This article originally appeared in the July-August 2006 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Use the Children's Advocate in your work! Feel free to reprint this article, as a handout or in your own publication -- just credit us (see above) and be sure to send us a copy.

The California Child Development CORPS

Early childhood teachers and providers organizing and advocating for better pay, benefits, job conditions, and professional respect.

CORPS members: International experts

Members of the California Child Development Corps have a lot to teach—not just to the kids in their programs, but to California grown-ups, as the Corps advocates for better conditions for children and caregivers. Recently four Corps participants at the Concord Child Care Center described universal child care and good curriculum in their home countries.

MEXICO, Adriana Morales Gomez: “ Mexico has free, three-hour-a-day preschool for four-year olds. It’s run by the school system and it’s a good program—both play and academic teaching, and they serve lunch. Everybody wants their kids to get ahead, so pretty much everybody takes them to preschool.

“Teachers have to have degrees and they get more benefits than teachers here. The government builds houses and gives teachers very good rates on loans to buy them. They also get retirement benefits.”

INDIA, Rachna Sharma: “In India, school is free and it’s compulsory for children starting at four. The school day is from 7:30 to 12.

“The program for four-year-olds is not too much academic pressure, mostly social and emotional development, to get ready for first grade (at five). Even in first grade there’s not much academic pressure.”

POLAND, Renata Linkowski: “In Poland the government provides full-day care for children from the age of three months. Parents pay on a sliding scale, but the fee is low enough so anybody can attend.

“Preschool teachers have to have degrees and the children have continuity of care, the same teacher from age three through five. The state sends requirements about what kids have to know at each level, and teachers have to plan and follow a schedule.”

“They have play, group activities, circle time. There’s no pressure—schools don’t start teaching children to read until they are six. It’s better, the children are more mature. And there’s more communication between parents and teachers.”

ARGENTINA, Gabriela Rowland: “In Argentina, preschool (for three- and four-year-olds) is part of the school system. Some schools are half day and some are full day. It’s a play-based curriculum with songs, stories, music and movement, art, cooking.

“Teachers first have to qualify as teachers, then specialize in preschool. They get paid the same as other teachers. Not only preschool, but all education through the BA is free.”

To find how to participate in California Child Development Corps, call 415-808-7327 or email cares@caccwrc.org

Thanks to the Trio Foundation for its support for this page.

Return to top

SB 1600: Child care system reforms

The Corps works in coalition with other groups on legislation that can benefit teachers and providers. This year Jo Ann Gilbert, a San Diego family child care provider for almost 30 years, traveled to Sacramento as a member of the United Child Care Union to lobby for SB 1600 (Kuehl). The bill would have:

• Created a plan to collect data on the need for child care. “There are spaces,” says Gilbert. “But there’s not enough funding!”

• Created a task force to coordinate training. “We need the classes and the financial help!” says Gilbert. Providers need evening classes, “and there are not enough bilingual classes.”

• Allowed family child care providers to bargain collectively with state licensing and payment programs.

• Create financial incentives for higher-quality care.

• Increased the rate paid to subsidized centers (Title V).

(The bill did not pass this legislative session, but advocates will be back next year.)

Return to top

Action Alliance
for Children
e-mail aac@4children.org
1201 Martin Luther
King Jr. Way
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 444-7136