FMSC Student Colleen Vesely Participates in International Panel on Immigration

Colleen Vesely, a 3rd year doctoral student in the Department of Family Science, recently participated in the World Forum on Early Care and Education in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This conference brought together 700 early childhood practitioners and researchers from 80 countries to discuss the important issues related to early childhood education. While there, she took part in a panel discussion entitled ""Hope, Aspirations, and Plight: The Stories of Families in the Current of Global Immigration."

Now firmly back on U.S. soil, Vesely talked with the Healthy Turtle about her experience at the World Forum and her research into the experience of immigration families

Healthy Turtle: How did you come to participate in a panel at the World Forum (WF)?

Coleen Vesely: I am currently a consultant to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), working on a project that is funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation in the Netherlands and focused on understanding how early childhood education (ECE) centers in the U.S. and abroad are working with immigrant children and families. The data we ultimately will gather from various early childhood centers will be used to develop tools to support ECE practitioners in the U.S. and abroad in their work with immigrant families.

Mark Ginsberg, Executive Director, NAEYC, and I were asked to be a part of a panel discussion on immigrant families at the Forum because of our current work on this project focused on immigrant families and ECE. The panel was comprised of individuals from Australia, Canada, Colombia, and the U.S. who are all particularly interested in the experiences of immigrant children and families.

An out-growth from this session was the creation of a WF working group on immigration, which will facilitate information and idea sharing among WF participants from around the world who are working with immigrant families.

HT: What were your personal highlights from the World Forum? Did anything about the event particularly surprise you?

CV: A highlight of my experience at the WF was the opportunity to meet, learn from, and begin to collaborate with practitioners and researchers from all corners of the globe who are focused on issues of early childhood education. By using a sliding scale for fees, the WF draws participants from 80 countries around the world. Additionally, the WF organizers work particularly diligently to create an atmosphere of collaboration such that seeds for international, cross-cultural partnerships are planted after only three days at the WF.

A second highlight was having the opportunity to chat with Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, a member of the UN Committee on the Convention of the Rights of the Child about current issues facing children and families around the world.

HT: From your research into programs working with immigrant families, what sorts of results have you seen thus far? Where are you hoping to take the research?

CV: We are headed into the field for data collection beginning in the early fall. We will be conducting six in-depth case studies, consisting of interviews and observations within ECE centers in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to creating materials and tools for ECE practitioners working with immigrant families, from this initial qualitative study, we hope to apply for more funding to conduct further research using mixed methods on this important and timely topic.

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For more information about Vesely's research, visit the Family Science student profile page at this link. For more information about the World Forum on Early Care and Education, visit this link.