A Finland newspaper, Kaleva, reports July 14/08 that Finland’s Minister of Education, Sari Sarkomma, wants to see immigrant children spend longer in preschool than Finnish-born children so that they can be deeply immersed in the language and culture.
Category: International
-
Kahani: A South Asian literary magazine for children
Kahani: A South Asian Literacy Magazine for Children was founded by Monika Jain who wanted to find resources that would be relevant to her daughter’s experience. The result: an award-winning children’s magazine, free of ads and full of Asian culture and stories.
-
UNHCR on the best interests of the child
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCRC) have updated their 2006 Guidelines on Determining the Best Interests of the Child. From the announcement on the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN):
The principle of the best interests of the child has been the subject of extensive consideration in academic, operational and other circles. Legal documents relating to the protection of children, including those adopted by UNHCRs Executive Committee on children of concern to the Office, systematically refer to it.
How to apply this principle in practice, however, often remains challenging for UNHCR and its partners. Limited guidance is available on how to operationalise the best interests principle. UNHCR’s Guidelines on Determining the Best Interests of the Child are intended as one step to help fill this gap.
-
Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood annual conference
The Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood Annual Conference will be held Nov 13-15, 2008 in Melbourne, Australia. The conference theme is Honouring the Child, Honouring Equity 8: Young Citizen(s), New Citizenship(s). Key themes to be addressed include:
How are the possibilities for citizenship and for children being imagined and practiced in diverse contexts?
How can we transform relationships with children to create greater reciprocity and respect?
What are the local and global possibilities for enacting ethical citizenship processes and practices with young children?
What local and global and global linkages can inspire new possibilities for children’s citizenship(s)?
How do issues of diversity, difference and identity intersect with possibilities for honouring children, honouring equity?Call for proposals closes July 16/08.
-
UK report: Safeguarding children who may have been trafficked
A resource by the UK Home Office in response to their UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking. The Action Plan included a commitment to provide guidance, information and resources for agencies who work with children who may have been trafficked. The resource is now available at the childtrafficking.com site.
-
Database on immigrants in OECD countries
Introducing the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) database on immigrants in OECD countries.
The database provides a comparative, comprehensive set of data, including demographic and labour market information. The database draws on population census, registers and includes demographic information including age and gender.
Visit the OECD website, OECD.StatExtracts and click on “Demography and Population” and follow the links to the database. -
World Refugee Day
June 20th marks World Refugee Day. See the United Nations High Commission on Refugees website for information, resources and promotional material.
-
Call for proposals: Expanding literacy studies (US conference)
An international, interdisciplinary graduate student conference on literacy studies will be held at Ohio State University April 3-5/09. Proposals will begin being reviewed as of September 1/08 and will be accepted until October 15/08.
From the conference website: The theme Expanding Literacy Studies “draws from the larger conversation on literacy and literacy studies, the many myths of literacy and the growing number of new and emergent literacies”.
9 other US universities are involved. Let’s get some Canadian scholars in immigrant children studies participating and ensure L1 issues and solutions are part of this conference. -
Artifacts of childhood: 700 years of children's books – a Newberry Library exhibit
The Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois, USA, will be mounting an exhibit from Sept 27/08 to Jan 17/09 on Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children’s Books.
The exhibit will showcase over sixty books from the Middle Ages to the present day, featuring books from Europe, the Americas and Asia in many languages (a small faction of the 10,000 + collection of children’s books in all the world’s languages). In conjunction with the exhibit, there will be a series of lectures and other events. I shall post when information becomes available. -
Gender, families and Latino immigration in Oregon, USA
Latino children make up about 15 % of the population under age 18 in the US state of Oregon. Latino births account for 20 % of the total births in Oregon.
A conference sponsored by the University of Oregon, on Gender, Families and Latino Immigration in Oregon will be held this upcoming week, May 22-23/08 in Eugene, Oregon. The conference is free and open to the public.
The conference features panels on a range of topics of interest to the Early Childhood Working Group, including: education, changes in family dynamics, immigrant indigenous women’s organizing. It also will include a community forum on Myths and Facts about Immigration: Gender, Youth, and Family Perspectives, a plenary session on Building Alliances for Immigrant Rights, and a closing keynote panel on Lessons on Gender and Families Issues among Latino Immigrant Populations in California and Oregon.