Do Children need to go ‘Back to School’?
Wherever we look for the origin of schools, it is usually defined by ‘studying’ subjects and being separate from the everyday reality of work and personal life. Nothing could be more wrong. Right now, we are falling short of providing education for all, including seeing some of the biggest decline in well-being, and the current rapid changes […]
Global Day of Parents: Celebrating our Community-level Activists
A child’s first teacher is, almost always, a parent or carer. Parents are central in the development of a child’s social, moral, and cultural learning journey. Today, on Global Day of Parents, we celebrate parents worldwide, and recognize their role as activists within local communities, especially during a time of crisis. When United World Schools (UWS) […]
The necessity for a #paradigm_shift in Arabic education
Educators face daily challenges to foster Arabic readers in this bilingual, digital world, as discussed in the previous article in this series, “Modern World’s Characteristics and Impact on Arabic Literacy Education”. We need to understand the root problems crippling Arabic Literacy Education before attempting to overcome them. Based on our workshops held in the Middle East, Canada and the […]
To Raise Smart Citizens, We Must Nurture Curiosity & Flexibility
I find myself thinking about smart citizenship during interactions with the families, teachers, and children of Ecole Claire Fontaine; an art, language and nature school for young children. I believe that to raise smart citizens we must entertain all the senses and cultivate words for the social brain to form. We must also entrust […]
Playtime Can Bridge the Developmental Gap in Early Childhood
Special Focus : Roads Less Traveled: Alternative Approaches to Education Sarah is the 3-year-old daughter of one of Ubongo’s employees and comes to the office with her mother almost every day. We’ve watched her grow from a little baby to the active toddler who likes to play, draw, run around the office and ask lots […]
Forest Kindergarten is STEAM by Nature
“We’re going to pour the water now!” yelled an excited voice from the forest. Suddenly, with that announcement, all the forest kindergarten children, no matter what they had been engaged in, rushed over to the hillside that had been repeatedly cut with channels and constructed with deliberate diversions. Within these channels, several children had carefully […]
Schools Where Children Can Play All Day Long
School gets us so worried. Will my kids get good grades? Will they graduate? Go to college? Get a job? It is normal to be worried, when failing school usually leads to a life of misery, while succeeding at school sets you up for a good career, and therefore a guarantee of safety and […]
Early Childhood Development in Qatar: Status and opportunities for the future
The report provides an overview of the state of early childhood development (ECD) in Qatar, along with empirical evidence on the potential benefits of early childhood education (ECE) in the country. Children who attend ECE programs in Qatar have better early development outcomes in literacy, numeracy, socioemotional, executive functioning, and self-regulation skills. These associated benefits […]
The Future of Learning: Personalized and Curiosity-led
Imagine that you only learned how to swim 75 percent? Or that you only learned how to ride your bike 75 percent? Or as a pilot, you only learned how to fly an airplane 75 percent? We’d likely feel the downside of partial mastery, with scrapes and bruises—or worse–along the way. As silly as […]
Quality in Early Childhood Education: an International Review and Guide for Policy Makers
High quality early childhood education has an important impact on later development and learning of children. It comprises the emotional, social and cognitive development, as well as the key transversal skills including language, self-regulation and playfulness. Why is education in the early years so crucial? And what policies and practices make quality early childhood education […]