethiopian Government soldiers rounded up 60 boys and sent them to Bersheik Military Training Camp in Gojam” (“Ethiopia,” 1999, p. 2). Most children become child soldiers if they are separated from their families. The Renamo forces in Mozambique, in particular, “systematically practiced forced recruitment of at least 10,000 boy soldiers, some as young as six years old” (“Children in War,” 1999, p. 3). Their schooling consists of how to handle weapons. Similarly, in Angola, a 1995 survey found that “36 per cent of children had accompanied or supported soldiers, and 7 per cent of Angolan children had fired at somebody” (p. 3). Girls as young as ten in Angola, Chad, Somalia, and Sudan become servants and concubines at the rebel military bases (“Traffic of Child Slaves in West Africa,” 1999). The violence committed against some child combatants is equally horrifying. In Mozambique: Renamo commanders first terrorized the boys—often by hanging them upside down from trees. They forced many to shoot or slit the throats of their parents. Later the boys willingly terrorize others. Rodrigo Novela recalls that “I killed and I robbed and I feel ashamed.” (Frankel et al., 1995, p. 7)

Rodrigo, now in his teens and enrolled in an elementary school in the district capital of Chibuto, says his entire unit was composed of boys as young as 10, many of whom died. The Small Boy Unit was created by Charles Taylor, the rebel leader in Liberia who became president. As in ancient Sparta, looting provides their subsistence. Boys are chosen because, “Kids make more brutal fighters because they haven’t developed a sense of judgment,” says Esther Guluma, a UNICEF worker in Liberia (Frankel et al., 1995, p. 7). She deals with children like the 13-year-old who admits slitting open the belly of a pregnant woman with his bayonet; other former child soldiers in Liberia tell of tying prisoners’ hands behind their backs and throwing them into swamps or cesspits. One boy broke down as he told of being ordered to chop off a soon-to-be-released prisoner’s hands because the handcuff keys were lost. “I hear that man’s screams in my dreams,” the boy told a clinic supervisor (Frankel et al., 1995, p. 1). This experience is echoed by Jeff, a seventeen-year-old former child combatant in Liberia who explained that “I joined the NPL force when I was eleven … soldier life has got a lot of pleasures. I felt fine fighting against my enemies. We go, we fight, we steal away a bunch of money. And then we carry the money and go dancing, drinking. When I kill somebody I feel so-so. They are coming to kill me, so I have to defend myself” (“Jeff, 17, Liberia,” 1999, p. 1). In Algeria, “a young woman from one of the villages where massacres had taken place said that all of the killers were boys under 17. Some boys who looked to be around 12 decapitated a 15-year-old girl and played ‘catch’ with the head” (“More than 120,000 Child Soldiers

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Fighting in Africa,” 1999, p. 2). Under the influence of alcohol and drugs supplied by commanders the child combatants torture their victims in a gruesome manner, “at 2 p.m., they gouge out two eyes, at 3 p.m., they cut off one hand, at 4 p.m., they cut off two hands, at 5 p.m., they cut off one foot and … at 7 p.m. it is the death which falls down” (“Sierra Leone,” 1999, p. 3). The global community is thus faced with a problem that is similar to the street gangs that plague local communities. The other child combatants in a unit become a surrogate family, with the commander replacing the parental figure. Inaccessibility to a scholarly education entices some children into armed groups. For many African children the opportunity to earn a subsistence wage, receive free clothing, food, and lodging, and have a sense of empowerment by holding a weapon is a security they have scarcely experienced. This military type of education is deemed more worthy because it is practical rather than scholastic. Ironically “…many young recruits are orphans who join voluntarily, seeking protection from the army and a place in society after their parents have been killed in civil conflict. Africa’s child combatants easily adapt to the lightweight weaponry and its effects.” Consequently, “…under certain conditions, practically any child could be changed into a killer … it is even more sobering to see once again how easily children who have been denied education and trained for fighting are manipulated by local political leaders” (Wessels, 1999, p. 2). These horrific stories indicate that Africa’s children are receiving an education but at the expense of the formal schooling to which they are entitled by international consensus. As a result of abductions and enforced military service, formal academic schooling is eliminated for many African children (Ehrenreich, 1998).

Cessation of Schooling As the RSDM suggests, schooling is scarcely carried out during times of conflict. Absences due to appropriation of school buildings, displacement of teachers, suppression of language, changed family structure, and loss of social networks facilitate a cessation of schooling. In South Africa, of the 303,000 children who entered primary school in 1980, less than 34,000 remained in school until graduation.8 In Somalia, education at all levels ceased and has yet to be fully restored. Somalia’s illiterates stand little chance of aspiring to the technological advances of the developed countries because they are denied one of their most fundamental human rights—a free compulsory elementary and secondary education. In 1993, the Congo enrolled 23% of its children in secondary education, only 15% of whom were girls. A mere 56% of primary school-aged children reached the fourth grade (“Democratic Republic of Congo,” 1999). Most state run schools in the Congo are now closed. Liberia provides for six

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years of elementary and six years of secondary schooling, but only 60% reach the secondary level. Although some type of schooling is provided in some camps, “100 orphans whose parents had died fighting in Sudan, were also being catered for in camps in Kenya, but were not receiving education from any international agency” (Deng, 1998, p. 2). And primary “school enrolment in Kenya reached 97 percent for boys and 93 percent for girls in 1989 … but [in] 1996 was reduced to 78.75 percent for boys and 76.5 percent for girls” (p. 2). “The current retention rate in secondary schools is 47 percent for boys and 34 percent for girls” (Achieng’,1997, p. 1). In Uganda’s Gulu district, 20 schools closed due to rebel attacks (Snyder & Tadesse 1998). In South Africa alone, 11 million pupil-days were lost and 16,000 incidents of disruption were registered (Moller, 1995). The experience of a Nigerian woman, Philomena Okeke, is worth noting: Between 1966–7 and 1969–1970, schooling was disrupted in southeastern Nigeria for 3 years and in 1970, many teenagers found themselves in elementary schools and fully grown men and women in secondary schools. Nigerians lost 3 crucial formative years. The loss of life, cost of rehabilitating the wounded, individual advancement, infra-structural reconstruction, and the loss of human capital for nation building is incalculable.9

Rather than attending school “73 million children age 10 to 14 are working—not counting the tens of millions, mostly girls, believed to be in domestic service” (Gupta, 1998, p. 21). Moreover, “30% of the children who do enrol in primary education do not complete it” (Bellamy, 1997). In South Africa, “due to the shortage of teachers and classrooms, children who failed to find a place in school at the beginning of the year have had to wait a year to resume education” (Moller, 1995, p. 5). And in Angola, instead of attending school, “thousands of children are roaming the streets … as a result of war, displacement, diseases, and poverty” (“Angola,” 1999). As a result of thousands of schools being commandeered and destroyed, Somalian children have not been to school for more than a year (Abdi, 1998). On the continent that can least afford it, the disruption of schooling has become an everyday occurrence. The deleterious effects of schooling disruption become clear with some statistics. Despite the fact that children have a right to education: …855 million people will be functionally illiterate (more than one sixth of humanity) at the end of this century. At the same time, more than 130 million children of primary school age in the developing countries, including 73 million girls, are growing up without access to education. Millions of others languish in substandard learning situations where little learning takes place. (Bellamy, 1999, p. 1)

Ironically, some of Africa’s children do receive a type of education, but it can only be harmful to the global community. For example, one African

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youth, Musimbi, joined Kibala’s rebels at age 13. He proudly states, “I have no interest in going to school, I’ve fought and killed many people. I’m a soldier. It’s all the experience I need” (“Democratic Republic of Congo,” 1999, p. 4). And in Sierra Leone, Sandi boasts “I am 14, and a rebel killer. I don’t want to be demobilised” (“Sierra Leone,” 1999, p. 2). One 19-yearold male ex-abductee states “I did learn some things when I was with the rebels. I learnt how to shoot, how to lay anti-personnel mines and how to live on the run. I especially knew how to use an AK-47 twelve-inch, which I could dismantle in less than one minute. When I turned 12 they gave me an RPG [rocket launcher] because I had proved myself in battle” (Stavrou & Stewart, 2000, p 1). As a result of schooling disruption, one villager says, “Our children have grown up in ignorance. They know the sound of each different gun, but little else” (Bander, 1996, p. 2). The children were all familiar with weaponry and its effects. This militaristic education the child combatants receive differs sharply from the CRC ideals.

DISCUSSION The ramifications of the RSDM are clearly evident in the following statement: In 1987 a structural adjustment program was introduced by the [Mozambique] government. The situation worsened. Teachers were fired to deal with structural adjustment problems. In the workplace, factory management withdrew support because they felt squeezed and said education was not their problem. The government had the same attitude saying they had to deal with war, not support literacy. War meant it was difficult for teachers and materials to get to centres. Adults were struggling to survive, so they lost the motivation to learn. Fewer and fewer people registered every year. (Macabi, 1999, p. 2)

This cursory review of African schooling disruption situations is not very encouraging. However, some promising rhetoric might alleviate some of the problems. The State of the World’s Children 1999 report indicates there is an education revolution within the CRC’s framework with five key elements: “Learning for Life; Accessibility; Quality and flexibility; Gender sensitivity and girls’ education: with The State as key partner; and Care of the young child” (Bellamy, 1999, p. 1). UNICEF reports that: “It may have taken almost 50 years for the education rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights to be fully accepted. But those rights are no longer negotiable. It is the world’s responsibility to fulfil them without further delay” (Bellamy, 1999, p. 4). This rhetoric needs to be acted upon forcefully by the international community. Above “all else, this report is a call to action” (Machel, 1996) Despite the good intentions of some members of the international community, The State of the World’s Children 2000, Carol Bellamy states that “[i]t

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is unforgivable that children are assaulted, violated, murdered and yet our conscience is not revolted nor our sense of dignity challenged” (Bellamy, 2000, p. 9). These official denunciations are heard frequently and unfortunately seem to have become platitudes that provide little solace for those children whose schooling has been disrupted. “It is unconscionable that we so clearly and consistently see children's rights attacked and that we fail to defend them … This represents a fundamental crisis of our civilization” (Machel, 1996, p. 9). The inadequate measures used to date strongly suggest that children’s rights are selective in Africa rather than universal. Schooling explicitly does not occur in a global sociocultural vacuum. The deleterious political conflicts integrate to create massive socioeconomic problems in Africa. No doubt some beneficial programs exist but they are not always accessible for rural children nor are they making as much progress as has been projected. Now the time has come to formulate concrete improvements, to mobilize international support, to create effective preventative mechanisms, and ultimately to provide a global framework that results in a proactive policy suitable for all the parties involved in schooling disruption. Moreover, reconstruction literature indicates that a multi-generational period must pass before the system reverts to pre-conflict levels. It is the duty of every government throughout the world to stop paying lip service to the CRC and to enforce the rights more vigorously, for children are entitled to safety and security in their schooling odyssey. The information in this chapter strongly indicates that having enshrined the CRC does not mean that it will be honored. The self-congratulatory element of implementing the CRC must be surpassed, we must transcend the first positive step of implementation and strictly enforce this enlightening legal document that guarantees children their universal rights. Evidently the most destructive societal conflict is not armed, religious, ethnic, or political. Allowing generations to grow up without formal schooling or critical thinking skills has far greater and more staggering implications. The global community has to transcend boundaries and nationalities and place universal limitations on disruption of schooling. These egregious violations manifest a threat to global security and peaceful coexistence. Rape has been recognized as a war crime, and the Land Mine Treaty was passed promptly. Why can the same importance not be attributed to the perilous disruption of schooling? A proactive child-centred approach should be agreed upon to counter the disruption of schooling and the consequently horrendous treatment of children. An international agreement, as an addendum to the CRC, stating that disruption of schooling is a crime that requires accountability, and that schools should enjoy the same safety zone protection as hospitals, could easily be adopted through the auspices of the United Nations. This would ensure the sustainable development of all parties involved in the schooling process.

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This suggestion should be relatively uncomplicated to implement. Nearly every country has a Ministry of Education which meets regularly to discuss global educational issues. Surely schooling disruption can be placed as a priority on their meeting agendas. Ministries have records of the schools in their countries and nearly all countries register their children in schools. Teachers generally belong to a teacher’s association or union. Little difficulty should be encountered in making a global database that would allow school buildings to be registered as safety zones and off limits to conflict.10 Teachers should be last in the mobilization process. A subcommittee of the UN could regulate enforcement strategy with universally approved mechanisms. In addition, “…an international force should be set up to prevent or mitigate large-scale war-driven atrocities against children” (Southall & Carballo, 1996, p. 3). No country should be immune from this regulation for all children have a right to expect their school to be a sanctuary in times of conflict. It is inhumane to bomb school buildings, to deprive children of their teachers, to create unnecessary deprivations, and to abduct children for the purposes of any conflict. There is no justification whatsoever, anywhere or any time, for disrupting the schooling of children.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, the evolution of schooling in conflict situations in Africa can be analyzed using the RSDM. All the salient steps, conscripting or destroying school buildings, removing or killing teachers and students, changing curriculum to encourage cultural genocide, forcing deprivations, purposely shattering families, and engendering the cessation of schooling for years are quite obviously used as a control mechanism for aggressors or oppressors in Africa. The data used in this chapter indicate that schooling disruption is due not only to devastating famines and outbreaks of disease but to political conflicts as well, although it is not a readily visible consequence of conflict. As the RSDM indicates, education is not a priority development item for many African governments. It seems that an insidious undeclared war revolves around schooling Africa’s children. Many of these children live in a world of widespread and incomprehensible atrocities, filled with conflict that, nevertheless, need not affect the schooling element of their educational odyssey. Clearly they have been treated unjustly and should not be subjected to these violations of their rights. Conflict as a weapon against children is calculating, devastating, and morally unethical; it cannot and must not be tolerated. Currently, the CRC scarcely represents the reality of Africa’s children. We the adults must provide the prosperity and security within stable schooling environments that the CRC ensures. The political inertia must end. Children, after all, are our future and if we allow conflict to endanger their childhood we endanger everyone.

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It has been noted throughout this chapter that vulnerable children pay the highest price. It is up to adults to eliminate this victimization. The flagrant atrocities must cease or we place our global community in jeopardy that cannot easily be eradicated. The unspeakable inhumanity inflicted upon Africa’s children cannot and must not be tolerated. Goals, theories and projections are bureaucratic necessities, but it is the reality of conflict that disrupts schooling and invites unacceptable, unconscionable situations. Those who inflict the horror must understand that they will be held accountable, and that they will face punishment with strictly enforced universal support. Despite the fact that the future conflicts are thought to become culturally based, the aforementioned steps need to be taken for the global community to become proactive rather than reactive regarding schooling disruption (Huntington, 1993). Social justice calls for children to be exempted from the horrors of conflict and war—schooling should be their greatest adventure. Yet the world has stood by and watched African education systems turned upside down. It is inconceivable that we are letting our African children suffer through this “Educational Holocaust” by allowing them to fall into the “Abyss of History” (Molitierno, 1997). The psycho-social impact on generations of African children will ultimately reverberate devastatingly and shatter the global community politically, economically, and socially. Educational genocide is not expected of humankind. The question should not be who will answer for these atrocities against Africa’s children (Ramos-Horta, 1998). Rather, the question should be who in the international community will take the first step toward preventing the irreparable damage engendered by schooling disruption due to conflict? Who will take the responsibility to make the schooling odyssey of Africa’s children the adventure they have been rightfully granted by the entire world through the CRC? Indeed, who will be the advocate for Africa’s children?

NOTES 1. Dakar meeting will reinforce commitment to education for all, http:// www.unicef.org/efa/, retrieved (May 2, 2000), 1 of 3. 2. A unique analysis of conflict is presented in Enterline (1998). 3. Personal interview, Philomena Okeke, March 1999. 4. Personal interview, March 1999. 5. “Sudan-Military Recruitment of Sudanese Boys,” 1 of 3. 6. Professor Dr. Hussein Kamel Bahaa El-Din, Minister of Education, Egypt. UNICEF, 1996. 7. “War harms everyone,” 1 of 2. 8. “War Child,” OLSET Education and Communications Project South Africa, 1 of 2. 9. Personal interview, Philomena Okeke, March 1999. 10. Making children zones of peace is advocated by Graça Machel and Judith Evans of the ECD Group.

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REFERENCES Abdi, A. (1998, November). Education in Somalia: History, destruction, and calls for reconstruction. Comparative Education, 34(3), 327–341. Achieng’, J. (1997, January 25). Shortage of Schools bites hard. Nairobi, (IPS). Africa’s refugee numbers climb as new violence uproots 3 million people. (2000). The US Committee for refugees. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:// www.refugees.org. Aldrich, G., & van Baarda, T. (1994). Conference on the rights of children in armed conflict. The Hague: St. R.I.O.P. International Dialogues Foundation. Algerian schools hit. (1995, April 13). Christian Science Monitor, 87(96), 7. Angola: Refugee children roam streets. (1999, December 9). AVIVA Africa, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.aviva.org.africa.htm. Ayalon, O. (1998). Community Healing for children traumatized by war. International Review of Psychiatry, 10(3, Pt. 2), 224–233. Ayisi, R.A. (1996). Mozambique. Maputo: UNICEF. Bander, B. (1996, April 29). Muslim-Christian conflicts may destabilize East Africa. Christianity Today, 40(5). Bellamy, C. (2000, January 5). The state of the world’s children report 2000, http:// unicef.org/sowc00/panel3.htm, retrieved. Bellamy, C. (1999). The state of the world’s children 1999. New York: Oxford University Press. Bellamy, C. (1998). The state of the world’s children 1998. New York: Oxford University Press. Bellamy, C. (1997). The state of the world’s children 1997. New York: UNICEF. Bellamy, C. (1996). Children in war. In The state of the world’s children report 1996. New York: UNICEF. Bleir, R. (Ed.). (1999, February 28). Ongoing wars, children as casualties. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.igc.apc.org/desip/desip1.html. Causes of ethnic conflict. (1999, February 28). Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:/www.synapse.net/~acdi20/reports.caus.htm provides a good synopsis of the causes of ethnic conflict. Child education. (1999, November 2). Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:// www.davison.k12.mi.us/academic/global.educat-1.htm. Children in war. UNICEF: Voices of youth (1999, January 29). Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.unicef.org/voy.meeting/war/war/-exp.2.html. Dawes, M. (2000, January 30). End Congo massacres, urges aid agency. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:news.bbc.couk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_623000/ /623737.stm. Democratic Republic of Congo: Casualties of war. (1999, February 29). Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://cweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field (DOCID+zr0097), (11) 1A, retrieved, 2 of 2. Deng, J. (1998, February 20). Sudanese refugees hope for second chance. Harare. Ehrenreich, R. (1998, January-March). The stories we must tell: Ugandan children and the atrocities of the lords’ resistance army. Africa Today, 45(1), 79–103, Enterline, A.J. (1998). Regime Changes and Interstate Conflict, 1816–1992. Political Research Quarterly, 51, 385–410. Ethiopia. (1999, December 26). The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.child-soldiers.org/ethiopia.htm.

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Evans, J.L. (1996). Children as zones of peace: Working with young children affected by armed violence. Coordinators’ notebook. An international resource for early childhood development. Facts about child soldiers. (1999, January 29). Human Rights Watch, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.hrw.org.hrw/campaigns/crp/facts.htm1. Finnegan, W. (1995, March 20). Letter from Mogadishu. The New Yorker, 76. Foek, A. (1998, September/October). Sudan’s tragic legacy of civil war. Humanist, 58(5), 10–15. Frankel, M., Hammer, J., Contreras, J., & Moreau, R. (1995, August 14). Boy soldiers. Newsweek, 126(7), 44. The global use of child soldiers. (1999, January 29). Http://www.hrw.org/hrw/ campaigns/crp/crp-map.html , retrieved. Gupta, G.R. (1998). Claiming the future. In The progress of nations 1998. New York: UNICEF. Haq, F. (1998, February 24). Children run households in Rwanda. New York: United Nations. Retrieved May 24, 2000, [online]. Available: http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/feb98/rwanda_children.html. Huntington, S.P. (1993). The clash of civilizations?: The next pattern of conflict. Foreign Affairs, 72(3), 22–50. Jeff, 17, Liberia. (1999, November 6). Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:// www.rb.se/chilwar/fem_96/jeff.htm. Macabi, G. (1999). Community education in Mozambique. Convergence, 24(1–2), 2. Machel, G. (2000). Impact of armed conflict on children: Review and update. Winnipeg: Background Papers. The International Conference on War-Affected Children. Machel, G. (1999). The impact of war on children. Background papers. Winnipeg: The International Conference on War-Affected Children. Machel, G. (1996). Impact of armed conflict on children. New York: UN Children’s Fund, Retrieved January 29, 1999, [online]. Available: http://www.unicef.org/ graca//summry.htm, 7 of 10. Mgadla, P.T. (1995, October). Government and African control of education in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1928–48. Botswana Educational Studies, 21(3). Molitierno, A. (1997) The abyss and history: The children and the holocaust. Midwest Quarterly, 39, 64–83. Moller, V. (1995, August). Home environment and educational achievement among high school pupils living in three-generation urban black households. South African Journal of Sociology, 26(32), 87–97. More than 120,000 child soldiers fighting in Africa. (1999, December 26). Human rights watch. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/ apr/cso419.htm, retrieved. Moreno, Z. T. (1990). Healing the hidden wounds of war. Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, & Sociometry, (42)4. Moreno, Z. T. (1989). Psychodrama, role theory and the concept of the social atom. Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama & Sociometry, 42, 178–176. [Reprinted (1990). Journal of the British Psychodrama Association, 5, 30–37] Ngunjiri, P. (1998)). Education-Kenya: Teachers leave, schools close. One World News, IPS, 1 of 3. Notes on church-state affairs: Algeria. (1995, Summer). Journal of Church & State, 37(3), 671.

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Peterson, S. (1998, January 9). Amid Algeria’s massacres: Conquering fear to help children. Christian Science Monitor, 90(31), 1. Polleros, J. (1992, April 20). Trek of the orphans. Newsweek, 16(46). Ramos-Horta, J. (1998, July). Children of war. Family & Conciliation Courts Review, 36(3), 333–345. Raundalen, M. (1996). Unpublished report. New York: UNICEF. Reitman, J. (1998, March 16). Hope and healing in Rwanda. Scholastic Update, 130(11–12). Richardson A. (2000, Spring). Anatomy of schooling disruption. International Journal of Educational Policy, Research and Practice, 1(1). Richardson, A. (1998a). World War II experiences of Jewish post secondary faculty in the Netherlands: A human rights perspective. In International multiculturalism 1998: Preparing together for the 21st century (pp. 451–462). Edmonton: The Kanata Learning Company, Ltd. Richardson, A. (1998b). War, children and education in the occupied Netherlands 1940–1945. In Childhood and youth: A universal odyssey (pp. 170–181). Edmonton: The Kanata Learning Company, Ltd. Richardson, A. (1998c). Students and political conflict during World War II in the Netherlands: A case study. In Childhood and youth: A universal odyssey (pp. 280– 289). Edmonton: The Kanata Learning Company, Ltd. Rwanda: Human rights developments. (1999, November 2). Human rights watch world report 1998, wysiwyg://35/http://hrw.org./hrw/worldreport/Africa10.htm, retrieved. School enrolment falling. (1999, November 2). AVIVA Africa, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.aviva.org/ africa/htm, 5 of 7. Sierra Leone. (1999, December 26). The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.child-soldiers.org/ sierra_leone.htm. The Sierra Leonean civil war. (2000, May 1). Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:// www.hrw.org/reports/1999/guinea/guine997-03.htm#P253_40768. Snyder, M., & Tadesse, M. (1998, Autumn). Uganda: New initiative to increase girls going to school. Women’s International Network News, 21(4), 54–58. Sorukwo, V. (1992, November). National concord. World Press Review, 39(11), 1 of 2. [Lagos] Southall, D., & Carballo, M. (1996, December 7). Can children be protected from the effects of war? British Medical Journal, 313(7070), 1493. Standley, J. (1999a, February 28). Central Africa: Where declarations fail. BBC News. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/specia...f_human_rights/newsid_230000/2 30845.stm, 2 of 3. Standley, J. (1999b, February 28). Angola’s forgotten conflict. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://bbc.co.uk/hi.english.special_-...999/01/99angola/newsid_263000/ 263393.stm. Stavrou, S., & Stewart, R. (2000). The Re-integration of child soldiers and abductees: A case study of Palaro and Pabbo, Gulu District, Northern Uganda. Background Papers (Ch. 2, p. 1). Winnipeg: The International Conference on WarAffected Children. Stewart, F., Humphreys, F.P., & Lea, N. (1997, February). Civil conflict in developing countries over the last quarter of a century: An empirical overview of economic and social consequences. Oxford Development Studies, 25(1), 11.

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Stolen children, stolen lives. (1999, December 26). Amnesty International. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/ 1997.15900207.htm. Thompson, C. (1999). Beyond civil society: Child soldiers as citizens in Mozambique. Review of the African Political Economy, 26(80), 192. Traffic of child slaves in West Africa. (1999, December 9). AVIVA Africa, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:www.aviva.org/africa.htm. Uganda. (1999, December 26). The coalition to stop the use of child soldiers, Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.child-soldiers.org/uganda.htm. The U.S. Committee for Refugees. (2000). Africa’s refugee numbers climb as new violence uproots 3 million people. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http:// www.refugees.org/. P.1.http://www.refugees.org/ Wessels, M. (1999, November 8). Child soldiers. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://ppangea.org./kids.africa.armies.htm. World Bank. (1998). African development indicators, 1998/1999. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Wretched Rwanda: A bloodstain on the conscience of the world. (1994, May 7). Economist, 331(7862), 13.

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APPENDIX A Table 1

Richardson Schooling Disruption Model

I. Pre-existing Conditions: organized education systems schools, formal curriculum, exams, teacher training, ministry of education, teacher organizations, parent organizations, compulsory attendance, education laws. II. Disruptions of preexisting condition SCHOOLS hospitals, administration, barracks partially destroyed, unusable, completely destroyed

TEACHERS outgoing, incoming teacher shortage, teacher training

CURRICULUM language, textbooks propaganda, military emphasis

CHILDREN family, extended family, economic

DEPRIVATIONS school supplies, transportation food, health

DISPLACEMENT geographical, social, economic

III. SCHOOLING DISRUPTION Reduced hours, absence, closure, cessation

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CHAPTER 2

INHIBITING AND ENABLING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE EDUCATOR REPORTING OF SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT Faye McCallum

INTRODUCTION Statistics that report child abuse and neglect incidence abound, but it is difficult to obtain accurate figures, as “official” statistics reflect only the reported cases referred to child protection services. Despite the misleading figures, the most recent statistics released in Australia report that in 1997–1998, an alarming 5.6 per 1000 children under the age of 16 were the subject of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1999). Also, recent epidemiological data provided by the National Research Council in the United States (cited in Heller, Larrieu, D’Imperio, & Boris, 1999) suggest that there are more than two million reports of child maltreatment (including neglect) in the United States annually. Approximately half of these reports are validated as meeting local criteria for maltreatment by state-run child protective service agencies. However, Wang (1999) asserts that in 1997 the number of child abuse reports in the United States rose 1.7%, exceeding 3.1 million. Forty-one percent of these reports involved children who had current or prior contact with local child protective service agencies, and 78% were under the age of five years. 27

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In developing countries, research has been sporadically undertaken by government authorities on the problem of child abuse and neglect. Gaining accurate statistics is difficult because of the controversies that may exist within the confines of a family or clan. For example, “cultural tolerance” to physical abuse is not uncommon in the Pacific Islands. The attitude toward child rearing is restricted to the family, an issue similar to that in many other cultures. Likewise, discussions about sexual abuse and incest are taboo and, when they do occur, traditional clan affiliations, family honor, and preference for silence may combine to protect the abuser. There also exists a cultural belief that child abuse is found only in Westernized communities, despite studies that show evidence to the contrary (Lyman, 1997; Marcus, 1991). For example, in 1991 a nationwide survey of 15% of the population of the Pacific island-nation of Palau indicated that 28% claimed to know a family where child abuse was occurring; 24.5% stated that they knew a person who sexually abused a young child; and 14% of the sample admitted to having sexually abused their own children (Collier et al., 1999). WuDunn (1999) recently reported on the incidence of cases of child abuse and neglect in Japan, a country that was thought to have exceptionally strong family ties and cultural taboos against abuse. It was thought that, historically, there was no problem of child abuse in Japan; therefore, no statistics on child abuse were kept. However, in 1997, 5,352 cases of child abuse were reported, a rise of 30% from the previous year, which prompts a fear that these statistics do not indicate the extent of the problem (WuDunn, 1999). The newly formed Centre for Child Abuse Prevention in Japan has stated that “the single biggest problem was society realizing that there is child abuse” (WuDunn, 1999, p. 1). Reasons given for the rise in child abuse include strained family ties created by economic pressures arising from a long recession and record unemployment, as well as the rise of divorce rates and remarriages. Such factors are thought to undermine stability in the home. The cases reported above indicate that there are problems with the collection of data on child abuse and neglect. Definitions vary, as do sampling methods, and statistics are reported differently within different cultures and contexts. However, the statistics cited here and the presumed incidence of unreported cases of abuse suggest that child abuse is as significant a social problem in Australia as it is worldwide. The consequences of child abuse and neglect have been extensively researched and reported in the literature: poor self-image (Bolger, Patterson, & Kupersmidt, 1998); delinquency, problems at school and with forming relationships (Dukewich, Borkowski, & Whitman 1999; Finkelhor, 1990; Friedrich, 1990; Koverola, Pound, Heger, & Lytle 1993); violence, drug and alcohol abuse (Courtney, 1999); prostitution (Spatz Widom, 1995); homelessness (Stiffman, 1989); psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Burdekin, 1993; Finkelhor, 1990; Fondacaro, Holt, & Powell, 1999; Gray, Pithers, Busconi, & Houchiens, 1999; Koverola et al., 1993); and suicide (Kosky & Mangold, 1988). Strate-

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gies related to identification, intervention, and prevention of child abuse and neglect have also been researched (Chadwick, 1999; Daro, 1988). One prevention strategy, mandatory reporting, has been introduced in many countries, including Australia. Despite differences between States, there are legislative requirements that various professionals, including educators, are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect (Appendix A). To promote mandatory reporting effectiveness there are penalties for not reporting and freedom from liability for reporting. In some States, educators attend compulsory training to assist them in their reporting role. In Australia, this is an employment prerequisite and compulsory component for exit from university teacher education courses. The training addresses myths that exist about child abuse and neglect, identification of child abuse and neglect, responding to victims, and procedures for reporting. Some schools provide follow-up training, in the form of inservice, but there are factors that detract from the effectiveness of such training, including variations in the dissemination of information, educators’ workload, and the professional development model used. Despite the legal mandate that educators report their suspicions and the preparation completed by all educators, many professionals fail to report their suspicions. The literature cites many reasons for under-reporting, such as: fear of identification of self or victim, fear for personal safety (Winefield & Castelle-McGregor, 1987; Winefield, Harvey & Bradley, 1993); confusion with the law (Kalichman & Craig, 1991); lack of confidence to identify and/or report (Kalichman & Brosig, 1992; Kalichman, Craig, & Follingstad, 1988); reluctance to become involved (Pollack & Levy 1989); lack of professional experience or knowledge (Barksdale, 1988; Bavolek, 1983; Crenshaw, Crenshaw, & Lichtenberg 1995; Hay, 1988; Nightingale, 1986); inadequate training (Reiniger, Robison, & McHugh 1995); and fear for the future welfare of the child (Winefield & Castelle-McGregor, 1986; Newberger, 1983). O’Toole, Webster, O’Toole, and Lucal (1999) also suggest that under-reporting occurs as a result of educators developing a loss of sensitivity to the problem. This develops over years of teaching experience and because of an increase in the number of children seen each day. They found that years of teaching were negatively associated with recognition of abuse, though not with reporting when abuse was detected. This was because educators had become more tolerant about behavioral signs exhibited by children, had received no formal training in child abuse detection when they were trained to become educators, or because an increase in student numbers affected their time and type of relationship with individuals and smaller groups. This chapter focuses on educators as one of the professionals mandated to report abuse and discusses factors that inhibit and enable the reporting of suspicions of child abuse and neglect.

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RESEARCH CONTEXT The findings are based on research conducted in one State in Australia, South Australia. All schools were surveyed to explore educators’ experiences with, and views about, mandatory notification training and school reporting practices. The purpose was to ascertain what led educators to report or not to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect. The design of the survey tool was based on the findings of a previous pilot study using qualitative methods of research, purposive sampling, and interview methodology. The survey was distributed to principals of schools who were asked to randomly select two educators at their site to complete and return the survey directly to the researcher. The surveys were anonymous, and the information provided was treated confidentially. Ethics approval was granted by The University of South Australia and appropriate employing bodies. The quantitative results were analyzed using SPSS and the qualitative comments using Non-numerical Unstructured Data, Indexing, Searching, and Theorising, or NUD.IST (Richards & Richards, 1997).

INHIBITING FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EDUCATOR REPORTING Of relevance to this study is the research conducted by Abrahams, Casey, and Daro (1992) which identified inadequate training as a reason for under-reporting. Research conducted on training programs with law enforcers (Portwood, Grady, & Dutton, 2000) concurs with the present findings and identifies obstacles to implementing effective training programs. According to the researchers, these obstacles are: general scepticism about research and its practical implications; resistance to working with outside researchers who fail to work in partnership with them; distrust of evaluation research which has been used to justify cutbacks and other negative consequences; doubts over the generalizability of research findings from one jurisdiction to another; a professional climate that discourages questioning superiors; and the belief that the focus should be on immediate action, rather than thinking. While there are workplace differences between educators and law enforcers, there are also similarities in the findings presented by the research. Law enforcers are high reporters of abuse, as are educators, and receive similar training to educators. In conclusion, Portwood et al. (2000) suggest that the obstacles identified can be used as guidelines for developing collaborative relationships and more relevant training models and programs to apply within different jurisdictions. Training was introduced to assist mandated notifiers, in this instance educators, to report their suspicions of child abuse and neglect. However, it appears that training influences reporting and under-reporting behaviors. These influences will be explored in this chapter. First, the educators

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alluded to inhibiting factors that influenced their decisions not to report. These include: a lack of school structures; a lack of experience with teaching and child protection matters; personal issues for educators in relation to child abuse and individual cases; and the perceived associated increase in educators’ workload. These factors (Figure 1) suggest that current training arrangements are inadequate in preparing educators to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect, as well as in addressing the reporting needs of educators.

Lack of School Support Structures Educators reported that the absence of school support structures created a barrier to reporting. They reported feeling isolated when making a decision about a suspicion, and also when following through with that decision to the child protection agency. Many educators suggested that, in some instances, certain support structures (e.g., established school policy, agreed reporting procedures, and formalized support networks) would be of benefit. Because these structures were not available, individuals established personal networks that became invaluable in assisting during and after the recognition and reporting processes. It was acknowledged that, for some educators, access to support networks other than those provided by family and friends were necessary. This suggests a need for internal school structures that assist reporting behaviors, although this view was not unanimous. There was a general feeling that structures such as set policies and procedures, identified support personnel, and support mechanisms would assist. Despite this view, O’Toole et al. (1999) found that only a small percent of educators’ responses to possible abuse were affected by the school as an organizational setting. However, they stress that, from the viewpoint of social policy, there is a major concern that students in certain types of schools do not receive the protection from abuse that the law promotes. For this reason alone, certain internal school support structures would be of value.

Lack of Experience Two variables were identified concerning experience and its effect on reporting behaviors: lack of teaching experience and familiarity with the work of educators, and lack of experience in identifying and reporting suspicions of child abuse and neglect. Stern (1989) confirms that the reporting rate of educators is dependent on both of these factors. Also, educators should have an understanding of family dynamics, which, he asserts, depends upon training as well as experience of both a personal and professional nature.

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In this study, novice educators and those who worked in transient or casual roles were grappling with their transition to the world of teaching and often missed, or were too busy to observe, children’s behavior on an individual level. Likewise, experienced educators, both in classrooms and in administrative positions, were not always familiar with the knowledge and procedures associated with the identification of child abuse and neglect. This was often thought to be due to inconsistent experiences with reporting or dealing with child protection services, despite the completion of mandatory reporting training. O’Toole et al. (1999) reported that, the more involved educators are with recognition and reporting, the higher their recognition and reporting scores. Strategies to increase regular contact with children and their families, familiarity with the inner-workings of classrooms, and knowledge of reporting laws and procedures are paramount to educators’ professional development requirements.

Personal Factors Individuals faced with the decision to report child abuse are confronted with many personal issues that influence reporting. Educators experience fear when faced with anger and threats from parents who suspect them as the reporter. Educators can feel strong emotions as a result of identifying or reporting suspected abuse. They may also feel guilt for making a report based on suspicions alone, for not acting more promptly, for not acting at all, or for any subsequent disruptions created for the children and/or their families. Their thinking can be confused by feelings of doubt and negative self-efficacy. For reporters and non-reporters alike, the decision to report represents a high level of personal investment. Many feelings are experienced when they are faced with distressed, traumatised children, and despite their lack of expertise to handle the situation, they have no option but to respond. The investment they place on this aspect of their role can cause added pressure for educators and place additional demands on them. The personal aspect of educators’ work is seldom valued and taken into account in the management of school sites and educator professional development.

Educators’ Work It has been suggested that the nature of the classroom teacher’s work has changed. Educators, researchers, and writers have alluded to many possible causes for this, although some are self-evident, the onset of technology, an aging profession, increased class sizes, and a perceived increase in the number of duties expected of educators among them. A succinct sum-

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mary is provided by the Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee in Australia (1998), which identifies the range of noncore teaching tasks now added to educators’ workloads. Many of these responsibilities were previously handled by community, church, and family organizations, but are now the responsibility of the school. Schools have become the first port of call for many families in crisis and in some schools [the] teachers’ welfare role threatens to engulf their primary function, that is, to teach. (Senate Employment, Education & Training References Committee, 1998, p. 132)

Educators did not seek out this welfare role, and many feel that they have not been trained or prepared for it and receive little support to fulfill it. A quote from the Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee (1998), supports this view, As well as preparing students academically, teachers in … schools are expected to act in the roles of social worker, counsellor, surrogate parent, psychologist, law enforcer, disabilities educator, and as employment agents. These additional expectations placed upon teachers move teachers far beyond their traditional roles without adequate training or new ways of coping with and organising work. (p. 132)

The workload for those associated with school systems appears to have increased, and classroom educators are required to teach subjects or handle situations with which they are unfamiliar. Consequences of this practice, without adequate preparation or follow-up, are damaging to the profession, because: It has been claimed in Australia that teachers are being deskilled while their work becomes intensified; and that teacher education is getting fewer resources, but classroom teaching is becoming increasingly demanding. (Lawnham, 2000, p. 12)

In addition, for some educators, the requirement to attend regular professional development is seen as a burden. In South Australia, this is currently a compulsory component of educators’ work, with industrial ramifications. Decisions regarding style and value of professional development are of paramount importance to educators, who feel that programs must relate closely to their day-to-day work. Another view that impacts on the perception of educators’ work is often promoted by the media, and refers to educators’ work being of significance only when they are working with students. This view hampers professional development, as it promotes the traditional view that educators’ work is governed by the singular value of time spent with students, and that educators are primarily deliverers of content. The implication is that curricular

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planning and decision-making rest with higher levels of authority, promoting the view that professional development is unrelated to improving instruction (Darling-Hammond, 1991). This is limited and does not allow educators to be involved in professional sharing, learning other ways to reach children, discussing comprehensive advances, or continuing their own learning. Creative ways need to be explored that locate effective use of time for teacher professional development. Community support is also essential in understanding educators’ needs in this area.

Summary The behavior of educators who under-report suspicions of child abuse and neglect in the current study align with similar behaviors reported in research conducted with other mandated professionals. O’Toole, et al. (1999) stress that, because professionals overlook signs of abuse or fail to report abuse to authorities, abused children fail to receive protection and treatment. This behavior raises questions regarding solutions to the problem of under-reporting. These are concerned with influences that are brought to bear on recognition of child abuse, neglect, and professional decision-making. Consideration of these two influences is relevant; however, success can be measured by paying attention to certain workplace factors which will be discussed later. Figure 1 has identified factors which support the hypothesis that current models of training are ineffective in the preparation of educators to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect. The identified inhibiting factors of non-reporting show that the local contexts of schools, educators’ needs and concerns, conditions of educator learning, and familial considerations have not been taken into account in the preparation of educators for mandatory reporting. Mandatory reporting training can be classed as a ‘tradi-

REPORTING BEHAVIORS TRAINING NON-REPORTING BEHAVIORS

educators’ work Figure 1

lack of school support structures lack of experience

personal factors

Inhibiting factors affecting educators’ reporting practices

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tional model’ of professional development, and, as Little (1994) argues, it does not meet the needs of educators and schools. This is because it does not recognize the importance and variability of local contexts.

ENABLING FACTORS THAT SUPPORT EDUCATOR REPORTING Figure 2, developed out of the findings of the present study, was influenced by the views of the educators who identified conditions conducive to their role as a mandated notifier, by a review of literature in the area, and by other research. Figure 2 shows that mandatory notification training, with the support of enabling factors, influences the reporting behaviors of notifiers. As means to facilitate greater collaboration in child protection work and reporting, the following discussion focuses on the enabling factors of: education, consideration of personal factors that contribute to improved reporting, workplace structures, the use of mentoring programs, and the role of teacher professional development.

Education The preparation of educators to identify and report their suspicions of child abuse and neglect can be improved through education. Objective knowledge and subjective appraisal of teachers’ knowledge have been suggested as two areas that relate to the recognition and reporting of abuse (O’Toole et al., 1999). Education, as preservice and in-service professional development, provides two key areas that can address the issues raised. There already exists formal and compulsory training for preservice teachers in mandatory notification in South Australia. The existence of this

education

REPORTING BEHAVIORS TRAINING

professional development

personal factors workplace structures mentoring

NON-REPORTING BEHAVIORS Figure 2

Enabling factors which support educator reporting behaviors

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program is similar to those offered elsewhere in the world, although variations are acknowledged. In South Australia, educators complete a one-day prescribed training course in mandatory notification. In Great Britain, in the early 1990s, David (1993) reported that half of the initial teacher training institutions she researched had some training on child protection. Currently in the United Kingdom, some teacher training colleges work with The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) to offer training for both student teachers and experienced teachers. Programs offer a semester-long course that covers recognizing, responding to, and reporting abuse; educators’ roles and responsibilities in child abuse work; and the need for educators to reflect on practice (Baginsky, 1999). Discussions with educators in the United States confirm that some courses of teacher training address issues of child abuse reporting. However, because of different legislative requirements in the United States, preparation also differs. For example, the topic can be addressed by watching a video, attending a single lecture, or attending a series of sessions that focus on particular aspects of child abuse and neglect; yet in some instances it was not referred to at all. Berson, Berson, and Ralston (1998) report on a collaborative program between a teacher education program and a community agency. There appears to be inconsistencies in preservice training patterns about child protective issues. Although undergraduate students were not included in the sample for the present study, educator participants did suggest that training in child abuse reporting was an area that needed continual focus and extension. Concerns were raised because the present training offered to undergraduate students in South Australia occurs once in their preservice training and no follow-up is provided. In addition to this “one-off” approach to training is the fact that it occurs early in the teacher training course, before competence and confidence with children has been accomplished through the teaching practicum. A focus is needed on this provision of training because, as Fullan (1994) prescribes: Initial teacher preparation must provide prospective teachers with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will form a strong foundation for effective teaching, and for continuous learning and development throughout their careers. (p. 115)

The Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee (1998) has highlighted the importance of teacher training for novice teachers, but suggests that the quality of preservice teacher training is variable. Predictably, they found some cases where students and educators were dissatisfied with the training provided. The Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee recognized that some institutions were committed to rectifying known weaknesses, though often hampered by a decrease in resources. The present research has high-

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lighted an essential weakness in the current preservice training in mandatory notification, and recommends that it be an area for review. It must be considered because: If we are serious about enhancing the status of teachers we must ensure that new teachers are adequately prepared for the complex and demanding task ahead of them. High quality, appropriate pre-service training is essential. (Senate Employment, Education & Training References Committee, 1998, p. 200)

An improvement to the status quo may include a focus on the child protection curriculum, with an aim to increase the confidence of graduates to work within the child protection system, and for a positive acceptance of teachers’ professional responsibility and obligations (Watts & Laskey, 1994). Guskey and Huberman (1995) argue the importance of ongoing teacher learning through professional development programs. They state that in-service training and other forms of professional development are crucial components for improvement and change for all educators--novice, casual, transient, and those situated in challenging geographical and economic locations. They also mention the difficulties associated with accessing professional development, and the failure of employing bodies to provide additional time and resources. Of particular concern are educators working in rural areas where schools lag behind in reporting. Further research needs to be conducted with a focus on the factors that contribute to less reporting in these school settings (O’Toole et al., 1999). The problems identified by the experienced educators in the present study stress the need for an ongoing role to be taken in child protection work at the tertiary level where, currently, courses with a child protection focus are absent in this State. Research and the literature have highlighted the enormity of child abuse and neglect as a social problem, which must be kept on the teacher’s professional development agenda. Globally, courses and programs that satisfy the needs of educators at this level are limited. There also appears to be a need for a curriculum that emphasizes global child advocacy at preservice and in-service levels. This is deemed important because, as Berson and Berson (2000) advocate, “the expansion of global child advocacy within cyberspace facilitates the mobilization of resources to focus on advocacy issues as a means to affect societal change” (p. 9). And ultimately, “by introducing students to others’ efforts to protect, defend, and promote their rights and welfare worldwide, young people may be challenged to take action on behalf of those in need” (Berson & Berson, 2000, p. 9). These views support the need for educators to have an ongoing role in child protection work because “it is part of their professional role to investigate and respond to children’s needs. Beyond that, teachers have an obligation to protect children and enable them to experience not just freedom from pain but also to experience success, joy and growth” (Watts & Laskey, 1994, p. 126). Such a focus would serve to increase awareness of

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child abuse and neglect as a problem, and may influence more creative and effective school intervention programs.

Personal The personal side to child protection work appears to be unavoidable, as mandated reporters and others who work in the field struggle with separating personal and professional feelings and responsibilities. Some of the educators in this study were clear about the legal mandate to report, and stated that emotion did not interfere with the decision-making process. They did not struggle with observing behaviors, making a decision, and taking action. However, others stated that their decisions and actions were affected by: (a) values and attitudes about child abuse and neglect, (b) levels of support they felt were needed, and (c) levels of knowledge. Values and Attitudes Values and attitudes about child abuse and neglect and how they relate to educators’ work do have an effect. The emotive and complex nature of reporting affects the nature of educators’ work, and is often dependent on skills related to relationship building, trust, and communication. These can be adversely affected by the values and attitudes educators bring to their work, and particularly, to their professional responsibilities, whether mandated or not. Past experiences, childhood memories, knowing the victims, their own upbringing, and views about discipline, styles of parenting, the media, and stress can all impact upon decision making processes. These values and attitudes can contribute to the development of moral stances and judgements. Fullan’s (1999) work on the development of moral purpose in schools suggests that school effectiveness research tends to concentrate on management issues rather than on the complexity of the issues faced by educators operating in disadvantaged circumstances. The work of educators is complex, and research into the effects of child abuse and neglect has established that victims are disadvantaged. Fullan suggests that school systems should become moral change agents in society, based on the premise that a primary purpose of education is to show individuals how they can function together in a society. Values and beliefs permeate the work of educators, in and out of the classroom, in both conscious and unconscious ways. Personal dilemmas raise challenges that need to be addressed. Levels of Support Some dilemmas can be addressed by providing support that scaffolds reporters through the identification and reporting process of suspected child abuse and neglect. Some educators in this study reported on the establishment of personal support groups, but schools can also establish

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more formalized support for staff, which may include external assistance through personnel or agencies, and on-site professional network groups which would include experienced educators and/or leaders. Fullan (1999) maintains that collaborative workplace cultures provide support for staff and establish cooperative relationships, which serve to promote high moral values for both individuals and groups. More importantly, he suggests that in schools where a collaborative professional learning pedagogy exists, there is social support. It appears embedded in the workplace, which, in the long term, affects student learning and performance. Schools that employ collaborative practices value personal relationships. This forms a type of support that is characterized by educators who look out for one another’s personal and professional interests, attend to matters of courtesy and caring, and are successful in terms of interpersonal relations. These schools are also characterized by leaders who encourage, support and participate in collaborative strategies working toward improving the effectiveness of the school. Levels of Knowledge The literature on under reporting alludes to educators’ lack of knowledge as a major barrier to reporting, which also affects educators’ confidence to report. Fullan (1994) suggests that knowledge empowers educators to pursue teaching with confidence, enthusiasm, and authority, assisting educators in preventing problems from accumulating, which is a much more effective strategy than attempting to repair the consequences of problems. This approach is applicable to mandatory notification, because it enables educators to respond confidently to the problem of child abuse and neglect. “Good” preparatory programs and continued professional development that address the acquisition of knowledge, are important. Self-knowledge, another important ingredient, has been defined as: …familiarity with resources and limitations of reasoning processes … as well as knowledge of personal strengths and limitations that influence decision making. (Gambrill, 1990, p. 325)

Some of the educators in the present study stated that they did not report suspected abuse or neglect because they were not sure of the indicators. Knowledge is fundamental if educators are to fulfill the mandate and make accurate decisions, because: Knowledge is about beliefs (commitment), meaning and action, which is why it must be developed, not borrowed. (Fullan, 1999, p. 68)

Furthermore, Fullan (1999) points out that, in turbulent and everchanging environments, continuous processing of new knowledge is fundamental to growth (p. 60). The essential knowledge required is knowl-

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edge about the professional community, educational policy, and the subject area (p. 113). Also necessary is the development of the beginning teacher’s knowledge base for effective teaching and for making changes in the conditions that affect teaching (p. 119). Knowledge, in the current context, refers to knowing familial circumstances; the child or children involved; conditions associated with the suspected incident; the policy, processes, and procedures; understanding the work environment; and identification of certain behaviors or indicators.

Workplace Structures Educators in this study reported that, in the schools that successfully intervened in child abuse and neglect, there were school structures that supported the actions and beliefs of educators. Again, some educators mentioned that they had no need for school structures, as reporting was straightforward. However, a balance in the type of structures needed to assist all educators must be achieved, because, as Fullan (1999) says, structures can undermine the capacities of schools if they intervene (creating confusion) and fail to concentrate on improvements to teaching and learning. Too much structure and control can destroy, and too little creates a weak environment. Four structures that support reporting are discussed below: (a) administration, (b) support, (c) policy, and (d) workplace culture. The structures have three purposes: to broaden the concept of professional development, making it more workplace oriented; to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills learned through a training program; and to contribute to an environment conducive to the implementation of a mandate. The aim is to create a collective workplace where joint responsibility is taken, voices are equally heard, and teacher discourses are founded on sound educational principles. Administration The first structural component to assist and influence educators in their reporting role is comprised of the administration at the school site. This consists of the school leadership team which includes various school leaders (e.g., deputy or assistant principals, curriculum coordinators, counselors), the principal, and those involved in high levels of administrative work. The educators reported various ways in which the school leaders affected outcomes in schools. For example, in less supportive schools, some educators reported incidences that were not favorable. They stated that they did not feel supported to report their suspicions; they experienced a top-down approach to the problem, and attempts at retraining were inappropriately executed.

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Despite these criticisms, the role of the leadership team is crucial, as principals are in a strategic position to influence the way a school operates. Fullan (1999) refers to a middle-up-down management way of working that integrates various sources of knowledge, increases lateral accountability, and creates high-density interactive networks. These principals work at ‘connectedness’ with staff to achieve greater coherence, because they believe that fragmentation, overload, and incoherence are endemic problems. Hill, Harvey, and Harrison (1999) found that leadership is central to the continuing effectiveness, and even the survival, of the school. Principals, they advocate, “now have responsibility to create an environment for continuous professional learning that sustains a vigorous process of continuous school improvement” (p. 43). In addition, principals make significant contributions to the professional development of educators, influence school culture, and play a major role in the area of support. School leadership can also involve multiple leaders co-ordinating and working with various teams within school groups, resulting in collaborative management. Educators in this study reported that an additional influence on educators’ reporting practices came from the principals and leadership teams who worked at creating a positive school environment. This style of leadership, referred to as a “mesosystem” by Coleman (1995), is characterized by a leader who has no contact with specific children or families, but focuses on establishing policy, with staff and within the school, for handling child abuse reporting. While such a policy is of general benefit, it also influences how reporters view both their role and their decisions about reporting suspected abuse; ultimately, this empowers decision making, and through these actions, the leadership team can provide support for reporters. Leadership that promotes a collaborative school is influenced by the way school environments are developed, because, as Fullan (1991) mentions, the role of the principal is not to implement innovations or to be an instructional leader, but is to transform the culture of the school and be a collaborative leader. Wallace (1999) also found that active encouragement, support, and interest shown by superordinates fosters school practices. In the present study, principals who were perceived as supportive and collaborative leaders influenced school structures and culture, which contributed to more successful reporting of child abuse and neglect. Support The second structure is that of support. As mentioned, the leadership team has a key role in providing support for reporters, both before and after a report is made, a view also shared by Lumsden (1992). Colleagues and others at the workplace can contribute to support in spontaneous and in more formal ways. However, support structures must be adequately resourced, supported by staff, and complemented by the workplace culture and willingness of participants to give and take. Further consideration

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must then be given to the ethical dilemmas associated with confidentiality in reporting child abuse and neglect. Collaborative work practices and support groups must adhere to issues of confidentiality of information and client anonymity as they support one another. Fullan (1999) upholds the notion that school structures provide emotional support for those working through change, complex decisions, or emotional crises. It appears that formalized support structures are needed more in environments where there is an absence of personal social support. It is also assumed that school structures are best when built into schools that have sound management structures evidenced by performance management policies, rich professional development, and active, collaborative school practices. Policy The third important workplace structure for successful reporting of child abuse and neglect is the presence of a policy that supports reporting practices and procedures. Zellman and Faller (1996) stress that child maltreatment is an important policy concern, not likely to be eclipsed in the near future. Policies pertaining to child protection reporting do exist, and their development is not new, as the debates exist on political, social, and economic grounds. However, there are two contrasting styles of policy development, and this is relevant to why we need policies about child protective processes in school systems. Historically, one approach to policy-making has followed a top-down approach, leaving those at the bottom feeling powerless. The second approach is evidenced by success, and adopts a more collaborative approach to policy development. It is the latter style that educators in this study followed. They designed and implemented "in-house" policies to assist their procedural role in the reporting of child abuse and neglect. These were developed collaboratively, were encouraged and supported by principals, were found to be supportive, and assisted in the management of reporting during the busy times of the day. Educators who worked in less supportive schools in this study stated that clear guidelines or policies would have assisted their reporting behavior. Coleman (1995) warns that legally mandated procedures in formal social systems can affect reporters’ decisions about what and to whom to report. For example, many schools have guidelines or implicit assumptions that direct educators to make known their suspicions to designated individuals in the school setting (e.g., principal, member of the leadership team, or school counselor) before a report can be made to the appropriate authority. In some situations, educators in this study found these guidelines to be useful because they gave them confidence. On the other hand, some were discouraged from reporting because they felt the decision to report had been taken from them. They preferred to report directly to the

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designated agency. Such confusion creates delays for at-risk children and questions must arise about reporter confidentiality. The decision to report and the extent of what is reported are often affected by procedures that many formal social systems perceive as helpful (Coleman, 1995). Such procedures need to be developed collaboratively with whole staff involvement and ownership and be regularly revisited. The educators in this study clearly supported policies and guidelines that were created collaboratively. Workplace Culture Establishing and maintaining a positive workplace culture provides another structure to assist educators’ reporting practices. Workplace culture refers here to the atmosphere or ambience that exists in a school as a result of management processes and insight. Support is embedded in the school philosophy, as are strategies of collaboration that work toward developing a central feeling of ownership and cooperation. A positive workplace culture is constructed and influenced by the type of leadership in the school, the embedded processes of teacher professional development, school environments, community involvement, and common goals. Hopkins, Beresford, and West (1998) include staff development, involvement, leadership, coordinator, enquiry and reflection, and collaboration as further conditions influencing school cultures. Culture also refers to the conditions of teacher learning, where emphasis is placed on enhancing the internal conditions of the school for improving both student learning and teacher development. Fullan (1999), as mentioned earlier, stresses the importance of a collaborative workplace culture that can support staff in challenging school sites. Wallace (1999) insists that collaborative cultures are not established solely for projects but “are deep, personal and enduring and are central to teachers’ daily work” (p. 67). Fullan (1999), as an advocate for collaborative work cultures, states that they should: [F]oster diversity with trust-building; provoke anxiety and contain it; engage in knowledge creation; combine connectedness with open-endedness; and fuse the spiritual, political and intellectual. (p. 37)

The school culture should be extended to include others associated with child protection work. Educators in this study felt that there was a role for child protection workers in schools. Their presence would be welcomed, as would their skill, expertise, and support in dealing with suspected victims. Additionally, families are an integral part of the school culture, and further resources should be directed toward meeting their familial and social needs. Fullan’s (1999) view is that “the most important task facing the school in the immediate future is collaboration with parents in building active communities of learners” (p. 61).

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Work environments influence reporting behaviors, so it is important that they are adequately prepared and supported (Coleman, 1995). As a society, we must devote time and resources to making the teaching profession and the school environment safe for all, or we must conclude the unlikelihood of ever making all environments risk-free for children (Horns-Marsh, 1999). Russell and Withers (1998), too, suggest that schools should establish positive, supportive, and responsive cultures if engaged in prevention of and intervention in child abuse and neglect. This study suggests that a collaborative and supportive environment significantly increases recognition, reporting, and support for the reporter. Relationships with reporting agencies, and issues of parenting as they pertain to education, are additional areas that impact the creation of a positive and influential safe school environment. Consequently, a collaborative culture and supportive conditions in the wider school environment have a strong connection. These include structural and organizational factors like peer relations, school goals, scheduling arrangements, and superordinate behaviors that should be recalled during the development of these environments because they impinge on the orientation and progress of collaboration (Wallace, 1999).

Mentoring In the context of the present study, I draw on the mentoring literature for an approach to assist the reporting practices of both experienced and novice educators. More specific, though, are the needs of interns or beginning teachers, who cited difficulties related to their reporting behaviors. They referred to a lack of experience, both in teaching and in child protection, as an issue that influenced their mandatory notification responsibilities. The notion of mentoring is being advocated because the more experienced educator may be able to assist the beginning teacher and, in turn, may also receive benefit. Gambrill (1990, pp. 14–15) supports such a model because experienced practitioners: • Know more (knowledge and strategies); • Demonstrate superior performance in areas of expertise; • Know better how to use what they know and are faster at solving problems; • Are better organized, often in a hierarchical way; • Represent problems at a deeper level; • Know how to access knowledge and processes efficiently; • Have superior short-term and long-term memories; • Have better learning skills; • Are more likely to review their reasoning process; • Assume the roles of doer and observer; and

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• Approach problems in a different way, often devoting more time to analyzing a problem qualitatively. Whether we agree with some or all of these points, there are some features that foster mentoring relationships. According to Tolentino (1999), certain structural characteristics should exist to aid the success of the mentoring relationship. For example, participation should be mandatory because entry can be perceived as a prestigious occurrence; participants should be trained; support and accountability are vital; personal commitment to work one-to-one with a mentee should be made so that new knowledge, understandings, and skills can be cultivated; supportive, trusting relationships between the two should be encouraged; and school administrators should encourage and support mentoring programs. Additional characteristics required for effective mentoring programs include goals, clarity, time commitment, and structure. Ways to develop growth in teaching domains and trusting relationships are an essential ingredient for child protection work, and Tolentino suggests that mentors and mentees should work together in other areas as well as in child protection work. The obstacles to mentoring should not be forgotten. Some mentoring relationships can be intense, especially if charged with energy and emotion. Appropriateness of mentors is also a crucial element if programs are to be successful. However, there are benefits that may have a profound influence on the personal and professional lives of educators. A beneficial mentoring relationship addresses the needs of the graduate whilst also offering effective rewards for the experienced educator. For example, educators who themselves lack confidence to respond to child abuse may gain confidence and reassurance from working with less experienced teachers. The ‘role conditioned’ teachers, identified earlier by O’Toole et al. (1999) because of their time spent in the profession, may experience a recharging effect from working with another educator. Further benefits for the mentor include professional development, career advancement, rejuvenation, a feeling of prestige, greater job satisfaction, and increased productivity. Institutions can benefit from improved individual performance, professional development of all participants, smoother transitions of change, increased networking, better communication, greater teamwork, and better morale (Hays, Gerber, & Minichiello, 1999). Mentoring has been noted as an effective way to support educators in new roles. The Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee (1998) also supports mentoring; it is recommended that clear levels of advanced professional certification reflect teachers’ experience and professional development, so additional roles like mentoring, should be established.

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Educators in the present study acknowledged the need for mentoring in two identified domains: (i) experience of teaching, and (ii) reporting of child abuse and neglect. Experience of Teaching It is generally acknowledged by new and practicing teachers, university educators, principals, education departments and others involved in education, that no preservice training can ever fully prepare new teachers to perform well on their first day on the job. Although Fullan (1991) asserts that teacher training does not equip teachers for the realities of the classroom, it is not generally felt that it is the fault of training institutions or a reflection on the quality of new teachers. Instead it is recognition of the complexity of teaching. Because of this, the provision of a mentor for the new teacher is one way to assist them in their transition to the profession (Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee, 1998). However, for the purposes of this study the focus is on the usefulness of developing a mentoring relationship for graduates that may help them to adapt effectively in their understanding of the whole role of the teacher. Hays et al. (1999) consider the concept of mentorship to be critical to quality education because “it fosters the development and growth of individuals and is essential in the ‘passing on’ of skills and professional standards to the next generation” (p. 84). High quality mentors are characterized by how they view the importance of their role, their skill and experience, their preparedness, and how time and effort are spent with new educators and in the support of colleagues. The acknowledgment of educators’ work as a complex activity has been mentioned. Working with, not against, new teachers increases their adjustment to the profession, its roles, and its responsibilities. Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect The emotional challenges associated with child protection work exist for both novice and experienced educators. However, for novice teachers, grappling with the task of adjusting to full-time teaching responsibilities, certain child behaviors may be wrongly attributed to possible abuse. This is reason for having a mentoring relationship with a more experienced educator to assist in clarifying situations. Educators in the present study often stated that they were unsure if the signs they observed in children were those of normal child development, behavior difficulties, or, in fact, child abuse or neglect. They said that they discussed such cases with colleagues or those in leadership positions. An established relationship with others can assist the process of recognition and subsequent reporting. Hays et al. (1999) classify mentorship functions as either ‘career’ or ‘psychosocial.’ Of relevance to the context of this study are the psychosocial functions that require certain mentoring skills applicable to child protec-

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tion work in schools. They include role modelling, friendship, counseling, acceptance, and confirmation, which benefit the mentee by: …increas(ing) self esteem and confidence by being provided with a ‘safe’ environment where s/he can take risks while developing personal style and professional values. (Hays et al., 1999, p. 88)

Mentoring programs that are thoughtfully administered and take account of the inhibiting factors discussed, positively influence the relationship of mentee and mentor. Additionally, they affect the culture of the workplace and have a positive influence on the recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect.

Professional Development It has been suggested in this study that the above strategies may influence the quality of educators’ reporting practices. Crucial to the success of implementation is professional development. Fullan (1991) points out that professional development and school development are linked. The importance of this and teacher professionalism has been acknowledged through the Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee (1998). Likewise, Seddon (1999) points to educators’ affirmation of their educational commitment when reference is made to what the focus should be for emergent teacher professionalism. Teachers should not, says Seddon, be “jettisoning their sense of good educational practice as a pedagogical service oriented to students” (1995, p. 24). Educational reform and school improvement is seen by some as “dependent upon the further development of teachers’ knowledge, skills and expertise” (The Australian Principals Association and Australian College of Education, 1999, p. 13). This report acknowledges that “there is increasing concern in the community about a range of social, health and welfare issues and their impact on students and schools” (p. 12). It would seem, therefore, to be a pertinent time to rethink teacher professional development, so as to address the issues that currently exist in our schools and society, and to skill our educators appropriately. From research conducted, Bredeson (1999) reports that educators have clear ideas about the relative usefulness of various professional development delivery models. They prefer workshops, working with colleagues, and conferences because these relate to the nature of their work and are practical. Given the fragmented nature of professional development activities in many schools, and lack of time within teachers’ work days for their own learning, it is not surprising that educators see workshops and conferences as convenient and appropriate ways of delivering their professional develop-

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ment. Workshops and conferences are efficient strategies for delivering new information to develop educators’ knowledge and understanding. They fit well into the small blocks of time that educators have free to learn, and, unless follow-up resources and training sessions are provided, they seldom require much more beyond attending the sessions (Bredeson, 1999). The focus by professional development providers on the needs of educators is a priority and must remain within the wider context of the national agenda. However, there are still problems associated with the training and professional development that prepares educators to report their suspicions of child abuse and neglect, and these need to be addressed. Alternative professional development programs, for the purpose of improving and developing further the educator’s mandated role, need to be developed and consistently implemented. Reviews of programs should be conducted to check overall effectiveness and promote teacher learning. Putnam and Borko (2000) suggest a ‘situative perspective’ in which teacher learning is integral to the acquisition of knowledge and skills. But this approach recommends certain social and physical considerations that refer to the place in which teacher learning occurs. This is because educators complain about learning experiences outside the classroom, which, they say, are too removed from the day-to-day work of teaching. Consequently, such approaches can have meaningless impact on teacher learning and practice. Social and physical factors that influence teacher learning are vital considerations for teacher professional development. Educators at all levels need to be included in the designing, delivering, and evaluation of programs, to ensure that they meet the needs of the participants by relating learning to everyday contexts for child abuse reporting. Strategies to increase educators’ participation in professional development also need to be considered. Such strategies could include: offering incentives (financing attendance costs, credits toward tertiary courses); teaming experienced and inexperienced educators with experts in child protection; formalizing strategies for the dissemination of knowledge in the workplace; rewarding educators with resources or funds for future programs; involving on-site support and professional expertise; and providing extra time for attendance. Finally, successful professional development programs situated within a social context are characterized by: • • • •

Being comprehensive, flexible, responsive, and persevering. Seeing children in the context of their families. Dealing with families as part of a neighborhood. Maintaining a long-term preventative orientation and a clear mission that continues to evolve over time. • Being well managed by competent and committed individuals with clear identifiable skills.

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• Including training and support that provides high quality, responsive services. • Operating in settings that encourage practitioners to build strong relationships based on mutual trust and respect (Schorr, 1997, cited in Fullan, 1999). The points raised here posit the importance of a desirable culture for successful teacher professional development. If achieved, those working within the education sector will have more contact with one another, with external agencies, and with their clients. Support will be more prevalent, and, despite the challenges that this will bring, the stakeholders who are mandated to identify and report suspected child abuse and neglect, will interact more through observation, discussion, and action.

SUMMARY A number of enabling factors that contribute to the reporting of child abuse and neglect have been identified. Positioned within four areas that affect educator reporting, these include the need for education, consideration of personal factors, development of proactive workplace structures, mentoring programs, and professional development. In summary, continuous education (both preservice and in-service) is required to prepare and extend educators for the reporting role. Education should focus on the acquisition of educator knowledge, and should address certain values and attitudes that exist about child abuse and neglect, and about reporting. Reporting is acknowledged as an emotionally charged activity that affects decision-making about the recognition and reporting of abuse. Both internal and external support are required to further assist educators, as are certain workplace structures, including influential school leaders, policies, and procedures for positive reporting. Central to these findings is the school culture, which needs to contain strong and supportive leadership, collaborative school practices, a sense of safety, and professional development that is relevant and regular, but rigorous for educators. Professional development is targeted as an area able to address many of the inhibiting factors raised as a result of this study, mentoring is featured as a specific strategy. In addition is the need for teacher professional development that supports and scaffolds educators and schools through a contested social problem. Schools are central to the intervention and prevention of child abuse and neglect and should be playing a pivotal role.

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APPENDIX A In South Australia, where this study was undertaken, the following law applies: Under Section 11 (1) and (2) of the Children’s Protection Act 1993, the following persons are obliged by law to notify the Department for Family and Community Services (renamed Department of Family and Youth Services in 1998) if they suspect on reasonable grounds that a child/young person has been abused or neglected and the suspicion is formed in the course of the person’s work (whether paid or voluntary) or in carrying out official duties: • • • • • • • • •

a medical practitioner a registered or enrolled nurse a dentist a psychologist a member of the police force a probation officer a social worker a teacher in any educational institution (including a kindergarten) an approved family day care provider.

Any other person who is an employee of, or volunteer in, a government department, agency or instrumentality, or a local government or non government agency, that provides health, welfare, education, childcare or residential services wholly or partly for children, being a person who • is engaged in the actual delivery of those services to children; or holds a management position in the relevant organization the duties of which include direct responsibility for, or direct supervision of, the provision of those services to children. (Family and Community Services, 1997, p. 25). Any other person who is an employee of, or volunteer in, a government department, agency or instrumentality, or a local government or non government agency, that provides health, welfare, education, childcare or residential services wholly or partly for children, being a person who reasonable grounds is defined in the legislation as being when: • a child/young person discloses that s/he has been abused • your observations of a child/young person’s behavior and/or injuries leads you to suspect that abuse is or has occurred • someone else tells you • a child/young person tells you of someone they know who is or has been abused and they are actually referring to themselves.

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The law does not require the mandated reporter to prove that abuse has occurred, it requires that they report their suspicions (Family and Community Services, 1997).

REFERENCES Abrahams, N., Casey, K., & Daro, D. (1992). Teachers Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs about Child Abuse and its Prevention. Child Abuse and Neglect, 16, 229– 238. Australian Institute Of Health & Welfare (AIHW). (1999). Comparability of child protection data (pp. 1–86). Canberra, Australia. Australian Principals’ Association and Australian College Of Education. (1999). Emerging issues: The new national education agenda. Education Review, 12–14. Baginsky, M. (1999). Child Protection training in initial teacher training: Results of a Preliminary survey, 1–15. Not yet published. Barksdale, C. (1988). Child abuse reporting: A clinical dilemma? Child Abuse Reporting, 170–182. Bavolek, S.J. (1983). Why aren’t school personnel reporting child abuse in Wisconsin? TEASE, 6, 1. Berson, M.J., & Berson, I.R. (2000). Innocence in danger: UNESCO’s Research Initiative on Children and On-line Advocacy. American Educational Research Association (AERA). New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Berson, M., Berson, I., & Ralston, M. (1998). Evolving a community’s response to child sexual abuse. Journal for a Just and Caring Education, 4, 323–335. Bolger, K.E., Patterson, C.J., & Kupersmidt, J.B. (1998). Peer relationships and self-esteem among children who have been maltreated. Child Development, 69, 1171–1197. Bredeson, P. (1999). Learning about Performance Assessment: Some Observations on Teacher Professional Development. American Education Research Association (AERA), Montreal, Canada. Browne, A., & Finkelhor, D. (1986). Impact of child sexual abuse: A review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 66–77. Burdekin, B. (1993). Report of the National Inquiry into homeless children. Canberra, Australia, AGPS. Chadwick, D.L. (1999). The message. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(10), 957–961. Coleman, A. (1995). Child abuse reporting: An urban profile. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. Collier, A., Mcclure, F., Collier, J., Otto, C., & Polloi, A. (1999) Culture-specific views of child maltreatment and parenting styles in a Pacific-Island community. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(3), 229–244. Courtney, M. (1999). The economics. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(10), 975–986. Crenshaw, W.B., Crenshaw, L.M., & Lichtenberg, J.W. (1995). When educators confront child abuse: An analysis of the decision to report. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(9), 1095–1113. Darling-Hammond, L. (1991). Restructuring to promote learning in America’s schools. New York: National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching. Daro, D. (1988). Confronting child abuse: Research for effective program. New York: Design Free Press.

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David, T. (1993). Child protection and early years teachers. Bristol, PA: Open University Press. Dukewich, T., Borkowski, J., & Whitman, T. (1999). A longitudinal analysis of maternal abuse: Potential and developmental delays in children of adolescent mothers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(5), 405–420. Family And Community Services. (1997). Reporting child abuse and neglect: Mandated Notification Training Manual (p. 218). Adelaide: Department of Family and Community Services. Finkelhor, D. (1990). Is child abuse over-reported? Public Welfare, 22–29. Fondacaro, K., Holt, J., & Powell, T. (1999). Psychological impact of childhood sexual abuse on male inmates: The importance of perception. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(4), 361–369. Friedrich, W.N. (1990). Psychotherapy of sexually abused children and their families. New York: Norton and Company. Fullan, M. (1991). The new meaning of educational change. London: Cassell Educational Ltd. Fullan, M. (1994). Change forces: Probing the depths of educational reform. London: The Falmer Press. Fullan, M. (1999). Change forces: The sequel. Philadelphia, PA: Palmer Press. Gambrill, E. (1990). Critical thinking in critical practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Gray, A., Pithers, W., Busconi, A., & Houchiens, P. (1999). Developmental and etiological characteristics of children with sexual behaviour problems: Treatment implications. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(6), 601–621. Guskey, T.R., & Huberman, M. (1995). Professional development in education: New paradigms and practices. New York: Teachers College Press. Hay, J. (1988). Teachers and child abuse prevention. SET Research Information for Teachers (1-item 13). Hays, T., Gerber, R., & Minichiello, V. (1999). Mentorship: A review of the concept. Unicorn, 25, 84–95. Heller, S., Larrieu, J., D’Imperio, R., & Boris, N. (1999). Research on resilience to child maltreatment: Empirical considerations. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(4), 321–338. Hill, S., Harvey, M., & Harrison, B. (1999). School leaders as learners: What attitudes and preferences do they have? Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 27(1), 25–45. Hopkins, D., Beresford, J., & West, M. (1998). Creating the conditions for classroom and teacher development. Teachers and Teaching, 4(1), 115–141. Horns-Marsh, V. (1999, Winter). Can we make our schools and children risk-free? A Response to Berson, Berson, Karges-Bone, and Parker. The Educational Forum. 63, 156–158. Kalichman, S., & Brosig, C. (1992). The effects of statutory requirements on child maltreatment reporting: A comparison of two state laws. American Orthopsychiatric Association, 62, 284–295. Kalichman, S., & Craig, M. E. (1991). Professional psychologists’ decisions to report suspected child abuse: Clinician and situation influences. Professional Psychology, 22(1), 84–89.

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FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE EDUCATOR REPORTING OF SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE 53 Kalichman, S.C., Craig, M.E., & Follingstad, D.R. (1988). Mental health professionals and suspected cases of child abuse: An investigation of factors influencing reporting. Community Mental Health Journal, 24(1), 43–51. Kosky, P., & Mangold, W. (1988). Gender effects in attitudes about family violence. Journal of Family Violence, 3(3), 225–237. Koverola, C., Pound, J., Heger, A., & Lytle, C. (1993). Relationship of child sexual abuse to depression. Child Abuse and Neglect, 17, 393–400. Lawnham, P. (2000). Teacher networks put status top of the board. The Weekend Australian, p. 12. Little, J.W. (1994). Teachers’ professional development in a climate of educational reform. Systemic Reform: Perspectives on Personalizing Education, 4, 4. Lumsden, L. (1992). Stemming the tide of child sexual abuse. The role schools can play. Oregon School Study Council (OSSC) Bulletin, 35(5), 1–27. Lyman, A. (1997). Palau child abuse statistics for Behavioral Health Division. In A. Collier, F. McClure, J. Collier, C. Otto, & A. Polloi. (1999). Culture-specific views of child maltreatment and parenting styles in a Pacific-island community. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(9). Marcus, M. (1991). Child abuse and neglect in Micronesia. In A. Collier, F. McClure, J. Collier, C. Otto, & A. Polloi. (1999). Culture-specific views of child maltreatment and parenting styles in a Pacific-island community. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(9). Newberger, E. (1983). The helping hand strikes again: Unintended consequences of child abuse reporting. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 2. Nightingale, N. (1986). Identification and reporting of child maltreatment by Head Start personnel: Attitudes and experiences. Child Abuse and Neglect, 10, 191–199. O’Toole, R., Webster, S., O’Toole, A., & Lucal, B. (1999). Teachers’ recognition and reporting. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(11), 1083–1101. Pollack, J., & Levy, S. (1989). Countertransference and failure to report child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse and Neglect, 13, 515–522. Portwood, M.T., Grady, M.T., & Dutton, S.E. (2000). Enhancing law enforcement identification and investigation of child maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24(2), 195–207. Putnam, R., & Borko, H. (2000). What do new views of knowledge and thinking have to say about research on teacher learning? Educational Researcher, 29(1), 4–15. Reiniger, A., Robison, E., & Mchugh, M. (1995). Mandated training of professionals: a means for improving reporting of suspected child abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(1), 63–69. Richards, L., & Richards, T. (1997). QSR NUD.IST--Software for qualitative data analysis. Victoria: Qualitative Solutions and Research Pty Ltd. Russell, V., & Withers, G. (1998). Educating for resilience: prevention and intervention strategies for young people at risk. AARE-Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, Australia. Schorr, 1997. Cited in Fullan, 1999. Seddon, T. (1999). A Self-managing teaching profession for the learning society. Unicorn, 25, 15–29. Senate Employment, Education & Training References Committee. (1998). A class act: Inquiry into the status of the teaching profession. Canberra, ACT: Senate Printing Unit.

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Spatz Widom, C. (1995). Victims of child sexual abuse--Later criminal consequences. NCJ Research in Brief, (NCJ 151525-March). Stern, C. (1989). The recognition of child abuse. In P. Maher (Ed.), Child abuse: The educational perspective. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Limited. Stiffman, A. (1989). Physical and sexual abuse in runaway youths. Child Abuse and Neglect, 13, 417–426. Tolentino, B. (1999). Factors in successful mentoring relationships. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Montreal, Canada. Wallace, J. (1999). Professional school cultures: Coping with the chaos of teacher collaboration. The Australian Educational Researcher, 26, 67–85. Wang, C. (1999) Current trends in child abuse reporting and fatalities: The results of the 1997 Annual Fifty State Survey. The Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research. Watts, V., & Laskey, L. (1994). Preparing teachers for effective child protection: A pre-service curriculum approach. South Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 22(2), 117–127. Winefield, H., & Castelle-McGregor, S.N. (1986). Experiences and views of general practitioners concerning sexually-abused children. Medical Journal of Australia, 145, 311–313. Winefield, H., & Castelle-McGregor, S.N. (1987). Child sexual abuse cases: Facilitating their detection and reporting by general practitioners. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 22(3), 27–37. Winefield, H., Harvey, E.J., & Bradley, P.W. (1993). The impact on families of reported child abuse or neglect. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 28(3), 245–263. WuDunn, S. (1999) Japan admitting and fighting, child abuse. New York Times. Zellman, G., & Faller, K (1996). Reporting of child maltreatment. In L. Briere, J. Bulkley, C. Jenny, & T. Reid (Eds.). The APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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CHAPTER 3

RIGHTS AND WRONGS: CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORTS Gabriela Tymowski The evil of excessive training in early years is strikingly proved by the example of the Olympic victors; for not more than two or three of them have gained a prize both as boys and as men; their early and severe gymnastic exercises exhausted their constitutions. —Aristotle

INTRODUCTION The thought of high-performance sports conjures up many images: finelytuned runners exploding out of the starting blocks and hurtling along running tracks; highly-skilled alpine skiers darting through forests of slalom poles; tiny, elfin gymnasts soaring and spinning through space, or somersaulting backwards along narrow balance beams; brawny tennis players thundering aces across the court; lean swimmers surging through the pool. Skill and mastery at the highest levels of performance link these images. We may also think of sacrifice, dedication, and perseverance. However, how many of us stop to consider who else the athletes may be? For example, they may also be students, husbands, wives, sisters, or parents. Furthermore, many athletes in what are typically thought of as women's sports, such as gymnastics, figure skating, tennis, and swimming, may even be children. Of the adult athletes competing at the highest levels of sport, the vast majority began their training at an early age. 55

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Organized sports for children have been increasing steadily over the past few years, at both participatory and competitive levels (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] 2000b; Cahill & Pearl, 1993; Coakley, 1998; Lee, 1993; Rowland, 1993; Smoll & Smith, 1996). This growth is evident in the widespread development of adult-sponsored organized sport and competition, and in the numbers of children involved. Further evidence of the extensive interest in children and sports may be seen in the plethora of research being conducted in areas from psychological, physiological, sociological, ethical, and other perspectives. Numbers of participants further confirm the burgeoning interest. In 1984, it was estimated that almost half of the 45 million children aged 6 to 18 years in the United States participated in non-school, agency-sponsored athletics (Smoll & Smith, 1996) In 1993, Yiannakis, Melnick, and McIntyre reported estimates of 30 million children participating in over 40 different organized sports. In a more recent study, Ewing and Seefelt (1996) reported that nearly 50% of all tenyear-olds in the United States claim to play or want to play in organized sports. In Canada, 89% of males and 64% of females aged 15 to 18 participated regularly in sports (Statistics Canada, 1994). A study by Kremarik (2000) showed that younger children are also actively involved. This study revealed that 54%, or 2.2 million Canadian children, aged 5 to 14 played some form of organized sports on a regular basis. The American Academy of Pediatrics (1990) reported an increase in the numbers of children participating in distance running and soccer. Between 1980 and 1995, annual increases in the numbers of young soccer players of 11.4% to 21.8% have been reported, and the numbers more than tripled from 1980 to 1995 (AAP, 2000a; Soccer Industry Council of America, 1995). Children who play organized sports improve their physical fitness, increase their self-esteem, and learn social skills, cooperation, self-discipline, and perseverance according to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (2000). Conventional wisdom tells us that children— and adults—participate in sports because they enjoy it. This appears to be the predominant reason most children participate. Wankel and Kreisel’s (1993) study found that children think that participating in youth sport programs is “fun”; elements such as improving skills, testing one’s ability against others, personal accomplishment, and the excitement of performing skills in game situations were also listed as contributing significantly to the enjoyment of participants. Rewards such as winning and receiving awards for playing were of secondary importance to young participants. Interestingly, the study found the aspects of participation that children find least important are those which are given considerable emphasis by parents, coaches, and the media. If the objective of youth sports is to provide enjoyment to all the participants, then the establishment of rigid schedules and elimination play-offs to declare winners is a questionable practice (Wankel & Kreisel, 1993). The needs of the participants ought

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surely to supercede the desires of the organizers. Thus the issue then becomes one of who ought to formulate the criterion of youth sports? While children comprise the participants, adults are the organizing community behind children’s sports. Adults encourage the children into organized programs because they believe that sports will promote the fundamental values of leadership, teamwork, determination, and commitment (Murphy, 1999). While adults may have improved safety and supervision to a certain degree, they have also brought with them adult ambitions, and even a sense of cutthroat competition (Donnelly, 1997b). At the highest levels of sport, lucrative salaries and celebrity status have become alluring incentives to many, including athletes, coaches, and parents. At the earliest opportunities, determined and enthusiastic parents and coaches urge children into intensive training regimens with the hope that the young athletes will have a jump on the competition, and that their success will be shared. Supporters of the “catch them young” drive believe that if children do not enter and specialize early in a sport, then the athlete may lag in skill execution, and that future performance accomplishment is unlikely (Wiersma, 2000). Parents are usually the first decision-makers about the level of involvement their children will have in sport; coaches play a role further along as the child becomes more specialized. Specialization in sport means that one sport is selected, and the young athlete trains year-round at the exclusion of other sport or non-sport activities (Wiersma, 2000). There is a distinction between specializing in high-level programs in a sport and participating in a single sport at less demanding levels, writes Wiersma (2000). Lower intensity training and a more diversified focus on other non-sport activities are unlikely to lead to the consequences discussed further along in this work. The “catch them young” philosophy exemplifies the trend toward younger children specializing in one sport and training long hours. The numbers of specialized sport camps are also on the rise (Lord & Kozar, 1996; Micheli, 1983); at these camps, children are involved in highly organized, strenuous training programs for many hours a day. Micheli (1983) concluded that the proliferation of these specialized camps is one of the leading causes of the significant increase in overuse injuries in children. Another contributing factor for this “epidemic” in injuries in young athletes may be that once they specialize in a given sport, children train yearround. Rarely do the sports have an “off-season” and thus the athletes are training and competing without physiological, psychological, or social breaks. They have to juggle education into their busy schedules, and as they move up in competitive levels, training and competing become priorities over school. Coakley (1998) explains that year-round commitments from athletes are encouraged by private and commercial programs because these organizations need a steady income from fees to pay their expenses. They justify their encouragement of such training in relation to the performance principle. These programs “claim that meeting perfor-

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mance goals and moving up to higher levels of competition requires a yearround commitment to a particular sport” (Coakley, 1998, p. 122). The performance principle is about the emphasis on progressive skill development and competitive success, and is the main focus of private programs that market themselves as “centers of athletic excellence” (Coakley, 1998). This emphasis on performance has also encouraged sport specialization, which, “carried to an unregulated extreme, [the performance principle] can impact the health and development of children” (Coakley, 1998, p. 122). The phenomenon of high-performance sport has seen the rise of sporting “wunderkinds.” Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci’s Olympic successes helped women’s gymnastics develop into a “glamour” sport (Nash, 1987). Tennis star Martina Hingis won the under-18 title at the French Open when she was just 12 years old, and turned professional at 14. Jennifer Capriati won her Olympic gold medal in tennis at 16, after being the youngest Grand Slam finalist at the prestigious French Open tournament at 14 years of age. Mary-Lou Retton and Dominique Moceanu broke records in gymnastics, and Tara Lipinski in figure skating. Sports like women’s gymnastics and figure skating, where the world and Olympic champions are very young (Moceanu and Lipinski were both 14 years old when they won Olympic medals) demand early specialization and intensive training. If one accepts that it takes approximately eight to twelve years for an athlete to reach international level, then many of these athletes began their sporting careers at very young ages. In order for these athletes to become world-class contenders and champions at such ages, they necessarily enter their sports at the earliest possible opportunity, and specialize without delay (Beamish & Borowy, 1988). Furthermore, it has been suggested that media coverage of these highly talented, very young athletes may also serve as powerful inducements for both children and parents to follow in the star’s footsteps (AAP, 2000b). Lee (1993) reports an estimate from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games that 30% of the athletes were under the age of 20 years. He also mentions the 12-year-old Chinese diver, Fu Mingxia, who won a gold medal in the 10-meter platform competition at the 1991 world championships as well as the gold medal at the Barcelona Games at 13. Fourteen-year-old Kyoko Iwasaki of Japan became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in swimming history at the Barcelona Games. Four years later in Atlanta, 14-year-old American Amanda Beard won one gold medal and two silver medals in swimming. Denise Parker won the individual gold medal in archery at the Pan American Games in 1987 at the age of 13, and the bronze at the Olympic Games in Seoul at 14. Given these requisites to reach the highest levels of sport, children are training frequently and at high levels of intensity, and they are also competing regularly. Top-level gymnasts begin training as early as three or four years of age, and have reached serious, regimented training and competition by the age of ten. Donnelly (1997b) reports 10-year-old hockey players who play 90 games in a season, which is as many as adult professionals, and

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some 11-year-old rugby players in the U.K. who have played more games than international players who are twice their age. Youngsters in gymnastics, swimming, and tennis are training four to six hours a day (Cruz, 1999). Donnelly (1997b) writes of young athletes who train regularly for twenty to twenty-five hours a week, for others thirty-five hours a week is not unusual, and one figure skater he interviewed trained almost sixty hours per week in preparation for the national championships. These situations raise questions about the ethical basis of sports behavior, and warrant closer examination. Sporting environments are potentially high-risk areas for maltreatment (MacAuley, 1996). Children are often entrusted to the care of adults, including coaches, trainers, and other assistants who may not necessarily be known to the parents or children. Training and traveling may necessitate close contact between an athlete and others, which may or may not be supervised. Being legally, morally, and physically immature, children are clearly not simply miniature adults. As such, children in general and athletes in particular are vulnerable to exploitation and paternalistic intervention that at times verges on or indeed becomes abusive. Children, by their very definition, cannot consent to the kinds of treatment they are experiencing. Others—parents, coaches, sporting officials—are making significant decisions on their behalf about issues that will have short- and long-term consequences. Parents may rely on a coach’s expertise in the area to identify special talent in their child, and encourage further involvement in training and competition. Young children generally lack decision-making capacity, and sound judgment is limited (AAP, 1995, p. 315). They are considered “incompetent” in terms of decision-making, and thus parents or guardians are charged with decision-making responsibility on behalf of their children. They are considered to be the “proxy decision-maker,” speaking for the child who is supposedly incapable of consenting on their own behalf. Since parents and guardians are presumed “to seek to safeguard the welfare and best interests of their children” (AAP, 1995), giving them proxy consent seems appropriate. Purportedly in the best interests of the child athlete, intensive training, stringent coaching, and often parental pressure are coordinated to produce a champion. Tofler (1996) speaks of “achievement by proxy” in referring to the vicarious experiences of parents and coaches through a successful child athlete. In collusion with the child, parents and coaches seek personal success, pushing the child beyond his or her limits of interest or even ability. Such maltreatment of child athletes appears to be legitimized by the accepted norms of high-performance sport. Tofler (1996) suggests in its extreme form “achievement by proxy” is a form of legitimated child abuse. The child becomes a vehicle for the parent or coach to achieve lifelong goals and unfulfilled dreams, and implementing these agendas renders the child vulnerable to exploitation and abuse (Tofler, Knapp, & Drell, 1998). Ironically, this abuse usually occurs in the name of love, support, or altruistic parenthood (Tofler, Knapp, & Drell, 1998).

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Justification of the physical and emotional harm to which some highperformance child athletes are exposed is difficult, vague, and problematic. Awareness of, and conscientious action toward the identification of objectionable and exploitative practices is necessarily the first step toward more responsible and ethical practices within high-performance sport involving child athletes. Difficulty lies in determining the most appropriate ethical vocabulary to give researchers and practitioners the tools with which to challenge existing norms and provide grounds for positive change. While I agree that not all children participating in high-performance sport are necessarily being harmed, that some are being harmed is sufficient to question the practices within these sports. For many young athletes, the stress and strain of training and competition is not excessive, and they may actually thrive under the intense pressure and extreme physical demands of competitive sport (Gould, 1993). However, Martens (1993) reports “a small but significant minority do experience excessive stress” (p. 14). He attributes this inordinate stress as being experienced primarily by children who evaluate their self-worth on the basis of winning or losing. Excessive stress may also be physical: Kozar and Lord (1983) point out “the fact that a few genetically exceptional individuals are capable of withstanding strenuous, long-term training loads does not mean that less talented youngsters will not suffer from overuse injuries that may prevent them from continuing in sports” (p. 118). In the entertainment industry, child labor laws protect children against adult exploitation; however, in sports there are few if any similar enforceable regulations protecting the interests and integrity of child athletes. A welcome exception exists in Belgium where a number of non-governmental organizations in the area of child advocacy have developed a campaign, “Children’s Rights in Sports,” to address the need to respect children’s rights and to lobby for changes in government legislation to protect children (de Smet, 1993). The nature of training and competing at the highest levels is complex and challenging, even for adults. Adverse consequences have been reported, and as such, a significant body of literature exists that details the travails of child athletes. Potential outcomes of high intensity training and competition include acute and chronic physical trauma and injury (AAP, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 1990; American College of Sports Medicine [ACSM], 1993; Buckley, 1994; Gerrard, 1993; Kozar & Lord, 1983; Lord & Kozar, 1996; Micheli, 1983), short stature (Thientz et al., 1993), permanent alteration of bone growth with long-term morbidity and disability (Buckley, 1994), and in a few cases, even death (Ryan, 1995; Tofler, 1996). In addition to the physical pressure is the psychological stress. At best, this could lead to a diminishment of fun in participation, and at worst, this could lead to anxiety and eating disorders (AAP, 2000c; Martens, 1993; Ryan, 1995), burnout (Coakley, 1998; Martens, 1978; Smith, 1986), and leaving the sport altogether (Martens, 1993). Martens (1978) compared the stress levels of children in competitive sporting environments to those of soldiers in combat.

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The ethical issues surrounding the treatment of these young athletes must be explored. That sport can be a wonderful, enriching experience for many children is not denied. Having fun, improving playing skills, improving fitness, and being part of a team are only a few of the important values that children experience through involvement in sport (Yiannakis, Melnick, & McIntyre, 1993). I argue, however, as others have (Brackenridge & Kirby, 1997; David, 1999; Franck & Olagnier, 1996; Lipowski, 1996; MacAuley, 1996; Telama, 1999; Tofler, 1996), that some children are being harmed by participating in high-performance sport, and suggest that a rights perspective may aid in the protection of these children. This work will begin with a limited overview of conceptions of children and of childhood. Next will be a discussion of the harm that child athletes are experiencing in order to illuminate some of the practices in high performance sport and contextualize this work. I shall then discuss how children’s rights may be applied as a means of child protection. Rights theory, I shall argue, provides the necessary connections between theoretical discourse and practical moral life. Reference will be made to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which provides a framework for the identification and promotion of children’s rights in sport. The European Sports Charter and Code of Ethics will be consulted, along with the “Bill of Rights for Young Athletes” from Martens (1997), in addition to other works.

CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD Recent Olympic medalists and world champions in women’s gymnastics and figure skating have been as young as 14 years of age. While these young athletes are at the pinnacle of international sport, they remain children in the eyes of the law, as well as socially, in most cultures. They would not be allowed to drive a car, vote, marry, enter into legally binding agreements, or even purchase alcohol or cigarettes. It seems paradoxical that they are simultaneously the international winners of the women’s competition, but children in every other respect. Childhood is a period of development, with infancy at the beginning, and an open-ended continuum thereafter. As the child grows physically and emotionally, he or she is granted more autonomy, and gradually learns the necessary skills of the world in order to become a contributing member of society. Education is an important part of this process, and as such, most countries have legislation regarding the minimum age at which children may leave formal education. The legal boundaries drawn to sanction the threshold of adulthood are somewhat arbitrary. Evaluating competency is one of the challenges in determining the point at which a person leaves childhood and enters adulthood; one could argue that some 14-year-olds are more mature and competent than are some 25-year-olds, however, one could also argue that most 25-year-olds are more mature than are most 14-year-olds. The overrid-

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ing concern should be with the most vulnerable population, and that would be the youngest members of our society. Understanding conceptions of both children and childhood are important aspects of this discussion of the participation of children in high-performance sport. These conceptions have been examined from a multitude of perspectives, which reinforce the notion that children are unique beings. Children are recognized throughout the world as being special in themselves, different from adults, and are usually treated as such. They are not simply scaled-down or miniature versions of adults, but are human beings in their earliest stages of life, the nebulous period of which is termed “childhood.” This period is characterized by growth of every kind: physical, emotional, and intellectual. The word “child” is equally as vague as “childhood,” referring broadly to those people in their first and part of their second decade. That children are inherently vulnerable is indisputable. While the vulnerability decreases with age and experience, young children necessarily require care, love, and protection in order to develop into fully contributing members of their society. We all have general understandings of what a child is, or represents, in our respective societies, and necessarily so due to all of us having been one regardless of where or when we were born. When we put forth the concept of childhood, we must consider it from a variety of perspectives, in relation to other presuppositions surrounding the term. For example, in our western, liberal, democratic society, a child is not necessarily understood, accepted, and treated in the same way as is a child in a third world country, or in another political, economical, or cultural environment. Nor would the conceptions necessarily be the same at different times in history; children today are far more educated in the “ways of the world” through mediums such as television and the Internet than ever before. The length of childhood, or how long one remains a child, varies, as does the nature or qualities which distinguish children from adults, and also the significance or importance of all of these differences (Archard, 1993). The implications of those variations are significant when we wish to examine other related issues, such as the treatment of children because of normative commitments. For example, the education for children, or the lack thereof, will be affected directly by what society feels is appropriate for its citizens. In modern times, we assign chronological age to people, a number which matters from the time of birth. We tend to categorize people in relation to those chronological boundaries, for example, at six years of age one begins formal education, driving may be permissible at 16, purchasing tobacco is restricted to those 19 and over, at 18 one may marry or vote: each of these ages varies with the province or state or nation. This conception of childhood is “institutionalized” for the sake of legal or customary criterion (Kleinig, 1982), and is considered an objective measure. From an institutional perspective, chronological age defines childhood and underlies the legal definition. Chronological age is understood in terms of age, and pre-

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sumes that under normal circumstances, children will grow up into adults. The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) holds that “a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” In some places the age of majority is 19 years, or even 21 years. In the Family Services Act (1999), the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly defines a child as a person under the age of majority, which is 19 years. Kleinig’s other category of childhood is that of “normative.” Normative concepts of childhood categorize “according to some feature which has normative significance—some capacity which is believed relevant to treatment which the categorization is intended to sanction” (Kleinig, 1982, p. 197). Some societies also rely on physiological milestones which bridge the threshold between childhood and adulthood, such as when a child reaches puberty. Under the normative perspective, children are matched against a range of evaluative criteria such as physical, emotional, and intellectual maturity. Evaluations of these criteria are clearly more subjective, and the implications are not as apparent as are institutional, or chronological, age divisions. Traditional concepts tend to consider childhood as a primary stage, something one outgrows enroute to adulthood, almost a pathology preceding adulthood—which is viewed as the “finished” stage of being. An adult is often considered to be one who is not a child, not possessing the childhood insufficiencies of physical, emotional, and intellectual maturity, whereas childhood may be understood as the absence of adulthood. There are, of course, many other conceptions of children and childhood. Victorian novels often portrayed childhood as a virtual nightmare, as a dreadful stage that one was fortunate to survive. Charles Dickens described the difficult, dangerous, and often loveless lives of children, particularly in the lower classes of eighteenth century England. Throughout history, conceptions of children and childhood have also differed, in addition to the aforementioned permutations. There appears, however, never to have been such a focus on the period of childhood as there is today. It is certainly not an invention of modernity, but childhood is very much an issue of our time. Childhood itself has become the focus of examination and evaluation, rather than an element of the family, or of education, or even of society as a whole. Different claims and understandings of childhood have evolved over time and with various cultures. That children are often cared for with great love and tenderness is not denied by Kleinig (1982). However, he puts forth that their powerlessness and dependence have made them particularly vulnerable to oppression from others. Children do not have the same rights, freedoms, privileges, and immunities taken for granted by adults; they are denied freedom of movement; are compulsorily schooled and expected to obey adults under whose care they fall; they may be physically and otherwise assaulted within broad guidelines; they have little freedom or autonomy in their dress,

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nutrition, or activities; with whom they associate is closely directed by parents, educators, or other guardians deemed (without consultation) in loco parentium by some adult (Kleinig, 1982). Childhood as a stage of development is the dominant notion of childhood. Over the last one to two hundred years, children have been examined in terms of psychology, biology, educational theory, and sociology (Archard, 1993). Developmental psychologists view childhood as one stage on the continuum polarizing the child with the adult, understanding the child as a sort of unfinished or incomplete adult who moves toward the “completion” of having attained full adult capacities and characteristics. Children are everything that adults are not: lacking in the skills, capacities, and powers that adults possess. The “ideal” adult, according to Archard, is one who has certain cognitive abilities and capacities, one who is rational, physically independent, autonomous, has a sense of their own identity, and is aware on a conscious level of their beliefs and desires. Thus the adult is able to make free and informed choices for which he or she is held personally responsible. These capacities and dispositions allow an adult to be able to work for a living, be legally accountable for his or her actions, make sexual choices, and participate in choosing a government for the surrounding community (Archard, 1993). The adult must leave behind all that is childlike in order to survive and fit within the adult world, the culmination of the development process. Thus, Archard captures the modern conception of the child as “an innocent incompetent who is not but must become the adult” as a necessary condition of human development (1993, p. 41). The appropriate place for the child in our western liberal democratic society is one where the child cannot share the rights and responsibilities of the adults. The dynamics of conceptions of childhood in any society may cause difficulties, revealed in practical utility, or normative commitments. Some individuals may reach the thresholds of each respect at different times: the physiological ability to procreate will most likely precede the political capacity to vote. When cultures mix, as they do in our increasingly multicultural society, conceptual variation will challenge the prevailing society’s laws and customs. In some countries, for example, legislation prohibits marriage until attaining the age of 18; with the parent’s permission, however, one may marry at a younger age. The dominant modern notion of childhood in western, liberal democracies is that it is a separate world, a stage of human development which lies between the wholly dependent stage of infancy and the completely independent sphere of adulthood. Childhood is a period of incompetence, defined by limited cognitive capacities, irrationality, physical dependency, and deficiencies in the capacities, skills, and powers of adulthood (Archard, 1993). Archard contrasts the two dimensions: whereas adults are thought to be autonomous, have a sense of identity, are conscious of their beliefs and desires, and are able to make free and informed choices for which they can be held personally responsible, children are not. Adults, for

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the most part, control children, viewing them primarily in terms of their inabilities and insufficiencies. The extent of childhood in our time is longer than that at any other time in history. It is a distinct, extended stage before adulthood. Practices and institutions in our societies have deeply embedded this view of childhood, as evidenced by the legal and social boundaries. In medicine, for example, children are considered to be vulnerable beings, who cannot give free and informed consent to medical treatment. Because they are minors, physicians and institutions must obtain legally valid consent from their parents or guardians before proceeding with therapeutic procedures or research (Beauchamp & Childress, 1994). There are some “mature minor” or “emancipated minor” laws which give minors rights to authorize medical treatments, but only in limited circumstances. Threshold elements of informed consent include issues of competence, disclosure, understanding, voluntariness, and consent. These elements delineate informed consent in terms of autonomous authorization—a voluntary decision and agreement—to undergo a recommended procedure. The conceptual issues are of autonomy and competence; the first is about self-governance, and the second about the ability to perform a task. Children are considered incompetent in general, but most certainly have specific competencies. While they may be incompetent to make decisions about their education and future at a young age, they may indeed be competent in smaller spheres of life, such as what they wish to eat for lunch or what they want to wear. As they grow and develop, their sphere of competencies grows. Because in general terms their competencies may be limited, their autonomy is limited, and they are treated paternalistically so as to assure their future autonomy as an adult. For example, a child may not wish to go to school, but in order to ensure that they are able, at the threshold age of majority, to have as open a future as possible, their parents or guardians may force them to go to school until they are old enough to make an informed decision. Of course, the degrees of freedom allowed children depend considerably on the amount of risk involved in the decision and its repercussions. Children need time and opportunities to exercise their autonomy and develop their rights to selfdetermination, but as Jay Coakley argued in a panel discussion on the subject of children in sport, children also need the assistance of adults in setting limits to offset the natural childhood exuberance that they frequently put into sports training (Mertzman, 2000). The implications of these conceptions of children in our society are significant when we consider them in relation to the importance given to sport. Sport is valued highly, and success in sport is paramount. “The need for ‘hard work,’ early specialization, ascetic denial (of food and childhood pleasures), and rewards (both immediate and long term) in order to achieve success in sport—will be very different than consequences for a child in a society with a different set of emphases and expectations” (Coakley, Donnelly, & Landry, 1993, p. 71). Accepting the most important feature

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of the modern conception of childhood to be that childhood is a separate world from adulthood, where does sport—and sport at its highest levels—fit into this paradigm? Archard (1993) observes that children do not work or play with adults, nor do they participate in the adult worlds of law and politics: they are apparently innocent whereas adults are supposedly knowing. Different behavior is expected from children than is expected from adults; they are treated differently from each other, and each has different roles and responsibilities. That children in high performance sport DO work and play with adults (Donnelly, 1997a; Lipowski, 1996; Ryan, 1995) is somewhat problematic and inconsistent with this notion of childhood. Within this consideration of children participating in high-performance sport, young athletes will be considered those 18 years and under. Those approximately 14 years and older are considered adolescents but fall within this general category of non-adults, and are thus considered to be children in the broadest sense. Eighteen years of age is the legal boundary, as specified by the United Nations, through which a child crosses into adulthood. The most pressing concern herein is that children—vulnerable beings—are being harmed, and they may not be in any position to protect themselves, or to leave their situations.

HARM: TOO MUCH TOO SOON The implications of physical activity and fitness for good health are established (Smoll & Smith, 1996). As with other good things, however, moderation is sometimes difficult to come by. It is sometimes difficult for even adult athletes to refrain from overtraining because of the relentless drive to improve. Simply competing at the highest levels of sport necessitates extreme training. An athlete may feel that they have no time to rest since the competition will get a jump on them if they reduce their training loads, or even take time out to recover from injury (Ryan, 1996). Children are inherently vulnerable because of their very nature, and also because they are under an adult’s control (parent or coach) both legally and socially, and more susceptible to paternalistic interventions. Furthermore, “the anatomical, physiological, and psychological immaturity of children may place them at greater risk during athletic training and competition” (Rowland, 1990, p. 253). For many children, sporting involvement is a positive experience. They meet new friends, learn new skills, engage in healthy physical activity, and generally enjoy themselves. Proponents of youth sport argue that involvement in sport teaches children cooperation, how to handle competition and self-control, and also how to deal with risk-taking and failure: all integral components of “real” life (Smoll & Smith, 1996). The stress of competitive sport may help children to develop coping skills that translate into all aspects of their lives, and may also help build self-esteem (Martens, 1993)

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as well as leadership skills. Sadly, there are also adverse consequences of sporting experiences. For instance, competition clearly identifies winners and losers. Martens (1993) suggests that children who consider that their failures are a consequence of their own actions or inactions may develop feelings of negative self-esteem, and their confidence may plummet. Furthermore, repeated failures in an arena that children understand to hold such importance to parents, coaches, and others may lead to long-term adverse consequences. Unfortunately, an even darker side exists. Within competitive sport, children may be emotionally, physically, or sexually abused. Sport “becomes a hostile, destructive environment that erodes selfesteem, confidence and trust. The child is not only assaulted by the immediate behaviors, but is also often robbed of the potential benefits of sports and recreation” (Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission, 1997). The inherent vulnerability of children to exploitation and abuse renders sport a potentially high-risk environment. Coaches and various officials are entrusted with the care of children, often with parents knowing little or nothing about these individuals (MacAuley, 1996). To a child, and to most athletes, the coach is a very important figure. He or she acts as gatekeeper to the sport, to selection teams, to future opportunities, and may also act in various capacities as mentor, friend, even a surrogate parent. Adults have power over children in general, and most children want to please those adults they consider important. The coach often has tremendous power over an athlete, particularly the younger ones. When a child sees their parents respecting or even idolizing the coach, the child may come to venerate the coach above even their parents. That the children may perceive the coach as a higher authority than their parents may create all kinds of conflicts when that person of importance, influence, and authority does something the child recognizes as inherently wrong (MacAuley, 1996). The immense power and influence of the coach over the child make it very difficult for a child to question the coaches’ behavior. Many young athletes are incredibly obedient toward their coaches, doing almost anything to avoid anger and to garner words of encouragement. There is a fine line between success and failure in sport in general, but particularly in sports at the highest levels. “Physical injuries or illness can occur at any time, destroying years of training. Psychological damage can be caused by the withdrawal of the coach’s attention or interest” (Brackenridge & Kirby, 1997). Athletes become dependent on their coaches for direction in their sporting endeavors, and to be successful. This dependence leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. David (1999) tells of the severe physical and corporal abuse of children by trainers and coaches, including the case of 11-year-old gymnast Adriana Giurca, who was beaten to death by her trainer for not performing perfectly during training. Brackenridge and Kirby (1997) discuss the dangers that young athletes often suffer as a result of being seen as athletes first and as children second,

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including the risk of sexual abuse from coaches. Adolescence is an inherently challenging time for young athletes: their bodies are changing during puberty, and they are adjusting to those changes in training and competition. The onset of puberty is a crucial time in the formation of identity for the young athlete as well, and as such, relationships with others during this time are also an integral part of that identity formation (Lee, 1993). These young athletes are grappling with their emerging and changing identities, sexual and otherwise, and greatly affected by their environments and the relationships within those arenas. The coach plays a significant role in their lives within sport, and perhaps beyond. The power differential between athletes and coaches raises serious concerns about the nature of consent in “romantic relationships.” De Knop (1999) relates the story from a previous study of his (Buisman, De Knop, & Theeboom, 1998), of three female judokas who accused their coach of sexual harassment. They told of their total dependency on their coach, of how they were virtually his prisoners, and of how they would do anything to prevent his anger, including sharing a hotel room with him. Their story was nearly not believed. Canada’s unofficial national sport, hockey, has been rife with allegations of sexual assault involving young players. The notorious case of Western Hockey League coach Graham James sexually abusing former Boston Bruin Sheldon Kennedy made the headlines in several countries (Deacon & Nemeth, 1997; O’Brien & Kennedy, 1997; Zaichkowsky, 2000). Kennedy was sexually assaulted more than 300 times over a decade, beginning when he was 14 years old. James was given a 42-month jail sentence for this egregious disregard of the trust between coach and athlete. After James’ conviction, there was a dramatic increase in the number of calls to the Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse crisis and counseling agency from sexualabuse survivors—males in particular (Deacon & Nemeth, 1997). A further scandal rocked Canadian hockey when it was revealed that a number of young hockey players had been sexually abused at Toronto’s bastion of hockey, Maple Leaf Gardens, by employees of the arena (Came & Hawaleshka, 1997). The boys were plagued by memories of the assaults. Martin Kruze came forward to tell of the sexual assaults, but committed suicide three days after Gordon Stuckless, one of the abusers, was sentenced to jail for two years less a day on more than 20 charges of indecent and sexual assault. Many of his victims decried the sentence as “obscenely light.” In her 1994 study, “Fair Play or Fair Game? Sexual abuse in sport organisations,” Brackenridge discussed the predatorial behavior of coaches. At a time when adolescents are struggling to make sense of their lives, they are incredibly vulnerable to exploitation of every kind. Sadly, some adults take advantage of such misdirected trust. While some sexual abusers, like Graham James, are sentenced to a few years in jail, the victims may be sentenced to a lifetime of suffering. Adele McKechnie (1998) wrote of the sexual abuse her husband suffered as a young hockey player:

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This predator gained John’s confidence and trust. Then, instead of supporting and encouraging him as a mentor should, he shattered that trust by using this same confused teenager for his own sexual gratification. He left a mark on my husband that remains to this day. My husband’s anger, his inability at times to trust even those closest to him, his feelings of shame and unworthiness, keep all of us on an emotional roller coaster. (p. 28)

Further stories of sexual abuse in hockey continued to surface from all over Canada. In her 1998 book, Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Sport, journalist Laura Robinson shocked the nation with her disclosures of incidents involving the sexual assault and harassment of young Canadian hockey players. She also revealed violent sexual assaults of young women by hockey players, which raise further questions about the nature of sexual activity and violence in children’s sport. Hockey is not the only children’s sport to be tarnished with stories of sexual abuse by coaches. Little League coach Norman Watson pled guilty to 39 counts of lewd acts with children, four boys and one girl, between 1990 and 1996 in San Bernadino, California. He was sentenced to 84 years in prison. When he was charged with those crimes, he was on probation for a 1980 molestation offense. He estimates that over the last thirty years, he has molested “a couple of hundred” children, most between the ages of 11 and 14 (Nack & Yaeger, 1999). His “affairs” lasted months, even years, with some of the children. When the parents of two boys who had been sexually assaulted by Watson went to the Little League board, they were removed from the board. Watson managed to convince the board members that he was no longer a threat to children as he had “changed” and become a “good person.” Nack and Yaeger (1999) report a media survey they conducted which revealed more than 30 cases in the previous 18 months of U.S. coaches who had been charged with sexually abusing children in nine sports from baseball to wrestling. Parents of children molested by Little League coach Garen Pearson cited several reasons why it took such a long time for him to be charged with “19 counts of sexual assault with a child under 14, 14 counts of lewdness with a child under 14, four counts of sexual assault with a child under 16 and two counts of open and gross lewdness” (Nack & Yaeger, 1999, p. 44). These reasons included how personable he was, that he had a girlfriend (although police revealed that he had never had sex with her), and that he was such a gifted coach: “he took a losing team and turned it into a winning one” (p. 45). One parent lamented, “We were blinded by the winning and the fun we were having” (p. 45). In Chicago, youth football coach Michael Hughes was sentenced to 27 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to molesting eight boys, most of them in his own house, with his wife and daughters sleeping upstairs. Swimming has also been tainted by sexual molestation of young athletes. Former British team coach Paul Hickson was sentenced to 17 years for two rapes, 11 indecent assaults, and two further serious sexual offences.

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Hickson denied all charges, and claimed to have been the victim of teenage girls’ fantasies (“Olympic coach jailed for rapes,” 1995). Hickson had been reprimanded in 1987 by his employer, the University of Wales at Swansea, for inappropriate behavior: he told a woman to remove all her clothes for a fitness test, and then undressed himself. In 1986 several swimmers made allegations of inappropriate behavior (fondling and being forced to perform oral sex) to the Amateur Swimming Association [ASA]. These complaints were ignored. After Hickson was convicted of the most recent crimes, the ASA faced legal action from four women swimmers for failing to act on previous complaints (“Swimmer blew whistle on Hickson nine years ago,” 1995; “The great betrayal,” 1995). Robert Lipsyte (1993) wrote about his friend who, after thirty years, finally came to realize that the sexual abuse she suffered as a young swimmer was not her fault. She had been an up-and-coming star, and was used by her coach for his sexual gratification. A younger, faster swimmer ousted her from the coach’s grasp, but emotionally she was tied to those episodes for many years afterwards, always feeling that it was her fault. Lipsyte (1993) recounts other torrid tales of abuse from the sporting world, some about parents who had coached their own children. He covers tennis, gymnastics, swimming, and skating. No sports are immune from sexual predators. Accurate statistics on the numbers of abuse and harassment cases in sport are difficult to ascertain. Zaichkowsky (2000) suggests this may be attributed to the fear, guilt, powerlessness, and shame of victims of such experiences. In the vast majority of cases, the victims knew and trusted the perpetrators. Furthermore, in most cases the parents and others involved in the experience also knew and trusted the perpetrators, leaving the victims with deeply rooted feelings of guilt that they were somehow to blame for what had happened. Sheldon Kennedy was abused from the age of 14 when he began playing hockey in Winnipeg. That was in 1984, and he did not report the abuse until 1997. Zaichkowsky (2000) recommends that parents encourage their children to talk about their sporting experiences and to attend training sessions and competitions so that they can observe the nature of coach-child interaction without being obtrusive. Parents should also inquire about the coach’s qualifications, and educate their child about appropriate and inappropriate coaching attention. While the vast majority of coaches are competent, the few who are either incompetent or a direct threat to children do exist. Zaichkowsky (2000) has recommendations for parents as outlined above, but he also recommends that sport clubs, teams, and other institutions take steps to prevent abuse of children in sport. These interventions may include coach education and also strict screening procedures for prospective coaches and others involved with the young athletes. In the U.S., Zaichkowsky advocates calling on the 1998 Volunteers for Children Act, an amendment to the 1993 National Child Protection Act, which allows for “qualified entities”—that is, any business organization that provides care, treatment, education, training, instruction, supervision,

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or recreation for children, the elderly, or individuals with disabilities—to request national fingerprint-based checks of volunteers and employees to rule out those who have been convicted previously for sexual molestations of children. Clearly, this kind of background check is limited, as only previously convicted sexual abusers would be identified. While it would seem that organizations must necessarily be extremely vigilant in hiring and supervising their staff who work closely with children, and perform background checks to prevent convicted molesters from having access to young athletes, Robinson (2000) reveals that some organizations do not seem to care about their coaches, or by extension, their athletes. Robinson claims “our hunger for coaches who can deliver gold makes us overlook those with dodgy or criminal records” (p. A15). She relates the story of Desmond Emanuel Dickie, who became head sprint coach of the American cycling team. In 1996, Dickie was acquitted on three charges of sexual assault and one of sexual exploitation. He won a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the Canadian Cycling Association. She quotes Judge J. R. Belleghem’s judgment of Dickie’s case: “His conduct, as it stands, certainly calls into question his ethics and his right to remain as national cycling coach. Another forum may properly decide that he is in violation of the ethical standards expected … I do not necessarily believe the testimony of the accused, but it does leave me in a reasonable doubt. I am therefore obliged to acquit” (Robinson, 2000, p. A15). She also reveals that in 1994, two young female athletes Dickie was coaching came forward with similar complaints about his inappropriate behavior, and seven men on the national cycling team wrote a letter to the Canadian Cycling Association about Dickie alleging “breaches of behavior that included having a (teenage) girl share his room during a training camp in Houston, Texas, and giving prescription drugs to athletes” (p. A15). Their letter requested Dickie’s dismissal, “and for him to be put ‘out of harm’s way of athletes’” (p. A15). Following these charges, an independent Board of Inquiry investigated and recommended two formal reprimands against Dickie. As the sexual assault charges followed the reprimand, the Canadian Cycling Association terminated his contract without pay; because this action was premature, Dickie was able to sue. Robinson writes that no representatives from the Canadian Cycling Association, Canadian Olympic Association, Sport Canada, the Canadian Professional Coaches’ Association, or even the Coaches’ Association of Canada attended the trial. Despite this track record, Dickie continues to coach, although he switched from Canada to the United States. Robinson (2000) acknowledges the Code of Conduct formulated by the Coaches’ Association of Canada, and queries why it does not “say that taking advantage of the power invested in a coach can, and should, end one’s career” (p. A15). Parents’ conceptions of what is best for their children and family are not always shared by others; alarmingly, their beliefs and values may even limit opportunities for their children. Like coaches, parents can also be hazard-

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ous to their children when their views of fame and fortune cloud their parental duties. While they may have their children’s best interests at heart, their desire for their child’s success may override reason and responsibility (MacAuley, 1996). Even when parents believe that they are giving their child the best possible experience and opportunity, the child may view their parent’s behavior in a different light. For example, Trent Dimas, 1992 Olympic gold medalist on the high bar, gave an insight into the pressure the child athlete may feel as he recounted his past: “It’s been so hard. I gave up so much time with my family. They gave up so much for me. My father worked 16-hour days so he could get the money to keep us in gymnastics and travel to compete. I thought about it all day. I was so nervous, so scared” (Weiss & Hayashi, 1995, p. 36). Juba (1986) reports of young swimmers being pressured by ambitious parents who may see no limits to their child’s capabilities, and view their children as extensions of their own “perfect” selves. He notes that many ambitious parents appear to have an element of failure in their own lives, and attempt to overcompensate for those failures vicariously through the experiences of their children. Their misguided sentiments, coupled with the child’s vulnerability, may lead to troubling experiences. The parents may find it difficult to accept a child’s complaints, if indeed the child is brave enough to voice their fears, and the parents may also refuse to believe the child, further traumatizing the troubled and endangered child athlete (Ryan, 1995). Young athletes rarely have the opportunity to make decisions about their continued involvement in sports (Shogan, 1999). While the child may have asked or agreed to participate in the sport initially, they may not be able to withdraw that consent after they have progressed through the ranks, or moved up in competition. Hellstedt (1990), in a study of 104 13-year-old male and female ski racers, reported 24% as feeling “very unhappy” with their parents’ attitude regarding pressure to compete, 12% felt their parents were “very upset” with a poor performance, and 35% felt that their parents would be “very upset” if they were to withdraw from the sport. The data suggests that these young athletes felt “moderate to excessive” levels of parental pressure. Many were apprehensive of their parents’ emotional reaction to poor performances, and a considerable number of them were continuing sport participation to please their parents. Accounts of parental abuse in sport are troubling: tennis player Maureen Drake revealed in 1999 that she had been abused by her coach-father; Mary Pierce’s father was banned from court side for inappropriate behavior—including one episode where he dragged her off the court by her ponytail for losing in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. At Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy in Florida, there are court side signs saying “No parents” (Barnes, 1997). Given that children are not simply scaled-down versions of adults (Lee, 1993), they cannot cope with adult exercise prescriptions. Traditionally, coaches have used adult-oriented training methods with children, but recent physiological studies devoted to appropriate methods of exercise

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have clarified the ways in which the child athlete responds to training (Cahill & Pearl, 1993; Cooke & Leit, 1995). The studies have revealed the differences between adults and children in physiological responses to exercise, and have also identified many growth areas in children that are susceptible to injury. Unfortunately, physical injury is an inherent risk of participation in sport. For the most part, most injuries are minor and do not have long-lasting consequences (Rowland, 1990). Others, however, may be career-ending, or even worse. Gymnast Julissa Gomez died in 1991 following complications from spinal trauma sustained in a vaulting accident three years earlier (Ryan, 1995; Tofler, 1996), and Chinese gymnast Sang Lan was relegated to life in a wheelchair after breaking her neck at the Goodwill Games in 1998. Many acute injuries can be avoided through the use of appropriate equipment, adequate supervision, and skilled coaches. Avoidance of overuse injuries may be accomplished through the identification of specific risk factors such as training errors, leg-length discrepancies, improper footwear and other equipment, improper playing surfaces, and associated disease states of the lower extremities; the actual growth process is a risk factor as well since the growing body is susceptible to overuse injuries given disproportionate growth, which may result in compromised flexibility during this period (Rowland, 1990). Some young athletes are training at intensities and durations with regimens that would have once been considered rigorous even by adult standards (Rowland, 1990). An average high-performance gymnast trains between 25 and 45 hours per week (Ryan, 1995), and an average swimmer may train 20 hours a week and race 30 weekends a year for eight years of his or her life (Juba, 1985). While exercise is certainly beneficial to normal physiological development, beyond a certain threshold it becomes injurious. That specific threshold is yet to be pinpointed, but the general repercussion of excessive skeletal loading is usually impairment. The consequences of such high-intensity training and competition are physical and psychological injury, some of which are long-term. As training increases in frequency, duration, intensity, and in terms of technical difficulty, so does the risk of injury. These risks may also be attributed to the age-related vulnerability of the immature skeletal system (Tofler, 1996). More alarming is the pressure to train and compete while injured, which further increases the risk of impaired skeletal development and permanent deformity (Tofler, 1996). Tofler also notes the correlation between psychological stress and the precipitation of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a disorder of the sympathetic and autonomic nervous system. Dr. Ian Tofler, Director of Child Psychiatry at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans released a study on the physical and emotional problems of elite female gymnasts in 1996. In an interview with Jim Lehrer (1996), Tofler attributes these problems to excessive training and the element of difficulty in tricks, as well as other factors. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement in 1990 about the risks in distance running for

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children. These include the inducement of musculoskeletal, endocrine, hematologic, thermoregulatory, and psychosocial damage. Overuse injuries and microtraumas are the most frequent musculoskeletal problems, and include epiphyseal plate injuries, stress fractures, patellofemoral syndrome, and chronic tendinitis. The AAP’s policy statement cautions that “such overuse injuries may lead to chronic disability (e.g., chronic arthritis and growth deformity)” (p. 799). Other studies have shown that child athletes are at greater risks of developing stress fractures, particularly compression stress fractures, which are unusual in adults (Kozar & Lord, 1983). The American Academy of Pediatrics released a Policy Statement in 1989 on the risks associated with intense participation in sport, and a more recent press release on the same issue (2000c). Reproductive dysfunction may occur in female athletes, as their intensive workloads delay or disrupt menarche. This syndrome is referred to as the “female-athlete triad” which is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, and is characterized by disordered eating, amenorrhea and other menstrual irregularities, and osteoporosis (AAP, 2000c; Tofler, 1996). Exercise-induced amenorrhea is found in many post-pubescent females, and delayed menarche in younger athletes; menstrual dysfunction increases the risk of premature osteoporosis and fractures. Stedman (1999) recounts the story of a 15-year-old dancer who sought medical attention for a stress fracture in her shin. Tests revealed she was in the early stages of osteoporosis, a condition usually restricted to postmenopausal women. The young woman presented the classic symptoms of the condition; fortunately for her it was caught relatively early, but it is not always possible to recover all of the lost bone mass. Certain sports also impose additional pressures on athletes. Many athletes in a variety of sports including wrestling, rowing, gymnastics, figure skating, distance running, diving, swimming, and ballet, engage in unhealthy eating practices (AAP, 1996). Some sports impose such severe caloric restrictions “in efforts to improve performance or gain competitive advantages” that the limited nutrient intake “may instead result in muscle weakness, diminished bone density, calcium loss, iron deficiency, and menstrual irregularities” (Rowland, 1993, p.182). More recently, Rowland (1996) emphasized the importance of appropriate food intake, noting it is “probably the most critical environmental factor influencing normal biological development” (p. 14). He cautions that normal biological maturation may be impaired by inadequate caloric intake (malnutrition) or deficiency in any specific dietary component. Dehydration is also a danger of extreme weight-loss measures. The pressure to be thin and light is enormous on gymnasts and figure skaters. This pressure comes mainly from the adults involved: parents, coaches, and judges. Tofler (1996) discusses the “unequivocal pressure for female gymnasts to maintain a prototypic mesomorphic body appearance (i.e., to be thin and muscular). This pressure encourages atypical eating behavior, which may lead to frank eating disorders” (p. 281). He notes that

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among female athletes, the prevalence of eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia is between 15% and 62%. The consequences of these diseases can be fatal. Puberty is the enemy for these young girls, since with the onset comes weight gain and physical growth. The AAP reports that many of these potentially and proven harmful behaviors are hidden by athletes. To reduce weight, some young athletes use “extreme weight-loss practices that include over-exercising; prolonged fasting; vomiting; using laxatives, diuretics, diet pills, other licit or illicit drugs, and/or nicotine; and use of rubber suits, steam baths, and/or saunas (AAP, 1996). McCallum and Kennedy (1995) reported a startling case from Chicago of a youth football coach, Louis Trench, giving the diuretic Lasix to his players. He did so in order for them to lose weight and “make weight” for league poundage limits. Trench revealed that he has given Lasix to players as young as ten years old. The story was made public by the pediatrician of a ten-year-old player. The boy’s mother revealed to the doctor that the boy had lost 12 pounds in three days by taking Lasix and eating only lettuce and carrots, and was so weak at the weigh-in that he needed to be held up. Coach Trench attempted to justify giving the prescription medication to his young athletes on the grounds that there are other “worse” practices in other youth leagues, such as enemas, induced vomiting, laxatives, and starvation. Disturbing as the coach’s behavior is, parents are also alleged to have put their sons on crash diets and fed them diuretics. One mother is reported as having said “I don’t see anything wrong with that; it’s a decision between the parents and the kid” (McCallum & Kennedy, 1995, p. 21). The Palos Hills police department and the Illinois child welfare agency are investigating the use of Lasix in the youth football program. Steroid use in high school and middle school students has been reported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (2000d, 1997). Rumors abound of even younger children using steroids. Young male and female athletes and non-athletes alike are using anabolic steroids in an attempt to enhance their performances and improve strength. Steroid use has been associated with harmful side-effects as diverse as testicular shrinkage, hypertension, liver dysfunction, cancer, clotting abnormalities, and psychological effects; growing children risk premature closure of growth plates which can stunt growth (AAP, 2000d, 1997). The Academy claims that youngsters are bombarded with mixed messages: they see their heroes testing positive for drugs at the Olympics, and also receive ambiguous messages about the benefits and risks of anabolic steroid use. Prohibitions against the use of anabolic steroids and reports of their medical risks appear to be insufficient to restrain their use. Claims that steroids do not work are ineffective when policy statements by the AAP (1997) and the American College of Sports Medicine (1987) also reveal the use of anabolic steroids may enhance strength. That young people, despite the risks, continue to take anabolic steroids is a sad reflection on what they believe is required to succeed in sports. Even more worrying are the parents and

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coaches of many steroid users who believe that anabolic steroids are useful or even necessary (AAP, 1997). Psychological effects from increased anxiety and stress during competition and the influence of parents on performance are also serious concerns (Tofler, 1996; Maffulli & Helms, 1988; Ogilvie, 1979; Smith & Smoll, 1982). The AAP (1990) notes “psychologic and social problems for the child runner can result from spending long hours in training and setting unrealistic goals. This is similar to the effects of participation in other competitive sports, in which the child may be submitted to inappropriate pressures” (p. 799). Juba (1985) writes of the sensory deprivation suffered by young swimmers: You can neither hear not [sic] talk while you swim. You can see next to nothing and the only taste is chlorine! In truth, to the outsider, the only social side to swimming training is a shared mutual discomfort, the joint experience of youngsters pushing themselves to the limits together. (p. 174)

There is considerable truth to this: swimmers swim thousands and thousands of meters every session, often twice a day, watching only the tiles on the pool floor below them for stimulation. Some believe tennis to be as remarkable a sport as they come. Brunt (1999) considers no other sport [to] be like this one in the way it feeds on the young. There are no 15-year-olds playing professional team sports and there are none on the professional golf tours. There are, of course, the kiddie corps in gymnastics, but they’re not doing it for the money and they’re being trotted out around the globe, week after week, often as the meal ticket for their entire family. (p. S1)

On the subject of pressure, Brunt quotes Bart McGuire, the Women’s Tennis Association Tour’s chief executive officer, “If you have both parents who have given up their jobs and are living off the earnings of a player on the tour, the pressure gets to be a concern. Implicit in the relationship is the fact that if you don’t practice for a few days, we don’t eat” (Brunt, 1999, p. S1). Noakes (1985) reiterates the paramount issue that children are not miniature adults, and reminds us that they should be treated as children first and as athletes second. He points out that “it is important to respect their limitations and to appreciate that children have more intelligence than do adults about their own limitations. Unlike adults, children who are left to their own devices will not drive themselves to the point of injury” (p. 639). This belief is contradicted by Jay Coakley, sport sociologist, in a panel discussion on whether sports training for children might be considered abuse (Mertzman, 2000). He relates the personal experience of having to overrule his young child’s desires in sport: “When my daughter was a gymnast, I had to pull her off those bars as the blood dripped from her hands onto the bars because she loved it so much” (p. 242). Grupe (1985) argues that,

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[top level sports], with their particular workout and competitive demands, are advanced into the period of childhood. This is instigated by adults. Children would never think on their own accord of subjecting themselves to such an organised form of sport aimed for long-term performance, and to the organisation of their daily, weekly and yearly schedules as is required by the preparation to achieve top performance. (p. 10)

Children training for, and competing in, high-performance sports are being harmed. The evidence is clear. The traditions of childhood wherein children played non-seriously and adults worked in more serious capacities have changed. Coakley (Mertzman, 2000) discusses this societal change on the impact of sport training and discipline on children: Now we have a very unique set of circumstances that we haven’t faced before. The livelihoods and careers and incomes and the food on the table for adults depend on the performance of an eleven-year-old in a statewide competition. We also have situations where those 11, 12, 13, and 14-year olds are participating in contexts where there are commercial kinds of issues, all the way from turning pro for Jennifer Capriati at age thirteen to Tara Lipinski winning an international championship at age 14, and issues of endorsements, etc. So basically, I’ve thought that when the financial success and livelihoods of adults depends on the performance of children, fifteen and under, sixteen and under, seventeen and under, there is the potential for abuse. (p. 241)

Given the discussions above, and the emotiveness of the issue of child abuse, which actions and behaviors in sport constitute child abuse? Agreed upon definitions are important for two reasons; first, in order to establish a general framework of policies developed to prevent child abuse, and; second, to develop technical definitions to aid in identifying and evaluating actions or circumstances which might be considered to be child abuse (National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse, 1996). At present, there is disagreement between professionals and the public over what constitutes child abuse. Childhood Matters (1996), a report of the National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse in the United Kingdom, explains that different professional disciplines may have varying views on what is harmful to children. While there is agreement over extreme harms, there is a considerable gray area that leads to confusion. For example, would a single case of harm be considered as abuse, if there is no indication that it would be repeated, or if there is no evidence of long-term damage? Such considerations are of paramount importance when determining if a child is at risk, and which are the most appropriate measures for protection of that child. The broad definition of abuse adopted by the Commission is as follows: “Child abuse consists of anything which individuals, institutions, or processes do or fail to do which directly or indirectly harms children or damages their prospects of safe and healthy development into adulthood” (p. 2). Within this broad definition, a more specific techni-

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cal definition addresses the areas within professional practice which need statutory, statistical, procedural, and research-appropriate considerations. The Commission states that the two most important technical definitions based on legislation are those of “significant harm” and “children in need.” Section 31 of the Children Act 1989 (England and Wales) considers “harm” as “ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development; “development” means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioral development; “health” means physical or mental health; and “ill-treatment” includes sexual abuse and forms of ill-treatment which are not physical (p. 3). The Commission discusses abuse by systems, which may apply particularly aptly to sport. The definition of system abuse is as follows: “System abuse may be said to occur whenever the operation of legislation, officially sanctioned procedures or operational practices within systems or institutions is avoidably damaging to children and their families” (p. 5). Section 1.16 states that “System abuse occurs where: (i) children’s needs are not recognized or understood and so they are not considered specifically and separately from those of adults” (p. 5). Situations in children’s sport have been outlined above where officially sanctioned, i.e., national team, experiences could be considered system abuse. Children participating on national teams are not treated and cared for as children first, athletes second, and have been harmed by their experiences. Ryan (1995) details a multitude of situations where gymnasts and figure skaters have been treated as commodities rather than as humans, let alone as vulnerable children. Franck and Olagnier (1996) argue that the dependent relationship of athlete on coach may take on “noxious aspects, causing enslavement and alienation of the individual” (p. 1393). They believe that adolescents in top-level sports are not free to give consent to their involvement, and the relationships are such that power abuse is exercised. They feel that the young athletes are victims of parents’ ambitions, trainer’s demands, and also of the totalitarian control of their sporting federations. Because these young athletes cannot give free and informed consent, an almost pathological state of dependence on trainers and sports federations develops, which may be considered abuse of these young athletes—who are first and foremost children. Given these situations and experiences, what then is the next course of action in protecting children from exploitation and abuse? It seems ironic that sport, once considered a leisure-time activity, might now require specific labor laws to protect children from work-like experiences (Donnelly, 1997a; Ryan, 1995). Ryan and Donnelly both argue that child labor laws ought to address all labor (paid and unpaid), including children “working” in sport. Ryan challenges the government, as well as the sporting federations, to protect children in high-performance sport: If the federations and coaches truly care about the athletes and not simply about the fame and prestige that come from trotting tough little champions to the medal stand, they know it is past time to lay the problems on the table,

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examine them and figure out a way to keep their sports from damaging so many young lives. But since those charged with protecting young athletes so often fail in their responsibility, it is time the government drops the fantasy that certain sports are merely games and takes a hard look at legislation aimed at protecting elite child athletes. (p. 15)

When the livelihoods of adults—parents, coaches, administrators, and others—are linked so closely, even to the point of dependence, on the work and performance of children, then children must be defended from exploitation and abuse. Children are human beings, and as such, are deserving of protection. Rights are the most likely moral sources of protection for children.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN SPORTS That child athletes are usually considered as athletes first, and as children second, is noted by Brackenridge and Kirby (1997), and by Donnelly (1997a). This consideration “has consequences for their legal, civil and human rights as children and for the way in which sport organizations choose to intervene on their behalf to protect them from physical, psychological, and sexual abuses” (Brackenridge & Kirby, 1997, p. 407). In some sports, young children do reach the highest levels of competition, and this puts them at risk; that high-performance sport is innately intense and potentially exploitative for all athletes (Kew, 1997), regardless of age, means that child athletes in particular must be protected. The significant body of literature detailing the pressures and abuses of children in sport simply cannot be ignored (Barnes, 1997; Brackenridge & Kirby, 1997; Brunt, 1999; David, 1999; Donnelly, 1997a, 1997b; Franck & Olagnier, 1996; Grupe, 1985; Juba, 1986; Lipowski, 1996; MacAuley, 1996; Ryan, 1995; Tofler, 1996). Not only must the treatment of children in highperformance sport be examined, but the behaviors must be evaluated in terms of appropriateness. The ethical issues, as well as potential and actual abuses, must be identified and appropriate changes made to protect children. Ryan (1995) and Donnelly (1997a, 1997b) recommend labor legislation. David (1999) and De Knop (1999) urge the application of fundamental human rights to children in sport. Telama (1999) goes so far as to propose rejecting elite sports for children altogether, since children are unable to make the necessary decisions involved in participating at this level of competition. Parents have universal obligations to protect their children, and adults in general have obligations to protect the innocence of all children (McWhinney, 1997). The concept of the “best interests” of the child goes back to the doctrine of parens patriae, meaning “parent of the nation” (Archard, 1993, p. 111). This tradition holds the State responsible for the

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upbringing—and well-being—of its youth. The welfare of its children is a legitimate interest of the State, “both as current human beings to be cared for and as future citizens who must now be trained for their eventual roles in society” (Archard, 1993, p. 112). The liberal doctrine of western, democratic societies concedes parental responsibility to the child’s own parents. Judicial intervention into the private sphere of the family is justifiable only if “it can be shown that the child is exposed to a serious risk of harm” (Archard, 1993, p. 122). There is no absolute consensus as to what constitutes the best interests of a child, although certain elements may be accepted. Both the parents’ and the child’s wishes ought to be considered, and the child’s upbringing ought to incorporate the child’s age-specific and related developmental needs; parents or guardians need to encourage appropriate autonomy, promote and support academic achievement, foster good self-esteem, and provide age-appropriate emotional support which includes nurturance, expressions of love and acceptance, and support for the child’s interests and activities (Kelly, 1997). The child’s future must also be attended to insofar as is possible, in an attempt to ensure he or she will thrive as an independent, autonomous, self-determining adult. Within the hazardous world of competitive and high-performance sport, where lies a child’s best interests? In the past, athletes have not always enjoyed access to fundamental rights, and justice has not been accorded. Natural justice, or due process, allows a person to know the nature of the accusation made against him or herself, the opportunity to speak on his or her own behalf, and that the tribunal or hearing will act in good faith (Kidd & Eberts, 1982). In the courts of law, individuals are given the right to defend themselves, but athletes have not always had that right. There have been instances where athletes were suspended from teams, or sent home from competitions or training camps, had newspaper reports made about their alleged transgressions, all without any opportunity to defend themselves, and sometimes without even knowing the charges (Kidd & Eberts, 1982). Kidd and Eberts wrote one of the foundational reports on the subject of athlete’s rights. The purpose of their study was threefold: they identified the rights of athletes, examined the extent to which athletes were protected at that time, and made recommendations in two sensitive areas of decision-making: selection, or the awarding of benefits, and discipline, or the withdrawal of benefits. Other than putting forth a recommendation that this was an area for future study, they did not refer specifically to children’s rights in sport. Recognition of childhood as a transitory phase, a period of ongoing development, is essential when considering the rights of children. This means that adults must show awareness and sensitivity in giving children opportunities to develop their autonomy through self-determination. Galasso (1988) recommends this process to be as quick as possible; I disagree. Childhood is a special period of one’s life that can never be recovered once passed. Elements of childhood such as imagination, creativity,

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and even naïveté and innocence should be celebrated as being special. Urging children to develop and mature as quickly as possible will bring on the pressures and responsibilities of adulthood that should wait. Granted, some of these special characteristics of childhood are also those which leave children vulnerable to exploitation and abuse; however, the moral responsibility ought to be on adults to protect children rather than on children to be precocious in the ways of the world before they are truly ready to meet those challenges. Athletes’ rights are predicated on standard civil liberties. Due process, or fairness in disciplinary proceedings, stems from the common law, in addition to statutes. More specifically, when one speaks of athletes’ rights, one refers to: those benefits and protections the legislators and the courts have recognized as belonging to individuals who are members of athletic organizations and recipients of government sport services, or to individuals in similar positions. The latter phrase is important, because in the absence of a clear statute that enumerates all the rights an athlete enjoys, we have to look for them in various places. (Kidd & Eberts, 1982, p. 18)

A number of general principles ought to guide the statement of athletes’ rights, argue Kidd and Eberts (1982). These are “the rule of law” which include the principle of conformity to the law, the principles of sentencing, and “natural justice” and “fairness.” The rule of law states that the conduct of human societies must be based on established rules, and not on discretionary decisions: If people can be judged only according to the law, they must know exactly what it means and what its limits are. Accordingly, the “rule of law” also means that laws must be stated with clarity, that the limits of the law are clear, and that the source of the law is a proper authority or legislative body. (Kidd & Eberts, 1982, p. 19)

The courts have ruled in the past against sporting organizations who have attempted to banish the established judicial system from their jurisdiction, and have denied athletes their rights to natural justice. For example, Kidd and Eberts (1982) discuss an English case (which has been cited as a precedent in Canada) wherein the British Amateur Weightlifters Association had their claim that only they had the right to interpret their own rules overturned. In another case, a report on the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association charged that the Association denied hockey players their rights to natural justice. While the courts have accepted jurisdiction, and have insisted that sports associations follow the proper procedures, Kidd and Ebert (1982) argue that sports governing bodies should implement their own internal appeal processes to avoid the “expense and anguish that can be involved in litigation” (p. 31).

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While it is difficult to pinpoint any one specific right as being the most important, two rights may be identified as girders upon which to base the framework of children’s rights in sport. The first is the right of a child not to be harmed, and the second is the right to self-determination. Following these are a variety of other rights, all of which must keep the first two at the forefront. All of these rights should be enshrined in codes of conduct, to be understood and adhered to by all involved in sport, including other athletes. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UN Convention] (1989) applies in a number of contexts, some of which have been explored in the following listing of rights of children in sport. The right not to be harmed: children are inherently vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by their very nature. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) entitles all citizens to freedom from harm: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice” (Legal Rights, Section 7). Article 3 of the UN Convention holds that in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child should always be a primary consideration. Parents, coaches, and others involved in sport such as governing bodies and federations have a moral duty to protect children from harm, as well as legal duties to safeguard children and athletes in their charge. Child athletes must be recognized as children first, and as athletes second, and treated as such; they have a right to be treated as children, and not as adults. This ties in with the responsibilities of coaches to include thorough knowledge and the application of specific coaching practices appropriate for children. Motivation and intention of coaches, parents, and others involved with children in sport must be examined. Intent is a useful tool for ethical guidance as it may help in establishing acceptable practices within sport, as well as in defining what are not acceptable practices. Intent comports well with a human sense of justice and fairness in relation to acts of harm from acts of beneficence; that is, the coach intends to help the athlete, but the “help” is actually harming the athlete. Identifying and evaluating intent may in turn help in labeling abusive treatment of the child athletes, which may go under the guise of “training” and “preparing” them to be champions. Moral identification may be an effective way of protecting the child athletes by pointing out culpability for exploitation or abuse, and reminding the adults of their duties to protect children. Children must also be protected from themselves, as their enthusiasm and immaturity, as well as their desire to please others, may prevent them from understanding or recognizing harm. Suggestions toward the protection of children in high-performance sport include that “participation should be the child’s idea, not a response to the desires of others, including parents” (Rowland, 1990 p. 242). While the parents or guardians have penultimate responsibility for the child, coaches also have strong moral and legal responsibilities to prevent harm. Children have a right to participate in safe and healthy environments.

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Within the right not to be harmed falls the right to informed consent. This doctrine has been discussed earlier, but it is of sufficient importance to reiterate here. For athletes, “informed consent” means that they must be told about the purposes and risks of physiological and psychological testing procedures, and they retain the right always to refuse or accept the procedures and seek alternatives (Kidd & Eberts, 1982). This right is respected by sport scientists, and must also be respected by team trainers, physicians, physiotherapists, biomechanists, and all others involved with athletes. Furthermore, athletes being tested must also retain the right to confidentiality; they must be given diagnoses first, and must consent to such information being released to coaches, team managers, and others. Article 16 of the UN Convention addresses the child’s right to privacy, including a right against unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation. Another aspect of informed consent relates to training. Athletes do not consider their training a form of medical treatment or physiological experiment. This is true even when training subjects them to intensive aerobic and anaerobic stress, diet and hormonal manipulation, and feradic stimulation (a form of therapy/training with electronic stimulation of muscles). Most regard these practices as a necessary evil of participating at the highest levels of performance. (Kidd & Eberts, 1982, p. 63)

In many ways, coaches, physicians, trainers, and others involved in sport do take considerable liberties with athletes and their bodies (Thomas, 1980). They may ask (or tell) the athlete to change their diet, they may direct the athlete to add or lose weight, they may ask the athlete to train and/or compete while injured, they may persuade the athlete to change their ways of thinking and behaving. Thomas questions these liberties, and asks whether these are uninformed, or uneducated choices. If athletes are being asked to abdicate choice out of coercion or out of their own vulnerability, then basic human rights are being violated. Thus, the requirement in sport is for coaches, sport scientists, and all others involved with athletes, to always respect the athletes’ rights to informed consent, and in the case with the child athlete, to obtain their assent as well as their parent or guardian’s consent. Article 19 of the UN Convention covers the rights of children to protection “from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.” Furthermore, children also have the right to “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health,” as outlined in Article 24. The right to participate at an appropriate level: children need to participate at a level commensurate with their maturity and ability (Martens, 1997). The Code of Ethics of the European Sports Charter (1992) recommends that sports and sports-related organizations ensure that the structure of competition acknowledges the special requirements of the

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developing athlete, and provide an appropriately graded level of involvement. The Code also advises the very young or immature may need rule or equipment modification to meet their special needs, and there should be an emphasis on fair play rather than on competitive success. It also behooves those within the organization who are responsible for the young athletes to ensure coaches and trainers are appropriately qualified and trained to understand and accommodate the biological and psychological needs of the developing child. A further aspect of the right to participate at an appropriate level is the right to proper preparation for participation in sport. Without age- and development-appropriate training programs and competition, children risk injury and other nefarious consequences already discussed. Article 31 of the UN Convention recognizes “the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child.” This is a fundamental principle in relation to children’s participation in sport: first, that children are given opportunities to participate; and second, that these activities are “appropriate” to the age of the child. Many of the concerns about exploitation and abuse in high-performance sport would be alleviated if this right of children were adhered to more regularly. The right to be heard, and for the child who is capable of forming his or her own views, the right to express those views: children should be educated in decision-making skills and the repercussions of their actions so that they become empowered to make decisions affecting themselves, and to accept the consequences of those actions. They have the right to share in leadership and decision making of their sport participation (Martens, 1997). Given that children are progressing through stages of development, the education ought to be age-relevant, and the repercussions manageable. Risks ought to be kept at a minimum, and difficult decisions shared. The coach ought to become more of a consultant or advisor rather than director for this right to self-determination to emerge and be recognized as one of the fundamental rights of athletes in sport. Children should be allowed to determine their own levels of commitment to any particular sport, albeit under the watchful eyes of their parents, guardians, coaches, and other adults involved. They should not be treated as pawns by others who have differing agendas. Children deserve to be children, to act like children, and the right to be treated like children. The right to knowledge: the child has a right to know what they are getting into, what will be expected of them, and what they can in turn expect to receive from the sport. They need to know the level of competition and the training expectations, issues of practice procedures, selection criteria, financial responsibilities, travel arrangements, transfer and policy formation, discipline, and so on (Galasso, 1988). The code of ethics and the organization constitution ought to be explained to all athletes and parents prior to involvement, and each athlete should also be provided with a copy

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of the code of ethics. Children have the right to participate in the decisionmaking regarding their sport participation, and to assent or dissent to issues which affect them directly. Article 12 of the UN Convention covers the right of the child to be heard, to have his or her opinions taken into account regarding decisions affecting him or her directly. They should have a voice in participating, not participating, and even withdrawing from participation in sport. Article 5 is also of relevance to children participating in sport, and that is the right to be provided with appropriate direction and guidance. The right to have an equal opportunity to strive for success: in the interest of fairness and equality, a child must have the opportunity to try out for a team or position to maximize his or her chances of selection. Full criteria for selection must be available before tryouts, and must be explained fully to avoid misunderstandings, and to provide the child the best opportunity to participate at the appropriate level and with the appropriate team or group. There must also be equitable opportunities for girls and boys, men and women, in all sports and at all levels. Article 2 of the UN Convention holds that children ought to be protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment. Articles 13 and 15 relate to freedoms of expression and of association. In sporting situations where the coach directs athletes without considering their views or giving them opportunities to query actions or directives, athletes’ rights—as covered by these articles—are being abrogated. In cases where children are not allowed to spend time with their peers, as in situations where child athletes may be associating only with adult coaches, parents, officials, and others, they are not being allowed freedom of association. The right to properly qualified coaches and leadership: coaches and leaders must be knowledgeable and skilled in their sport as well as with coaching children. They must place the individual above winning. They must provide a physically and psychologically healthy environment for young athletes, and demonstrate awareness and implementation of age-appropriate coaching strategies. They must provide every child with every available opportunity to strive for success on a personal level. Coaches must respect the rights of athletes to consult with other coaches or advisors, and must respect their right to confidentiality. The right to be treated with dignity and respect: the right to be involved in an environment where opportunities for the development of self-respect, and to be treated with respect, is paramount (Galasso, 1988). The coach must use language which conveys respect to the participants, and all others involved in sport, including opponents. The coach must not tease nor taunt any children. He or she must strive to demonstrate respect for all, and be an ideal role model for the young athletes. The coach must respect the wishes and opinions of the athletes. The right to have fun in sport: Most children participate in sport because they think sport is fun (Wankel & Kreisel, 1993). Adults must take care not

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to push their criterion of sports participation on children: the focus must be on the needs of the children. Children should be rewarded for their participation and personal levels of achievement rather than on overt measures of competitive success. Their innate vulnerability and dependence upon adults give children the privilege of rights without the responsibilities of corresponding duties. Furthermore, adults have further responsibilities to children than those mentioned above. Parents have a responsibility to be fully cognizant of what their child does within the sport (Galasso, 1988). They must know what happens during training, and what goes on during competitions. They must ensure that their children are safe during all aspects of participation. They must ensure that the instructors are qualified and are taking appropriate care of their child. It is their responsibility to determine whether their child is being harmed by training and or competition; they must also educate themselves, if necessary, on evaluating the sporting environment and if it is in their child’s best interests to be involved in the sport and at that level. Parents must be stringently aware of the responsibility they give to the coach; that person is charged with the care and to some degree, with the obligation to oversee the development of that child as an athlete, and as a human being. Parents must criticize the coach, and if necessary, the sport, if the child’s rights are being violated, and any proceedings taken on behalf of the child must be free of reprisals (Galasso, 1988). Coaches also have responsibilities to the child, to the athlete, to the parents, and to their sport. They are role models for the children whether or not they wish to be, and thus must behave in ways which set good examples for the young athletes and others involved in sport. They must remember, and behave in such a manner as to demonstrate their respect for the child as a whole person, not simply as an athlete. The coach has a further responsibility to ensure that the child is participating for him or herself, and not through the vicarious needs of the parents. This may be a challenge, as there will be conflicts of interest. The coach must not support or condone unfair play on behalf of other athletes, and must not sanction inappropriate behavior. The coach is also responsible for skill acquisition and technical education of the young athlete. He or she must maintain current professional standards—whether they are volunteer or paid professional coaches—in order to maximize the sporting experience and meet the needs of the children. Sport governing bodies, including officials within the sport, also have responsibilities toward young athletes. Sport and sport-related organizations must clarify and disseminate guidelines on what is considered to be ethical or unethical behavior, and strive to ensure that at all levels of participation and involvement, consistent and appropriate incentives and/or sanctions are applied (European Sports Charter, 1992). They must encourage the adoption of the highest ethical standards in all aspects of society

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within which sport operates, and support all organizations and individuals who demonstrate sound ethical principles in their affiliations with sport. The influence of the highest levels of sport permeates all levels, and thus all involved must be conscious of their authority and power. Children are easily influenced, particularly by sporting heroes, and thus there exists a heavy onus on adults to educate themselves, to conduct themselves appropriately, and to respect the rights of all others. These governing bodies and ruling federations must educate and evaluate coaching practices and experiences of all their athletes. They must ensure that competitions are athlete-centered, and organized for the benefit of athletes first. Governments too have responsibilities to young athletes “to develop and provide a system of justice for children to exercise their rights directly, or indirectly, with the assistance and interest of adults” (p. 338); governments may actually carry the highest moral responsibility for protecting the rights of children in organized sport because they have a responsibility to intervene on behalf of minorities against whom others may be discriminating. They must recognize “the potentially harmful outcomes of sport participation and the measures which must be taken to offset these, and in turn maximize the positive outcomes” (p. 338). Governments must also ensure that the political agendas of the nation do not expose child athletes to harm, as in cases where the drive to be successful in sporting arenas overshadows responsibilities not to oppressively encourage, exploit, or abuse athletes, regardless of their ages. It cannot be overlooked that children themselves do have some responsibilities in sport. These may be minor at a young age, and will progress as the athletes mature. They must be respectful of all others, including fellow athletes, sporting officials, and coaches. This respect may be demonstrated in a variety of ways, including striving to do one’s best, being prepared for training and competition, and cooperating with others. The maxim of treating others as one would like to be treated is as poignant in sport as it is in all aspects of life. Children have rights to participate and enjoy their involvement in sport. Sporting institutions and adults involved in sport must ensure that children’s rights are respected, and must promote concepts of fair play. Fair play is a broad concept which incorporates elements of friendship and respect for others (European Sports Charter, 1992). Fair play promotes responsible involvement in sport by all: parents, athletes, officials, governments, sporting institutions, sponsors, and others. The potential risks of early sport specialization outweigh the potential benefits, and as such, children specializing with the concomitant intensive training and competition at young ages is difficult to endorse (Wiersma, 2000). The best interests of the child, and of the child-athlete, are of paramount importance in sport, as they ought to be everywhere. Some of the normative practices in certain high-performance sports are questionable, and have been shown here to contravene children’s fundamental human

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rights. David (1999), De Knop (1999), Donnelly (1997a, 1997b), Ryan (1995), Galasso (1988), and others have pressed for a reexamination of both children’s sport in general, and of children’s participation in highperformance sport. Some have argued for child labor laws to protect young athletes (Donnelly, 1997a, 1997b; Ryan, 1995), and others for the recognition and implementation of children’s rights in sport (Galasso, 1988; de Smet, 1993; David, 1999). Tofler, Knapp, & Drell (1998) also call for the development of enforceable laws to limit hours of work and training, and for the elimination of “loopholes in law that suggest these working professionals are simply enjoying themselves and having fun” (p. 813). Zaichkowsky (2000) believes that the development of a code of ethics and a comprehensive, mandatory, standardized coach education program, in addition to a monitoring mechanism to ensure accountability, would serve to protect children in sport. Prioritizing the health, safety, and welfare of young athletes before other considerations such as the vicarious achievement, or the reputation of the team, club, coach, or parent is essential. The recognition of children’s rights will spearhead child protection and improve opportunities for athletes from the highest levels of sport down to those at entry levels. The UN Convention may be one of the best frameworks upon which to base a broad social debate over existing traditions within sport today. Additional efforts to curb exploitation and abuse of young athletes may include the development of codes of conduct for athletes, parents, coaches, and fans, in addition to educational programs to ensure those codes are understood and applied. Applicants for coaching positions, as well as others who are closely involved with children, must be screened closely in an attempt to prevent convicted pedophiles from coming in contact with young athletes. Coach and parent education plans are also necessary to teach those involved about the needs of athletes, and of the suitable roles of all concerned. Criteria outlining appropriate and inappropriate behavior needs to be identified and disseminated throughout sport. Children must be recognized as children first, and as athletes second. In their work on sexual abuse and elite child athletes, Brackenridge and Kirby (1997) conclude “unless children are recognized and defined as children within the context of sports they are likely to suffer negative consequences for their legal, civil and human rights” (p. 415). Everyone involved in dealing with young athletes should be aware of these issues, and ensure that children’s safety and security remain the primary objectives of sport at any level. Young athletes should not become sacrificial lambs to a coach’s or parent’s or even a government’s ego; vulnerable children must be protected and nurtured. The UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1989) states explicitly that “childhood is entitled to special care and assistance” in their Preamble, and this directive ought to be upheld. The values of play and learning must be placed before the goal of winning. When children have good experi-

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ences in sport, they will develop a love of sport and physical activity that continues throughout their lives.

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CHAPTER 4

WHEN THE EAGLE MEETS THE CONDOR: A DIALOGUE WITH ECUADOR Carol L. Flake A journey to an unfamiliar place in the world offers the challenge and opportunity of a lifetime to explore and integrate one’s inner and outer experiences. Surrounded by unfamiliar sights, smells, and sounds, one must live life fully present, moment by moment, sinking deeply, richly, broadly into the questions which arise when exploring other belief systems and cultures....There is a subtle change which happens, a change from an attitude of taking when visiting a culture to one of wanting to give back. —Institute of Noetic Sciences (2000, p. 47)

THE PROPHECY OF PACHAKUTEKK There will come a time when the jaguar will return to the Andes. The sun will become fierce and the condor will disappear. At this time, the people of the eagle, los norteamericanos, will come to gain knowledge from the people of the condor, the indigenous people of South America. This knowledge sharing between the peoples of the eagle and the condor will allow for an opening, a doorway in perception, through which humanity can enter a new reality. At this time, a powerful Inka, a sun god, will come to the planet. This powerful Inka will be filled with such great light that a look or a touch can heal. This is the prophecy foretold by the Q’uero, a group of indigenous Quechua people, who ascended to the heights (14,500 feet in altitude) of the Andes in Peru to preserve the wisdom of their ancestors during the onslaught against their culture begun by the Spanish conquistadors and the Catholic Church in 1531 CE and beyond (Handelsman, 2000). I heard 95

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this prophecy from the Q’uero (through translators) in 1996 when I went with Alberto Villoldo to learn from los alta masayoqs (healers and ritual specialists) in Peru. Today the time has come when the prophecy is to be fulfilled. The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer has allowed the power of the sun to severely damage the skin and eyes of humans and other animals on the planet, and the condor is disappearing from the Andes at an alarming rate. Historically, the Inka state was reorganized by a hero called Pachakutekk Inka. To this day the Quechua of Peru and Ecuador speak of a Pachakutekk, as a turning of the world. The European invasion, for example, was referred to as a Pachakutekk (Cumes & Valencia, 1995). Now, at the new millennium, the Quechua predict another Pachakutekk in which great changes will occur. Pachamama, the Earth Mother, is warning humanity that failure to practice the ancient traditions has led to devastation of Earth, her environment, and her inhabitants. Soon, material pursuits and money will be worthless say the Quechua, “City dwellers will have only their money to eat.” But if humanity begins to heal Pachamama, we can begin to heal ourselves. If this happens, this Pachakutekk “will herald the new era when there will once again be light, peace, love, and caring on the planet” (Cumes & Valencia, 1995, p. 78). What might we find on the other side of this Pachakutekk, this doorway in perception, this global mind change (Harman, 1998)? Is there a chance that we can address global inequalities and end the global destruction of our habitat and the capitalistic consumerism that is gobbling up the resources of the planet and impoverishing families and children predominantly in the Southern hemisphere? Will we realize in time that what is now happening to the poorest people in the poorest countries—the hunger, the disease, the poverty, the anarchy (Kaplan, 1996)—will eventually spread to the entire planet? What lessons can the people of the eagle and the condor learn through dialogue with each other? To allow the larger questions to emerge challenges one to search deeply for answers. The task is to be open, to live, sometimes uncomfortably, as close to the edge as possible, with a sense of sacred exploration, to be a pilgrim to a sacred space within oneself. (IONS, 2000, p. 47)

To gain some insights into the answers to my questions I traveled to Ecuador for six weeks in June and July 2000, at the dawning of the new millennium.

ECUADOR: THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD Ecuador, which takes its name from the Spanish word for equator, is an extraordinarily beautiful South American country situated between Colom-

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bia and Peru. La Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world), where the measurements were taken in 1736 to demonstrate conclusively that this was the equator, is just 22 miles north of Ecuador’s capital city of Quito. The small country about the size of Colorado has 12 million inhabitants and is characterized by dramatically different terrains and remarkably diverse plant and animal life. In fact, Ecuador, a tropical country, is one of the most species-rich countries in the world (Rachowiecki, 1997). Marching down the middle of the country, serving as its backbone, are the Andes Mountains, called La Sierra by locals and nicknamed “the avenue of the volcanoes” by German explorer Alexander von Humboldt, who visited Ecuador in 1802. Quito, the capital of the country, is home to about one million people and is located in the northern Andes at about 9,000 feet above sea level, making it the second highest capital city in the world after La Paz, Bolivia. El Oriente, the Amazon region characterized by beautiful rainforests— which are being cut down at an astonishing rate—and extraordinarily diverse plant and animal life, is to the east; La Costa, the Pacific Coast region is to the west. In addition, the “Enchanted Islands,” the Galapagos, are a part of Ecuador lying about 1,000 kilometers to the west. The privileged ruling class of Ecuador is typically of European descent, Roman Catholic and Spanish speaking (Handelsman, 2000). Unfortunately, “government policies and a rigid class system have, more often than not, excluded the majority of Ecuadorians from meaningful participation in the decision-making process or in the distribution of resources and services” (Handelsman, 2000, p. 18). Ecuador is actually a highly heterogenous country, truly “un pais plurinacional,” with ten different indigenous groups speaking nine languages making up 38% of the population of the country and with Ecuadorians of African descent making up from 5–8% of the total population. In fact, Ecuador is made up of Ecuadorians of varied decent characterized by conflicting agendas: The conquerors against the conquered, the powerful against the powerless, the literate against the illiterate, the rich against the poor, and the ruling elite against the masses exemplify, in one fashion or another, a continuous clash of cultures in which the mastery of language has determined whose version of history would prevail. (Handelsman, 2000, p. 2)

“Muchos problemas en Ecuador!” asserted the matriarch of mi familia en Ecuador on the day I returned from an intense weekend experience camping and hiking in the rainforest. Feeling pleased with myself that I understood her, I replied, “Económicos?” “Si,” she responded, “y social y politicos y educacionales!” I heard her make these remarks more than once during my six weeks in her home. Inflation was rampant and the dolarization of the country (only two months old at the time of my visit) was causing deep dissatisfaction with the current government, even among the relatively well-to-do families such as the one with which I lived. In fact,

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Ecuador currently “finds itself in an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions, a crisis that in the past would have led to military coups and political chaos” (Handelsman, 2000, p. 20). Seventy percent of the population is in dire poverty, children frequently drop out of school to work or to beg for food, and the indigenous people are typically the poorest of all. This crisis is reflected in a mass emigration from Ecuador with several million people each year abandoning their homes and families to seek a better life in another country.

REFLECTIONS ON BECOMING A GLOBAL CHILD ADVOCATE It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community—a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth. —Thich Nhat Hanh

A postmodern perspective does not allow for grand narratives or universal principles. The process of deconstruction has undermined much of what we once “knew.” Personally, I have focused predominantly on developmental psychology, educational practices, religious studies, and women’s studies in my professional life and I do appreciate what is being done to call into question our canons of knowledge in all these fields. But I think I am too much of an idealist ever to be satisfied in this postmodern era. My work could be described as constructive postmodernism. I want to work with others to figure out where we are and what might be done to improve the human and the planetary condition. A “grand narrative” emerging from the important work of Ken Wilber (1996) has informed my understanding of the process of personal spiritual evolution, and of the transformational process of becoming a global child advocate. Wilber suggests that in the process of spiritual evolution we shift from an egocentric perspective (focused on personal needs and desires), to a sociocentric perspective (focused on the needs and desires of our family and community members), to a globalcentric perspective (focused on the human rights of all people on the planet and on the health of the planet itself, including the plants and animals). The most advanced stage in Wilber’s formulation is that of the boddhisattvic perspective. The bodhisattva (Buddha, Kwan Yin, Sai Baba, Amritanandamaya, the Dalai Lama, Jesus Christ, and so on) is an enlightened being who has attained nirvana and has escaped the wheel of life. A bodhisattva, however, is so compassionate that she or he will continue to incarnate again and again until the entire world, including every blade of grass, is enlightened. Wilber’s suggestion that we can evolve spiritually from an egocentric to a sociocentric to a globalcentric to a boddhisattvic perspective makes ulti-

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mate sense to me. My grandmother, my mother, and my sister all stayed focused on the sociocentric perspective. Their love and attention centered around their children, their family, and the people in their community. I remember a song from my days in Sunday School which embodies a globalcentric perspective: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black, and white, all are precious in His sight.” As Southern Baptists, there always was a world mission emphasis, but this focused predominantly on “saving the world for Christ” not so much on living like Christ in the world. I have attempted to move beyond a sociocentric perspective to a more globalcentric perspective. Other global child advocates must achieve this shift. World travel is a key catalyst to promote the shift from sociocentrism to globalcentrism. It is difficult to learn the lessons of the world without experiences in the world community. I am increasingly guided by intuition as this transformational process unfolds. When I saw a sign on the University of South Carolina campus advertising a six-week cultural immersion experience to study the language and culture of Ecuador, I knew that I must once again travel to South America to learn from the people of the condor. My earlier experiences while studying shamanistic practices (Villoldo, 1990, 1992, 1997) with the Q’uero of Peru gave me some insights about what the people of the eagle could learn in dialogue with the people of the condor. The Q’uero believe that no philosophy or theory is worthwhile unless you can grow corn with it. Q’uero alto masayoqs had ritually “planted a seed of corn” in my “luminous body” and this seed of corn was drawing me back to South America. During my time in Ecuador, I placed myself in the tenuous position of a person who does not know Spanish (or any of the languages native to Ecuador), attempting to survive, and perhaps thrive, while learning a new language. The requirements of the trip were that participants should have at least two years of college Spanish. I had studied Spanish for only one semester in college and that was thirty-five years ago. Fortunately, the Spanish professors sponsoring the trip made an exception in my case when I told them that my main objective was to continue my development as a global child advocate. As our small Continental Express plane lifted from the ground at the Columbia, SC airport on its way to Houston, my sense of fear and excitement created an interesting emotional blend. On the one hand, I looked forward to visiting another country—always an enriching experience. On the other hand, my lack of ability in the Spanish language was extremely intimidating. My previous travels abroad had been with guides who served as translators. This trip required that I speak the language. I began the trip with the idea that I would learn more about global children’s issues and how to address them, but my planned interactions with the staff at the Instituto Nacional del Niño y la Familia (INNFA), a government-sponsored child advocacy agency in Ecuador, would be hampered by my lack of flu-

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ency. So much of what I knew and needed to know could not be communicated with my limited language skills. I asked myself, “What is it that I am to learn about global child advocacy from my dialogue with the people of the condor?” This question served as the focus for my personal research agenda during my 6-week stay in Ecuador.

OUR CULTURAL TRANCE Women openly breast feeding children in the markets, at bus stops, and while standing on the roads begging; very dirty, very young children standing in the narrow medians of busy streets begging from the taxis and cars as they pass; old and crippled people begging in front of the churches; beautiful long stemmed roses being sold for 50 cents a dozen; lush greenery and flowers in parks scattered throughout the city; surrounding snowcapped mountains, some of which are active volcanoes; and crowded marketplaces filled with people selling boiled corn, steamed clams, fruit, and clothes of all descriptions. These are some of the sights that greeted me on my first days in Quito. It has been said that for three or four days upon entering a new culture you wake up. After about four days in the culture you habituate and go back to sleep. I am not sure about the timing of this since, even after I was in Ecuador for a week, I continued to toss used paper into the toilet rather than into the trash can. As aversive as fishing it out the first time was, I should have learned this lesson quickly, but I was clearly on automatic in terms of toileting habits. My continuing attempt to awaken from the cultural trance of los estados unidos has led me to travel in India, Greece, Bali, and Peru. In none of those places is it appropriate to toss paper into a toilet because the septic systems are not designed to handle the globs of paper, but no matter how I focus, I still do it. I am aware that it is not at all typical to discuss one’s toileting habits in a formal paper, but these habits do illustrate what is important in this discussion. We become so socialized to our own cultural practices that we are in fact in a trance. The way we live, our habit patterns, seem to be right—no matter what the focus of our attention. By the time we enter adulthood, we have established such strong habit patterns that we are asleep. Waking up is necessary for spiritual evolution and for addressing the global problems confronting child advocates today. We have intervened so much in the evolution of other species. Our privilege as relatively wealthy western people in the northern hemisphere must be deconstructed as we focus on personal and planetary development and become co-creators, rather than creatures, of evolution. Several aspects of our cultural trance are especially bothersome. How can we continue our conspicuous consumerism when there are children in the world who are starving or dying from the lack of food and simple med-

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ical attention? How can the countries of the world continue to maintain a territorial imperative and spend their money disproportionately on bombs and implements of global destruction rather than focusing on the basic needs of the children and families of the world for food, shelter, education, and work?

GLOBALCENTRISM AND A DIALOGIC PERSPECTIVE When cloth and clothes made in Indonesia are found in Otavalo, a market in Ecuador famous for its indigenous crafts, it is clear that a global economy has emerged on our planetary home. And yet, we have barely begun to solve local problems. How can we globalize ethically? In small communities we knew each other, our families knew other families, and we tended to treat others ethically as a result. In a global economy we can take economic advantage of the anonymous other and we can live with enormous global inequalities without triggering that sense of a troubled conscience. Globalization and its benefits and evils require ever-widening multiple perspectives to formulate ethics for an emerging world view and to address the attendant problems. Once we attend to multiple perspectives, our own constructions of reality are threatened. An egocentric perspective results in a defensive posture as we protect and hold on to our sacred cows. A sociocentric perspective allows us to begin to expand our world view as we take into consideration the perspectives of our family members and our friends. Globalcentrism requires that we stretch ourselves again and again and again—beyond the breaking point of our cultural trance. Many perspectives have emerged (Holquist, 1990; Swidler, 1984; Vygotsky, 1978). Each of these perspectives emphasizes the social nature of learning. Bakhtin has emphasized the importance of dialogue in and with texts and cultures for expanding our knowledge base and our consciousness (Holquist, 1990). One of my main objectives in trekking to Ecuador was to dialogue with a different culture. Through dialogue with people, texts, and cultures we construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct our world views which eventually results in a shift from egocentrism to globalcentrism. Community building at the local level is an important foundational element for the development of globalcentrism. Multi-faith dialogue (Swidler, 1984), begun in many communities around the world and reaching its zenith at recent World Parliaments of Religion (Chicago in 1993 and South Africa in 1998), has been one arena that has seen the development of guidelines for interacting effectively with culturally and religiously diverse people (Flake, 2000). One place where I have participated in conversation is in “Partners in Dialogue,” an interfaith dialogue group in Columbia, SC. We base our discussions on the principles of interfaith discourse set forth by Leonard Swidler (1984). We should have an exchange of ideas to learn, not to convert or to judge. We should compare practices to practices and

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ideals to ideals. We should listen carefully and sensitively to others and should state only our own position from our own perspective while listening to the perspectives of others. These strategies that help us begin to deal with religious and cultural pluralism throughout the world may also serve to inform the work of those who seek understanding among the pluralistic ethnic groups in Ecuador. In the next section of this chapter, I share some of the lessons that I learned in dialogue with the people and culture in Ecuador. My belief is that the world community must seriously attend to, rather than ignore, Ecuador and other third world countries. As Ecuador experiences economic, political, and environmental crises resulting in serious trauma for Ecuadorian children, families, and communities, the rest of the world must reach out to support and to learn from her people. Just as the miners carefully watched the canary placed in the coal mines to determine whether there was enough oxygen present to support life, the distress of third world countries at this time should be a call for immediate caring action in the entire world community.

LESSONS FROM THE DIALOGUE While all ideas are subject to attack, one’s personal experience—what one has actually seen and heard and felt in the course of a journey—is impregnable. —Kaplan (1996, p. 36)

Elliott Eisner (1991) discusses qualitative and quantitative research methodology and emphasizes the importance of “the enlightened eye.” Just as a wine connoisseur can identify and evaluate subtle characteristics of a fine wine that most of us would miss, so too can an individual trained in an educational or cultural practice identify and evaluate aspects of that practice that an untrained eye would miss. It is with 30 years of professional experience, and with 56 years of personal experience, that I arrived in Ecuador to reflect on global child advocacy. My work has consistently emphasized child development, family relationships, educational and religious practices, and women’s studies. With an eye enlightened by this professional and experiential knowledge base, I began my dialogue with Ecuadorian culture, learning what I could about my own culture during the dialogue. Because of my language deficiency, I was forced to take in information through all of my senses in a different way than usual to compensate for my preferred learning modalities of reading and listening. Following are some of the themes that emerged as I engaged in a dialogue with Ecuadorian culture.

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LA FAMILIA Pictures in the hall of el apartamento grande where I lived during my time in Ecuador reminded me of my own family. In one picture, the matriarch and patriarch are surrounded by their children, five daughters and two sons. Now the daughters and sons have their own families and these successive generations are depicted in separate photos. My grandmother and my mother also had “halls of ancestors” which contained pictures of our family members and their husbands, wives, and children. My daughter and I are continuing the family photo tradition, but the elders of my family have passed on and the family has scattered. Living in this extended family in Ecuador, where teenage grandchildren, adult sons and daughters, cousins, and friends drop by on a regular basis, brought tears to my eyes as I remembered what had been lost in my family and in other families in the United States. With our increased mobility and wealth we have increasingly emphasized the nuclear family and individual autonomy but we have lost community and family solidarity and a safety net for children and sick and elderly family members. We have gained increased individuation and financial wealth but we have lost something else that is uniquely human. Urie Bronfenbrenner, one of my greatest teachers, emphasizes the importance of the ecology of human development (1979). He asks the question, “Who is caring for our children, and the old, and the sick?” Emphasizing the important roles of the family and the school in “teaching children to care,” Bronfenbrenner decries the alienation in the United States that leaves people feeling disconnected and alone. From my short time in Ecuador I cannot generalize that the family here is in better shape overall than the family in the United States. When I attended a high school graduation with my relatively privileged Ecuadorian family, the speakers emphasized the strength of the Ecuadorian family and the importance of keeping it strong. It is true that family is very important in Ecuador, just as it used to be in North and South Carolina, where I’m from. It is apparent that when children have a strong family network that shares resources such as quality time, meals, a community computer, and beloved family members that teach necessary skills, the sense of alienation is reduced and a safety net is provided. However, in the family where I lived, one son and his two children live thirteen hours away from Quito, and the children of several people I met have relocated to Spain or to the United States to seek out a better economic situation, so the very strong extended family may be gradually diminishing in strength in Ecuador as it has in the United States.

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LA EDUCACIÓN BILINGÜE The grandchildren in my family in Ecuador speak fluent English. One grandson, at age 19, has been studying English for 14 years. A cousin, who recently completed a semester of study at Boston College as part of her undergraduate degree from Catholic University, has studied English since she was three. None of the students from the University of South Carolina who participated in the trip to Ecuador with me speak Spanish as fluently as the grandchildren in this family speak English. We are doing a great disservice to the children in our culture when we do not prepare them to communicate with people from other cultures. Our government emphasizes the importance of preparing our children to compete in a global economy but we have not begun to do that until we create multilingual educational programs. Whether or not capitalistic consumerism is our objective, our children must become bilingual, and preferably multilingual, to engage in peacekeeping missions and to become effective global problem-solvers.

EDUCACIÓN Y ECONOMÍA Although elementary school in Ecuador is ostensibly compulsory, about 50% of children actually drop out of school before sixth grade and 50% of those who continue in school after sixth grade drop out prior to completing secondary school. Posters produced by the Ecuadorian INNFA, emphasize that the work of children is “la escuela.” Yet I saw children preparing pineapples for sale in the streets or helping their mothers wash clothes in streams by the side of the road, others offered to polish shoes or sold ice cream at tourist spots and in the streets, and others carried farm produce along the side of the road or created necklaces out of seeds or shells to sell to tourists. Compare these images of children as producers with those of so many children in the United States who are seen exclusively as consumers by our advertising industry with television as a major vehicle for this indoctrination of a significant aspect of our cultural trance. There must be a balance somewhere. I certainly support education for children and do not want to see them begging in the streets or removed from school to work for pennies. However, being a producer is so much better for individual mental health than being a consumer. Children’s productivity may be measured through their art or the stories they write or through the music they produce or through gaining knowledge in school, but the focus on consumerism in the United States is designed to create a sense of need that can never be satisfied. On our weekend excursion to the rainforest, I saw the young men in our group help to move a newly-built dugout canoe from the trees on which it was propped into the water. It took all of their strength and ingenuity to launch this boat and when they

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had completed the task you could actually see their pride in the work they had done. A great deficit in los estados unidos is the lack of important work for our children and youth. The growing role of service learning initiatives in young people’s education in the United States is an important attempt to address this deficit.

DIOS ES AMOR Catholicism is the main religion of Ecuador; the indigenous peoples were “converted” to Christianity through the religious fervor of the Spanish conquistadors and the priests who followed them dating from the sixteenth century. Because of my commitment to multi-faith dialogue and a religious pluralistic perspective and because I was engaged in this experience of cultural immersion, including an immersion in the language and culture, I joined dos señoras de mi familia at the early mass on Sundays. El Sanctuario de San Gabriel is a very modern sanctuary with a contemporary design; very open and light with skylights and beautiful stained glass. El padre de mi familia en Ecuador was the architect who designed the building. There is so much in traditional Catholic theology that I disagree with, for example the prohibitions on women in the priesthood and their stance on birth control. And yet there is so much with which I do agree. Following is the preliminary statement on the bulletin for one Sunday entitled “Conocer a Dios” (To Know God): “Las lecturas de hoy nos presentan claramente la consigna del amor como el programa prioritaria de los cristianos. Amamos o no amamos?” (Today’s readings display clearly the sign to us that love is the high-priority program of the Christians. Do we or do we not love?) That is the main priority of Christians. I agree that practicing love for one another is our most important priority no matter what religion we practice or ethical stance we take. La misa was beautiful, very heartfelt. And I could not help but notice the large attendance at the service and the prominent role that children were taking in its presentation. Four young people provided music, beautiful in its simplicity, throughout the entire service. Two girls sang to the accompaniment of two boys who played the guitar. Children (both girls and boys) also aided in the preparation and distribution of the sacramental bread and wine. Young people took the offering. I was touched by the entire experience and gratified with the focus on love and the excellent religious training being provided for the children and adolescents. The service ended beautifully and we walked out as a group. All among us looked away from el niño, the young street urchin, who was begging for money at the gate when we passed through. The same was true at the churches that I visited on a bus trip to El Centro, the old part of Quito. I, along with others, walked past the old woman, the old man, the disabled young woman dragging herself along the grounds, and the children beg-

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ging from the worshipers. Riding to the Universidad de las Americas on the first day of my studies, I saw two women begging. One, with her baby strapped across her chest and with most of her teeth missing, looked with pleading eyes as she tapped on the window of the taxi. The driver and the other passenger ignored her and I tried to also, but the energy of the emotional pleading was so strong that I could feel it. The young woman continued approaching each car at the inbound light. Another woman, working the outbound lane of traffic, also had a child strapped across her chest. This child was about 18 months old. Both mothers were in an equally dirty and disheveled condition. These sights of women and children and old people begging in the streets continued throughout my six weeks in Ecuador. I am not judging anyone here except perhaps myself. If we are truly living a message of love, how can we not give what we have to help others? How can we not become another Mother Teresa? How can we justify our privilege in the face of the extreme poverty evident in the world today? Didn’t Christ, Buddha, and Amritanandamaya give what they had to the poor? And are we willing to go to that extent in our quest to become global child advocates?

THE UGLY AMERICAN I met the Ugly American at the only bank in Quito that I could find which would cash travelers checks. He was standing behind me in a very long and slow line. In my own attempts to become more globalcentric, I was trying to remain particularly sensitive to cultural differences and the relative privilege that we enjoy in the United States. However, I inadvertantly triggered this man’s venom when I commented to a Southern Baptist missionary standing in front of me that the Ecuadorian economy (inflation is so serious that one U.S. dollar brings 25,000 sucres; and the President of the country has declared that the U.S. dollar is to become the legal money for the country) could not begin to improve unless the process of changing money could be speeded up. The missionary had been at a previous bank where I had attempted to get checks cashed and he, too, had been sent away with no cash but with directions to this particular branch of the bank where change would be given. The Ugly American teaches history at the American School, a school for the children of American citizens. He began to criticize all aspects of life in Ecuador. I was extremely embarrassed while he talked on and on. Many others were standing in line with us and the line moved slowly. I can only hope that the others in line understood English at the same level than I understood Spanish! I would think that a history teacher would be a bit more culturally sensitive than this man. He complained about the increasing violence in Ecuador and described various situations in which friends of his had been

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ripped off. He talked about how Ecuadorian people push forward in lines and about how the woman behind me was pushing ahead of me. He commented that the children he taught had maids to do everything they needed and that this was causing them to be spoiled. He said he would not get a maid because he was convinced they would steal from him. On and on and on he went. I wanted to drop through the floor. When we are guests in a country other than our own, dialogue is more important than critique. A dialogue requires an openness to learn from other people, other cultures, and other religions rather than to condemn them. In previous experiences in American schools in Singapore, Korea, and Mexico City, I have found teachers who are committed and culturally sensitive. This man should have had his passport revoked until he gained a more globalcentric perspective. Unfortunately, I began to see that I was also being the Ugly American in more ways than one. For example, rather than walking three blocks to the bus stop and flagging down the public bus each day to get to school and back, I walked half a block and flagged a taxi. The public bus cost 30 cents each way while the taxi cost 80 cents. So, each day I spent an extra dollar or 25,000 sucres to reduce my stress in being in a new culture. By taking a taxi, I avoided walking to the bus stop and trying to figure out which bus to take and where to disembark. This amount of money goes a long way in Ecuador. One day at school I bought a very large fruit salad, a container of yogurt, a bottle of water, and a cup of hot tea for one dollar. I could have given the dollars I would have saved by taking a bus to the poor people begging in the streets or to a charity to feed the poor. They would have stretched the dollar even further than I did when I made my purchases at school. Instead, I accepted my privilege as a white professional woman from a wealthy country. I am not proud of this choice, I just felt overwhelmed by the extent of the poverty and didn’t know where to begin. I did not want to engage in what Friere (1970) calls “false charity” and do more to disempower the poor than to help them.

LAS MUJERES Y LOS INDIGENOS Fortunately for my research agenda, la profesora of my language and culture class was from an old family in Quito; one of her ancestors was a wellknown lawyer. She truly loved her country and was very knowledgeable about its problems and their origination. She was active in the women’s movement in Ecuador for many years and had an intimate knowledge of women’s issues and of the women involved in the movement. She read this paper and provided her own insights into my writing and reflections on the dire straits of the women and indigenous peoples. She described for me the work she had done with women and the conclusions she had reached,

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and provided me with a great deal of information on issues confronting women and the indigenous people. From her perspective the Ecuadorian women are very brave, responsible, and work very hard. They are taking things into their own hands because they know the government will not do the important things that need to be done to solve the very real social problems in the country because of corruption. This situation reminds me of a conversation with Parker Palmer (1998) who has conducted an extensive study of social revolutions. His view is that a social revolution begins when a situation that has been bad becomes even worse. Those people who have been oppressed by a punitive system will tolerate only so much before they decide that getting out of the “box” is less punitive than staying in it. In this way, increasing corruption and oppression actually fuels a social revolution as more and more people step outside of the box, or the oppressive social situation, and begin to talk to each other and join together to form the social revolution. This particular phenomenon is observed in the human rights demands from the well-organized CONAIE, Confederacion de nacionalidades indigenas del Ecuador, a coalition of indigenous people who have been historically discriminated against in Ecuador, resulting in extreme poverty and a lack of education and other resources including such basic needs as food, potable water, and appropriate shelter. CONAIE focuses on establishing negotiations and developing consensus among diverse grass roots organizations to establish a human rights agenda. In 1990, CONAIE presented 16 points that must be addressed by the government of Ecuador to provide for the human rights of the indigenous people. Some of CONAIE’s demands are as follows: • Ecuador should be declared a plurinational country. • Problems related to potable water and other necessities such as electricity must be addressed. • Respect for the human rights of children must be a priority. • Bilingual education must be provided. Gradually, the power of the indigenous people is being felt in the country. Many Ecuadorian women and, disproportionately the indigenous and Black populations, are illiterate, primitive, and are not able to provide coherent arguments for what they need, but they see what needs to be done and they do it. One of the things that the women have done is to gradually attain homes for themselves. Another is to organize child development centers to care for the children of working women in their communities. This work is supported in part by INNFA. The Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio (FEPP), is a charitable nongovernmental organization that works to promote the development of indigenous communities with a special emphasis on women and children. In the final

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two sections of this paper, I will describe the important advocacy work being done by the people who work within these two organizations.

INSTITUTO NACIONAL DEL NIÑO Y LA FAMILIA (INNFA) INNFA focuses on addressing the rights of children as established by the United Nations (1991). The Programa de Desarrollo Infantil (the Infant Development Program) is one of INNFA’s six child advocacy initiatives. It is an independent organization that supports child development centers for children from six months to six years of age whose families demonstrate financial need and whose mothers work outside of their homes. The communities must establish the centers and apply for support from INNFA. The expectation is that the centers will be self-sufficient with support coming from INNFA. In this manner, INNFA serves 44,000 preschoolers through 1,000 preschool centers in Ecuador with 110 of these located in Quito. The plan is to eventually serve 120,000 preschoolers. At my first visit to INNFA, I met with Tamara, one of the directors of the “Programa de Desarrollo Infantil.” Through a translator, she described the work they are doing and asked me to provide suggestions about their curriculum development and assessment initiatives. I learned that their curriculum recommendations and assessment strategies are similar to those used in the United States. In fact, a project approach, much like the one recommended by Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard (1989), is the curriculum that has been adopted from UNICEF. The curriculum (Bravo, 1999) is subtitled, “We play and we learn throughout the year.” I told Tamara that I had brought books to leave with them on the project approach in which preschool children work and learn directly from projects in their classroom and local environment (planting a garden, preparing a meal for parents, and so on) and developmentally appropriate practice (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997) which is a curricular approach in early childhood programs requiring that the child’s developmental abilities serve as the foundation for curriculum development and implementation. Tamara explained that INNFA has two budgets, one for programming and one for food. The money is obtained through a governmental tax on imports and exports. INNFA works with the World Food Organization, UNICEF, and the World Food Plan. Recently INNFA has signed an agreement with UNICEF to reach even more children and to provide help for mothers who are pregnant and who have recently had children. They also receive donations from the community where the centers operate and have obtained help from the Golda Meir Institute. We planned for me to visit six of the child development centers that INNFA supports in Quito so that I would know the situations that exist. The largest center that I visited with Patricio and Anita, the male/ female INNFA team that provides support for the centers, currently serves

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120 children and the smallest about 20. Charts of developmentally appropriate practices (Bredekamp & Kopple, 1997) were on the walls of the centers and I observed mothers working as caring teachers and cooks preparing healthy food. But, by child health standards in the United States, the children and settings were unbelievably dirty, though the lack of water, heat, and appropriate shelter for bathing coupled with cold temperatures makes this a necessary reality. Two of the centers had the doors of the classrooms locked and all of the children either were outside or banded together at lunch and I wondered why. The children are privileged in comparison with the children begging with their mothers in the streets but there is so much work that needs to be done. INNFA provides training for the mothers to provide effective care giving and nutritional meals, weekly support and supervision, and small financial stipends to support nutritional and educational programs. The focus is on three axes of children’s development: (1) the personal (self esteem and interpersonal skills); (2) the immediate environment (science, math, space, time, and ecological concerns); and (3)expression and creative communications (arts, writing, speaking, painting). Patricio and Anita were very clearly a strong support for the child development centers. They checked the lesson plans and talked to the women preparing the food. They are proud of what has been accomplished but can see the need for so much more. Now that the centers are in place, they need a physician to visit each center to provide health checkups. I was so very sad that I was unable to assist in any way to provide financial support for these needed medical services. INNFA is desperately in need of more resources to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. I was surprised to see pink-skinned children appearing in art projects, on wall displays and in mobiles while children at the center were dark skinned. Disney world themes appeared most frequently on classroom walls. One center had Snow White, another had Alice in Wonderland, and another had Woody Woodpecker. My heart went out to the community members who had painted the murals on the wall. There was such a contrast between the “Magic Kingdom” and the world in which these children live. I didn’t appreciate the Disneyfication of the world and of children’s centers. These Ecuadorian children are unlikely to ever visit the Disney Kingdom and I questioned the conspicuous consumerism promoted by the entire Disney project. I was very happy to see one center which featured beautiful indigenous art with flowers and decorations that looked as if they had been painted by a community artist. I recommended that the curriculum and art of the centers be consciously designed to reflect the Ecuadorian culture of the children in the centers. I wanted to see the local stories, customs, and art used in the curriculum rather than the Disney stories. In visiting a third world country, one’s own privileges come into focus (Fox, 1996). When I see what is being done in INNFA, my role as a professor seems distant and removed from what is happening in the world about

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which I write and theorize. I know that the international experiences that I have had have informed my teaching practice, including the classes I have taught focusing on women in society, curriculum development, and research in early childhood education. I hope that the information that I have shared and the conversations that I have had with Ecuadorian women have helped to support them in the work they are doing. There are several forms of service—one is through direct action and the other is through teaching those who need to learn, and yet all of this seems like rationalization when I see the extreme poverty and need of the Ecuadorian families and children.

DEVELOPMENT IS THE NEW NAME OF PEACE El Desarrollo es el Nuevo Nombre de la Paz (Development is the new name of peace.) This motto appears on the calendar for the year 2000 produced by FEPP as it advertises with pride its thirty years of service to the poor. I was introduced to FEPP by Ivonne, the sister-in-law of my Spanish professor in Quito. About seventeen years ago, Ivonne left her job as an accountant with a bank in Quito and moved to Riobamba in the province of Chimborazo to work with FEPP because, “I wanted to do something more with my life.” Although FEPP is not a religious organization (it is funded by charitable donations from The Netherlands, Germany, and so on), its founder was inspired by Vatican II. Liberation theology emerged from Vatican II as the Catholic Bishops and Priests in South America began to walk their talk and to live the message of Christ in the world. In liberation theology, Christ is seen as an advocate for the poor and the oppressed (Flake, 2000). A major inspiration for the work Ivonne does is Monseñor Leonidas Proaño, a well-known liberation theologian, who lived in Riobamba before his death. Known as “brother, pastor, and prophet,” Proaño was totally committed to the indigenous people and could speak to them in their native language of Quechua. Ivonne told me about her work with las mujeres indígenas near Tíxan. I noticed from the books on her shelves that we have much in common. Her shelves held books by Paulo Friere, Carlos Castaneda, and others focusing on education, religion, indigenous cultures, and women’s issues. She explained that she is ecumenical and has been interested in the relative impact of the Catholic and Protestant churches on the indigenous people. Although Ecuador is predominantly Catholic, there has been a missionary effort by conservative Protestant churches in the past decade or so. At first there were fights between indigenous Catholic converts and indigenous Protestant converts. The fights seem to have recently evolved into dialogues. The Protestant groups have done three things: (1)they translated the Bible into Quechua, (2)they addressed the serious problem of alcoholism in the indigenous communities, and (3)they demonized the practices

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of the indigenous people—their clothes, their fiestas, and so on. With the Catholic Church, the indigenous practices of worship of the natural world, Pachamama, the trees, the stars, the mountains, and so on were often continued with a thin veneer of the Catholic tradition. For example, the solstice festival (June 21) was very important in the native cosmology so it was blended with the Catholic festival of San Juan on June 24. The indigenous people were able to retain their cosmology along with the Catholic tradition. The Protestant churches do not allow for that. Ivonne lives in Riobamba but she keeps an apartment in Tíxan so that she can be closer to the indigenous villages near there. She expressed concerns about three major problems confronting the Quechua women: (1) identity/self-esteem, (2) land, and (3) extreme poverty. A tremendous number of the children must drop out of school to help obtain food for their families. Ivonne’s project focuses predominantly on the women. She introduced me to María, an indigenous woman who was educated with the support of FEPP and who speaks both Quechua, primarily an oral language, and Spanish. María works with Ivonne in the program to educate the indigenous women. After shopping in the Riobamba market for provisions, María and I returned to her house, a small, dirty, one room concrete building which she shares with her five-year-old son, a cat, and a dog. Two pigs live in the small yard and while I ate soup with María even the pigs wandered in to examine the stranger in their midst. After lunch, María and I packed our food in a back pack and a bag and walked about one mile to catch a bus to Tíxan. In Tíxan I reviewed several books produced by FEPP for the education of the indigenous people. One focused on violence against women. It emphasized that violence could be “violencia física, violencia sexual, or violencia psicológica.” Another book was written in basic Spanish and Quechua with cartoon-like illustrations. It described how to give medication to animals—orally, intravenously, rectally, or vaginally. These books illustrated how basic information necessary to maintaining the lifestyle of the very poor indigenous people could be conveyed at the same time that basic literacy skills are being developed. At 5:30, María, her son, and I got in the oldest, most ramshackle pick-up truck imaginable with a very talkative and kind driver. We drove on an undriveable road over rocks and bumps and through ruts and puddles to the top of a very high mountain near Tíxan. We arrived at the indigenous community in time to meet the village “educator” and to walk to the fields with the educator’s wife to examine the crops. Much of the work of FEPP focuses on developing agricultural sustainability and basic skills of literacy built on the foundation of the work in agricultural. Eight or nine very small children with big brown eyes, very dirty hands and faces, dressed in small colorful ponchos, silently followed us everywhere we went. The word was obviously getting out in the community that we had arrived.

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After about an hour of visiting the fields and the people we entered the classroom and waited for the lights to be turned on. Eventually the women came, one by one, until about 15 women, mostly ages 17 or 18, were seated on benches around the table. Quiet, dirty, adorable children lined the walls. The “educator” led the women in an amusing movement activity in Quechua. I couldn’t understand it but I participated anyway. The evening’s class focused on reciting and writing the alphabet. From several days of conversations and visits to the indigenous communities with Ivonne and María I developed a deep appreciation for the work that they are doing. I asked Ivonne how she continues her work when there is so much to be done. She said that she receives so much in return from the results they are having in building the self esteem of the indigenous women. I could almost see the light of consciousness dawning on the faces of the women as María taught them in Spanish and in Quechua. She and I communicated as well as we could in Spanish. I shared about my life in the United States and she shared her life with the indigenous communities. At our final meal together, María summarized our experiences in her remark, “Dos mundos diferentes!” (Two different worlds!) Our global problems related to child advocacy are complex and interdependent. The smattering of Spanish throughout this biographical narrative reflects my growing, but still minimal understanding of the language, the culture, and the social concerns that I experienced in Ecuador. It also exemplifies how little we can know about other cultures as we begin to decenter from our own. I asked the two Ecuadorian natives who were teaching me courses in Spanish and Ecuadorian culture to read this narrative as it neared completion. Both complimented me on my attempts to gain an understanding of a complex culture that is currently suffering from a severe economic and social crisis. I cannot be satisfied with the overly deconstructive stance of this postmodern era. Child advocates should attempt to figure out where we are and what might be done to improve the human and the planetary condition. And then we must take action. Many worthwhile programs are being implemented in Ecuador and in other countries around the world. For example, the Programa Muchacho Trabajador (PMT), the Working Children’s Program, is a program designed to improve working children’s conditions and environments in Ecuador. The work is funded through UNICEF and the Central Bank of Ecuador and it is organized around the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The work follows the formulations of Paulo Freire (1970) as the children begin to dialogue about their rights and become their own rights advocates. In 1985 the children voted to work for a year against maltreatment at all levels—the family, the community, the school, and the country. Later there was a sensitizing phase to awaken children to environmental concerns such as the pollution of the drinking water. María Fernanda Espinosa (1997) says:

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I believe more in community development...to stop being so patronizing, in that paternalistic North/South way, and to start recognizing that communities and especially children can do a lot themselves to make healthy change. I don’t want to be prescriptive, but I believe that the only way to go is to work collaboratively in constructing self-reliant, politically critical and self-reflecting children and neighborhoods, especially among subaltern social sectors and communities. (Schwab & Espinosa, 1997, p. 67)

Individuals should get to know other cultures by learning about their traits. Global inequalities require that we evolve as child advocates beyond egocentric perspectives to globalcentric perspectives. International experiences, especially in third world countries, are catalysts for this transformation. The strengths and wisdom of all the world’s people are called upon as we begin to address the critical human and environmental issues emerging in third world countries characterized by extreme poverty. As we break free from our cultural trance through dialogue with others and become more globalcentric, we must work together with respect and humility as a world community to address the global inequalities that are confronting us today. My sincere prayer is that the knowledge sharing that occurs in the dialogues of the people of the eagle with the people of the condor will lead us to the Pachakutekk that is prophesied by the Quechua people of Peru and Ecuador.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Yvonne and Sky Moore for their vision and their commitment to child advocacy. It is through their financial support that the Moore Child Advocacy Endowed Chair was established in the Early Childhood Education program at the University of South Carolina.

REFERENCES Bravo, L. (1999). Tilín tilín tintero: Juego y aprendo el año entero. UNICEF/Ecuador: Ministerio de educación y cultura. Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (Eds.) (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs, rev. ed. Washington, DC: NAEYC. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Coles, R. (1993). The call of service: A witness to idealism. New York: Houghton Mifflin. CONAIE. (2000a). Achievements of the indigenous movement. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://conaie.nativeweb.org/conaie3.html. CONAIE. (2000b). Indigenous plurinational mandate. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://conaie.nativeweb.org/conaie9.html.

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Cumes, C., & Valencia, R. L. (1995). Pachamama’s children: Mother Earth and her children of the Andes in Peru. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications. Eisner, E. (1991). The enlightened eye. New York: Macmillan. Flake, C. (2000). Multifaith perspectives on global child advocacy. International Journal of Educational Policy, Research and Practice,1(1). Fox, M. (1996). Confessions. New York: Harper Collins. Freire, P. (1999). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Publishing Company. Handelsman, M. (2000). Culture and customs of Ecuador. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Harman, W.W. (1998). Global mind change: The promise of the 21st century. Sausalito, CA: Institute of Noetic Sciences. Holquist, M. (1990). Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world. London and New York: Routledge. Institute of Noetic Sciences. (2000, May). Travel Program. Connections, 47. Kaplan, R.D. (1996). The ends of the earth: A journey to the frontiers of anarchy. New York: Random House. Katz, L.G., & Chard, S.C. (1989). Engaging children’s minds: The project approach. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Company. Palmer, P. (1998). The courage to teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rachowiecki, R. (1997). Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands: Lonely planet travel survival kit. Australia: Lonely Planet Publications. Schwab, M., & Espinosa, M.F. (1997, Fall). Working children in Ecuador mobilize for change. Social Justice, 24(3), 64–67. Swidler, L. (1984). The dialogue decalogue: Ground rules for interreligious, interideological dialogue. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 20(1). Villoldo, A. (with E. Jendresen). (1990). Dance of the four winds: Secrets of the Inca medicine wheel. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books. Villoldo, A. (with E. Jendresen). (1995). Island of the sun: Mastering the Inca medicine wheel. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books. Villoldo, A. (1997, Winter). The Inka elders return in May, 1997. The Four Winds Society News, 10(1), l. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. United Nations. (1991). Convention on the rights of the child . New York: United Nations. Wilber, K. (1996, Fall). A more integral approach: A response to the ReVision authors. ReVision 19(2), 19–24.

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CHAPTER 5

CHILD ADVOCACY AND ITS APPLICATION TO EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY Deborah Eville Lo and Tata Mbugua A trip to the market A trip into the pearl gray morning sunlight That settles over Washington A trip to the market A trip around the world Where the evening meal Is negotiable, if there is one. —Paul Simon, The Coast

INTRODUCTION Policymakers around the globe are increasingly concerned with the widening wage and productivity gap between highly educated workers and those with less schooling. Both government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have spent millions of dollars on an array of school reform and job training initiatives to reduce this inequality. If they had been asked, 117

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educators could have told the policymakers that the greatest potential for positive impact was in the arena of early childhood education. Recently, both economic and educational research has validated what educators have always known: “Early learning begets later learning and early success breeds later success just as early failure breeds later failure” (Heckman, 1999, p. 5). The extent to which early childhood programs produce long-term benefits in children’s cognitive and social development has been a source of some controversy. Early studies seemed to indicate that any developmental gains achieved in early intervention programs were washed out over the long run (Bronfenbrenner, 1975). This had the effect of dampening the interest of international donors in funding early intervention programs. More recent studies, however, have shown long-term benefits in school achievement, grade retention, placement in special education, and social adjustment (Barnett, 1995; Boocock, 1995; Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993; Haveman & Wolfe, 1995). Throughout the world, enrollments in preschool and childcare programs are rising (Boocock, 1995). Additionally, some researchers have begun to look to the future and are predicting increasing demand for early childhood care and education programs while the needs of the children to be served will become increasingly diverse (Hernandez, 1995). Given proven benefits and increasing demand, it is important that we think about the quality of programs that will serve young children and their families.

CHILD CARE AND EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM In July 1999, approximately 100 representatives from the professional community around the globe met in Ruschlikon, Switzerland outside of Zurich for the purpose of sharing experiences and expertise on the quality of early childhood education programs serving children, their families, and their communities around the world. Although there were multiple goals associated with the international symposium of professional educators, the primary goal was the drafting of a set of Global Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care. The World Bank identifies four major areas in which countries have initiated programs to promote children’s physical and mental development. They are: (1) delivering services to children, (2) training teachers, (3) educating parents, and (4) educating through the mass media. These are roughly mirrored by the Symposium Goals.

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Symposium Goals • To develop a set of basic international guidelines or standards for programs serving children under the age of six. • To advocate for global recognition and status for those who work as teachers and caregivers of young children. • To explore means of increasing global awareness of the need for early childhood education. • To construct an annotated listing of the guidelines or standards used in nations around the world for programs serving children under the age of six. Guidelines developed by symposium delegates are not meant to replace intact national documents that are serving the needs of children and families in their communities. Rather, because the guidelines were developed with the hope that they would be useful to all nations, including developing ones, the documents were developed to address basic issues important to providing early childhood educational experiences. These standards are less comprehensive and less specific than many existing documents, but provide a basic, minimum level of practice in the care and education of young children. They reflect strong developmental practices that are considered essential to the optimum development of young children. The achievement of higher standards should become a goal once basic international guidelines are met. The standards and guidelines we present represent the hard work of many dedicated professionals and should serve as an overall rubric under which nations can fit their own culturally relevant and specific rules and regulations. The hope is that the guidelines will be useful to those nations which are beginning to establish policies about the settings for the care and education of young children. Delegates to the symposium were chosen by OMEP and ACEI in consultation with other professional organizations and intergovernmental agencies. Delegates were chosen for their expertise in the arena of early childhood education and for global representation. Cooperating agencies, such as UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Bank were represented by delegates of their own choosing.

Criticisms of the Symposium The Symposium, and most particularly the goal of developing international guidelines, has not been without its critics, most notably, Peter Moss of the United Kingdom. We summarize and hopefully accurately capture Moss’ objections as voiced in his address to the delegates at the 1999 symposium in the following set of short statements:

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• Quality is a relative concept, based on the values and beliefs of a community. Further, the purposes and projects of early childhood institutions are not self-evident, but can be many and varied. Therefore, the notion of defining quality is in itself problematic. • Defining quality is a process—the process is important in its own right and should not be short-circuited. Providing opportunities to share, discuss, and understand values, ideas, knowledge, and experiences should be an on going process. A set of international guidelines is a potentially static document impervious to change. • The process of defining quality should be participatory and democratic. International guidelines, almost by definition, privilege the views of some while excluding the views of others. Regardless of how carefully planned the convening of a symposium panel, it is not possible to hear, respond to, and bring to consensus all of the potential voices having a stake in the education and care of young children. • The needs, values, and perspectives of community members may sometimes differ. According to Moss, “We cannot discuss early childhood institutions without discussing what might be called broader ‘good life’ questions, such as what do we want for our children . . . and what is a good childhood.” Global guidelines cannot possibly be inclusive of all cultures and views. • Defining quality should be seen as a dynamic and continuous process, involving regular review and never reaching a final objective statement. Moss seemed to imply that devising a definitive set of guidelines was an invitation for complacency. There is much merit in Moss’ criticisms. Quality is certainly relative. Further, quality is a social construction open to multiple interpretations even within the smallest and most homogeneous of groups. Therefore, quality, by definition, must be participatory and on going. However, it is our contention that the professional community cannot allow the difficulty of the task to become paralytic. To do nothing—to remain silent and refuse to raise our professional voices in advocating for high standards in education and childcare—is to implicitly give our approval to practices which may be less than optimal and may, in some cases, be harmful to the world’s children. The organizers for the International Symposium on Early Childhood Education and Care for the 21st Century recognized the need for the democratic process early on. Although we agree that it is not possible to bring together all of the world’s voices and varying perspectives, a great deal of time and thought went into inviting participants from around the globe. The organizers were cognizant of their responsibility to ensure that voices from as many perspectives as possible contributed to the process of developing standards and, therefore, exerted great effort in recruiting professionals from as many cultures and backgrounds as possible. As delegates labored to develop a set of international guidelines, several important

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insights were noted. The delegates, regardless of religion, nationality, or culture, were strong advocates for children and their families. Their shared visions for the world’s children included the involvement of families and communities in the care and education of children; coordination of resources, including community; and a strong belief in the equality of services for all children. (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999, p. 2)

Delegates were devoted to what Paul Hazard, noted French man of letters, once referred to as the “universal republic of childhood” (Hazard, 1944). While Hazard was specifically speaking of children’s lack of concern for boundaries and difference in their search for experience, the same case could be made for symposium representatives. As they worked toward developing guidelines, they began to see the world’s children as a shared responsibility as well as a shared resource. The most important aspect of the Symposium was that representatives from the global professional community worked together to reach consensus on the most basic components of childhood education and care, and while their developing views may not have been democratic by the most strict definition of the word, they were not undemocratic by any definition. The global representation of delegates is graphically displayed in Figure 1. In addition to inviting participation at the symposium, professionals and academicians from around the world were encouraged to submit position papers from which symposium participants would work when writing the standards. While all of the symposium goals are worthy goals capable of ultimately improving the lives of children and their families, in this chapter we will concentrate primarily on the first symposium goal which is to develop a set of basic international guidelines or standards for programs serving children under the age of six. Meeting goals two through four are accomplished in the writing of the guidelines as well as in the dissemination of those standards.

CHILE

PERU

ARGENTINA

VENEZUELA COLOMBIA

CUBA

SPAIN

NIGERIA

SWITZERLAND ITALY

GERMANY BELGIUM

U. K.

SOUTH AFRICA

KENYA

ISRAEL

OMAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

NEPAL

HONG KONG

SINGAPORE

MYANMAR

AUSTRALIA

TAIWAN

JAPAN

Figure 1 Global Representation of Delegates to the International Symposium on Child Care and Education in the 21st Century

U. S. A.

CANADA

FINLAND

NEW ZEALAND

122

SWEDEN

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Categories of International Standards or Guidelines Categories evolved over multiple planning meetings and with the input of professionals around the world who wrote position papers and stayed in touch with Symposium organizers on a web site dedicated to the Symposium objectives. These professionals, many of whom were not able to attend the Symposium, should be commended for their effort and dedication. Ultimately, the categories that evolved were: • • • • • •

Environment and physical space. Curriculum content and pedagogy. Early childhood educators and caregivers. Partnership with families and communities. Accountability, supervision, and management. Services for young children with special needs.

Before presenting the standards written to facilitate and help ensure developmentally appropriate early childhood education and care programs, we will discuss the categories chosen for standard writing and their importance. We will then present a summarized version of the standards themselves.

Categories for Development of Guidelines and Their Importance Environment and Physical Space The physical environment of the early childhood setting should be safe, demonstrate concern for the physical well-being of the child, and provide for intellectual stimulation and social support of the young child (Jalongo et al., 1999). Beyond that, it should be understood that the physical arrangement of the environment in early childhood settings and the materials available largely determines what happens there (Beaty, 2000). We often hear politicians and policymakers say that children are the future. Stated another way, the future may be determined by what we give our children today. “The future that our children can lay claim to is determined by what we give them both internally and externally—internally with respect to capacities and values and predispositions to behavior, and externally with respect to the resources and limitations of the physical environment” (Caldwell, 1999, p. 39). Given the understanding of the crucial nature of providing for our children, simple causal logic would lead us to expect adequate funding for education. Unfortunately, what is logical is not necessarily policy. UNESCO’s World Education Report (1998) calls our attention to the fact that an analysis of worldwide trends in public expenditure since the end of the Cold War finds little evidence that education has

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benefitted from cutbacks in defense spending. “Teachers are still waiting for evidence of a ‘Peace Dividend’ in the form of increased resources for education,” says the report’s chief editor John Smyth (1998, p. 1). Teachers in the poorest of the developing nations face dire shortages of everything from water and electricity to textbooks (UNESCO, 1998). Given uneven funding patterns for early childhood education, and our understanding of the sometimes duplicitous nature of politicians and policymakers, guidelines regarding environment and physical space need to be developed for early childhood care providers. Curriculum Content and Pedagogy While we accept that good preschool experiences cannot close the achievement and income gaps in the world, we believe that they can narrow those gaps and increase the standard of living and quality of life for a significant number of children. Primary education is associated with a variety of social and economic benefits to citizens of developing countries. Completion of preschool programs is associated with increased success in primary and secondary education. Skills attributable to schooling are many and diverse. They include the generalizability of knowledge, selectivity in using information, and independence in work habits (Rogoff, 1980; Triandis, 1980). In addition, primary education is associated with decreased fertility and more appropriate infant and child care practices among mothers of young children (Birdsall, 1980; Levine, 1980). Unfortunately, not all programs are successful in providing these benefits to their students, and curriculum and pedagogy may be radically different depending upon the context of a particular situation. Hopefully, the use of child development as a shared language as well as the guidelines developed in this section educators, health providers, and parents will be able to develop child care curriculum and pedagogy that facilitates the development of children regardless of geographic location or political, religious, or economic context. Early Childhood Educators and Caregivers The world’s 57 million teachers lack the resources and support they need to work effectively, warns UNESCO’s recently released World Education Report (1998). Almost 40 years later, many countries still have not fully implemented the recommendation concerning the status of teachers adopted in 1966 at a special intergovernmental conference convened by UNESCO and the International Labor Organization (ILO). The recommendation provides standards for teacher training and employment. In developing countries, an increasing number of teachers have completed secondary education, but a significant number still have not. Their mean age is also significantly lower than that of teachers in industrialized countries.

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Partnership with Families and Communities Many specialists in the field of early childhood development have concluded that parent involvement has a significant impact on the quality of education and care their child will receive (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Powell, 1989). Involving families in the education of young children helps ensure that family members are familiar with their child’s progress and enables them to reinforce what is done at school. Research has validated that the most successful preschool programs involve the young child’s family in his or her learning (Gomby et al., 1995). Unfortunately, in a great deal of the world, parental care giving is focused on survival. It is estimated that 13 million children die every year of preventable malnutrition and disease (Murkowski, 1994), and in 1998 HIV and AIDS killed approximately 510,000 children under the age of 15 (Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization, AIDS epidemic update: December 1998). Given what we know about the ameliorating effects of parent involvement on preschool education, we must find ways to involve parents all over the world in their children’s preschool education. This involvement may take the form of early intervention programs designed to help educate parents for optimal decision-making in regard to their children’s health and education. Accountability, Supervision, and Management Even in the most industrialized countries we must ask ourselves if we value quality child care enough to, not only adequately fund child care initiatives, but also monitor those initiatives. A recent study of 401 child care facilities in four states in America found that only 14% of centers provided services of high enough quality to support children’s development. The research team judged 12% of the facilities to be of a quality so low that they were actually harmful to children’s development (Cost, Quality, and Childcare Outcomes Study Team, 1995). How does this happen in the wealthiest nation in the world? To prevent this in the future, high-quality, longitudinal assessments must be integrated into basic program designs with evaluation conducted both internally and externally. Services for Young Children with Special Needs It is not coincidental that preschool education in many countries is part of the public health program. Protecting the health of young children through programs designed to meet basic needs for food, shelter, clothing, and health care is a wise investment for any country given the proven benefits for human potential. The early years of life are critical to subsequent development and behavior. However, special needs will always exist even in communities where basic needs are met and health care practices are optimal. Considering the many ways in which young children may be placed at risk in their development—congenital conditions, maternal health, and drug and alcohol exposure to name only a few—we must think about pro-

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gram guidelines in terms of accomplishing two goals: (1) the prevention or reduction of disabilities in young children, and (2) the facilitation of appropriate development in young children with special needs.

Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care in the 21st Century Each standard’s area is preceded by a short introductory paragraph drafted by each of the working groups. Despite the commonalities and shared visions noted above, arriving at statements of agreement was an enormous task complicated by national, cultural, language, and personal differences. Even the commonalities were expressed in unique ways. The assignment of priorities was also somewhat contentious. Working groups are congratulated for their hard work and patience. While we endeavored to remain true to the intent of each working group, the standards themselves are summarized in narrative form to facilitate readability.

THE STANDARDS Environment and Physical Space The young child’s learning environment must be physically and psychologically safe. Physical safety includes the need to protect the child from health hazards that inhibit the child’s ability to learn and develop. The need to address the child’s psychological safety implies that the overall environment should instill a sense of belonging and well-being for all children. The physical space should be organized to provide a variety of learning experiences for all children of different races, gender, ethnicity, or special needs. Resources within the environment should reflect the cultural experiences and traditions of the children and families using the setting. Overall, the safe environment should empower the child by providing opportunities for exploration, play, and practicing life skills (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999, p. 6). A safe environment and physical setting for young children involves four specific universal guidelines. First, the environment and physical space should be free from hazards including unsafe equipment, pollution, and violence. Second, the environment should promote basic sanitation, safe and nutritious foods, potable water, adequate ventilation, and should provide good health practices. Third, the environment should provide a sense of well-being, belonging, security, and freedom from fear. Fourth, the equipment and physical structure should be regularly maintained and cleaned. The young children’s environment must be developmentally stimulating. There should be opportunities for positive child-child and child-adult

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interactions. The environment should stimulate children to play, explore, and discover. The environment must be aesthetically pleasing and attractive to the child, with a variety of colors, textures, surfaces, visual dimensions, and perspectives. The outdoor play equipment must provide a variety of movement possibilities while offering opportunities for children to engage in active play. Opportunities for the creation and extension of play such as constructions, gardening, natural habitats, and walking paths must be included in the environment as well. There should be an abundance of materials that promote problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity for children with different talents and abilities. In the area of effective organization, the environment should contain materials for children to construct their own playthings. These resources should be from the child’s local environment and should include readily available natural materials. The available space should be effectively organized so that materials for play and artistic expression are readily accessible to the child. Provision of all these resources helps to ensure that children and their families participate in the creation and organization of an evolving environment.

Curriculum Content and Pedagogy Early childhood curriculum includes experiences, routines, and interactions that occur in each child’s day, in group settings, and in family care. Curriculum is a plan that reflects an educational philosophy and provides guidelines for interactions between educators, caregivers, and children who carry out the plan. The child is the heart of the curriculum. All children are competent and their learning must be rooted in experiences appropriate to their developmental levels and cultures. A quality early childhood curriculum is focused on the whole child and considers physical, cognitive, linguistic, creative, social, and emotional growth. The ultimate goal of an early childhood curriculum is to produce more competent, caring, and empathetic world citizens. Curriculum provides the link between learning and development and results in the following benefits for young children: • • • • • •

A sense of trust. A personal identity and sense of mastery. A positive self-concept and resilience. Skills in communication and literacy. Skills in collaboration and social responsibility. Understanding, appreciation, and acceptance of responsibility for the environment. • Development of human values and capability to deal with moral dilemmas and implement nonviolent solutions to problems.

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• Development of critical thinking to solve problems and make decisions. • Skills, attitudes, and imagination necessary for construction of their own knowledge of different aspects of the world. • A sense of identity and pride in their own cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds, as well as respect for diversity (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999, p. 7). The curriculum document is a plan that must exist for the purpose of fostering children’s learning and development. Further, the plan should be flexible yet comprehensive in its orientation to the child, family, and the cultural context. Young children are active contributors to the curriculum. Hence, the content of the curriculum should be such that it gives children the opportunity to master information and practice the skills that they need in order to function effectively in society and should emphasize content that is connected to real-world experiences and expectations of families and communities. In regards to pedagogical methods, educators and caregivers must possess a basic understanding of pedagogical principles and use those principles to develop a supportive teaching and caring relationship with children. It is understood that an expansive repertoire of methods upon which educators and caregivers can draw is essential to the process of designing curriculum that recognizes the children’s own learning strategies and which supports the learning of every child. Learning materials used in the curriculum should reflect local and natural materials as resources for teaching and learning as much as possible. These include but are not limited to art, music, dance, and drama. Use of local or indigenous materials helps to ensure pride as well as having the added benefit of being cost effective and readily available. It is important that we maintain the integrity of each child’s culture. At the same time, adequate curriculum materials and equipment appropriate to each child’s special needs must be available. Assessment should occur in two areas, assessment of the individual child’s progress as well as evaluation or assessment of the program. First, the child’s strengths and assets should be recognized in assessing individual progress. In addition, progress must be monitored in an on going fashion and shared with parents and families in appropriate ways. Early childhood programs should be evaluated regularly using criteria that consider the overall contributions and relevance of the program to every child and the society. The program should be comprehensively and continuously evaluated in terms of its attainment of local, regional, national, and international standards for excellence in the care and education of young children.

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Early Childhood Educators and Caregivers Educating and caring for young children is one of the most important and demanding responsibilities that an individual can assume. It is crucial that educators and caregivers possess appropriate characteristics for assuming those responsibilities, knowledge, and skills related to the developmental level of children, and knowledge of effective programming (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999, p. 8). The knowledge and performance of the early childhood educator or caregiver is predicated on a number of factors. The educator or caregiver should have knowledge of child growth, development, and learning and be able to apply that knowledge to practice. In addition, the educator or caregiver should be knowledgeable regarding the of use of space, materials, and time in order to adapt them appropriately to the needs of the children. In order to implement an effective program using a variety of learning materials in support of the individual learner, educators or caregivers must communicate effectively with children, colleagues, and families, while working collaboratively and in partnerships with others. In effect, the educator or caregiver must actively reflect on his or her practice and make appropriate changes. The personal and professional characteristics of the early childhood educator or caregiver should include personal characteristics that demonstrate caring, acceptance, sensitivity, empathy, and warmth toward others. She or he should exhibit a personal commitment to lifelong learning and be an advocate for children and their families. The moral and ethical dimensions of the early childhood educator or caregiver should include respect for the child, the child’s culture, and family practices. Ideally, the early childhood educator or caregiver should be courageous in acting on behalf of the child and advocating for the protection of children and their families. She or he should be able to frame moral and ethical responses and transcend the immediate issues to formulate proactive plans in support of all children.

Partnership with Families and Communities The care and education of children is a shared responsibility among the family, educators, caregivers, and community. Within the family and community, all participants share an ethical and moral responsibility to promote the optimum conditions for the well-being of children. The way in which opportunities are provided for family involvement is crucial to the success of an early childhood program. The program policies should promote partnerships and positive, constructive relationships with families and the community. Families should also be provided opportunities to participate at different levels based on their strengths and life expe-

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riences. The program policies should support the development of positive, constructive relationships between educators, caregivers, and children; between children; and between educators, caregivers, and families. In effect, these policies should provide support for families, either directly or through links with other community resources (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999). Communication with families is an essential component of partnerships with families and communities. Information about the philosophies, policies, and procedures is shared in a variety of ways. There must be ongoing discussions and conferences between educator, caregiver, and families concerning the child’s progress and other issues of concern in a language understood by parents. When feasible, opportunities should be provided for children to become familiar with the setting and for educators and caregivers to become acquainted with the families prior to a child’s participation in the program. In addition, resources must be available for families to support child development and learning. Partnerships with families and communities involve moral and ethical responsibilities and behaviors, especially procedures for the protection of children. Confidentiality of information about the family and about individual children must be protected. At the same time, moral, spiritual, and ethical experiences in the curriculum should reflect and promote the values of families and communities to the greatest extent possible. These experiences should foster self-esteem and self-confidence in all the participants in the setting. An early childhood setting is inclusive when educators and caregivers exhibit respect, tolerance, and acceptance for all forms of diversity, including culture, ethnicity, age, language, religion, gender, social economic status, family composition, and special needs. Opportunities should be provided for ongoing training of educators and caregivers to enhance knowledge and understanding about issues of diversity. Diverse materials and strategies in the early childhood setting should encourage participation and engagement of families with diverse characteristics. Transition of children from home to the early childhood setting is sometimes traumatic. Therefore, a focus on transition strategies is essential and information on expectations and curriculum must be disseminated to families prior to beginning the program. Ideally, opportunities should be provided for children to become familiar with the setting, educators, and caregivers prior to the beginning of the program. In this way, connections between home and early childhood setting are encouraged and maintained. Opportunities for family and community participation must be provided in a variety of culturally sensitive ways. The representation of family and community representatives in the observation of program activities and volunteer activities is important to the success of the child and the program. Volunteering might include assisting in the classroom, contributing parental expertise to the setting when feasible, or enabling families to con-

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struct educational materials for use with children. Families and community representatives should participate as advisers and decision-makers. Activities and materials should be subsequently provided to help families support learning at home. Inter-professional collaboration for purposes of providing support for families in need is also important. This collaboration should be established with appropriate community and government representatives including psychologists, social workers, health visitors, businesses, public services, schools, religious groups, leisure services, and family associations.

Accountability, Supervision, and Management Young children and their families have a right to equitable access to services. Children are entitled to quality early education services; therefore, accountability mechanisms need to be community-based, open and easily understood by participants, respectful of diversities and multiple perspectives, and should foster active participation of families and the community. Approaches to supervision and management must address the following: • Enhancing the relationship between the educator, caregiver, and children. • Providing a professional climate that encourages competence and pedagogical practice. • Enhancing the sense of shared partnerships between early education and care programs, families, and communities. • Fostering, to the greatest extent feasible, local and regional decisionmaking regarding early care and education policies. • Ensuring high quality services to children and families. • Ensuring the well-being of all children as a shared responsibility of the government, community, professional organizations, families, educators, and caregivers (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999, p. 13). Standards for Accountability, Supervision, and Management were written in four interrelated areas. They are policies for quality standards; service delivery; professional associations for educators; caregivers and policymakers; and the responsibilities of educators. Policies to ensure quality are important and should include government expenditures for young children that are adequate for the provision of quality services and the supervision and monitoring of programs. In order to facilitate adequate government participation, there must be clear, identifiable legislative and executive structures (e.g., government ministries

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and parliaments) and collaboration among and across different levels of government for establishing policy and jurisdiction. While the participation of governments is essential, the importance of families and community cannot be overlooked. Therefore, there should be concrete mechanisms for solicitation of input from the community, families, and professionals responsible for the education and care of children. These would include processes and mechanisms for determining community expectations, establishing community-based dialogue about the needs of children, and community-wide assessment of programs and services. These, in tandem with quality research concerning implementation of early education, will lead to informed decision-making and policy development. In delivering services to children and their families, care must be taken to make sure that standards for quality are derived from research, past professional practice, and goals for ensuring the future education and wellbeing of the child. To that end, policymakers must work to ensure that teachers and childcare workers have adequate professional training and qualifications to carry out their responsibilities. Further, resources must be available to support families in meeting the needs of their young children, to support program services, and to support educators in meeting the needs of children. To help guarantee this standard, mechanisms should be established to ensure that community resources are coordinated and are shared among programs. Professional associations can play an essential role in supporting the establishment, continuity, and assessment of quality early education and care programs. These associations should seek to increase their influence by ensuring that they are represented on significant government committees and are in a position to influence decisions regarding governmental policies and programs. The production and dissemination of recommendations and position papers to be incorporated into laws, regulations, and accountability systems is an important role for professional associations. Effective alliances among professional associations can consolidate strength and resources helping to make this goal a reality. Professional associations can further influence quality in early childhood education through the dissemination of research; the development, review, and evaluation of high quality educational materials; and the facilitation of networks which make available information and contacts for individuals and groups to secure funding for appropriate projects and activities. On a more local level, educators are responsible for planning and implementing high quality early education and care programs in partnership with parents and community. On going educational opportunity is of paramount importance. Thus, information and referral procedures to other community programs and services and procedures to support children’s transition to formal schooling must be established.

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Young Children with Special Needs Children with special needs are those with impairments, disabilities, and illnesses; risks associated with developmental delay; or exceptional abilities or talents. In order to develop to their potential, these children require support services beyond those that are considered sufficient for the development of their same-age peers. Their special needs may be due to a wide variety of factors, including: • Genetic factors (e.g., recognized syndromes). • Biological and health-related factors (e.g., poor nutrition, prenatal drug exposure, low birth weight, vision problems, or hearing problems). • Neurological factors (e.g., learning disabilities). • Psychosocial factors (e.g., mental and behavioral disorders). • Sociocultural conditions (e.g., bias based on race, ethnicity, language, immigration, or refugee status). • Particular environmental conditions (e.g., abuse, neglect, extreme poverty, or trauma). Children’s special needs may range from those requiring minimal attention to those requiring extensive modifications or services. The concept of special needs is socially constructed, and because each society is unique, each will develop a meaningful concept of special needs, identify gaps in services, and develop a plan for attendant services provisions. However, all societies should: • Concentrate on providing funding and other resources to adequately meet these needs. • Finance ongoing program development, implementation, and evaluation. • Create and enhance societal acceptance of children with special needs. • Organize pre-service and in-service professional training for teachers and other service providers to cater to all levels of special educational needs. • Support families and communities in coping with children’s special needs. • Emphasize early identification and intervention (World Organization for Early Childhood Education, 1999, p. 11). The working group on young children with special needs identified seven areas for nations to work toward in serving all children. Identified areas include access and equity of services, basic health and nutrition, common philosophy and aims, staff and service providers, adaptations to

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indoor and outdoor environments, service delivery, and responsiveness to individual needs. Access and equity of services among all the world’s children continues to be a major concern. Policymakers should include equal access and equity standards in public policy to ensure that all children have access and equity irrespective of their gender, income, community, religion, ethnicity, language, or cultural affiliation. Making information about opportunities for access and equity of services available to all groups through culturally relevant and effective media channels will help to make this goal a reality. Basic health and nutrition of the world’s children is another leading concern. The incidence of special needs can be reduced through policies and funding for informing parents, educators, and caregivers about proper nutrition and health practices. The provision of accurate and timely educational programs to parents and community members also enables appropriate decisions about children’s health care and education to be made at the local level. Once a special need has been identified, a multi- or trans-disciplinary team should be convened. The team would be composed of the parents and staff responsible for meeting the individual child’s needs. The team should include an identified person for planning, coordinating, and monitoring the delivery of services through a written, individual plan that requires review and revision on a regular basis. Ideally, at least one staff member or service provider in a setting will have the skills necessary to identify the special needs of children. Staff members and service providers need to serve at least two functions. They must provide needed services while also acting as an advocate for the child with special needs. The role of advocate includes, among others, the establishment of ongoing relationships with families, community agencies, and policymakers in collaborating to meet children’s needs. All staff members must be responsive to the individual needs of each child. In order to be considered responsive, they must demonstrate awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the developmental, cultural, religious, and gender variables associated with the special needs children they serve. Ideally, staff and service providers facilitate acceptance and inclusion of all children regardless of differences in developmental level, culture, religion, or gender. Services, to the greatest extent possible, should be delivered within an inclusive environment of special needs children and non-special needs children. As part of that inclusive environment, families should be involved in decision-making, planning, delivery, and assessment of services. It is hoped that inclusion at the school level will facilitate the active inclusion of the child with special needs in the life of the community. However, it is recognized that inclusion may require adaptations to the indoor and outdoor environments. Special adaptive equipment and materials and a modifica-

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tion to the ratio of adults to children, which allows the individual needs of all children to be met, may have to be incorporated.

CONCLUSION Time has demonstrated that early experiences have a profound influence on children’s long-term learning and social outcomes. What does this mean in terms of early childhood education and care for the 21st century? “Current policies regarding education and job training are based on fundamental misconceptions about the way socially useful skills embodied in persons are produced” (Heckman, 1999, p. 4). The investment in early childhood programs must increase if we truly want to narrow the gap between the haves and have-nots. Schools and professional educators have a clear stake in facilitating programs that will impact childcare and education. Research suggests that when children experience a high-quality, early care program, they are much more likely to succeed in school. The guidelines we presented here were not developed in the spirit of prescription or dictatorial hierarchy. Rather, they are modest in nature and are meant to be useful to administrators, educators, and government and non-government agencies in those nations just beginning to establish policies about the settings for the care and education of young children. In the 21st century human capital is a larger component of wealth than is land (Heckman, 1999) and it is in our own best interest to find ways to help ensure that the youngest members of our world have an opportunity to be educated for the challenges ahead. These guidelines are one small step toward that goal.

REFERENCES Barnett, W.S. (1995). Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes. In R.E. Behrman (Ed.), The future of children: Long-term outcomes of early childhood programs (Vol. 5, #3). Published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Beaty, J.J. (2000). Skills for preschool teachers (6th ed.) NJ: Merrill. Birdsall, N. (1980). Population and poverty in the developing world (Staff Working Paper No. 404). Washington, DC: World Bank. Boocock, S.S. (1995) Early childhood programs in other nations: Goals and outcomes. In R.E. Behrman (Ed.) The future of children: Long-term outcomes of early childhood programs (Vol. 5 #3). Published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Retrieved, [online]. Available: http://www.futureofchildren.org/ to.htm Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (1997). Developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood programs. Washington, DC: National Association fro the Education of Young Children.

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Bronfenbrenner, U. (1975). Is early intervention effective? In M. Guttentag & E. Struening (Eds.), Handbook of evaluation research (Vol. 2, pp. 519–603). Beverly Hills: Sage. Caldwell, B. (1999). What kind of future? OMEP keynote address. International Symposium on Early Childhood Education and Care for the 21st Century, Ruschlikon, Switzerland. Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study Team. (1995). Cost quality and child outcomes in child care centers: Key findings and recommendations. Young Children, 50(4), 40–50. Gomby, D.S., Larner, C.S., Stevenson, E.M., & Behrman, R.E., (1995). Long-term outcomes of early childhood programs: Analysis and recommendations. In R.E. Behrman (Ed.), The future of children: Long-term outcomes of early childhood Programs (Vol. 5, pp. 6–24). Published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Haskins, R. (1989). Beyond metaphor: The efficacy of early childhood education. American Psychologist, 44(2), 274–282. Haveman, R., & Wolfe, B. (1995). Succeeding generations: On the effects of investments in children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Hazard, P. (1944). Books children and men. Boston: The Horn Book Inc. Heckman, J.J. (1999). Policies to foster human capital. Aaron Wildavsky Forum, Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley. Hernandez, D.J. (1995). Changing demographics: Past and future demands for early childhood programs. In R.E. Behrman (Ed.) The future of children: Longterm outcomes of early childhood programs (Vol. 5 #3). Published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Heyneman, S., & Loxely, W. (1983). The impact of primary school quality on academic achievement across 29 high and low income countries. American Journal of Sociology, 88, 1162–1194. Jalongo, M. R., Fennimore, B. S., Mutuku, M., Pattnaik, J., & Brewster, J. (1999). The education and care of preschool children in the 21st century (Working Paper). Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization, AIDS epidemic update. (1998, December). Levine, R. (1980). Influences of women’s schooling on maternal behavior in the third world. Comparative Education Review, 24(2), 78–105. Moss, P. (1999). International standards or one of may possiblilities? Symposium address, International Symposium on Early Childhood Education and Care for the 21st Century, Ruschlikon, Switzerland. Murkowski, F.L. (1994). UNICEF progress of nations report: Child nutrition. Congressional Record, S9187. Powell, D. (1989). Families and early childhood programs. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Rogoff, B. (1981). Schooling and the development of cognitive skills, In H. Triandis & A. Heron (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 33–85). Boston: Allyn-Bacon. Schweinhart, L.J., Barnes, H.V., & Weikart, D.P. (1993). Significant benefits: The High Scope Perry preschool study through age 27. (High/Scope Educational Research Foundation Monograph, No. 10). Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation.

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Smyth, J., (Ed.) (1998). UNESCO world education report 1998. Washington, DC: UNESCO. Triandis, H. (1980). Reflections on trends in Cross-Cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 11(1), 35–58. World Organization for Early Childhood Education [Organisation Moniale L’Education Prescolaire] & Association for Childhood Education International. (1999). Early childhood education and care in the 21st century. Global guidelines and papers from an international symposium hosted by the World Organization for Early Childhood Education [Organisation Mondiale pour L’Education Prescolaire] and the Association for Childhood Education International. Zigler, E. (1994). Reshaping early childhood intervention to be a more effective weapon against poverty. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22(1), 37–47.

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CHAPTER 6

WALKING THE TALK: REALIZING A COMMITMENT TO OUR CHILDREN Donna Patterson and Rosanne Glass Our children are our hope and our future. They are, in fact, our greatest resource. Our humanity, our compassion, and wisdom are measured by how we care for our children. —Government of Saskatchewan (1993)

INTRODUCTION The fall of 1999 marked the tenth anniversary of the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of the Child signed in Helsinki on November 20, 1989 to which Canada was an initial signatory. This was not the first such Declaration. There was an earlier one signed by the United Nations in 1959. As well, the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child was signed by the League of Nations in 1923. The Convention of 1989 is, however, the first legally binding human rights treaty to recognize the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of children. It is the legacy of efforts by organizations and individuals at both global and local levels to enshrine children’s rights and to ensure shared responsibility for the well being of children. If the concern for children—which generated these and other such documents—is to go beyond words, two questions need to be asked: • What can communities do that they are not already doing to ensure that the needs of their children are being met? • How can individuals and organizations within these communities collaborate more closely so that these needs are addressed? 139

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In suggesting that the home, school, and community work together to answer these questions, Decker (1992, 1994) has been instrumental in one Canadian province’s effort to meet children’s needs by reconceptualizing the interrelationship not only among home, school, and community but also among public and private enterprises (Guthrie & Guthrie, 1991). The struggle to marry rhetoric with action is not new but the willingness to use the fit or congruence between the two as a measure of commitment in the community sphere may be. This effort to be “congruent” or “walk the talk” is central to the story we want to share about what is taking place in Saskatchewan. In the current literature, working with families and meeting the needs of children is often spoken of as a process of empowerment. It is possible to see empowerment as enabling or fostering. To see empowerment in this way is to fail to see the action of individuals working together, on their own, and on their children’s behalf, making a difference. One way that services for children have been delivered elsewhere is through full-service schools. These schools have been efforts to “wrap” services around children and to have available within the school professionals (such as speech and language, and mental health personnel) to meet the full range of students’ needs. These instances differ from what is being presented here in that what is occurring in Saskatchewan are decisions made jointly by the community working with professionals and with government. This is a story about sharing power and resources so that communities can build particular community-based solutions to meet the needs of their children. Central to this effort is less a “why” or a “what” and more a “how” the sharing has taken place. In this story, decisions are made at both the government and local levels that place priority on children and meeting their needs. Our intent in this chapter is to boast about an initiative in Saskatchewan on behalf of children. We want to acknowledge and celebrate what is taking place, and also to encourage others to continue in their efforts to work together with families and communities to act with and for their children. The successes have not been without their challenges, nor without the proverbial “one step forward, two steps back!” In order to fully understand this article, it is important for the reader to have a little information about Saskatchewan. It is a western prairie province in Canada with a population of about one million people. It has a long and unique history of social innovation. The cooperative movement had its roots here. The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights (1947) was enacted as the first general human rights act in North America to guarantee fundamental freedoms. It is now enshrined in the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, which includes a specific provision for all children to access schooling in the province. Medicare, Canada’s universal health care system, is a fundamental and well-known innovation that was born in Saskatchewan in the 1960s. It is not surprising in a province with a long history of this kind of collaboration that there would be efforts to work together to meet the needs of

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children. Reconceptualizing the interrelationship(s) central to addressing the needs of Saskatchewan children has meant reshaping the government’s role and response to concerns surrounding children. No longer acting as if “he who pays the piper calls the tune,” the government has taken on a more facilitative, co-decision making approach. Partnerships among governments, communities, and schools have renegotiated how policy is developed, how funds are allocated, what projects are undertaken and how effectiveness is determined. The current context for this reconceptualization is Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Children. This chapter describes the Plan and then elaborates on a particular initiative, the Community Schools Program. The Action Plan, a key part of the government’s social policy agenda, is a framework and long-term strategy through which partnerships with members from the community (such as Aboriginal organizations, business, government agencies, professionals, and schools) initiate, develop, and expand programs and services for the community’s children and families. It strongly supports children in their early years, promotes the development of prevention and early intervention services, and encourages collaborative approaches to address the needs of children. It serves as a model for cooperation between communities and governments. It also offers new ways to deliver community-developed and community-owned, holistic, integrated, affordable, and sustainable solutions.

The Saskatchewan Action Plan for Children Pioneered in 1993, the Action Plan began through the cooperative efforts of six government departments (now eight) and one secretariat, as well as hundreds of Saskatchewan communities, agencies, and organizations. It represents one of the first areas in government where departments began to develop an intersectoral approach to policy development, programming, and budget development. The Plan is coordinated by an Interdepartmental Steering Committee that includes representatives from participating government departments including Social Services (chair), Education, Health, Culture & Recreation, Justice, Post Secondary, Aboriginal Affairs, Northern Affairs, and the Women’s Secretariat. Central work on initiatives is undertaken by the steering committee and by subcommittees. Locally and regionally, interdepartmental personnel and community partners form a committee to undertake community planning and intersectoral work. These committees set priorities, coordinate service planning, allocate grant dollars, and/or implement other projects. Community committees involve partners such as school boards, police, district health boards, and tribal councils. The budget for the plan in 1994 was $1.4 million. By 1998 it had risen to $24.7 million and in 1999, $29 million was committed along with $6 million in one time funding for a total of nearly $35 million. The growth in

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budget was exciting. Even more exciting, though, are the multitude of gains made to date and the strong partnerships formed in creating a stronger focus on children. Among the many working programs included under the Action Plan at this point in time are: family violence prevention programming; child care initiatives; outreach mentoring programs to assist at-risk teens and disabled parents; programs to support students with special needs; communitybased youth justice initiatives; northern housing initiatives; an early skills development program; a strategy to address the issue of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; teen and young parent programs; teen and infant centers; the establishment of a Children’s Advocate; and the establishment of the Children’s Council. Since the Plan’s inception, gains have been made in: • • • • •

improving educational and health services to vulnerable children; strengthening early intervention programming; meeting the needs of at-risk youth; improving housing for low-income families; and, strengthening communities and their abilities to develop local responses.

These gains are publicly documented in yearly government budget papers. In addition, Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Children: One Year Later (Government of Saskatchewan, 1994a) and Our Children, Our Future: Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Children—Four Years Later (Government of Saskatchewan, 1998) provide summaries of the multifaceted gains and of joint initiatives. Because of the successes of Saskatchewan’s innovative approaches to meeting the needs of children and youth, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1994 internationally recognized two projects as best practices for service integration. One of these projects was a community school called Princess Alexandria Community School in Saskatoon. In November of 1996, the province was recognized once again. It was the only province presented with the Champion’s for Children Award by the Child Welfare League of Canada and the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies. Most recently, in the spring of 1997, the Canadian Association of Community Education awarded the province the Institution of the Year Award for its Community Schools Program. It is this particular program that we focus on for the remainder of the chapter.

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS PROGRAM One of the major initiatives of the Action Plan is the Community Schools Program. This program actually had been in place since 1980 as a single

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initiative. With its placement in the Action Plan it became part of a more coordinated effort on behalf of the provinces’ children, taking a distinctly more collaborative approach. In the section that follows, this program’s context, nature, and guiding principles as well what has been learned are outlined. Looking back over the 17 years since our school has become a Community School, I would say that the main difference has been the close bonding among staff and families. The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honour for one is the honour of all. (Principal, Queen Mary School, Prince Albert)

The original Community School program was introduced in 1980 to address urban Aboriginal poverty. It began with 17 schools and has grown to 41 schools in 2000. It has continued to expand because of the immense challenges faced by educators in meeting the learning needs of students. Growing rates of child and family poverty, increasing family and community instability and changing family structures have a profound impact on the needs of students and on the expectations placed on teachers and school staff. Often schools carry out roles in the lives of children that previously were the sole responsibility of families or the community. Of course, schools cannot succeed in these tasks without active, committed parents and stable, contributing communities. This understanding of what is required for successful learning prompts a rethinking of the role of the school and how educational and other services are delivered, as well as who is involved in that process. To make this a little more real, estimates in the early 1990s indicated that as high as 30% to 40% of the children and young people coming to Saskatchewan schools were unable to learn because of complex emotional, social, health, and developmental problems that acted as barriers to their constructive participation in the learning environment (Government of Saskatchewan, 1993; Valpy, 1993). Furthermore, Saskatchewan has had a child poverty rate of 23%, the second highest in Canada (National Council of Welfare, 1995). By 2011, approximately one in three students in the province’s kindergarten to Grade 12 system will be Aboriginal (Saskatchewan School Trustees Association, 1991). One of the challenges outlined in the Community Schools Best Practices Framework (Government of Saskatchewan, 1996) is responding to the education needs of Aboriginal students. A recent initiative to target actions for providing equitable educational experiences for Aboriginal students and teachers was a research dissemination event entitled Gathering 2000. This was held to share findings of six major research projects related to the experiences of Aboriginal students and teachers in the education system. The researchers made recommendations for policymakers, administrators, and teachers. The richness of the research is leading to actions that are

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aimed at contributing to Aboriginal students' success within the education system (Aboriginal Education Research Network, 2000). Although it is possible to discuss problems such as poverty, drug abuse, racism, transience, and depression among children and youth as separate issues, these problems are often interconnected. Many children suffer from more than one of these problems at a time, and the factors that put children at risk tend to be clustered and cumulative. Solutions require a range of services and supports that cut across the boundaries of schools, human service agencies, and different government departments. Any one factor taken in isolation has a limited chance of success. The Saskatchewan Education Act (1997) requires all children to attend school. The school is the one place where the multifaceted needs of children and youth are observed regularly. As a result, the shared efforts of families, community members, professionals, and para-professionals are neccessary to help teachers meet these needs. The Community Schools Program works to meet needs in dynamic and flexible ways. Such schools are founded on a tradition of community education, which in turn has its roots in community development (Decker, 1992). Recognizing that every school and community is unique, with different needs, priorities, and resources, schools, families, and the community are encouraged to develop their own programs to meet their own needs and objectives. Such schools are intended to be centers of learning and hope for their communities. They are hubs for a network of community organizations and activities. As such, they use collaborative approaches to foster the development and well being of the entire community. They initiate and participate in activities to transform the surrounding community (Economic Council of Canada, 1990; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; Mattessich, Monsey & Roy, 1997). An important focus in Community Schools is capacity building, an approach that includes developing leadership skills and achieving full and meaningful participation by families and community members. How are Saskatchewan’s Community Schools different from full-service schools outlined in current educational literature? Like full-service schools, they go beyond delivering educational programs and provide a range of services for both children and their families (Decker, 1992; Dryfoos, 1994; Swan & Morgan, 1993). They do this by extending school governance and community capacity building to include the broad school community. The keys in this process are engaging community members and organizations, empowering them to participate actively, and improving the quality of community life as well as the lives of the individuals in that community. Some issues that Community Schools have chosen to address include nurturing community justice, improving childcare and services for preschoolers, increasing employment opportunities, and improving housing. Community School policy, at both the provincial and local levels, strives for power-balancing goals. This means that the value of shared power

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shapes the interactions among various governing bodies, communities, and individuals. Power is shared in a non-hierarchical manner, with the dominant value being the more power is shared, the more power there is for all. Leadership and decision-making responsibilities are shared among principals, teachers, staff, parents, students, and other members of the school community.

Principles Six principles guide all activities in Community Schools and were developed collectively among schools, school divisions, and Saskatchewan Education and so reflect 20 years of experience. More information on specific programs referenced below can be found in Saskatchewan Community Schools: Building Communities of Hope (Saskatchewan Education, 1997).

Educational Excellence Programs and services are of the highest quality. They are responsive, culturally affirming, challenging, and delivered in a safe and caring school environment. They encourage all students to achieve their full potential. This principle draws on the extensive research on improving academic achievement and school success (Canadian Home and School and ParentTeacher Federation, 1994; Comer, 1993; Epstein, 1988; Human Resource Development Canada, 1994; Sullivan, 1997). Examples of this principle in action are found at Connaught School in Regina where enhanced programs for emergent readers such as Shoebox Reading or Wiggleworks computer programs are in use. St. Francis School, also in Regina, has another working example in its intensive program for kindergarten through third grade students which involves strategies such as staff teams, daily classroom programming, pull out comprehension, and skillbuilding sessions as well as parent participation to promote family literacy.

Cooperation and Openness Community School staff, parents, community members, and school councils are mutually supportive partners who share the responsibility for the education and well being of children. Community Schools are centers of community, open and welcoming to students, families, and community members, where people of all ages can learn and become involved in planning school and community programs, events and projects, and take part in recreational, social, and cultural activities. Outgrowths of this principle can be found in an increased and shared understanding of how schools

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work (Christenson & Cleary, 1990) and improved communication between parents and children, as well as parents and teachers about those children (Cibulka & Knitek, 1996). This kind of working together is found in Prince Albert schools where a youth council to advise on youth issues and promote leadership is underway. At King George School in Saskatoon, a work registry in which students are matched with community members needing odd jobs done has been developed in response to a community concern about vandalism.

Equity: Respect for Diversity and Cultural Responsiveness In community schools, the cultural heritage, life experience, unique potential, and capabilities of each child or adult are respected. All students have the opportunity to experience success and develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to contribute meaningfully to society. This principle goes beyond equal opportunities where everyone is treated the same, to fostering a barrier-free environment where individuals benefit equally. A provincial commitment to equity is reflected in a number of policy documents (for example Saskatchewan Education, 1992 and Saskatchewan Education, 1991). Equity is an appropriate principle given our province’s motto: From Many Peoples, Strength. Schools such as Pleasant Hill and Princess Alexandra in Saskatoon, and St. Augustine and Thomson in Regina, offer exciting elder programs ranging from elders-in-residence to elders as leaders of talking circles, elders as instructors of culture and tradition, and elders as counselors. Regina Public School Division provides educators with resources for curriculum adaptation and classroom activities through Indian and Metis traveling resource trunks. Fourth through eighth grade students from Holy Rosary School in Regina go on a two-day outdoor cross cultural learning experience. Students do the planning for this camping venture and there is strong parental involvement. At McKitrich School in North Battleford, there are weekly evening classes for adults in Cree. From these examples, it is not difficult to understand the range of possibilities and the role of the community in choosing a way to respect the cultural diversity within its boundaries or the benefits for students when communities act on their behalf and make respect tangible.

Preventative and Comprehensive Approaches Programs and services are designed to anticipate and offer supports to students before difficulties occur. The needs of children and families are addressed holistically, recognizing the interconnected nature of the problems and their solutions. The needs and well-being of the students are con-

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sidered in the context of the many family and community relationships which nurture them and to which they are attached. One of the most intriguing outgrowths of this principle is the coordinated effort of community agencies, families, and schools to provide integrated services. Working Together to Address Barriers to Learning: Integrated School-Linked Services for Children and Youth At Risk: Policy Framework (Government of Saskatchewan, 1994b) illustrates how such linkages can be developed and sustained. Chavkin (1993) states that “family, school, and community are key elements in the educational process and all three parts of the system must work together for the educational process to be successful.” Working examples are found in Regina Public School Board’s early observation and planning program. This program involves biannual meetings of staff and supporting professionals to assess students—primarily from Pre-kindergarten to grade two—and to develop action plans to facilitate and enhance these children’s school experiences. There are many instances of Community Schools working with local health districts to facilitate practical early intervention and adult education programs such as immunization, nutrition, and family health. There are also examples of recreation programs offered through partnerships. Three schools (St. Michael’s, Kitchener and Thomson in Regina) offer summer recreation and nutrition programs. Finally, the City of Regina, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Regina police and fire departments run an evening recreational program. All these linkages, coupled with programs initiated in response to suggestions by families, have increased children’s success in school.

Empowerment Through leadership development and collaborative processes, Community Schools strengthen the capacity of students, parents, and communities to operate cooperatively and self-sufficiently, to determine their own needs and to plan how they will meet those needs. Hatch (1998) and McLaughlin (1993) suggest that accomplishments at the school level strengthen community identity and pride. An example of this principle in action is a program called Computers for Home which is administered by the Saskatoon Public School Board. Computer classes are provided for eighth grade students for which students take donated computers home to teach their families computer skills. At King George, Confederation Park and Caswell schools in Saskatoon, an in-school mentorship program provides adult mentors for the most needy students. At St. Augustine school in Regina, in cooperation with the neighborhood community center, conflicts are resolved by students and community members using talking circles (Baldwin, 1994; Hammerschlag, 1993). Another example of empowerment in action is the babysitting courses offered within the health curriculum at Mayfair school

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in Saskatoon and as an after-school program for eight to eleven-year-olds at St. Michael’s School in Prince Albert.

Accountability The Community School Council, principal, school staff, board of education, parents, community, participating agencies, and provincial government are responsible for assessing the effectiveness and success of the Community Schools Program in meeting its planned objectives. Accountability has been conceptualized in response to five issues: who is accountable, to whom, for what, at what level, and with what consequences (Leithwood, Jantzi, & Edge, 1998). Accountability is an ongoing process and is achieved throughout the year, through a variety of mechanisms. Each Community School produces a Community School Annual Plan, monthly reports, and monthly attendance. This plan and report are a significant part of the accountability to the students, the school, the school division, the community, and the provincial department of education. The process of developing the plan, including the vision, involves school staff and students, human service agency representatives, parents, and community members. There is also a provincial Community Schools Working Committee, which is a key committee of Saskatchewan Education, to plan implementation strategies and joint problem-solving mechanisms. Membership on this working committee is inclusive and all school divisions are represented. It also reflects the shared leadership philosophy and practice of Community Schools. In addition, annual meetings are held between Saskatchewan Education and each school division with Community Schools. School staff are often present at these meetings as well, and participate in sharing information regarding implementation challenges and successes. The diagram that follows illustrates these components to provide the reader with a better understanding of just how interrelated they are. As demonstrated in the pictorial, the student is at the Community School’s heart and is the center of all activity. The school’s program has four components that work together to provide a comprehensive range of supports required for the education and well being of students. These components (the learning program, parental and community involvement, integrated services, and community development) form the Community Schools Framework and work to provide the comprehensive range of supports and approaches proven to meet the needs of students. It is the actions of those involved in creating a cooperative staff team, an affirming school culture and climate, a self-renewing school council plan, and an effective Community School Council that give the framework and its components life. While the learning program is at the forefront, its success depends on a synergy of all components and partners.

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OBSERVATIONS AND CHALLENGES With having 41 Community Schools in place, it is important to assess what the members of Saskatchewan’s educational community are learning? We will focus on four observations and three challenges. The four observations shared here are current, intended to be thought provoking, and are by no means the only observations possible. We have become aware of just how critical the school administrative team is to the whole enterprise of Community Schools, especially their beliefs about the purpose of schooling. The team needs to be able to set an environment with a strong core of attention to academic work, numeracy and literacy, in particular. This attention must be presented in a safe and caring setting. We are seeing clearly that not just anyone can be a principal or teacher in a Community School. To be successful, the principal and team members need to be willing and able to establish a community focus and work col-

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laboratively. We are also seeing that some of the most stable and successful Community Schools have school administrators who have been in that particular school for a long time, in one case more than 18 years. Burnout after four or five years is becoming quite evident and troublesome. We want to draw to the reader’s attention that the relationship with the student always comes before teaching anything. Children in Community Schools are not always easy to have a relationship with. They may not have anyone to help them sort out what events mean to them and to their lives. Teachers often say they have to work on social and emotional issues first because learning is improbable when these children are angry. As well, these are the children one might not think to hug or that one might be quick to push away. These are children who may not know how to play and who may have moved multiple times since the first of the school year. As one teacher said, “these are children you can really teach because whatever you bring to the classroom they find exciting.” Increasingly, we are seeing that schools can be places of innovation and humanly focused education. There are tensions for teachers and administrators in trying to be non-authoritarian and yet authoritative. These students need direct instruction in a great many social and emotional issues, in things as straightforward as reading people’s faces. They have set up a grade two and grade six split-class. The grade six students are available to the younger children as models and supports and the younger students teach the older ones how to be good helpers—how to nurture and support another’s learning. There are strong messages both from the research literature and from day-to-day school experience, about the role of the physical environment for these students. A lack of access to affordable housing means families move often and frequently. Transiency means children stop making friends, stop reaching out to others. A lack of clean running water may translate into taunts, teasing, and isolation. In some Community Schools, there is 100% student turn over in the run of a year. Teachers question how they can engage a child who has moved three or more times in a year. So an organized, structured, aesthetically welcoming classroom—a place where there are materials and resources available—is critical. Students need a calm, nonthreatening space, a haven, a place where there is a change of clothes, food, and after-school activities. To observe is not enough. It is vital to see and respond to the challenges presented by children in Community Schools to make better a program that has a history of promise and promises fulfilled. Community Schools experience a common societal problem of how to address systemic racism effectively (Aboriginal Education Research Network, 2000). Failure to do this, as much as anything else, limits children’s opportunities. Aboriginal families trying to teach their children traditional beliefs and practices often face a lack of support from the larger society.

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Their efforts to give their children a sound base on which to build their lives is not always valued. A second challenge which is meshed with the first involves how to develop and foster the participation of Aboriginal families in all aspects of the Community School. Questions about how to develop relationships with parents and families that have been historically disenfranchised are not easy ones. The future of Community Schools lies in maintaining a common, shared vision and philosophy around the Community School. Without these common understandings, communities fracture, decision making becomes more contentious, and children’s best interests are easily ignored. There are number of ways to deal with these challenges. Saskatchewan Education relies on an appointed body, the Aboriginal Education Provincial Advisory Committee, to provide guidance, insight, and expertise to heighten awareness in the education system and to assist in defining concrete next steps for Aboriginal education in Saskatchewan. Much has been achieved since the first Aboriginal Education Action Plan in 1984 (Aboriginal Education Provincial Advisory Committee: Action Plan 2000–2005; Government of Saskatchewan, 2000). The unique needs of Aboriginal students have been recognized through two major achievements. These include progress at the organization level, where educational partners have expressed their commitment to improving the educational experiences of Aboriginal students through policy and programs and the establishing partnerships between organizations. The second achievement is increased awareness at the school level where many teachers express their desire to know more about Aboriginal content and perspectives and participate in in-service programs. In addition, it is now an expectation that Aboriginal content and perspectives will be integrated into all programs related to the education of kindergarten to twelfth grade students in Saskatchewan. Aboriginal representation in decision making is actively sought because of the recognition that Aboriginal people are sources of knowledge and can provide answers to questions regarding content and processes for improving education (Saskatchewan Education, 2000a, 2000b). Another attempt to deal with the challenges is the Role of Schools dialogue presently underway across the province. The Role of Schools Task Force was established in 1999 to engage the education community, human service sectors, government, families, and communities in meaningful and informed discussion on the role of schools. Among the recommendations of this report is a significant expansion of the Community Schools Program (Tymchak & SIDRU, 2000). In fact, the report recommends that the philosophy of Community Schools be adopted for all schools in Saskatchewan. The Task Force reported that the Community School Program is one of the most helpful and hopeful changes in school to be initiated in recent times.

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It seems appropriate to end this chapter with a recognition of the fundamental need to cultivate hope. Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Children and the Community Schools Program has given hope. There have been successes. We invite others to take up the challenge, to continue to build on these successes, and to encourage all those concerned for and about children to continue taking steps, however small, however hesitant—for only then can hopes be realized. Our particular hope is that adults will continue to accept the challenge “to walk the talk,” to ensure that children move into the future with the skills, abilities, and belief in themselves that they'll need to shape that future.

NOTE 1. The term Aboriginal in this paper and in current practice in Canada refers to both First Nations and Metis peoples.

REFERENCES Aboriginal Education Research Network. (2000). Gathering 2000: A gathering for action. Saskatchewan: author. Baldwin, C. (1994). Calling the circle: The first and future culture. Newberg, OR: Swan Raven. Canadian Home and School and Parent-Teacher Federation. (1994). Resource book for the literacy exchange: Literacy in the information age. Ottawa: Author. Chavkin, N. (1993). School social workers helping multi-ethnic families, schools and communities join forces. In N. Chavkin (Ed.), Family and schools in a pluralistic society (pp. 217-228). Albany: State University of New York Press. Christenson, S., & Cleary, M. (1990). Consultation and the parent-educator partnership: A perspective. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 1, 219-241. Cibulka, J., & Knitek. W. (Eds.). (1996). Coordination among schools, families and communities. Ithaca, NY: State University of New York Press. Comer, J. (1990). Home, school and academic learning. In J. Goodlad & P. Keating (Eds.), Access to knowledge: An agenda for our nation’s schools (pp. 23-42). New York: College Board. Comer, J. (1993). The potential effects of community organization on the future of our youth. Teacher’s College Record, 94, 658-661. Decker, L. (1992). Building learning communities: Realities of educational restructuring. In L. Decker & V. Romney (Eds.), Educational restructuring and the community education process (pp. 5-11). Alexandria, VA: National Coalition for Community Education. Decker, L. (1994). The home-school-community relations trainers manual and study guide. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. Dryfoos, J. (1994). Full-service schools: A revolution in services for children, youth and families. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Economic Council of Canada. (1990). From the bottom up: The community development approach. (Cat#EC 22-170/1990E). Epstein, J. (Ed.). (1988). Parents and schools (special issue). Educational Horizons, 66(2). Government of Saskatchewan. (1993). Children first: An invitation to work together. Creating Saskatchewan’s action plan for children. Regina, SK: Author. Government of Saskatchewan. (1994a). Saskatchewan’s action plan for children: One year later—Summer 1994. Regina, SK: Author. Government of Saskatchewan. (1994b). Working together to address barriers to learning: Integrated school-linked services for children and youth at risk: Policy framework. Regina, SK: Author. Government of Saskatchewan. (1996). Building communities of hope: Best practices for meeting the learning needs of at-risk and Indian and Metis students. Regina, SK: Author. Government of Saskatchewan. (1998). Our children, our future: Saskatchewan’s action plan for children—four years later. Regina, SK: Author. Government of Saskatchewan. (1999). Parent and community partnerships in education: Policy framework. Regina, SK: Author. Government of Saskatchewan. (2000). Aboriginal education provincial advisory committee: Action plan 2000–2005. Regina, SK: Author. Guthrie, G., & Guthrie, L. (1991). Streamlining interagency collaboration for youth at risk. Educational Leadership, 49(1), 17-22. Hammerschlag, C. (1993). The theft of the spirit: A journey to spiritual healing with Native Americans. New York: Simon & Schuster. Hatch, T. (1998, May). How community action contributes to achievement. Educational Leadership, 55(8), 15-16. Human Resource Development Canada. (1994). P.A.L.S.: Parents Assist Learning and Schooling: Participant’s manual. Helping children learn. Saint Joseph’s, NB: Memramcook Institute. Kretzmann, J., & McKnight, J. (1993). Building communities from the inside out: A path toward finding and mobilizing a community’s assets. Chicago: Acta. Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D. & Edge, K. (1998). The state-of-the-art of educational accountability in a selected sample of developed countries. A technical report prepared for the Bertelsmann Foundation, Gutersloh, Germany. Mattessich, P., Monsey, B., & Roy, C. (1997). Community building: What makes it work. Saint Paul, MN: Amhurst H. Wilder Foundation. McLaughlin, C. (1993). Do’s and dont’s of parent involvement: How to build a positive home-school partnership. Spring Valley, CA: Inner Choice. National Council of Welfare. (1995). Poverty Profile 1993. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada. The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights Act, S.S. 1947, c. 35. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, S.S. 1979, c.S-24.1. Saskatchewan Education. (1991). Gender equity policy. Regina, SK: Author. Saskatchewan Education. (1992). The adaptive dimension in core curriculum. Regina, SK: Author. Saskatchewan Education. (1996). Building communities of hope: Best practices for meeting the learning needs of at-risk and Indian and Metis students. Regina, SK: Author. Saskatchewan Education. (1997). Saskatchewan community schools: Building communities of hope. Regina, SK: Author.

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Saskatchewan Education. (2000a). Aboriginal education initiatives in Saskatchewan Education. Regina, SK: Author. Saskatchewan Education. (2000b). Aboriginal education provincial advisory committee. Regina, SK: Author. Saskatchewan School Trustees Association Research Centre. (1991). Saskatchewan 2000 (Report #91-07). Regina, SK: Author. Swan W., & Morgan J. (1993). Collaborating for comprehensive services for young children and their families. Maryland: Paul Brookes. Sullivan, P. (1997, December-January 1998). Involving parents—setting the standard: The national standards for parent/family involvement series: Part 1: Communication—the key to parent/family involvement programs. Our Children Magazine. Tymchak, M., & the Saskatchewan Instructional Development & Research Unit (SIDRU). (2000). Task force and public dialogue on the role of the school: Interim report to the minister of education, government of Saskatchewan. Valpy, M. (1993, October 2) The 40 percent factor. The Globe and Mail, D1.

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CHAPTER 7

IMPLICATIONS OF BRAIN RESEARCH FOR CHILDREN FROM LOW-INCOME MINORITY FAMILIES: THE NEED FOR AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Jyotsna Pattnaik

INTRODUCTION Throughout the history of human civilization, the functions of the human brain (in terms of intellectual abilities) have always drawn a high level of attention from people in the field of social and physical sciences, humanities, and the arts, as well as those who enjoy power. Many naive theories have been created regarding the human intellectual abilities based on race, social class, caste, gender, and physical abilities. These theories have been used as instruments of oppression against groups who did not have access to what Bourdieu (1987) defines as the economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capital of a society. The negative implications of these theories are still reflected in many of the current societal, as well as educational, practices. However, the field of neuroscience has progressed from mere speculation to experimentation through the aid of technology in recent years. The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented explosion of scientific information that centers around the functioning of the human brain. The importance of an enriched environment, adequate nutrition, and 155

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quality interaction on brain development, both in the prenatal and postnatal stages, is highly recognized. According to the findings of brain research, a newborn’s brain is not fully formed at the time of birth and environmental factors in the early years influence the brain’s form and function (Lally, 1998). An enriched environment with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic stimulation helps in developing synaptic connections in the child’s brain. Hopefully, these research findings, as well as practices based on them, will enable the dispelling of many of the myths regarding the inherited intellectual abilities of children from low-income and minority families. Brain research has implications for the education of all children. However, its major contribution can be utilized for children who come from poor families and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Many of the findings of brain research, such as the interplay between heredity and environment, the need for sensorimotor experiences and sound nutrition, connections between emotion and cognition, children’s biological propensity to learn, the importance of early learning experiences and quality care giving, and the need for comprehensive childcare services are not new to the field of early childhood education. Quality early childhood practices have always relied on these recommendations (Kagan, 1999; Smith, 1999). However, quality early childhood practices were not accessible to a vast majority of children, especially those who come from lowincome minority families (Adams & Poersch, 1996, 1997). The contributions of brain research to the development and learning of poor minority children are threefold: (a) by providing a neurological foundation, brain research validates the need for quality early childhood practices for all children and has made them more imperative than optional; (b) it creates public awareness with regard to the positive impacts of prevention and early, as well as timely, intervention on the individual child, family, and society; and (c) the findings of brain research reject the existing isolated efforts and highlight the appropriateness of adopting an ecological model that includes creating partnerships and helping relationships, building the school/community environment, linking families and communities, and facilitating inter-agency community support for children who are at risk of cognitive, social, and/or emotional impairment.

RATIONALE FOR FOCUSING ON LOW-INCOME MINORITY CHILDREN The rationale for focusing on children from low-income minority populations in this particular study is multifold. First, there is a growing acknowledgment of the rights of minority and poor children across the world. UNICEF’s (2000) position paper, “The Global Movement for Children” charts three essential outcomes for all children: (a) infants need to start life healthy and young children need an enriched and caring environment

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that enables them to be physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally secure, socially competent, and intellectually able to learn, (b) children, irrespective of their backgrounds, must have access to a complete basic education of good quality, and (c) adolescents need opportunities to realize their individual capacities in a safe and enabling environment and to contribute significantly to their communities. In the United States, the Children’s Defense Fund and the Carnegie Task Force have influenced policymaking decisions and raised public awareness regarding the well being of all children. The Carnegie Task Force (1994) reports: [The] age span from three to ten [is] absolutely crucial for children’s optimal learning and development. These years offer families, communities, and schools critical intervention points for helping children develop knowledge and skills, positive attitudes toward learning, healthy behaviors, and emotional attachment of powerful and ensuring significance. If these opportunities are squandered, it becomes progressively more difficult and more expensive to make up for the deficit later on. (p. 10)

Secondly, the number of children from minority populations in the United States—especially Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islanders—has increased substantially in recent years. For example, it is projected that by 2020, more than one in five children in the United States will be of Hispanic origin (U.S. Census Bureau, 1996). Moreover, the majority of these children will be from low-income families. In 1996, 20% of American children lived in families with cash incomes below poverty level (U.S. Census Bureau, 1998). Children living in poverty are more likely to experience difficulty in school (Sherman, 1997), to become teen parents (An, Haveman, & Wolfe, 1993), and to face severe economic stress in life. Therefore, it is imperative that public and governmental agencies focus their efforts on poor minority children who face the greatest risk among all children. Third, three important societal changes—changes in the women’s role, in the concept of marriage, and in the nature of childhood—have worsened the plight of low-income minority families (Gammage, 1999). In addition, states have not fulfilled their responsibilities to provide adequate parent education and support services to low-income minority families in the U. S. (Adams & Poersch, 1996). The majority of parents from lowincome families lack training and education about the importance of the early years of life for children’s overall development and quality of life in later years. For example, Hochstein and Halfon (1998) reported that the majority of parents who responded to California Center for Health Improvement’s Children and Youth Survey did not feel well prepared to raise their first child and nearly half of the parents lack knowledge about the importance of the early years of life for children’s brain development. Moreover, this particular group lacked political or economic power to

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influence policymaking at state and national levels. Therefore, there is a need for parent support programs for at-risk parents so that their children can be better served (Gammage, 1999). Fourth, national and international surveys report that children from low-income minority families are well behind their counterparts in almost every aspect of life including health, nutrition, education, and care from a very young age. Sherman (1997) writes, “ . . . in broader areas ranging from education to child care, our national and state public policies have failed to keep pace with the major new trends shaping American families’ lives” (p. 40). From their surveys of state administrators of childcare and early childhood programs in the United States, Adams and Poersch (1996) recommend allocation of funds for good quality childcare and comprehensive services for low-income working families that help prevent dependency now and in the future. Fifth, it is important to note that while children from low-income families lack the basic facilities of life compared to their counterparts from middle and upper class families, they have also demonstrated a high level of resiliency. Though the resiliency of poor minority children has not attracted much attention among educators and policy makers, it is closely associated with the human brain’s plasticity, or ability to adapt and learn throughout life, and bears important educational and policy level implications. I will discuss in detail two major aspects related to the life and functioning of poor minority children: (a) the life conditions of poor minority children, and (b) the research findings on resiliency in children from lowincome minority families. Both of these aspects bear important implications for brain development of children from low-income minority families and justify the need to focus on this particular population. The former provides an honest depiction of life conditions that limit poor minority children’s optimal brain development and calls for a proactive measure. The latter provides a sense of optimism to successfully repair the damage already caused by extreme environmental conditions and calls for an early and timely intervention.

Life Conditions of Poor Minority Children The life conditions of poor minority children are grouped into four major categories: (a) poverty, (b) health and nutrition, (c) education, and (d) family structure. The correlation between the fulfillment or lack of basic needs and children’s brain development will be discussed later. Poverty The cause and consequences of poverty on low-income minority children and families is discussed from three vantage points: (a) lack of stable parental employment that leads to the cycle of poverty, (b) long and short-

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term impact of poverty on children, and (c) substandard and unhealthy family housing due to poverty. Secure parental employment. In 1996, 88% of children living in two-parent families had at least one parent who had a full-time job year round, whereas 67% of children living with a single father and only 39% living with a single mother had a parent who worked full-time year round. Children from black and Hispanic families suffer a higher percentage of parental unemployment. Unemployment and underemployment reduce children’s psychological well being while contributing to lower family functioning (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Parental employment is also a variable for children’s access to health care because most families obtain their health insurance through employment. The access to health care for children from single-parent families is much less than that of two-parent families, and single-parent households are more common among minority families. Long and short-term impact of poverty. Research in the field of child development reports immediate and lasting effects of childhood poverty. Children in poor families have higher dropout rates in school, become teen parents more often, and do not generally fare well economically in life. In 1996 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the poverty rate among black (40%) and Hispanic children (40%) is much higher than that of white children (10%). Moreover, it is reported that there is a growing gap between rich and poor people, which implies that the deprivation level of poor children is much higher than before. Housing problems. Children from low-income families (32% in 1995), also suffer from severe housing problems such as physically inadequate and crowded housing (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Severe housing problems impact children’s physical, psychological, and material well being (Kaufman, 1996). Health and Nutrition Health and nutrition aspects of poor minority children are discussed with regard to the unavailability of health care, low birth weight, lack of adequate and timely access to childhood immunizations, limited involvement in physical and mental activities, higher blood lead levels, impact of adolescent births on children, and lack of food security. Health care. The physical and mental health of children is basic to their well being and optimal development. In 1995, 85% of children living above the poverty line were in very good or excellent health as compared to only 66% of children from low-income families (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). The U.S. Census Bureau (1998) reported that in 1996, 15% of children did not have access to health care. Children from Hispanic families were less likely to have health insurance than children from other racial or ethnic groups. Without access to health care, children from poor families were unable to access basic facilities such

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as regular physical examinations, preventive interventions and education, observation, screening, and immunizations (Bartman, Moy, & D’Angelo, 1997; Simpson, Bloom, Cohen, & Parsons, 1997). Moreover, one in three pregnant Latina, African-American, and American Indian women receive little or no prenatal care in the crucial first trimester of their pregnancy (Shore, 1997). Low birth weight. In 1996, 13% of infants from African-American families suffered from low birth weight as compared to only 6.3% for white infants (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Children with low birth weight run a higher risk of death or long-term illness and disability than children with normal birth weight (Kiely, Brett, Yu, & Rowley, 1994). Childhood immunization. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (1998) reported that only 69% of children in family incomes below the poverty line received the combined series vaccination compared to 80% of children in families at or above the poverty line. The combined series includes 4 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine, 3 doses of polio vaccine, 1 dose of a measles-containing vaccine, and 3 doses of Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) vaccine. Moreover, minority children were less likely to receive the combined series of vaccination than that of white children. Therefore, children from low-income minority families were more likely to suffer from severe illnesses and physical disabilities due to these diseases (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Activity limitation. The term “activity limitation” refers to a lack of involvement in age-appropriate physical and mental activities, such as going to school and playing, due to chronic health problems. Activity limitation among children and youth from families below the poverty line is significantly higher than their counterparts from more affluent families. Preschool age children (birth through age 4) in families below the poverty line had a 64% higher rate of activity limitation due to chronic health conditions such as hearing impairment, asthma, or diabetes as compared to children in families at or above poverty level (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Blood lead levels. The likelihood of elevated blood lead levels in poor children were found to be 3.5 times more than children in families from average and upper income families (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Elevated blood lead levels in young children can lower children’s intelligence level or cause behavior problems (Lin-Fu, 1992). Adolescent births. Children born to mothers under age 18 are at higher risk of low birth weight and infant mortality as compared to babies born to older women (MacDorman & Atkinson, 1998; Ventura, Martin, Curtin, & Mathews, 1997). They are also less likely to receive emotional support and proper cognitive stimulation at home. The Hispanic and black adolescent birth rates are much higher than those of white teens. Moreover, about

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85% of adolescent births were births to unmarried women (National Center for Health Statistics, 1996). Food security. Children in poor families may not have access to a diet that is sufficient in nutrients and calories. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (1998) reported that in 1996, 15.6% of children from families with income below the poverty line experienced food insecurity with moderate to severe hunger as compared to 3% of children from families with income at or above the poverty line. Education Two major indices of children’s education, namely participation in early childhood education and young children’s literacy development through home-reading activities, are discussed here. Early childhood education. Participation in quality early childhood programs is reported to have a long-term positive impact on quality of life and enhancement of preschoolers’ cognitive, behavioral, and social skills (Barnett, 1992). Poor children are less likely to attend an early childhood education program than children whose families have higher incomes (U.S. Census Bureau, 1996). Children of educated mothers are more likely to attend early childhood centers. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (1998) reported that in 1996, 71% of children with college educated mothers attended early childhood programs compared to 37% of children whose mothers had less than high school education. High school completion rates among black and Hispanic youth are lower than that of white youth. Family reading to young children. Children from poor families are less likely to be read aloud to every day than their counterparts from middle and upper class families (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998). Moreover, children from two-parent households are read aloud to more frequently than children who live with one parent. There is a positive correlation between reading aloud and the mother’s educational level. Children from Hispanic and black families are less likely to be read aloud to than children from white families. Experts in the field of literacy list many advantages of reading aloud to children such as literacy development, reading comprehension, and overall success in school (Wells, 1985). Family Structure According to experts in early childhood education, family structures such as single-parent households and teenage parenting negatively impact poor minority children’s physical and emotional well being (Fulkerson, Harrison, & Beebe, 1996). The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (1998) reported that 23% of children lived only with their mothers, 4% lived with only their fathers, and 4% lived with neither of their parents. Most of the children in single-parent households are black and Hispanic in origin.

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Moreover, the report also points out that “children who live in a household with one parent are substantially more likely to have family incomes below the poverty line than are children who grow up in a household with two parents” (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998, p. 6). Children are at greater risk for adverse consequences when born into a single-parent setting because the social, emotional, and financial resources available to the family may be more limited. Moreover, most single-parent households consist of unmarried teenage parents. Children of unmarried mothers are at high risk of low birth weight and infant mortality and are more likely to live in poverty than children of married mothers (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998).

Resiliency in Children from Low-Income Minority Families The cross-cultural research studies of minority children, especially those who were extreme victims of poverty, discrimination, and violence such as homeless children in the streets of Latin American cities (Felsman, 1985) and children of immigrant plantation workers in Kauai, Hawaii (Werner & Smith, 1992), report a high level of resiliency demonstrated by these children. The source of these children’s resiliency came from a host of internal and external resources such as emotional support from family members, caring adults and peers in the community, teachers, faith, close family ties, and children’s own special skills and talents valued by their elders, peers, and the majority culture (Werner, 1997). Moreover, children who succeed in schools irrespective of their home and ethnic and cultural background perceive their parents’ educational beliefs and practices favorably (Bempechat, 1998). Werner argues for a transactional model of child development that simultaneously acknowledges the negative impact of environmental factors on poor and minority children’s development as well as the internal and external resources that can be utilized to balance these forces. In essence, the transactional model provides a hope for minority children and families by supporting an ecological perspective that is based on community participation.

DEFINING AND DEFENDING AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH An ecological approach emphasizes interconnections among systems. This approach stems from an understanding that “outcomes of programs and processes are system-oriented and dependent upon a complex interaction of units within the total system” (Jones & Falkenberg, 1991, p. 6). Therefore, from an ecological perspective, the interplay of micro (immediate environment setting including the community and school), meso (interrelations among the major systems in the environmental setting such as peer

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group interaction and school-family interaction), exo (informal social networks, service oriented agencies and organizations), and macro systems (economic, political, social, legal, and educational systems) is very important for the development and learning of poor minority children (Jones & Falkenberg, 1991). Moreover, an ecological approach is based on a pragmatic understanding that neither families nor schools can solely shoulder the responsibilities of children’s development and learning, especially in low-income and minority communities where social and economic factors make the goal almost impossible to achieve. In the context of children’s brain development, an ecological perspective with its theme of inter-agency collaboration seems most pertinent for the following reasons. First, children’s brain development depends on a multitude of factors, including proper nutrition, timely physical and mental health services, enriched emotional and physical environment, legal services, and quality education, which is beyond the scope of any particular discipline or agency. The current policies and practices for low-income minority children fail to recognize the interrelated causes that affect the care and education of these children. Therefore, the aspects that better serve the minority and poor children and deserve careful attention, namely the family-school involvement and the inter-agency collaboration, are also the most neglected. Secondly, brain research suggests the need to build strong families that can provide what James Coleman (1994) terms ‘social capital’ to facilitate children’s development in general, and neuro-development in particular. However, this goal cannot be fulfilled unless collaborative efforts are made publicly and privately at local, state, and national levels to uplift the economic, educational, and social status of low-income minority families. Third, the homes and communities of minority cultures possess immense cultural capital that need to be utilized for facilitating brain development of children in these communities. Social and educational policies and practices have failed to tap the cultural power of these communities. For example, local museums, art galleries, performing art centers, cultural centers, libraries, and churches, as well as other educational, economic, and social institutions unique to a particular culture may collaborate to provide an enriched environment to children in the community. An ecological approach is based on the following assumptions: • Children’s development and learning cannot be isolated from the total context of the micro, meso, exo, and macro systems around them (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Comer & Haynes, 1991). • Families, communities, schools, and society as a whole should share a common vision, interest, and commitment to support the education of young children from low-income minority families.

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• An ecological approach is mutual rather than hierarchical. This means that each component of this network bears equal importance and responsibility to the development and learning of children. • To be effective, an ecological approach calls for a systemic change in attitude, knowledge, and skill, among others. • An ecological approach focuses on the development of the whole child. The human services delivery system and various inter-agency collaboration models (Printz & Watson, 1996; Roer-Strier, 1998) that emerged in the last two decades reflect the philosophy of the ecological approach. However, some caveats raised by researchers regarding the inadequacies of the current human services delivery system must be considered (Davis, 1994). From a thorough literature review, Davis (1995) charts the following major problems that contribute to the inefficiency of the current human services delivery system: • Crisis orientation. Services are provided to address the crisis situation. Therefore, the focus is on remediation rather than prevention. • Access problems. Because of technical regulations as well as the physical location of services at different sites, children and families with multiple needs face difficulty in accessing the total system. • Specialized case management and lack of functional communication among agencies. Each professional views the problems and solutions very narrowly. Therefore, the variety and complexity of children’s and families’ needs across all domains is not addressed. In response to the above-mentioned problems in the traditional human service delivery system, last decade witnessed many school-based, schoollinked, and community-based coordinated service efforts (Davis, 1995). Charting the advantages of these programs, Davis maintains that these programs are based on an “overall educational and human services system which is comprehensive, intensive, integrated, easily accessible, and responsive” (p. 9). School-based services, commonly referred to as full-service schools, use school facilities as the site for delivering health and social services through partnerships with community agencies (Dryfoos, 1994, 1995). School-linked services focus on the development of infrastructure that facilitates partnerships between schools and community service provider agencies. The sites of service delivery may vary. Some programs are community-based and operate under the auspices of community agencies. These programs typically include school-based primary health clinics and health education, youth service programs, family-assistance, family counseling, adult education, parent education, social-skills training, and childcare (Driscoll, Boyd, & Crowson, 1996; Dryfoos, 1995). School-based and school-linked services are gaining greater acceptance by many states,

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including California, Florida, New Jersey, and New York (see Dryfoos, 1998). California’s state sponsored Local Efforts to Address and Reduce Neglect program (LEARN) is a case in point. There are four areas of focus in this program: (a) to reduce physical neglect among children caused by multitude of factors such as hunger, inadequate sleep, inappropriate clothing, and inappropriate supervision; (b) to lessen school absences; (c) to reduce formal child welfare intervention among these children’s families; and (d) to increase parenting skills and improve family functioning (see Berrick & Duerr, 1996). These programs are operated either by the local county department of Social Services, by community nonprofit organizations, or by local school districts. They include about 14 hours of in-home assistance, 7 hours of parent group intervention, 3 hours of counseling, and 10 hour of in-school intervention. Each family receives a total of 34 hours within a period of 20 to 30 weeks. While lauding the advantages of coordinated service programs, Boyd, Crowson, and Gresson (1997) argue that these approaches will fall short of their goals unless economic and social revitalization of the urban communities is accomplished successfully. Haveman and Wolfe (1994) rightly state that “care” is only one aspect of a child’s development. Broad-based community conditions and investments such as housing quality, parks and recreation opportunities, employment and training, and law-enforcement affect a child’s development as well. The community development initiatives focus heavily on “transition into employment, job-training, private and public partnerships in the stimulation of economic activity, and such quality of life improvements as better housing, family assistance, and anticrime initiatives” (Boyd, Crawson, & Gresson, 1997, p.7). If implemented successfully, both these movements will prove beneficial for the development of low-income minority children. It is appropriate to discuss the major findings of brain research to highlight factors associated with the optimal development of a child’s brain from conception and afterwards, as well as the need for an interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve this goal.

MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE BRAIN RESEARCH The major findings of brain research presented in this section are based on an extensive review of literature. The findings of brain research are grouped into three major categories: (a) the functional aspects of the human brain; (b) physical and emotional aspects of human brain; and (c) intellectual environment and the human brain.

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The Functional Aspects of the Human Brain The human brain functions in a regulated fashion and follows certain principles. These principles include an optimum interaction between nature and nurture, successful integration between and among various mental abilities, the brain’s plasticity to adapt to new environments, and critical periods during which the development of certain abilities is enhanced. Knowledge of the principles of brain development will enable educators and policy makers to divert timely and adequate financial, program, and manpower resources to low-income minority children and families. A detailed account of the principles of brain development is given below. The interaction between nature and nurture is key to brain development. The nature of interaction between genetic and environmental variables determines the structure and function of the human brain. According to the findings of brain research, a newborn’s brain is not fully formed at the time of birth. Only synaptic connections that are necessary to control some physiological functions such as heart rate, reflex actions, and breathing are completed before birth. Babies are born with a virtual lifetime supply of nerve cells whose connections are established during the first five or six years of life. The postnatal development of the human brain depends largely on the frequency, as well as the quality, of interaction between the physical and social environment and the genetic inheritance of the individual. An enriched environment with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic stimulation helps form synaptic connections in the child’s brain (Lally, 1998). The sensory system of the child operates as the messenger, receiving and transferring environmental messages to the brain where they are transformed to create synaptic connections. The human brain functions as an integrated whole. The structures that control perception, action, and cognition develop simultaneously instead of sequentially, as was previously believed, and in an interconnected combination (Schiller, 1998). Therefore, from a very early age, young children’s cognitive, physical, and emotional development occurs simultaneously. However, simultaneous development of mental functions depends largely on an enriched environment. Human brain functions in a use-dependent fashion. The brain functions on a “use-disuse” principle. Those synapses in a child’s brain that are activated tend to become permanent fixtures and those that are not used are eliminated (Sousa, 1998). If a child receives little stimulation early on, synapses will not sprout or develop and the brain will make fewer connections. What occurs in this process is the internal representation of experiences corresponding to neural activation, the basis of learning and memory. The human brain has the ability to adapt, known as “neural plasticity.” The brain’s plasticity, or receptiveness to environmental input, is more pronounced during the early childhood years. Although the number of nerve cells undergoes a gradual but continuous refinement and pruning, the

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brain’s ability to acquire new knowledge continues throughout the lifetime. According to research reports, many minority children have turned out to be resilient individuals with positive coping strategies and high selfesteem (Phinney, 1996). The human brain constantly changes its structure and function in response to both positive and negative external stimulation. Wolfe and Brandt (1998) write that the environment children find themselves in “is not a neutral place. We educators are either growing dendrites or letting them wither and die” (p.13). Critical periods exist for different mental abilities. Many neuroscientists believe in the existence of critical periods “when the brain demands certain types of input in order to create or stabilize certain long-lasting structures” (Nash, 1997, p. 55). These critical periods, known as windows of opportunities, are the child’s peak learning periods. The critical period for most of the activities occurs between birth and age ten, during which the number of synaptic connections rises to its highest, allowing children to absorb and organize new information at a faster rate. The brain of an infant or young child is more receptive to experiences than a mature brain. After the critical period, learning the task in a particular domain becomes difficult because the system governing the task has been used for something else (Sylwester, interviewed by D’Arcangelo, 1998) Neuroscientists report critical windows for different abilities. The window for vision is between birth and 18 months. The critical period for vocabulary and speech development is between birth and three years. The critical period for movement and coordination is between birth and age ten, the critical period for learning languages is between birth and ten years. The critical period for math and logic development is between ages one and four. The critical period for music is between ages three and ten.

Physical and Emotional Aspects of Brain Development Physical and emotional environments either enhance or limit children’s brain development. An adequate physical and emotional environment is necessary both at pre-and-postnatal stages of a child’s development. Development of the human brain starts at conception. The appropriate environment and practices during the prenatal period mark the onset of a healthy brain. Poor nutrition, the consumption of drugs, alcohol, tobacco products, and physical and mental stress affect the embryo (Van Dyke & Fox, 1990). Physical safety is important for brain development. An adequate physical environment is necessary for the brain’s optimal functioning. Jensen (1998) maintains that “too much heat or too little humidity triggers stress” (p. 42). Uninterrupted sleep is important for the brain to “reconstruct and reset the memory networks” (Sylwester, 1995, p. 98). Brain research reports

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that a balanced diet is important to increase a child’s attention span (Jensen, 1998). Relationships are key to brain development. Positive interactions with caring adults stimulate a child’s brain profoundly, causing synapses to grow and existing connections to be strengthened. The kind of nourishment a child receives affects not only the wiring of the brain but also the qualities of experiences beyond the first few years of life. Neuroscientists report that when individuals are faced with physical or emotional trauma, a stress-sensitive system is activated producing the steroid hormone called cortisol. A high level of this hormone causes the death of brain cells and, in many cases, a reduction of dendrite formation in certain areas of the brain (Newberger, 1997). Babies with strong emotional bonds with their caregivers showed consistently lower levels of cortisol in their brains. Emotional neglect at a very young age may prevent children from developing a sense of empathy, attachment, or emotional expression. Perry’s (1995) work suggests that children who have traumatic experiences such as witnessing a murder or experiences of physical abuse continue to demonstrate physical symptoms of fear even long after the threatening stimuli is withdrawn. Research with premature babies has drawn attention to the need for emotional attachment between child and adult during the early part of life. Premature babies who spend their prenatal period in a hospital incubator, who are mostly alone, and who hear few voices unless someone directly speaks through the incubator’s openings will develop emotional as well as cognitive problems. Infants whose parents visited them in the hospital nursery had fewer problems at age six than infants whose parents stayed away. Learning and emotion are intricately connected. Most of the present understanding regarding the strong influence of emotion on human learning comes from Daniel Goleman’s (1995) work on emotional intelligence and Joseph LeDoux’s (1996) work on the emotional brain. When learning experiences are connected to positive personal feelings, more attention is devoted to them. Learning is enhanced because the information is perceived as important. Emotion interacts with rational thinking and the information becomes a part of our long-term memory. On the other hand, if learning experiences are perceived by the learner as threatening and stressful, the efficiency of rational thinking is decreased, thereby reducing the chances of learning (LeDeoux, 1996).

Intellectual Environment and Brain Development A child’s brain development depends on the nature and quality of intellectual experiences and the stimulation received by the child. It is important that every child is provided with an enriched learning environment. The learning experiences for children need to be designed carefully so that patterns and relationships in the information presented or learned

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can be perceived by them. Neuroscientists trace the role of art and music for the optimum development of a child’s brain. Brain development is facilitated within an enriched environment. An enriched environment is basic to human intelligence. However, an enriched environment does not necessarily refer to “culturally preferred, middle class environments” (Bruer, 1998, p. 18) that do not take into account the experiences of cultural minority children. A quality environment for a young child does not need to have expensive, commercially-produced materials, which many low-income minority parents are unable to afford. Recycled materials serve the same purpose as ready-made materials. The basic principle is to stimulate the child’s mental faculties. Moreover, according to the neuroscientist Marian Diamond, “an enriched environment for one is not necessarily enriched for another” (interviewed by D’ Arcangelo, 1998, p. 21). Citing her research with rats, Diamond also pointed out that the enriched environment is of no use to the individual without active individual involvement. Recognition of patterns and relationships is key to intellectual development. The human brain operates at two levels of memory, short-term and long-term. In the short-term memory, the learner consciously attends to the information to make sense of it. If the new information is connected to the existing knowledge base, then the new information becomes a part of our long-term memory. Schiller (1998) suggests the following strategies to enhance attention, processing, memory, and retention. • Emotion enhances memory. When learners experience a positive feeling, their level of attention and motivation for the learning task increases. Therefore, the information is retained more easily in the memory. • The more connections that are made between new information and existing information in the brain, the greater the chance of moving information from short-term to long-term memory. • When learning takes place within a meaningful context, memory is increased. • Novelty assists memory. A new task can challenge the existing schema and motivate the learner. • Repetition enhances memory. • Sensory engagement during learning enhances understanding and retention of the concept learned. • Diet activates memory. The body needs 20 to 30 grams of protein every day because proteins are helpful in converting outside stimuli to electrical signals within the brain. • Shorter learning episodes increase the percentage of remembering time (Sousa, 1998).

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Art and music are important foundations for the developing brain. Musical ability is connected to reading comprehension and reasoning. The study by Lamb and Gregory (1993) with first grade children reported a high degree of correlation between musical sound discrimination and reading ability. Neuroscientists report that math and science tend to be stronger subjects for students who have a music or art background. The findings of brain research can only serve the needs of poor minority children if they are translated and interpreted for practical purposes and implemented fully. The following section will discuss the practical implications of brain research and defend the rationale for an ecological approach that will facilitate the brain development of low-income minority children. The life conditions and resiliency of poor minority children serve as the reference points for this discussion.

IMPLICATIONS The implications of brain research for poor minority children are grouped under the following major categories: (a) ensuring the basic needs of life, (b) ensuring emotional well being, (c) understanding different developmental stages such as prenatal brain development and brain development during infancy, (d) ensuring quality education, and (e) disseminating early childhood brain development fact and program-wide commitment. Implications discussed in this section are based on the major findings of brain research. This discussion prioritizes the immediate needs of lowincome minority children and families, while simultaneously presenting a life-span framework for meeting their long-term needs.

Ensuring the Basic Needs of Life Brain research emphasizes the need for an enriched physical environment for the optimal development of the human brain. An enriched physical environment includes adequate housing conditions, proper health conditions, and a balanced diet. Children from low-income minority families are at greater risk of residing in a physical environment that does not facilitate their optimal development. Financial constraints force low-income families to choose substandard housing in unsafe and unclean neighborhoods. Children lack safe environments and adequate materials to play with. The low-income minority families may not choose quality early childhood programs, either because of the cost or lack of knowledge about good quality programs. Conditions, such as high staff turn over, unqualified staff, poor physical condition, lack of safety, and limited hands-on-materials in low-quality programs serve as barriers to an enriched environment.

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Moreover, children from low-income minority families are more likely to suffer from a lack of proper nutrition, poor health conditions, a lack of health insurance, and low birth weight. Poor maternal nutrition can lead to low birth weight and birth defects as well as iron deficiency, which can cause anemia and deficits in problem solving, attention span, motor coordination, and IQ. Due to chronic health conditions like hearing impairements, asthma, or diabetes, children from this population suffer higher degrees of activity limitation. Without engagement in physical and mental activities, neurons assigned for different tasks are not used properly, and the brain’s development suffers. Therefore, there is a need to establish a community-wide advocacy group consisting of various social organizations and a team of interdisciplinary experts to identify both immediate and long-term needs of these families and children. Early Childhood Parent Education and Family Literacy Projects in South Carolina have made significant progress in reaching all families, including those at-risk (Swick & Tromsness, 1995). Swick and Tromsness report the following components of these projects: Parent education. Supportive and interactive relationship with the child; provisions for childcare and nutritive meals; access to a book and toy lending library. Adult education/family literacy. Provision of support services for parents to acquire GED, job training, high school diploma, and literacy enrichment. Child services: Screening for vision, hearing, speech, and developmental functioning; immunization checks; health history; and frequent quality early childhood care programs. Parent and family services. Case management services, family needs assessment, transportation services. Parent education curriculum. Parents of children ages 0–3 as teachers, follow High/Scope curriculum. Special projects. Some project sites have developed a “teen parents as teachers” program. It includes home visits, support and counseling, quality early childhood care, parent education sessions, and child and family support services. The evaluation report of Swick and Tromsness (1995) reflect that these projects have fulfilled their goals of increasing services to all families and refining parent education services. The strength of these projects come from multiple delivery systems, inter-agency and intra-school collaboration, especially in staffing arrangements, strong staff training and development as well as parent education components, parents as teachers programs, and increase use of support services to involve at-risk families.

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Ensuring Emotional Well Being Because of the parents’ struggle for survival, lack of knowledge regarding the impact of emotional attachment on young children, and sometimes adoption of undesirable habits and chemical dependency, children from low-income families may not have their emotional needs met. Moreover, these families are also highly transient. Moving from place to place may create new stressors for children such as identity crisis, issues of security, and a lack of a sense of place in the community (Basuk & Eubin, 1987), lack of stable attachment to a caregiver or peer, and decreased participation in social activities. Children from these families may experience discriminatory attitudes and behaviors from their peers, teachers, and caregivers. They may also face the following challenges regarding: Who am I? (identity issues), Where am I? (physical and psychological insecurity), and How am I? (issues of overall well being) (Swick, 1999). Because relationships are key to the human brain development, without forming strong attachments with people around them, children from these families also suffer from negative personal, social, and cultural identities, which may adversely affect their brain development. Therefore, it is important that parents from low-income minority families are provided with education regarding the importance of children’s overall emotional well being for their brain development and later success in life. Research findings on the negative impacts of stress (Gunnar & Barr, 1998), trauma (Perry, 1995), parental depression (Dawson, Panagiotides, Klinger, & Spieker, 1997), and abuse in early years (Kotulak, 1997) shows that parents have an important role in shaping their children’s brain development(Barnet & Barnet, 1998). It is important for parents to understand that while good quality childcare is important for their children, children’s attachment to caregivers is not sufficient, nor can it replace parental care and love (Berger, 1999). There should be continuity in children’s emotional lives both inside and outside the home. Childcare centers and schools need to provide counseling services for low-income minority children who suffer physical and psychological insecurity or issues of identity. They also need to integrate multicultural education in their curriculum to facilitate cross-cultural communication among low-income minority children and their counterparts.

Understanding Prenatal Brain Development Stressful pregnancies can cause language problems in children and a failure to show the regular structural lateralization (left and right hemisphere differences) in the brain (Tallal, 1994). Researchers suggest that high stress levels during pregnancy (such as violence, poverty, and divorce) are associated with hyperactivity, aggressive

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behavior, and developmental delays in children. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy affects children’s learning, memory, and motor movement. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the single biggest cause of mental retardation in babies in the United States (Kotulak, 1997). Even moderate levels of alcohol consumption may affect children’s intellectual development. Use of drugs during pregnancy may alter the chemical balances in the brain of the fetus and create an increased rate of hyperactivity in later years. Proper nutrition is very important for the developing fetus (Jones, 1995). Slegers (1997) writes, “Mothers who limit their food intake during pregnancy have children with a smaller brain structure and a great deal less ability to learn” (p. 4). Keeping in mind the stressful life styles of poor minority parents, it is important that pregnant mothers from this group are provided with medical, psychological, and educational help and information. Languis (1998) suggests the need for sharing information about early brain development with high school students in courses such as biology, health and home, family living, and home-to-work programs. This would provide opportunities for students to visit neonatal units in hospitals, visit centers for mental retardation in the community, listen to neuroscientists and pediatricians, view visual aids on the human brain and its development in different stages, and learn first-hand the importance of prenatal and post-natal brain development and the role of both parents in this process. It may help students to adopt a healthy lifestyle for their own benefit and to become advocates for all children, including their own.

Understanding the Importance of the First Three Years of Life Brain research has created a growing interest in the importance of the first three years of life. Children’s experiences in these years are critical for their brain’s functioning in later years. Kotulak (1997) writes, “learning occurs at an incredible rate during this period (p. 32). Therefore, Headstart programs around the country are including “early Headstart” programs to extend their services for infant and toddlers. Early motor stimulation is critical for reading, writing, and attentional skills (Hannaford, 1995). Jensen (1998) laments that a typical infant today is “baby-sat by television, seated in a walker, or strapped for hundreds of precious motor development hours” (p. 21). Parents and caregivers need to be aware of the importance of motor stimulation on the child’s overall health and success in school in later years and learn the strategies to appropriately stimulate children’s motor development. The critical window for vision closes at about age two. Therefore, caregivers and parents need to know how to identify children’s vision problems, especially vision-blocking cataracts, so that surgery can be conducted as early as possible after birth.

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Infants need to be provided with visual stimuli such as colorful objects, pictures, and people, to activate brain cells assigned for vision. Neuroscientists trace children’s language development to their infancy. The human brain is genetically programmed to learn language. However, neuro-research demonstrates the role of learning in language acquisition. The researchers have shown that children who use a bigger vocabulary had mothers who talked to them more. Researchers also recommend against using baby talk because the babies need to listen to appropriate sounds of their culture’s vocabulary. Babies listen to sounds in their environment. These sounds make an impression on their brain. At about eight-months, infants are able to recognize clear patterns in the sounds of the language they hear. The strategy, “information talks,” is helpful to supplement the language for what the child is seeing, feeling, thinking, and doing. It helps children to understand the words before they start using them. Learning to talk depends heavily on learning to hear. Children who have hearing problems from birth or during infancy develop speech problems in later years. Without access to health care, children from poor families may not receive regular physical examinations, screenings, or immunizations. Therefore, it is important that infant-care centers and homes of these children are provided with free regular checkups to detect and treat children’s hearing problems. Teachers and parents need to be trained with strategies to detect children’s hearing problems from their facial and bodily expressions and to consult the appropriate resources. The foundations for positive emotions are laid soon after birth. Positive emotional experiences during infancy enable children to build trust, attach to an adult, be confident about themselves, make positive decisions, and learn to love and care for others. On the other hand, threatening environments can damage the brain through increased production of the stress hormone cortisol and low levels of serotonin. Low levels of serotonin create impulsiveness and aggression in an individual. Kotulak (1997) states: Without proper emotional input, the infant brain lacks the proper signals that tell it how to wire its positive emotional neural networks. Connections between brain cells that normally are stimulated by joy and pleasure are not reinforced—and they perish. (p. 47)

Research conducted by Dawson, Panagiotides, Klinger, and Spieker (1997) with severely depressed mothers who were disengaged, irritable, and impatient, reports aberrant brain-wave patterns in their children at the age of three. Parents and caregivers need to be emotionally available to children, not just attending to children’s physical needs. A network of counseling and support needs to be arranged for poor minority parents who undergo severe stress from financial, psychological, social, and cultural fronts. Infants of these families need to be put in quality childcare

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centers or family care homes where they can receive sufficient emotional stimulation. Staff-child ratios need to be low so that infants can get more timely oneto-one attention. Staff training is very important. Training topics may include how to differentiate between different types of cries; strategies for interaction with back and forth flow of communication; the art of playing with children without over stimulating them; reading children’s nonverbal expressions, gestures, and sounds; building strong communication links with a child through the process of trial and error; and identifying children’s needs, frustration levels, and discomfort; reading and talking to children with varying facial and tonal expressions; and recognizing signs of neglect or abuse.

Ensuring Quality Education It is important to note that while the term “quality” is more frequently used and understood in the field of education, Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence (1999) warn that the concept and language of quality may be too restrictive to accommodate the issues of multiplicity. In fact, arguing from a global context, the authors recommend that the term “meaning making” is more appropriate than the term quality. Therefore, my discussion of quality education emphasizes the uniqueness of individual context, culturally appropriate curriculum, and pedagogical strategies that are inclusive of all children. Meaningful content and context. Neuroscientists discovered that dendrites grow from real-world experiences (Bimonte, 1998). Therefore, school curriculum needs to be relevant and meaningful to children so they can easily make connections. It also helps to retain their interest and attention so that they can learn new information. The ability to establish patterns in the conceptual and perceptual field is very important for the process of meaning making (Caine & Caine, 1998), and so is the ability to perceive parts and the whole. In fact, a healthy human brain “simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes” (Marshall, 1998, p. 53). Researchers report that practices in schools and centers generally do not address real life experiences of minority families and cultures. StantonSalazar (1997) unravels the institutional and ideological forces that exclude minority children and youth through cultural and linguistic repression, school-based exclusionary policies, and denying minority children access to their group’s social character, or the framework that enables members to interpret events, situations, and experiences around them. An unfamiliar curriculum alienates children, decreases minority children’s motivation to learn, and prevents the formation of dendrites. While planning curriculum and instruction for low-income minority children, care must be taken to incorporate experiences that are unique to their

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family, community, culture, language, and socioeconomic background through the use of both print and non-print media, hands-on-activities, manipulatives, pictures, and cultural artifacts. People, organizations, and special events in the community are great resources for teachers to use in the classrooms. Meaningfulness in context and content can also be preserved through thematic curricula where different academic disciplines, such as math, science, social studies, language arts, and art, as well as mental disciplines—cognitive, affective, and psychomotor—are combined into a whole without artificial separation. Using a child’s native language is helpful in establishing meaningful connections between concepts being discussed. Neuroscientists report that “because of the rapid synaptic formation during this window of language opportunity, most young children can learn a second language right along with the first”(Turbak, 1999, p. 29). Linking cognition and emotion. Brain researchers maintain that there is an inseparable connection between emotion and cognition. According to Goleman (1996), school success is predicted largely by emotional and social measures. LeDoux (1996) has explored the role of fear in learning. Fear seems to short-circuit incoming information to the brain so that the brain is unable to utilize many of the complex learning connections. If the fear-inducing situation continues, the individual will resort to early primitive behaviors or programmed learning. Caine and Caine (1998) identified the following conditions in the classroom that may induce fear in children: • Learning tasks encouraging divergent thinking are not planned for learners. • Correct responses are prespecified by teachers and test makers. • Learning strategies use mostly structured methods without much room for personal meaning. • Time-lines are strictly specified without taking into account the learning content, context, or individual differences. • Strategies to encourage internal motivation are absent. • The curriculum is unfamiliar and little support is available to learners. When the learning situation is embedded with novelty, purpose, and meaning, the conditions are created to excite neurons into new patterns and connections which in turn challenge the individual into new ways of thinking and doing (Caine & Caine, 1998). Therefore, school curriculum for children needs to be challenging, and instructional strategies must be supportive enough to prevent frustration in children. Strategies of scaffolding, cooperative learning, field-based inquiry, peer tutoring, and one-toone instruction are helpful to poor children who may not have academic support at home. Adequate time. Children need adequate time to establish meaningful connections to the materials and the concepts introduced. Engagement with learning activities for a substantial amount of time facilitates compre-

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hension and extension of the concept through creative and critical thinking and enhanced dendrite formation. Play and art are important media for young children’s learning and development. Therefore, curriculum for young children needs to be based around play and art. The traditional daily routine in most classrooms, however, is divided into small blocks of time and the curriculum jumps from one short thematic unit to another. Children clean up after every play or center activity and again start from the beginning each day. This prevents them from taking their play to a higher level. Children need to be allowed a longer time to deeply engage in an activity and even keep their project on the floor or table without cleaning up so that they can complete their projects on the following day. If the project is interesting to the children, they may work on it for the whole week if possible, adding details and complex concepts to it through group discussions, debates, and negotiations. It also allows teachers to be aware of children’s interests and to scaffold children’s understanding and critical thinking. Children’s projects in the Reggio Emilia program in Italy clearly demonstrate the benefits of long-term projects for children. High expectations for poor minority children. Researchers have consistently documented pre-service and classroom teachers’ low expectations for poor minority children. Teachers automatically associate minority status and poverty with single parenthood, chemical dependency, lack of education, improper role models, and antisocial tendencies (Pattnaik, 2000). Therefore, they devalue poor minority children’s mental abilities. These low expectations are also reflected in public schools’ policies and practices. Studies show that poor minority children are more likely to be placed in special needs classes and are tracked into low reading or math groups. As a consequence, the materials, the curriculum, and the teaching strategies are not designed to challenge or engage these children. Brain researchers report that novelty in learning situations assists memory. Because learners are faced with positive stress during such learning situations, the body produces increased amounts of adrenaline. It is true that most poor minority children face a high degree of environmental challenges that may affect their brain development in the early years. It is also true that the brain’s plasticity is more pronounced in the early years. Therefore, children learn easily if they are exposed to an enriched environment before and after birth. However, brain researchers also maintain that the brain’s resiliency and ability to adapt to external stimuli continues throughout life. Therefore, diligent efforts and individual attention will be helpful for those children who have experienced high degrees of environmental challenges in their early years. Teachers need to perceive these challenges as external to the child rather than as fixed characteristics. Research on poor minority children reported a high degree of resiliency exhibited by these children. Some researchers refer to these children as “children of promise” because of their extreme strength and adaptability to survive the adverse conditions of

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their lives. Teachers need to make efforts to increase opportunities for student and parent bonding and participation in school, to foster life skills in children, to communicate high expectations, to provide care and support for at-risk learners, and to expose children to challenging and stimulating curriculum. Incorporating individual learning styles and multiple intelligences in the curriculum. Brain research recognizes the fact that individuals learn differently. Neuroscientists report individual differences in brain processing patterns (Languis, 1998), differences in zones of language processing between monolingual and bilingual individuals, and differences in brain functioning and personality (Wilson & Languis, 1990). Therefore, it is important that curriculum for every level of education must address a variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences, and different teaching methods. Developmental, individual, and cultural appropriateness must be incorporated carefully in the instructional procedures and assessment of learners. Recruiting qualified staff for early childhood programs. Criteria for recruiting staff for young children must assess attitude, skill, and knowledge of caregivers. One of the challenges facing the field is high staff turnover. Brain research shows the importance of bonding for young children and emphasizes that it is only possible if children have familiar adults around them. Early childhood educators and policymakers must address the issue of raising the professional status of early childhood education, attracting talented and committed individuals to the field, raising the standard of early childhood centers, and ensuring higher pay and benefits to caregivers. Accreditation of the centers should not be an option anymore. To fulfill the criteria of quality, every childhood center must be required to meet the state and national accreditation standards. Federal and state funding needs to be available for centers to train their staff and upgrade their facilities. There should not be any compromise on quality on the issue of care and education of low-income minority children.

Dissemination of Early Childhood Brain Development Facts Information on the findings of brain research and educational implications of this research for young children need to be shared through many different channels such as special television channels or programs that attract minority audiences, local churches, newspapers, magazines, and business groups meant for particular minority populations. Booklets on the implications of brain research for young children may be provided free of charge in community centers, hospitals, local churches, supermarkets, childcare centers, and schools. The important and pivotal roles of parents in shaping their children’s brain development need to be emphasized. Efforts need to be taken to encourage and bring pregnant mothers to prenatal classes, and if needed, home-visits may be arranged to share informa-

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tion with pregnant women. It is important to design and implement strategies that reach and communicate with language and cultural minority parents. Disseminating information in other languages can be helpful in this regard. Meetings and discussions on the topic may be held in the community by different organizations. Ensuring Program-Wide Commitment The educational implications of brain research for poor minority children can be fulfilled if there is a program-wide commitment to this cause, both by early childhood centers and by the college and university programs that prepare early childhood professionals.

Early Childhood Centers To facilitate early childhood programs’ alignment with the findings of brain research, the following measures may be taken: Budgetary Support • Approve a budget for the purpose of training the staff, inviting experts to provide workshops and consultation, arranging professional travel for the staff, and purchasing resource books and curriculum materials for the staff. • Set aside money for designing and implementing early childhood intervention strategies that focus on nutritional and primary health care for pregnant mothers and their children, early periodic screening, and diagnosis and treatment. • Address cognitive delays and behavior problems and offer parenting education. Support for the Staff • Train the program staff with an interdisciplinary expert team. • Train staff members with skills of intercultural communication and culturally compatible intervention strategies. • Provide grant writing workshops to the staff and encourage them to write grant proposals based on implementation of brain research. • Encourage staff to initiate and continue child advocacy programs in the community. • Select and train a staff member to provide leadership on brain development to other members of the program. Encourage and support the staff member to attend brain research conferences and workshops. • Reward the staff member who shows commitment to the issue and translates the findings of brain research into his or her daily practices.

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Support for Parents and Families • Share information with parents on brain research through the school’s library, newsletters, bulletin boards, and information booklets published on brain research. • Provide training opportunities for parents that focus on simple activities, games, home reading activities, and questioning strategies that can be done at home. Silberg’s (1999) book, 125 games for babies: Simple games to promote early brain development, on simple games for infants may be helpful for parents. This book describes how the individual activities facilitate children’s brain development. • Make home-visits by the staff a compulsory part of the program. • Provide information to parents about family support organizations and community-based supports. Arrange a resource library for parents that include visual, print, and hands-on materials. • Arrange referral and counseling support for families. • Form child advocacy groups and include parents in order to share their stories or problems with local and state level elected officials. • Train older siblings to shoulder care and educational responsibilities for their younger siblings.

Organizing Community-Wide Support If carefully planned and implemented, brain research can help make a strong case for the need for high quality early childhood programs, recruiting and training high quality staff, and support for low-income and minority families. O’Donnell (1999) suggests the following measures to increase private and public support for early childhood programs. • Include brain development research findings in brochures, promotional materials, and funding proposals. • Use visual presentations on the topic to educate funders, the media, and policymakers. • Gather information on brain development and publish short booklets for policy and decision makers. • Refer to early childhood brain development facts in op eds, letters to the editor, and media appearances. • Build partnerships based on brain development research with community, regional, and national organizations that strive to alleviate the conditions of early childhood education, families, and children from low income and minority families. It is imperative that business organizations in the community are educated about the importance of parenting for children’s brain development.

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Shore (1998) recommends that business organizations help prepare their employees for parenthood, provide family health-insurance coverage to all their employees, help new parents thrive, provide time for parenting, and provide quality childcare facilities for their employees.

Early Childhood Programs in Colleges and Universities Early childhood programs in colleges and universities that prepare early childhood professionals may take the following measures. • Integrate the theory and research findings on brain development of children and their pedagogical implications for children of different age groups in their content and methods courses. • Invite experts from various disciplines to classes to share information on brain development with students. • Share research on poor minority children’s resiliency and success stories. • Adopt course projects that allow students to conference, discuss, survey, or interview low-income minority parents. It will help students to learn about parents’ views, problems, and knowledge about brain development, and also to share the findings and the developmental implications of brain research with parents. • Help students to reflect on their own biases regarding low-income and minority families by adopting what Henderson (1997) calls a “resiliency attitude” by having high expectations for minority children and their families. • Support students in designing culturally relevant pedagogy and strategies that involve minority parents and communities in their children’s education and development. • Encourage students to serve as child advocates in their communities. Student branch organizations may involve students to disseminate information on children’s brain development in the community. While it is important to plan and implement appropriate strategies based on the findings of brain research to support the development and learning of poor minority children, it is also imperative that we carefully evaluate some possible misinterpretations of brain research and guard against them.

POSSIBLE MISINTERPRETATIONS OF BRAIN RESEARCH Cautions have been raised by some regarding the possible misinterpretations of brain research findings (O’Donnell, 1999). In fact, Bruer (1998) has canceled many of the brain research claims and cautioned educators to

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discriminate between brain science and brain fiction. The following are misconceptions that may arise. • There may be a greater chance of using developmentally and culturally inappropriate stimulants with a hope to advance children’s brain development. For example, with an intention to enhance dendrite formation, parents and caregivers may expose children to learning activities for unreasonably longer periods without taking into account each child’s individual attention span. Music collections for children may include only western classical music and musical instruments, such as Mozart, without consideration of music and musical instruments from other cultures. • Too much stimulation and engagement with a range of activities may put more stress on children. • There may be increased demand for manufactured toys and materials at the expense of recycled and improvised materials. Poor minority families will not be able to buy manufactured materials and may experience guilt and anxiety. • The concept of critical periods could be accepted too rigidly and the attitude that nothing can be done after these periods are over may be adopted by teachers, parents, and administrators. • Schools may adopt repetition and drill methods in hopes of advancing children’s brain development and, in turn, raising test scores. • Schools may perceive the human brain as synonymous with a computer (Iran-Nejad, 1998). Therefore, the educational strategies and curriculum will be standardized and may not recognize individual differences in pace and styles of learning. • Brain research may divert funding from programs for older children (O’Donnell, 1999). As Bruer (1998) suggests, one may not be too skeptical about the brain based educational policy and practices. However, all the above-mentioned misconceptions have implications for all children and especially for children from low-income minority families. Many of these families do not have information or education on brain research and the importance of critical periods in early years. Therefore, children may not receive adequate stimulation during the critical periods. By the time they come to the public schools, teachers and administrators may use the excuse that it is too late to compensate for the earlier damage done at home and may discontinue intervention or compensatory programs meant especially for lowincome and minority children. Cultural relevance may not be included in the curriculum, pedagogy, or assessment procedures if standardized curriculum and assessment procedures are adopted with a hope to raise test scores. Parents and children may feel helpless and stop striving for improvements. However, it is important to note that the short-term and

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long-term impact of early intervention, with follow-up measures, on at-risk children has been demonstrated through longitudinal research conducted by High/Scope (Weikert, 1996) and Lazar’s Consortium Study (Lazar & Darlington, 1982). Shore (1997) rightly states, Risk is not destiny. The medical, psychological, and educational literature contain a sufficient number of examples of people who develop or recover significant capacities after critical periods have passed to sustain hope for every individual. (p. 61)

CONCLUSION The efforts of individuals and organizations such as the Reiner foundation’s “I Am Your Child Campaign” and the Families and Work Institute’s “National Early Childhood Public Engagement Campaign” have attracted recent public interest in early brain development. However, the implementation of brain development research, especially in the case of poor minority children, is still in its preliminary phase. The development and education of poor minority children cannot be left to their individual families and homes. Low-income families may be unable to fulfill the basic needs of their children because they do not have enough information and education about child development and children’s brain development in early years. Moreover, the implications of brain research point out the need for person-power and material resources from a variety of disciplines including public welfare, health, education (including special education), legal services, social welfare, and minority organizations. Some of these needs reach beyond the abilities of any particular family. Adopting an ecological approach based on inter-agency collaboration and interweaving the measures of prevention and early intervention seems to be the only option that will successfully support the optimal brain development of poor minority children. Moreover, an ecological approach is sensitive to multiple perspectives and contextual specificity, factors important for the development and learning of poor minority children.

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electrical activity during the expression of negative emotions. Developmental Psychology, 33(4), 650–656. Driscoll, M.E., Boyd, W.L., & Crowson, R.L. (1996). Collaborative services initiatives: A report of a national survey of program directors. Philadelphia: National Center on Education in the Inner Cities. Dryfoos, J.G. (1994). Full-service schools. A revolution in health and social services for children, youth, and families. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Dryfoos, J.G. (1995). Full-service schools: Revolution or fad? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 5(2), 147–172. Dryfoos, J.G. (1998). A look at community schools in 1998. Occasional paper #2. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 423034). Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. (1998). America’s children: Key national indicators of well being. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Felsman, J.K (1985). Street children: A selected bibliography. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 268 458). Fulkerson, J.A., Harrison, P.A., & Beebe, T.J. (1996). Residential behavioral treatment facilities: 1996 Minnesota student survey. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Human Services. Gammage, P. (1999). Childhood and family in the 21st century: Preparing for an unknown future. Childhood Education, 75(2), 97–100. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Learning, 24(6), 49–50. Gunnar, M.R., & Barr, R.G. (1998). Stress, early brain development, and behavior. Infants and Young Children, 11(1), 1–14. Hannaford, C. (1995). Smart moves. Arlington, VA: Great Ocean Publishing. Haveman, R., & Wolfe, B. (1994). Succeeding generations: On the effects of investments in children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Henderson, N. (1997). Resiliency in schools: Making it happen. Principal, 77(2), 10–17. Hochstein, M., & Halfon, N. (1998). Brain development: Nearly half of California parents unaware of important first three years. Growing up well. Focus on prevention. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 426 126). Iran-Nejad, A. (1998). Brain-based education: A reply to Bruer.(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 429 063). Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Jones, R. (1995). Smart brains. The American School Board Journal, 182(11), 22–26. Jones, L. K., & Falkenberg, E. (1991). Impact of a community school on citizens’ attitudes. Community Education Research Digest, 5(2), 19–38. Kagan, S.L. (1999). From our president. Painting a new “think”? An early care and education system. Young Children, 54(3), 2. Kaufman, T. (1996). Housing America’s future: Children at risk. Washington, DC: National Low-Income Housing Coalition. Kiely, J.L., Brett, K.M., Yu, S., & Rowley, D.L. (1994). Low birthweight and intrauterine growth retardation. In L.S. Wilcox, & J.S. Marks (Eds.), From data to action: CDC’s public health surveillance for women, infants, and children (pp. 185–202).

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Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kotulak, R. (1997). Inside the brain: Revolutionary discoveries of how the mind works. Kansas City, MO: Andrews MCMeel Publishing. Lally, J.R. (1998). Brain research, infant learning, and child care curriculum. Child Care Information Exchange, 5, 46–48. Lamb, S.J., & Gregory A.H. (1993). The relationship between music and reading in beginning readers. Educational Psychology, 13, 19–26. Languis, M.L. (1998). Using knowledge of the brain in educational practice. NASSP Bulletin, 82(598), 38–57. Lazar, I., & Darlington, R. (1982). Lasting effects of early education: A report from the consortium for longitudinal studies. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 47(2–3), 1–151. LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. New York: Simon & Schuster. Lin-Fu, J.S. (1992). Modern history of lead poisoning: A century of discovery and rediscovery. In H.L. (Ed.), Human lead exposure (pp. 23–43). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Marshall, S.P. (1998). Creating pioneers for an unknown land: Education for the future. NASSP Bulletin, 82(598), 48–55. MacDorman, M.F., & Atkinson, J.O. (1998). Infant mortality statistics from the linked birth/infant death data set—1995 period data. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 46 (6, Supplement 2). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Nash, J.M. (1997, February 3). Special report: Fertile minds. Times, 48–56. National Center for Health Statistics. (1996). Vital Statistics of the United States 11 (Mortality), Pub No. (PHS 96-1101). Washington DC: Public Health Service. Newberger, J.J. (1997). New brain development research: A wonderful window of opportunity to build public support for early childhood education. Young Children, 52(4), 4–9. O’Donnell, N.S. (1999). Using early childhood brain development research. Child Care Information Exchange, 126, 58–62. Pattnaik, J. (2000, April). Children from single-parent families: An unfairly stigmatized group: The school’s role. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Childhood Educational International, Baltimore, MD. Perry, B.(1995). Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation, and usedependent development of the brain: How “states” become “traits.” Infant Mental Health Journal, 16, 271–291. Phinney, J.S. (1996). When we talk about American ethnic groups, what do we mean? American Psychologist, 51(9), 918–927. Printz, P.H., & Watson, L. (1996). Reactions from the field: Enhancing collaboration for all our children and families (and) accepting the challenges. Journal of Early Intervention, 20(1), 14–17. Roer-Strier, D. (1998). Coping with cultural transition: A framework for studying minority parents and children in Israel. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 6(2), 71–85. Schiller, P. (1998). The thinking brain. Child Care Information Exchange, 5, 46–52. Sherman, A. (1997). Rescuing the American dream: Halting the economic freefall of today’s young families with children. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 420 374).

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Werner, E.E., & Smith, R.S. (1992). Overcoming the odds: High risk children from birth to adulthood. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 344 979). Wilson, M.A., & Languis, M.L. (1990). Differences between extroverts and introverts in the auditory event related potential. Brain Topography, 2, 46–51. Wolfe, P., & Brandt, R. (1998). What do we know from brain research? Educational Leadership, 56(3), 8–13.

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CHAPTER 8

INVOLVING PRESERVICE TEACHERS IN A PROGRAM FOR ROM (GYPSY) CHILDREN IN NORTHERN GREECE: LESSONS IN CHILD ADVOCACY Beth Blue Swadener, Evangelia Tressou, and Christodoula Mitakidou

MULTIPLE CONTEXTS OF THE STUDY In this chapter we describe an exploratory action research project that involved placing primary education practicum students in a special afternoon program for ROM children, in which they facilitated activities developed together with the project coordinators and, to some degree, with the classroom teachers. Given the focus of this book on global child advocacy, we should clarify that we view action research and the classroom as one of many sites of advocacy. We would argue that examining classroom praxis and attempting to better prepare marginalized children for success in the dominant society, while maintaining their distinct cultural heritage and language, is a powerful form of advocacy. This chapter begins with background information on cultural minorities in Greece, with an emphasis on ROM culture and life experiences, followed by an overview of the research project. Finally, we discuss the findings of the project, which draw largely from a narrative analysis of interviews with student teachers, classroom 189

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observations, and discussions with the children. We conclude with implications for teacher education and advocacy for ROM children in Greece and frame our conclusions in relevant theory. This project is the result of collaboration among three colleagues with different backgrounds and fields of study who share similar outlooks and philosophies of education, drawing from critical theories of education in multicultural contexts (e.g., Gay, 1995, 2000; Grant & Gomez, 1996; Jordan-Irvine & Armento, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Sleeter, 1996). The study took place while the first author was a visiting professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Preparing teachers for work with increasingly diverse students is a relatively new focus of educational reform in Greece, yet one in which the Greek authors have been involved with. Our work builds directly upon the long-term collective scholarship and child advocacy work of a number of the faculty members of the Primary Education Department of Aristotle University, which has included taking a leadership role in programs combating social exclusion and poverty, such as the POVERTY 3 Initiative.1 Many of the challenges faced in better preparing teachers in Greece to meet the needs of increasingly diverse students are strikingly similar to those discussed in U.S. literature (e.g., Banks & Banks, 1993; Delpit, 1995; Kumashiro, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Nieto, 1996; Osborne, 1996). Language minority students, including ROM, Albanians, and Pontians, often face acute learning problems in the process of school integration and are marginalized by both peers and teachers. Drop-out rates are high for such students, and the attitudes of many Greek teachers could be described as supporting an assimilationist view. Very few cultural minority teachers or education majors are available in Greece, and few teachers in Greece are fluent in their minority students’ languages. Until recently, teacher education programs have not emphasized preparing teachers for anti-racist practices or effective, culturally relevant practices with immigrant and cultural minority children. Several faculty members in the department in which our study took place, however, have emphasized anti-racist educational practices for many years, culminating in several publications, including a recent privately published national curriculum guide on anti-racist practices (Tsiakalos, 2000). The visiting researcher also worked on this project with 12 primary teachers during her visits in 1997 and 1999. Anti-racist education, as enacted in this department, includes: (a) exposing preservice and inservice teachers to information on different minority groups, (b) examining stereotypes (e.g., the criminalization of Albanians or the notion of the Gypsies as lazy or dishonest), (c) providing strategies for educators to become stronger allies in fighting racism and other forms of oppression, and (d) facilitating opportunities for student teachers to work with minority children and youth in school and community settings.

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Cultural Minorities in Greece: The Case of the ROM In recent years, large numbers of people belonging to cultural and linguistic minorities from other countries have settled in Greece, mostly in underprivileged areas of larger urban settings. Thus, the number of poor and socially excluded people living in these areas has dramatically increased, with a subsequent increase in the number of children who experience school failure and drop out of school early or never gain access to public education in Greece (Tressou & Mitakidou, 1997). A number of factors contribute to this exclusion from public services and education, including language and cultural differences, and marginalization of minorities. Targets of racism and social exclusion in Greece include immigrant, migrant, and refugee groups, particularly Albanians and Pontians,2 as well as Filipinos/as and ROM (Gypsies or Tsingani). ROM groups have been Greek citizens for many years, but lived separately from the mainstream. The frequent movement and settlement of ROM families in various countries has contributed to the use of elements of dialects of various host countries, thus enriching the ROM language (Cortiade, 1990; Hamp, 1990; Jusuf, 1990). The ROM language, Romani or Romanes, is mostly oral, yet rich, flexible, and constantly developing and changing (Friedman, 1990). The language originated in India, with the first Romani speakers arriving in Europe in the late Middle Ages. Today the language is spoken in all European countries, the Americas, and Australia. It is probably the only language spoken in all countries in Europe, yet it is rarely recognized as a distinct language by governments. Increasingly, Romani is being used as a written language in print and on the Internet. As in other nations, ROM languages spoken in Greece have many linguistic variations. Most ROM face acute health problems and the majority are illiterate and live in poverty (Tressou, 1998). A large percentage of ROM children, over 30%, never register for school, and illiteracy rates are high. According to the Greek Observatory of Helsinki Agreements, the illiteracy rate of the Greek ROM population remains very high, averaging 80% and reaching 90% in some communities. ROM children have very low rates of immunization, ranging from 3% to 10% in the communities in which the Greek collaborators have done previous work (Tressou & Mitakidou, 1997). Other aspects of marginalization include exclusion from public health care, sanitation, basic housing, and infrastructure needs (e.g., running water and indoor plumbing). ROM families in the areas focused on in this study lived in very poor housing, including make-shift plastic and metal shacks or tents. Pervasive attitudes of people in public services, including health and education, either reflect conscious racism or are characterized by a reluctance to accept and support the necessary changes in practice that might encourage greater ROM participation.

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Due in part to their high illiteracy rates, ROM families have little or no access to public information and subsequently are excluded from many public services. This marginalizes the group and perpetuates their exclusion from the country’s resources. ROM do not see themselves represented in public or social domains. This has the effects of eroding self-respect, making them suspicious of a system that is predominantly represented by the dominant culture, and discouraging them from turning to public and social services. Persistent stereotypes, coupled with mutual reluctance on the part of service providers, authorities, and ROM people to cooperate with one another, result in an inability to find viable solutions to their problems and a perpetuation of the group’s marginalization. Examples of racist attitudes and behaviors include the exclusion of very young children from preschool education with the excuse that the children have no immunization records or that there are no places in the preschool. The pervasive “blame-the-victim” attitude of authorities is that ROM parents do not want to send their children to school, as they do not trust their children with others. The Greek educational system poses challenges to the ROM culture. Greek schooling is uniform and highly centralized, making it foreign to the structures and functions of the ROM experience. ROM children, for example, are often described by educators as raised too freely to be able to coexist with majority children or other groups, with a lack of parental interest blamed for their low participation rates. As Tressou and Mitakidou (1997) ask, …Is it inability on the part of children or rather indifference on the part of institutions to provide a supportive and nourishing environment for the development of children of different cultural background? The education provided by educational institutions reflects dominant attitudes and values, promotes a uniform type of acting, seeing, knowing, and thinking and does not capitalize on children’s family background and their cultural package. (p. 137)

Similar to what occurs with other marginalized groups, a deficit discourse of blame and pathology (Osborne, 1996; Polakow, 1993; Swadener & Lubeck, 1995) is frequently projected onto parents of ROM children. Parents are held responsible for the exclusion of ROM children from school and are frequently accused of either indifference to their children’s schooling or of conscious actions of resistance to the cultural assimilation of the dominant educational system. Discourses blaming the parents serve to vindicate the powerful mechanisms of institutional and social exclusion and remove responsibility for children’s educational achievement from these social and educational systems. Such institutional mechanisms of exclusion vary from refusal to register ROM children at school because of insufficient vaccination, as previously discussed, to deliberate expulsion from school by education administrators, typically for behavior issues or

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not fitting in. The contradictions and complexities of the separateness of ROM people from dominant Greek society is beyond the scope of this article, but raise parallels with bell hooks’ (1990) discussion of choosing the margin as a space of radical openness (p. 153), a space of opposition to artificial binary categories. The ROM community’s frequent distancing from mainstream society in Greece, as elsewhere, appears to have strengthened ROM cultural maintenance. It has also served to reinforce poverty and social exclusion. These apparent contradictions were reinforced by our findings. Our intent in this analysis is not to perpetuate a common sense or colonial discourse, which fails to interrogate unequal power relations and perpetuates a pattern of dominant culture scholars naming and speaking for cultural minorities. For a more detailed discussion of postcolonial theory and decolonizing research methodologies, see the work of Leela Gandhi (1998), Linda Tuhiwai Smith (1999), and Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak (1999). Rather, we analyze some of the contradictions in persistent framings of the ROM as romanticized stereotypes of the exotic other (hooks, 1992) or interventions based on deficit discourses or pity. In problematizing these essentialist discourses of often stereotypic Gypsy life and education, we strive to frame our work with this community in the tradition of Freire’s (1970, 1985) notion of radical love and in the spirit of alliance building across difference (Swadener, 1998). In other words, part of the project was to expose future teachers in Greece to alliance building strategies and part was an attempt to generate a culturally relevant curriculum. In developing the curriculum we began with a working definition of culturally relevant pedagogy which was based, in part, on the definition in the Dictionary of Multicultural Education (Grant & Ladson-Billings, 1997): Culturally relevant pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes… Three dimensions are its emphasis on academic achievement, maintaining and supporting cultural competence, and engendering a sense of sociopolitical critique. (p. 126)

We also encouraged student teachers to name and challenge their stereotypes of ROM culture and to become not only advocates for, but allied others with their students (Rogers & Swadener, 1999). Although this was a very tall order for all of us, it provided a critical framework in which to approach the action research. We were also concerned that mere exposure to information about the other might have a reifying effect on pre-existing stereotypes, and some of the weekly seminar time was devoted to contextualizing and trying to better understand the home and community realities and cultural practices of ROM families. Through a combination of direct interaction with ROM children, readings, role plays, other structured expe-

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riences, and critical discussions of what happened each week, it was our intention to assist the Greek pre-service teachers in adopting more culturally relevant and practical educational experiences with ROM students. Further, we argue that cultural geographer Edward Soja’s (1996) notion of thirdspace, or a more open space for encouraging the unimagined or improbable to become possible, can serve as a metaphor in the lives of ROM children in Greece. The need to transcend the hardships of daily life and marginalization in the education system was evident in our study, as were some of the ways in which children’s visions of their future provided such moments of possibility. We are, however, working not only in the world of critical multicultural and postcolonial theory, but also in the reallife worlds of schools, squatter settlements in urban borderlands, and often with sheltered students of primary education—those future teachers we hope to better prepare for diversity and child advocacy.

The Research Project This section describes our study, including the setting, participants, field experience, and methods of data analysis used. The major purpose of this exploratory action research was to determine how student teachers and their ROM students responded to an educational intervention emphasizing culturally relevant teaching and an attempt to improve literacy and numeracy instruction. We framed our study both as action research, in which future teachers were actively involved in the research process, and interpretive ethnography (Spindler & Spindler, 1987). All classroom teaching was done in Greek and student teacher journals and other materials were written in Greek. All the quotations from children and student teachers included in this chapter were translated by the third author. The weekly seminars were mainly conducted in Greek, with some English used and translation provided for the visiting researcher. Since the time of this study, we have begun other long-term studies of anti-racist strategies in teacher education in Greece. This study, however, served as a micro-ethnographic foray into the classroom lives of ROM children and the preservice teachers working with them. The Setting The primary school where the project was carried out is situated in the municipality of Evosmos, an area of concentrated poverty in western Thessaloniki3 (see Figure 1). In the morning, from 8:10 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., it is a mainstream school for Greek children and in the afternoon, from 2:00 to 5:15 p.m., it operates as an alternative primary school with ROM children only. In contrast to other primary schools with both morning and afternoon programs, this afternoon program meets for a shorter time than the morning program. Although most city schools in Greece operate on a

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Figure 1

2-cycle basis due to space shortages, there are typically no differences between the morning and afternoon cycles in time or curriculum. In fact, schools that work on the 2-cycle basis change every week; that is, students go one week in the morning and one in the afternoon and attend the same number of hours in the morning as in the afternoon. The urban school we worked with in this project, however, runs different types of programs in the morning and afternoon. The curriculum and teachers’ expectations were quite different from ordinary schools. The afternoon program mainly accepts the ROM children who live in the area and, very rarely, other children from the community may be enrolled at the parent’s request. For example, during the 1997–98 school year in which this study took place, only one non-ROM child, an Albanian, attended the preschool-kindergarten class.

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The number of children enrolled in the special, shorter afternoon program was 120, distributed over five classes. The number of children attending, however, was closer to 60 by October, and gradually decreased because of the occupational obligations of their families, including moving closer to seasonal employment and selling items on the streets during the morning rush hour. Children were assigned to classes based on their cognitive levels, as indicated by evidence of their language and math proficiencies, rather than their age. Thus, we saw 12- to 14-year-olds in the grade one and two classrooms. Some preschool children attended the kindergarten class, the largest class in number. The regular attendance of this class was about 20 children, but that figure decreased near the end of the school year. Subjects taught were Greek, mathematics, and physical education based on the national curriculum for the first, second, and third grades. For their safe transportation, as many lived some distance from the school, children were bussed from their settlements to and from school. Preservice Teachers’ Field Experiences During the 1997 fall semester, we invited seventh semester primary education students to participate in a project involving teaching at the ROM school in place of their regular field experience for the course, The Teaching of Mathematics: Teaching Practice. Sixteen students responded, several of whom had taken previous course work incorporating anti-racist perspectives on education in Greece, including, among others, courses in math and literacy education. The project was aimed at enhancing children’s language skills through mathematics and literacy activities planned on the basis of the children’s cultural and learning capital, or what is commonly referred to as strengths, and their home experiences. The student teachers agreed to participate in weekly intensive seminars to gain theoretical and cultural insights for the project. Similar to the majority of U.S. preservice teachers, especially in early childhood and primary education, all the student teachers were females in their early twenties, had gone to university soon after completing high school, and came from working or middle class families. Only one of the students had had significant contact with ROM children and families prior to this field experience. It should also be noted that the school was on the far west side of the city, while the primary education department was located some distance away, requiring the students to take two to three bus rides to reach the school, often taking over one hour each way. Orientation to the project consisted of several kinds of cultural awareness activities and provision of information on the ROM culture. We included some background on doing classroom ethnography and also used activities from an “unlearning oppression workshop,” frequently facilitated in the United States by the visiting researcher, as well as activities the Greek colleagues had previously developed in teaching other courses with an anti-racist focus. Specifically, some of the exercises included in our weekly seminars with the student teachers focused on social exclusion,

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dominant culture privilege, the language and culture of power, and examining our myths and stereotypes about Gypsies. Student readings included transcriptions of oral life history narratives of travelers, poetry and songs, and other autobiographical or folklore-based resources for learning about ROM culture and daily lives. We discussed how teachers could serve as child advocates and allies and attempted to encourage cultural perspectivetaking through role-plays and other structured experiences. In general, we found that the best strategy was sustained and direct classroom contact and working with ROM students, versus only talking and reading about them. We also shared information on the practical emphasis of the lessons they would be planning. We visited the school for an orientation session with the school’s headmaster, in which the student teachers conferred with their cooperating teachers. From a curricular and pedagogical perspective, we placed complex and high expectations on the student teachers. Given some obvious problems with the textbooks and workbooks that the teachers were currently using, we encouraged the student teachers to engage in more constructivist practices, making frequent use of role plays and culturally relevant manipulatives and emphasizing practical skills. Thus, an additional expectation for the preservice teachers was their construction of original materials for each learning activity. Student teachers agreed to go to the school for 10 three-hour sessions. In addition, we held a weekly three-hour seminar each Friday, in which students met with the three instructors to discuss the week’s events, particularly their planned activities; learned more about ROM culture; and planned for the following week. We encouraged the students to reflect on their teaching practice in a journal and we tape-recorded a number of our seminar discussions for later analysis. Drawing from holistic literacy approaches (e.g., Goodman, 1986; Harst, Woodward, & Burke, 1984; Holdaway, 1979; Routman, 1988), as applied to learning Greek as a second language and street mathematics practices (Nunes, Schliemann, & Carraher, 1993), the student teachers planned activities according to children’s age levels and their perceived interests. What we are calling street mathematics used to be known in the literature as informal mathematics, or mathematics not taught in schools but with practical application in students’ lives. For example, the first activity in several of the classrooms had to do with the children's family tree and drawing of their family and home. Student teachers also presented information on their families through photos and stories. Another activity used a set of Greek banknotes made by the student teachers, using color photocopies of several denominations of drachma as a basis for mathematics operations, including subtraction by making change. A popular activity involved Greek soccer teams and their points in the first league games in an effort to teach ordering and the numbers from 1 to 100. One of the activities that had more to do with popular culture than mathematics was initiated by the student teachers in response to what they

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described as “the children’s obsession with love affairs,” in which they made a class storybook to encourage the children's use of the Greek language. The class story began as a fairytale, but developed as an adaptation of a popular television soap opera in which the main character was a Gypsy girl. We discussed with the student teachers how this might reflect the children’s dual consciousness, or code-switching between Greek popular culture, and their own ethnic identity as part of the ROM community. Similar to the code-switching involved in changing from first to second language, children were also switching between home culture and community norms to the expectations of a Greek dominant culture in a public school context. One of the greatest struggles the young student teachers had was in the area of guidance and discipline. Most lacked previous classroom experience, none spoke the children’s mother tongue, and all appeared to be open to applying progressive, constructivist principles to children’s learning and classroom guidance. Ironically, during the observation phase, the student teachers were quite critical of the classroom management and teachers in the school. Yet when it was their turn to teach, student teachers struggled to keep the children engaged in learning, particularly given the language and cultural barriers between them. The preservice teachers resorted to many of the same techniques and responses that the regular teachers had used, despite their criticisms of these practices.

Findings: Themes of the Project This section draws from our discussions with, and observations of, the student teachers, their interviews with the ROM students, and our analysis of the activities planned and facilitated with the future teachers. We begin with the student teachers’ reactions to the project, followed by the children’s reactions to the program and to the student teachers’ activities, as gleaned from voluntary interviews with their students. We then briefly compare the two perspectives and situate the findings in theories of culturally relevant teaching and in cultural geography. Student Teachers’ Reactions to the Project At the end of the semester, the Greek co-authors interviewed all the student teachers, building on the informal, formative evaluation of the project done at regular intervals throughout the project, including journal entries and asking specific questions about students’ experiences in the ROM setting. We asked student teachers about their observations of the children’s reactions to their activities and to describe how they adapted their lessons to better meet the children’s perceived individual and cultural needs. Finally, in spring 1998, as part of the summative evaluation of the project, they were asked to reflect on any attitudinal changes they might have experienced and on the degree to which they believed this experience had better pre-

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pared them to teach in culturally diverse settings. Transcriptions of the summative interviews with student teachers were coded and analyzed by the researchers and themes were identified through several sweeps of the data. Emergent findings were also shared with the student teachers to provide for member checks and validation of themes. The student teachers’ final reflections on the program were that it was, overall, a very enriching experience for both the preservice teachers and the children. There were many points of agreement and similar responses across the individual exit interviews. A common theme in every final report and interview was that the student teachers believed they had misconceptions and prejudices toward the ROM. They also believed they were not well acquainted with the ROM culture and were motivated to learn more and have more interactions with ROM families and communities. Another common observation was the student teachers’ initial, and rather harsh, judgment of the teachers serving in the school. All the students reported that their initial impression of the teachers was that they “were not adequately prepared to meet the challenges of this particular school” and that they “showed little or no enthusiasm or creativity in their teaching practices.” Nevertheless, all student teachers reported that, when they actually began teaching, they believed they “could not apply all of the activities” they had so carefully planned and thought were appropriate (e.g., family tree activities, storytelling and writing activities consistent with holistic language learning, or role plays for making change or keeping track of soccer scores). They also struggled with frequent discipline problems, including children fighting with each other or interrupting the planned lessons. During such instances, the student teachers resorted to many of the same responses that the classroom teachers had used, despite their criticisms of these strategies. The following passage from a student teacher’s journal captures the frustrations many of them experienced, particularly during the first weeks of their placement in the school: This particular day was a big disaster. Of the four targets we set for the lesson, the first two were partly realized and the other two were not even attempted. The failure emerged from the beginning. We had not brought enough markers, so children made a lot of fuss about this. Then they all wanted to get the PAOK (popular local soccer team) card and they got wild when this card was randomly allocated to a girl! They refused to participate and when they finally realized that the choice of teams was random they settled down to work, only on the condition to put PAOK next to the team allotted to them.

The fewest guidance or discipline problems were reported in the kindergarten classroom, where activities planned by the student teachers, for example working with geometric shapes and using storytelling to encourage learning Greek vocabulary, were more consistent with what the regular teachers had been doing with their children.

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The student teachers’ initial expectations, as shared with us in the weekly seminar and in their journals, were that the children would prefer the activities they introduced because of their informal teaching methods and constructivist form. Nevertheless, the children often asked for the basal readers and textbooks they were used to—despite their ineffectiveness in teaching the children Greek—and complained that the student teachers' sessions were “play” rather than “actual lessons.” Several student teachers reassessed their first impressions of the traditional or “boring” types of lessons regularly presented at the school, as the following teaching team reflected in their summative assessment of the program: In retrospect we would like to set right an injustice on our part. We were very harsh in our judgment of the regular teacher when we did our observation in the school. We can only justify our attitude because of our inexperience with similar groups of children. When observing we thought we could do the lesson much better, less boring. When we started teaching we saw we did the exact opposite. It was a shock to us. Was the program wrong or the way we implemented it?

Another theme of the student teachers’ final evaluations was that, in spite of having planned most of the activities according to the children's interests as they had perceived them, the use of these activities revealed that they had frequently misinterpreted those interests. An example of this was an activity on soccer teams that proved inappropriate as the children were not actually interested in all of the major league teams, but only in one local team (PAOK). The ROM children’s irregular attendance at the school was another source of disappointment for the student teachers, an issue that they had originally underestimated when they heard it from the classroom teachers. Another comment the student teachers made was that their introduction to the theoretical and cultural basis of the program was “too brief” and that they “would have liked more time for the preparation of both the activities and the materials, as well as for the actual field experience.” The orientation took place over two three-hour sessions before students went to the school, and the cultural and pedagogical information continued to be shared at weekly three-hour seminars on Fridays throughout the experience. Some believed that “the program stopped the minute they started feeling comfortable with it.” As another student teacher put it, “One of the negative points of the program was the limited time we had at our disposal for implementation and another, the most important, was our limited experience with minority groups.” They also commented that they would have liked to have visited the children’s homes and gotten to know their parents and extended families. Some comments indicated the critical role our weekly seminars and supervision played in making sense of their experience, including, “A very posi-

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tive point of the program was the continuous feedback and support from our advisors and our weekly meetings. This support was important in that it taught us not be scared of our failures. We took a good lesson from our failures, we measured ourselves because of them, and we assessed our strengths and weaknesses.” Despite their concerns and at times severe self-criticism, the student teachers all reported their experience with the project as one of “the most rewarding experiences” of their preparation to teach. The most significant gain was their interaction with this particular group and the change of attitudes that resulted. They saw the entire project as a unique opportunity to “measure up to a challenge.” It appeared that participating in this project, even given its relatively short-term nature and many limitations, encouraged them to have greater confidence in working with cultural minority students. Many expressed an interest in future teaching positions in more diverse schools in which they could build upon and improve the instruction of ROM students and others from cultural minority backgrounds. Student teachers also valued the continuous communication and exchange of ideas in the weekly meetings of the group with the coordinators of the project. These meetings were “a source of support and feedback;” the nonthreatening atmosphere encouraged their reflections on their practice, encouraged learning from their failures, and became a space in which they could celebrate their successes. The students did not express resentment at the extra workload because they were encouraged to contribute in the original planning and production of the teacher materials and to learn through practice. In contrast, prior to student teaching, education majors at this university had very few field experiences, most of which were limited in duration and often placed the students in a more passive, observational role. These responses were again reflected in the final group meeting and debriefing of the experience. The student teachers found the process to be quite demanding. They continued to express the general sentiment of frustration, despite the definite rewards they reported. These seemingly contradictory reactions reflected the complexity of this short-term experience, involving a number of cultural border crossings and challenges. For example, the student teachers were entering classroom communities serving children from a culture that they had previously only had distanced encounters with, including seeing ROM children selling items on street corners and in traffic downtown or seeing their makeshift housing in passing. The future teachers did not know their students’ language or much about their cultural history, everyday issues, or family life. Taking on the lead teaching role in the classroom was also a new experience for them. As one journal entry stated, “Some of the experiences at that school were so new and different that our world theories were affected!” Though we cannot predict the potential for these future teachers to become allies or advocates for ROM children and families in the future,

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several student teachers expressed a desire to learn more about this culture. They were interested in getting to know families and doing future work that might take them into ROM communities, versus only working with children in the classroom context. They were clearly more sensitive to the aspirations and literacy goals of ROM students and a number of their myths were contradicted in powerful ways. Many of their teaching struggles appeared to have more to do with classroom management issues and inexperience in teaching Greek as a second language than with cultural incompatibility with the children. Yet, in the words of one student teacher, We had the chance to become acquainted with minority children. We exchanged ideas and views, and without realizing it we exchanged cultural treasures. Of course, what we gained was much more than what we gave. New horizons spread before our eyes and our views were enriched with new elements of a different culture.

As another student teacher summed up her experiences in the program: We gained many things at many levels from the program. We got to know a new method of teaching and its effectiveness. We saw the tragic dimensions of exclusion from education of some groups and their subsequent exclusion from society. We realized that the successful educator is interested in every child, individually. At an emotional level, our behavior towards Gypsy children is very different. We like them more, and our biases were reduced radically once we saw in them abilities and characteristics that often surpassed those of mainstream children. This was an experience that will be a reference point not only in our careers, but in other sectors of our lives as well!

Children’s Reactions to the Program This section summarizes children’s responses to interviews conducted by the student teachers at the end of their experience in the school. Because there were two student teachers per classroom, all the ROM students in the primary classrooms were interviewed. The student teachers placed in the preschool-kindergarten class talked informally to several children, but did not conduct the same semi-structured interview that those working with older students did. Questions in the semi-structured interview protocol addressed why the children came to school, what they liked and did not like about their school, what they were learning, and their reactions to the student teachers’ activities. The most typical answer to Why do you come to school? was, “So that I can learn something.” Most children’s motivation for attending school had to do with functional literacy, or practical, everyday or career-related literacy needs. Being fluent in Greek was considered to be necessary for getting along and living well in Greece. A 14-year-old girl said, “so I can become a singer, to learn how to read and write so that I can write songs and sing

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them,” and a 7-year old boy said, “so that I can learn to read and write and people will not deceive me in shops.” Others’ reasons included, “to help my father read the important papers,” “to read the road signs and names of places on the road,” “to read the letters my father will send me from prison,” and “to make shopping lists.” The most frequent response to Why do you want to learn to read and write? was “I want to be able to read the signs when we are on the road.” Other responses included, “so that I can read when I get married,” “because my parents who are illiterate can ask me and I’ll be able to answer,” and “I will be given papers when I go to the army and I’ll need to be literate and be able to calculate.” Another child put it this way, “because all your own [non-ROM] know how to read and write. On TV, when the film is foreign, how shall I watch it, with my eyes? I can only read when it has few words, if there are many, I cannot.” A second child agreed, “I want to learn English, to be able to read the film subtitles,” and still another said, “reading is our second light [vision].” Much like the family literacy ethnographic work of Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines (1989), Delgado-Gaitan (1990), Heath (1983), Soto (1997), and others, our research revealed the need for functional literacy as it related to family activities or participation in the dominant culture—particularly access to popular and youth culture. Responses that revealed children’s visions for their future included, “I want to read so that I can be great,” “the more I learn how to read and write, the greater I get!,” and “I want to be able to find a job…I want to be a hairdresser.” Such linkages between functional and recreational literacy, family support roles, and future careers and learning to read and write in Greek were vivid in their responses, and contrasted with popular assumptions that ROM people do not associate formal schooling with everyday needs or career aspirations. Turning to what the children liked and did not like in their afternoon school, responses ranged from liking most everything to being quite critical. Among the more positive responses were, “I like everything except the windows that are dirty;” “I like the teachers, I like playing with the younger children;” “I like to write, and the exercises we do together with our teacher;” “I like the building;” and “I only like to read and write and to learn quickly.” Concerns about their program included, “I don’t like our teacher because he tells us off,” “I don't like the writing [graffiti] on the walls; I want it clean,” “I don’t like the litter in the yard,” “I don’t like that they quarrel, break the doors, that they get crazy and make gestures,” and “It is not big. I want it prettier, with many people of my kind and your kind [ROM and non-ROM].” All their answers reflected the children’s wishes for a clean, proper, and nice environment for their school, despite the common stereotype of the “dirty Gypsy” (Sibley, 1995, p. 68). In response to what children had learned thus far and what they needed to learn, children said, “I’ve learned a little… I’m not pleased with the school because the teachers are not good,” “[I’ve learned] nothing—not a word—

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just my name. I have been coming for four months and have learned nothing.” When asked what they would like to learn, responses included, “French, all languages,” “I want to learn English, to sell watermelons in the summertime,” “to get my degree and become a policeman,” and “to learn all I can.” All the responses to this question reflected children’s realistic awareness of their life preparation needs. When asked whether they would like to go to another school, most children expressed the wish to go to the mainstream school, held in the same building. As one child put it, I would like to go to the morning school because it is nicer. These teachers here do not teach us letters, I am telling you. [In our program] they give them a salary and tell them ‘go teach the Gypsy children letters.’ They don’t tell them to teach us to go on to high school, to become doctors, actors, many things. These are not professional teachers. We only come here for 3 hours and leave. Most of us are outside. If we came for 5–6 hours, this would mean business—we would learn a lot.

Others, however, preferred their alternative school. Comments reflecting this view included, “I like coming to school in the afternoon. I do my chores, and then come,” “I can’'t wake up early in the morning,” and “I wouldn’t go to another school because children would make fun of me. They would say ‘a Gypsy came to our school,’ and they wouldn’t play with me.” One child said, “The teachers would love me but not the children.” Some children had gone to Greek public schools in the past. One commented, I would like to go to the other school. I used to go to such a school. It was very nice. We went at 8:30 and finished at 13:00 [1:00]. We would have learned English, but my family left. I wanted to stay, to learn English, but my mother said, ‘What are you talking about, my child? I cannot live without you!’ So, I had to leave.

Another child who said that he would like to be part of the regular school added, “Yes, the more children, the happier we are!” Comments about their shorter duration afternoon program included, “I feel sleepy, it gets dark very soon,” “The other school is cleaner,” and “We have fewer hours than the other school.” The school of their dreams would be clean. It would be in their settlement, near the police station. It would have water, electricity, and new furniture. It would also be near the sea and during summer time they envisioned swimming at breaks. As one child put it, “We want a school that would be everyone’'s envy.”4 We should clarify that other schools near Thessaloniki have more fully integrated or mainstreamed ROM students into their classes and were moving away from segregated alternative programs such as the one described here. We visited one such school, which had several ties to the Primary

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Education Department of Aristotle University, in 1997 and again in 1999 and found that they were moving away from the special afternoon program to full integration of ROM students. The only exception at this school was the kindergarten class, in which ROM children were provided with intensive Greek-as-a-second language (GSL) instruction and were prepared to better deal with the standard Greek curriculum. The program model where we placed student teachers is not typical of programs for minority children in the Greek educational system. Typically, minority children are immersed in regular classes after perhaps a brief period of reception class hours, a program intended to help children learn enough Greek to function in the regular classroom. This school also served as a reception school and the ultimate goal was to prepare children for mainstream classes, but with the principal’s initiative, children tended to stay in the alternative program longer. Finally, when asked for their opinions about the student teachers’ activities, most children answered positively, but also reported they did not believe that the student teachers provided actual lessons. One of the more ironic answers was, “Beautiful… these [activities] are for young kids, they are not for me. These are not lessons, they are drawings. Are we going to learn how to draw?” Other children, in contrast, suggested that they would like to “play more, do physical education and dance.” In summary, the children’s responses to the student teachers’ interviews were revealing. The point stressed by the children was that they would like a school of high standards and that, although they shared the same building with a regular school, they believed they were receiving a lower quality education. Students wanted a more academic focus, and viewed many of the student teachers” activities as “play,” yet enjoyed their interactions with these future teachers.

Implications for Teacher Education for Advocacy in Greece and Beyond Not unlike working with predominantly white, suburban education majors in U.S. urban field placements, preparing these mainstream Greek preservice teachers posed a number of challenges. Issues faced by the preservice teachers in our exploratory study included a lack of sufficient background information and time to develop a more sustained role for both the program coordinators and the student teachers in the ROM school. The students’ initial critique of the teachers’ traditional style and use of textbooks and basal readers, which seemed to them to be age inappropriate for older students and were not designed for Greek as a Second Language (GSL), led to the designing of more constructivist lessons. These lessons, however, were often viewed by the children as “play,” “art work only,” and not “real” literacy instruction.

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Similarly with mathematics, the role plays of making change, working with manipulatives, and other student-designed activities were enjoyed by the children, but not viewed as “real learning,” which, to them, meant paper and pencil problem-solving and completing workbook pages. A balance of the two major approaches to literacy and numeracy learning (e.g., constructivist and rote or skills-based) was probably advisable in this case. This hybrid approach to instruction reflects many of the postcolonial experiences of cultural identity formation and contestation (McCarthy, 1998), which can become part of the teachers’ preparation. In other words, moving away from false binary oppositional categories (e.g., “child-centered” versus “skills driven”) to encouraging future teachers’ bi-cultural sensitivity and ability to call on an array of approaches to teaching and understandings of learning seems to be supported by our study. These insights are consistent with the germinal work of U.S. researchers Lisa Delpit (1995), Jim Cummins (1995, 1996), and Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994), on culturally relevant teaching of culturally minority children and the importance of understanding the wishes of families for their children. These researchers have looked at the importance of skills and sharing explicit rules of the language and culture of power, in this case mainstream instruction in Greek and use of the national curriculum for teaching ROM students in ways that better prepared them for success and life opportunities within society. Finally, our findings caused us to reflect on the contradictory nature of progressive, child-centered, or constructivist teaching with cultural and linguistic minority children. Our findings also complement Harry Wolcott’s (1997) descriptions of Kwakiutl students’ strong notions of what proper schooling is. Both the indigenous students in Wolcott’s study and the ROM students in ours held strong ideas about the roles of schooling, what real learning looked like, and of cultural conventions. Another critical aspect of working with ROM children that was lacking in this program was the opportunity to work directly with parents and gain more experience within the ROM community. The overall impression of the student teachers about the program was that the opportunity to gain direct experience working with cultural minority children and families would be valuable for all teachers. Involvement in other community-based, volunteer programs would also be recommended to provide future teachers with further cross-cultural experiences working with children and families in the ROM community. Such volunteer work would be similar in some ways to the increasingly popular role of service learning in U.S. universities and teacher education programs. In our brief interviews with the teachers and headmaster of this school, we learned that a strength of the program was the headmaster’s efforts to reach out to the ROM community. We saw less effort at home-school linkages from the teachers, although they noted its importance. Teachers, however, frequently discussed the urgent need for more relevant and age-appropriate bilingual or GSL materials and told us they wished our student teachers could help in developing such materials.

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From Geographies of Exclusion Toward a Thirdspace of Possibility Reflecting on our exploratory study, and situating our findings within various possible theoretical frameworks, we found it useful to draw from cultural geography’s use of space and boundaries, including the notion of “thirdspace” (Soja, 1996) and the trialectics of spatiality and othering, as described by philosopher Henri Lefebvre (1991, 1996). For clarification of how Soja and others use the construct of thirdspace, in part as a move away from a binary first space/second space construction, it is helpful to briefly discuss how firstspace and secondspace are defined. Soja (1996) defines firstspace perspective epistemology as “fixed mainly on the concrete materiality of spatial forms, on things that can be empirically mapped” (p. 10). Secondspace, according to Soja (p. 10) is “conceived in ideas about space, in thoughtful re-presentations of human spatiality in mental or cognitive forms.” Thirdspace first appeared in the urban geography literature in the late 1960s as “another form of spatial awareness” (Soja, 1996, p. 11). Soja describes “thirding as a process that draws upon the material and mental spaces of the traditional dualism but extends well beyond them in scope, substance, and meaning” (p. 11). Soja (1996) also describes the exploration of Thirdspace as journeys to “real-and-imagined” places (p. 11). Another framing we have used is the notion of thirdspace potential, as it applies to ROM children for example, as “improbable possibilities” for transformation of material limitations. We also drew from the notion of Geographies of Exclusion (Sibley, 1995), which uses a postmodern analysis of various social landscapes of Europe that focuses on the marginalized images and assumptions about the “other,” including Gypsies, throughout modern European history. The overall experience appeared to sensitize future teachers to the many ways in which ROM children and their families were socially excluded in Greek society and find classroom-based teaching and advocacy strategies to provide the needed skills in Greek, mathematics, and school readiness for greater inclusion and participation. Of particular relevance are a series of questions raised while collecting and analyzing our data, which draw from the cultural geography and postcolonial theories briefly described. Specifically, what spaces—physical, symbolic, and social—do ROM children currently inhabit in Greece? Or, as Soja might ask, what are the spaces of representation available to ROM children? What spaces are created, within the borderlands where the ROM live, by such alternative programs as the one described in this paper? How might children gain access to a thirdspace of possibility (Soja, 1996)? Do ROM children and youth create these spaces for themselves and, if so, in what contexts? What might be the role of preservice and practicing teachers in facilitating this space of possibility and success with young ROM children?

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In briefly addressing these questions, we argue that spaces need to be opened that enable children to create other possible worlds and gain access to narratives not previously available to them. For example, during interviews, children expressed clear dreams for the future that might be viewed as improbable life scripts within dominant society. To be fulfilled, these dreams often require functional literacy in Greek and other languages. Delpit (1995), Foster (1997), and others have argued that the language and culture of power of the dominant society must be taught to linguistic, ethnic, and racial minority children, and that the codes or roles of power must be explicitly taught. To overcome pervasive social exclusion, ROM children need to be able to successfully code-switch across cultures in the larger society, while maintaining their own language, culture, and traditions. Although children viewed some of the student teachers’ activities as more play than school work, they clearly engaged with activities that recognized and built upon their culture and life experiences outside of school. They were not afraid to clarify false information or interrupt assumptions made by the beginning teachers and appeared to be gaining in voice in the classroom. Similar to scholarship within critical curriculum theory on student and teacher resistance and issues of power in the classroom (e.g., Apple, 1990, 1995) and ritual performance (McClaren, 1993, 1994), the issue of student voice and negotiation of curriculum and pedagogy were evident in our study. In other words, ROM students were far from passive recipients of curriculum. They actively negotiated their learning and rejected many of the lessons taught.

CONCLUSIONS In many ways this study raised more questions than it answered. Although we learned that placing preservice teachers in programs serving cultural minority children had many benefits in their preparation to teach in increasingly diverse contexts and become more culturally sensitive, a number of practical challenges and limitations were evident in this pilot study. The short length of time and lack of contact with the larger ROM community, particularly the children’s parents and extended families, were clear limitations. Creating more openings for the sort of thirdspace of possibility for cultural minority children in Greece and decolonizing our work, we are anxious to collaborate more directly with ROM families and community leaders in future studies. We are hopeful that even this short-term pilot study offers new insight for teacher educators, teachers, and schools serving ROM students in Greece. We also hope that it is of interest to ROM families facing decisions about their children’s education. In summary, we conclude that involving preservice teachers in the successful education of ROM students while emphasizing a combination of

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preparation for the national curriculum and expectations of regular classrooms was viewed as necessary, but insufficient. A culturally sensitive combination of building on students’ unique culture, skills, and strengths that uses and encourages bilingual education strategies and materials, anchored in a genuine belief in all children’s promise (Swadener & Lubeck, 1995), and in a vision of their unimagined possibilities, is urgently needed. Greater involvement of families and the larger ROM community also appears to be critical to the success of education initiatives intended to benefit future generations of the clan and community.

NOTES 1. POVERTY 3 was a program supported by the European Union. It started in 1990 and developed in three phases. The program aimed at establishing a framework of social and economic policies with the distinct purpose of combating social exclusion and poverty and attempted a multidimensional handling of problems through activities in the domains of education, occupation, information, and social policy. Target groups of the program included Pontians, ROM, single parent families, and persons with special needs. Different educational approaches were developed for different target groups and different age levels and settings within each group. Language and literacy learning emphasized community empowerment and educational outreach. The program developed teaching materials that corresponded to the various needs of young children and adolescents. 2. Pontians are persons of Greek heritage who lived in the former USSR for several generations and returned after the break up of the Soviet Union. They speak a Greek dialect which is closer to ancient Greek and not easily recognizable by native Greeks. 3. Thessaloniki, in the Macedonia region of northern Greece, is the second largest city in Greece, with a population of over 1 million. 4. The school did move into a new and larger building by spring 1998, which now serves both the regular morning primary school and the, afternoon program for ROM children.

REFERENCES Anzaldua, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera. San Francisco: Spinsters Ink/Aunt Lute Press. Apple, M.A. (1990). The text and cultural politics. Journal of Educational Thought/ Revue de la Pensee Educative, 24(3a), 17–33. Apple, M.A. (1995). Education and power (2nd ed.) New York: Routledge. Banks, J.A., & Banks, C.M. (1993). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Behar, R., & Gordon, D.A. (Eds.). (1995). Women writing culture. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cortiade, M. (1990). Romani and Gadzikani: Where is the boundary? A typological approach to the lexical intercourse between a minor tongue and the sur-

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BIOGRAPHIES OF THE CONTRIBUTORS Ilene R. Berson is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. She coordinates projects focusing on the prevention and intervention of child abuse and victimization, oversees research initiatives to inform policy and practice in the area of child welfare and safety, and provides technical assistance on system evaluation and reform. She has served as the Project Lead for several projects which focus on the development of training for professionals with a special emphasis on evolving their role as collaborative partners. Dr. Berson has co-developed an award-winning training model to prepare educators to support children who have been victimized. She is a member of the UNESCO Innocence in Danger Task Force, which is comprised of the leading experts from various disciplines in the United States as part of a virtual “think tank” on advocacy and children’s online safety. She also serves as a co-chair of the UNESCO Innocence in Danger research committee. Dr. Berson is a co-founder of the American Educational Research Association SIG Research in Global Child Advocacy. Dr. Berson’s research focuses on global child advocacy, children’s online safety, and the creation of safe, supportive school environments for child victims. She can be contacted at [email protected] Michael J. Berson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Michael currently teaches courses in Social Science Methodology and is co-coordinator of the doctoral studies in social science education. He conducts research on global child advocacy and technology in social studies education. He has recently co-authored the book Social Studies on the Internet. Michael currently chairs the technology committee of the National Council for the Social Studies College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA). He also is 213

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a member of UNESCO’s (the United Nation’s education, scientific and cultural organization) Innocence in Danger U.S. National Action Committee, an online global Internet education, safety, and research initiative. He can be contacted at [email protected] Bárbara C. Cruz is Associate Professor of Secondary Education at the University of South Florida. Her interests in global and multicultural education include the representation of Hispanics in school curricula and textbooks, diversity issues in education, and the teaching of Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, Dr. Cruz has published a number of young adult biographies of inspirational Hispanics (such as Frida Kahlo and Rubén Blades) and developed curricula on Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, she is one of the co-editors of Latinas in the United States, an encyclopedia chronicling the history and contributions of Latinas in the United States. She may be contacted at [email protected] Deborah Eville Lo holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Chicago and has extensive expertise in the areas of child development and exceptionality. Her experience includes teaching and psychological and educational testing in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. In addition, she did research and evaluation in special education for the Chicago School Board, the third largest school system in the nation. Currently, Dr. Lo teaches Educational Psychology, Exceptional Child, and Group Processes at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit University. She may be contacted at [email protected] Carol Flake is the Moore Distinguished Chair of Child Advocacy in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She earned her doctorate in child and family studies from UNC Greensboro in 1977 and a masters in religious studies from USC Columbia in 1997. During the fall semester, 2000, Dr. Flake is a visiting scholar at the Women’s Leadership Institute at Mills College in Oakland, CA and a Research Associate at the Center for Women and Religion in Berkeley. Her current work focuses on education as transformation, women’s leadership, dialogue across differences, and global child advocacy. Recent publications include: (1) “Teacher education, spiritual transformation, and child advocacy,” a chapter in Viktor Kazanjian and Peter Laurence, Eds. (2000). Education as transformation.. (2) “Let us remember the children: Multifaith perspectives on global child advocacy,” International Journal of Educational Policy, Research and Practice, 1(1), 25–38. She may be contacted [email protected] Rosanne Glass is the Director of the Community Education Unit in Saskatchewan Education. She played a key role in the review of the Community Schools program and in the development of Building Communities of Hope. She was involved in consultations with the Saskatchewan Community

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Schools Association and participating schools and school divisions during the process. She has also been instrumental in the development of a number of other policy and program responses to address the needs of children and youth, particularly those at-risk, including Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Children and the Prekindergarten Program. Rosanne’s background is in education and anthropology. Prior to her position at the provincial level, she taught at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College and was involved in the development of English as a Second Language programs in Saskatchewan and Alberta. She is the mother of a delightful 15 year-old and is involved in a number of community organizations. Rosanne’s key personal and professional interest is in providing a better future for Saskatchewan’s children. She may be contacted at [email protected] Tata Mbugua is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was born and raised in Kenya. She received her doctorate at Ohio University. Her research interests are in multicultural and global perspectives in education. As a recipient of The Rockefeller Foundation research grant, she has conducted research and published on the synergistic effects of female education in developing countries in general, and in Kenya in particular. She may be contacted at [email protected] Faye McCallum recently completed her doctoral studies on “The effectiveness of training as professional development: Teachers as mandated notifiers of child abuse and neglect.” Aspects of her findings appear in this chapter. She works at the University of South Australia, Australia, in the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences. Her main responsibilities are in primary teacher education in social science curriculum and the practicum. Her research and teaching interests are in the area of teacher reporting of child abuse and neglect, and mandatory notification as it pertains to educators at both undergraduate and graduate level. She manages the preparation of beginning teachers as mandated notifiers of child abuse and negect. A recent inclusion to the undergraduate teacher preparation course was the introduction of a subject for final year students on child protection. This subject promotes a global perspective with a focus on children at risk, and prevention strategies for school educators, embedded in a theme of child wellness. She may be contacted at [email protected] Christodoula Mitakidou is a Lecturer in the Primary Education Department at Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. She has a Master’s degree in contemporary American Literature from the English Department at McGill University (Montreal), and a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education, focused on teaching foreign languages, from Aristotle University. She has participated in research projects including POVERTY 3, for the education of children at risk of social exclusion, and has published a

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children’s book with U.S. children’s literature professor, Anthony Manna. Her research is currently focusing on issues of Greek as a second language and cultural minority groups’ education in Greece. She may be contacted at [email protected] Donna Patterson works closely with undergraduate and graduate students as well as practicing professionals. She serves the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina, as Associate Professor in Educational Psychology. Much of her work focuses on coordinating Special Education, which involves facilitating a sequence of six courses to provide student teachers and teachers in the field with needed skills to address diversity issues. Underlying such work is a commitment to children and to advocating that their needs be met through community parnerships. This particular piece reflects an ongoing research interest in change and how efforts to work collaboratively within the community can benefit children. She may be contacted at [email protected] Jyotsna Pattnaik is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at California State University at Long Beach. She has taught in public schools and higher education systems in India and the United States. She has participated in national level educational research projects funded by world organizations at National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi, India. She is interested in internationalizing the curriculum both at the public school and college levels. She has developed and implemented a curriculum collaboration project connecting kindergarten classrooms in India and the U. S. Her research interests relate to brain development of children, multicultural education, cross-cultural differences in child-rearing and parenting styles, early childhood education in Indian context, and cross-national collaboration in early childhood education. At present, she is working on a manuscript titled, “Implications of brain research for poor children in developing countries: The need for global child advocacy.” She may be contacted at [email protected] Annette Richardson, teaches History of Childhood at the Department of Educational Policy Studies and History at Faculté St. Jean at the University of Alberta as well as other post secondary institutions. Her main research interests focus on disruption of children’s schooling experiences, particularly during times of political conflict. She is editor of Canadian Childhood in 1997, Childhood and Youth: A Universal Odyssey and Multiculturalism in 1998, and Preparing Together for the 21st Century. Annette also is author of numerous journal articles and book reviews and has presented papers at many national and international conferences. She is Chair of the International Cultural Research Network. Annette has been accredited by UNICEF and the government of Canada as an Expert on War-Affected Children. She may be contacted at [email protected]

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Beth Blue Swadener is Professor of Early Childhood Education at Kent State University. She has been active in child advocacy and unlearning oppression work in her teaching, research, and community involvement for many years. Her research has included collaborative studies of anti-bias early education and urban education in the United States, changing childrearing and the education of street children in Kenya, and, most recently, anti-racist/culturally relevant curriculum development in South Africa and in Greece. Her books include Reconceptualizing the Early Childhood Curriculum (with Shirley Kessler, 1992), Children and Families “At Promise:” Deconstructing the Discourse of Risk (with Sally Lubeck, 1995), Does the Village Still Raise the Child: A Collaborative Study of Changing Child-rearing in Kenya (2000), and Semiotics of dis/ability: Interrogating categories of difference (with Linda Rogers, in press). She may be contacted at [email protected] Evangelia Tressou has a Master’s degree from the Mathematics Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and Ph.D. in Education from the University of Leicester, UK. She has taught in high schools and at the Teachers’ College in Thessaloniki and is currently an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Primary Education Department at Aristotle University. Since 1991, she has participated in projects against social exclusion and for the educational integration of children belonging to the least privileged groups (including POVERTY 3, HORIZON, ECOS-OUVERTURE). Her current research is focused on education problems of minorities, as well as gender issues in mathematics education and understanding mathematical concepts. She may be contacted at [email protected] Gabriela Tymowski is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada, where she teaches ethics relating to sport and recreation, health care, and research. She is also completing her doctoral studies in applied ethics, focusing on moralities surrounding children’s participation in high-performance sport. Her research interests lie in the area of children’s rights in sport, coaching ethics, and the ethical treatment of vulnerable beings--such as children and animals--in other realms, such as research. She may be contacted at [email protected]