Events

New publication!

Thursday, July 8, 2021, was the online conference Right from the start: ensuring quality and inclusive early childhood care and education for everyone, organized by UNESCO and the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM). Building on a new global partnership strategy for early childhood, two new publications were presented to strengthen inclusive, quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) for the most marginalized children.

The Chairholder, Carmen Dionne, gave a presentation of the new publication “Early childhood inclusive education: from commitment to action”. This UNESCO document, in which the Chairholder and her team contributed, aims to support the action of the different stakeholders involved and committed to inclusion in early childhood education.

Oneline conference | Thursday, 08 July from 9:00 to 10:30 (Eastern Standard Time) | “Right from the start: Ensuring quality and inclusive early childhood care and education for everyone”

UNESCO is pleased to invite you on Thursday, 8 July from 9:00 to 10:30 (Eastern Standard Time) to join “Right from the start: Ensuring quality and inclusive early childhood care and education for everyone” organized by UNESCO and the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report. In the lead up to the launch of a new Global Partnership Strategy (GPS) for early childhood, the event will feature two new publications focused on strengthening quality and inclusive ECCE for the most marginalized children - Publication 1: Inclusive early childhood Care and education: From commitment to action; Publication 2: Right from the start: build inclusive societies through inclusive early childhood education.

• This online event, with simultaneous interpretation in English, French, Spanish and international sign, will:
• Present the latest data and evidence on international progress towards inclusion in early childhood education
• Highlight the bottlenecks to stronger implementation of inclusive early childhood education programmes across countries
• Highlight strategies to operationalise recommendations and overcome bottlenecks for quality inclusive ECCE through available tools and country examples
• Feature recommendations and new policy tools for accelerating progress towards inclusion in early childhood education

Register here, and please feel free to promote this event through your networks.

Presentation: Inclusion of young children, by Prof Marisa Macy, Ph.D. | University of Central Florida

In this presentation, Marisa Macy explains that policies on Inclusion are imperative to make inclusion a priority all around the globe. More specifically, she believes that inclusion is very important in early childhood. She discusses four important international organizations that have inclusive policies: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World banck group. More specifically for the United State, she explains two policies and laws that have a positive impact for people with disabilities: the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). She also mentions the joint position statement on early childhood inclusion created in 2009 by the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and explains three main defining features (access, participation and supports) for early childhood education. To see the presentation, please clic on the picture to the left.

Generous contribution from the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon for inclusive child care | Québec, Canada

This supports the project « Ensemble pour des milieux de garde inclusifs » (Together for inclusive childcare settings) (SSHRC, Partenariat, 2017-2024), which was initially based on the participation of 7 early childhood centers (CPE) for the development of inclusive practices in childcare settings. The project can now count with three additional childcare settings in urban areas (Montreal) which represent: multi-ethnic environments or welcoming contexts for newcomers, environments receiving children from low-income families as well as school childcare settings. The purpose is to ensure greater representativeness in order to generate knowledge applicable to a wide spectrum of childcare settings. A more comprehensive range of strategies for optimal development of children in a variety of inclusion contexts will be generated

The International Congress of Children | Medellín, Colombia

Last October, the International Congress of Children took place in Medellin Colombia. As part of this event, Carmen Dionne was invited as an international expert to offer two conferences, one on naturalistic intervention in early intervention and the other one on inclusive practices in child care settings. Both conferences, were followed by panel sessions for further discussion with the participants. The aim was to inform the Colombian community about new trends related to supporting children's development in a global and diversified perspective. The event brought together stakeholders from the education and health networks, university students and parents.

The International Forum on Inclusion and Equity in Education - Every Learner Matters| Cali, Colombia

On September 11-13, the International Forum on Inclusion and Equity in Education was held in Cali, Colombia. No less than 500 delegates came from 40 different countries took part of this event: ministers of education and other government officials, education practitioners and educators, researchers and experts, bilateral, multilateral or others, development partners, private sector stakeholders, representatives of the organizations young people, media representatives and representatives of intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations supporting inclusive education.

This event, organized by UNESCO, allowed Carmen Dionne to interact with actors from several countries through discussion forums to promote inclusion and equity in education. Ms. Dionne also participated as a panelist in a presentation titled « Fostering multi sectoral collaborations for supporting the holistic development of young children and their inclusion to quality inclusive early years settings ». The objectives of this meeting were to promote international collaboration as well as the sharing of different policies and practices so that everyone can replicate them or adapt them according to their environment.

For more information about this event, please visit the UNESCO website.

A Participation of the Chair at the International Congress of "Gobernanza de la Ciencia y la Innovación" | Bogotá, Colombia

The chairholder, Ms. Carmen Dionne, made a presentation at the international congress of "Gobernanza de la Ciencia y la Innovación" which was held from July 31 to August 2 in Bogota, Colombia. The purpose of the congress was to present the progress of research in 11 thematic areas. It is around the theme of science, peace and social inclusion that Ms. Dionne shared her knowledge with an audience of foreign guests, political representatives and citizens. Drawing on her experience of partnership research in early intervention, she spoke about the development and implementation of practices in a real context of intervention.

Our Member Kay Heo from South Korea, Discusses the Social-emotional Development of Young Children at a Seminar | Seoul, Korea

During a parent seminar on May 14, Ms. Kay Heo, professor and researcher at Seoul's Chongshin University, discussed the socio-emotional development of young children and the effective management of challenging behaviors based on a multi-level approach.

Carmen Dionne Receives the Research Excellence Award | University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada

During the "Distinction UQTR" ceremony, which took place at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières on April 16, Ms. Carmen Dionne received the Research Excellence Award.

Conference as Part of a Doctoral Research Symposium | Orlando, Florida, United States

Carmen Dionne, was invited to the Doctoral Research Symposium, to present a conference entitled "Language and Learning: Translating Assessment Tools from English to French". The purpose of this activity was to present and exchange, with PhD students from the University of Central Florida, about the development of evaluation tools translated from English to French by Carmen Dionne and on the research about the translation process. As part of this activity, Dionne shared her experience conducting research in partnership with practice settings.

The PhD students were invited by the international researcher member of the UNESCO Chair Screening and Assessment of Early Childhood Development, Marisa Macy.

Five Members of the UNESCO Chair Were Present at the 3rd International Symposium "ASQ Around the world" | Annapolis, Maryland, United States of America

The 3rd International Symposium on the Ages & Stages Questionnaires screening instrument (ASQ) took place on March 18, 19 and 20 in Annapolis, Maryland. This event, which brought together stakeholders from more than a dozen countries, aimed to reunite researchers, clinicians and publishers interested in early childhood development as well as in the translation of the ASQ into various languages.

Five members of the UNESCO Chair Screening and evaluation of early childhood development were present at this symposium. Researchers Carmen Dionne and Michel Rousseau from the University of Québec in Trois-Rivières were present, as well as international members; Ms. Kay Heo (South Korea), Ms. Luisa Schonhaut (Chile) and Ms. Jane Squires (United States).

Specifically, our five members hosted a roundtable entitled "Implement screening activities: perspectives for different countries; Québec, Chili and South Korea". The purpose of this activity was to bring together international researchers that study the ASQ screening tool in order to foster greater exchange on the implementation of screening practices taking into account the different countries involved, vantage points.