Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

I think any employment in an organization local, state, national, and international that fosters the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood field as a whole is worthwhile in life. I think there are several roles I would like to take on now, and in the future.
     The first community of practice that appealed to me was in Melbourne, Victoria. The Victoria Mission (2013) stated “to ensure a high-quality and coherent birth-to-adulthood learning and development system to build the capability of every Victorian” (Framework, 2013). I was interested in “The Early Childhood Intervention Professional”, position that is currently available. The skills and experience that you would need to fulfill this role involves working with and through children’s families, caregivers and early childhood educators to provide children with experiences and opportunities that promote the acquisition of competencies that enable children to participate meaningfully in home and community environments. I chose this this (CoP), because, they were committed to ensuring a high-quality environment in the early childhood field. In order to do just that they would need competent, and committed members to see this through.
     My second (CoP) is located in Kansas. The name of the (CoP) is Technical Assistance & Dissemination. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has formed several communities of practice (CoP) to improve implementation of IDEA. TA&D has a Network's CoP site.  The TA&D Network has Communities- a place for stakeholders to communicate, collaborate, & coalesce around issues using the Communities of Practice (CoP) approach.  This strategy is used by the Technical Assistance & Dissemination Network (TA&D) and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to extend technical assistance (TA). The CoPs within TAcommunities also provide resources & support to states on issues that impact students & children with disabilities, & their families” ((TA&D), 2014).
     The CoP approach can be used to extend technical assistance to states & others through collaboration on a wide variety of education topics (an example would be the State Performance Plan [SPP]/Annual Performance Report [APR] process which is done annually by the states).   Different TA&D centers funded by OSEP have chosen to use the CoP strategy as a way of working together to meet the needs of their stakeholders.   TA&D Centers utilize different platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Ning) as a way to communicate and to stay connected with their community members. Here is a list of OSEP funded projects that employ the CoP approach and the links to their communities:
1.      Collaborate with the AIM Community of Practice
http://aim.cast.org/collaborate
2.      Early Childhood Community
http://community.fpg.unc.edu/
3.      National Post-School Outcomes Center Community of Practice
http://psocenter.org/content_pages/25
4.      The IDEA Partnership Communities of Practice
http://www.sharedwork.org/
5.      TA&D Network on Ning
www.tadnet.ning.com
6.      TA Communities
http://www.tacommunities.org
     I chose this (CoP), because, they are trying to provide resources, and support for children, and their families with disabilities. A job for Preschool Head Teacher was interesting to me. The skills, and experience to fulfill this role was years of related experience required: “ 3 years' experience with teaching children, including those with special needs, with specific skills and knowledge of the preschool age group; Required education: Master's degree in Early Childhood Education or related field, and Special licenses required: MA prek-2 license and/or EEC Lead Teacher Certification; Early Childhood Teacher Certification of Students With and Without Disabilities within a year of hire” ((TA&D), 2014).
     The third (CoP) I chose is Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. I chose this (CoP), because, they provide resources to communities to improve the quality of life for children and youth with mental health problems and their families. The position for “Tapestry Parent Advocate” interest me the most, because, it helps to build an infrastructure within the community. The skills, and experience that you would need for this role is shall, “a. Be the caretaker - parent, grandparent, or foster parent - of a child with severe emotional issues who has received services from one or more child-serving systems b. Be able to engage and support family members c. Be able to communicate with others both verbally and through writing d. Have good time management skills, and e. Be able to engage with professionals, community members at large and other key stakeholders” ((AIR), 2013, p. 1).
References
(AIR), A. I. (2013). Early Childhood Community of Practice. Retrieved from The Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health (TA Partnership): http://www.tapartnership.org/
(TA&D), T. A. (2014). TAcommunities. Retrieved from WELCOME - TA&D Network's CoP site: http://www.tacommunities.org/

Framework, V. E. (2013). Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Retrieved from Department of Education and Early Childhood Development: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/providers/edcare/pages/veyladf.aspx?Redirect=1

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