An important task for Turkish academics in global education!
Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences Child Development Department Head Prof. Nurper Ülküer became a member of the Brookings Institution Center for Universal Education Early Learning Technical Advisory Group.
Prof. Nurper Ülküer stated that "Throughout my professional life, I have worked in the field of child development at national and global level, and it is pleasing to receive such a technical consultancy invitation."
Prof. Nurper Ülküer, Head of the Department of Child Development at Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences, played an important role in the early childhood education study initiated by the Brookings Institution's Universal Education Center.
International invitation to Prof. Nurper Ülküer
The Brookings Institution, which was founded in 1916, is one of the founders of the tradition of independent policy research centers in the United States and conducts independent research, analysis, and public education on economics, foreign policy, governance, and urban policy. The Brookings Institution has invited Prof. Nurper Ülküer to become a member of the Early Learning Technical Advisory Group.
It is aimed to expand quality early childhood education services
Evaluating the invitation and the process, Prof. Nurper Ülküer stated that the "2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4.2 aims to provide full access to Quality Preschool Education; therefore, all children can reach their developmental potential at the highest level and be ready for primary school, and Ülküer stated that "In line with this goal, international organizations (such as UNESCO, Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), World Bank, World Health Organization and UNICEF) address the situation from different aspects with the reports they publish. They prepare programs and policy recommendations, such as the Improving Care Framework, which they work on implementing together. These studies address Early Learning and Preschool Education as an important component of the holistic development of the child and aim to expand quality early childhood education services, especially in middle and underdeveloped countries, within the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4.2 agenda."
Work towards quality early childhood education for every child
Noting that many countries still seem far from achieving this goal by 2024, Prof. Nurper Ülküer continued her remarks as follows:
"On the other hand, there is not yet an integrated database and resources to answer questions such as quality standards, monitoring methods and cost-impact analyses of ECE, where pre-school education related to Quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) for each child targeted by Sustainable Development Goal 4.2 is defined, qualitative/quantitative statistics about who benefits from it and how. The Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education, in collaboration with Their World, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), is launching a mapping project to create a comprehensive resource to define every aspect of ECE globally. With the project, it is planned to prepare a comprehensive and accessible resource that will be the basis for developing strategies and policy recommendations to support the development and early learning of children around the world. As someone who has worked in the field of child development in various capacities throughout my professional life, nationally and globally, it is gratifying to receive such a technical consultancy invitation from the Brookings Institution."
"A good opportunity to share knowledge and experiences"
Stating that it is now known that the accessibility of quality early childhood education (ECE) for all children and families is one of the basic conditions and priorities of Sustainable Development, Prof. Ülküer expressed that "For this reason, the world is in the process of developing important investment policies on ECE in the last 20 years. In this context, the Brookings Institution acts as a 'think-tank' and initiates a study aimed at creating a global database and resources for ECE. It is important to be in the technical advisory group of this study, to follow this process closely and to contribute. At the same time, it is a good opportunity to share my knowledge and experience in the field."
“We will have a lot to learn from the process."
Prof. Ülküer also touched upon the achievement of membership in the context of our country and the university and made the following remarks:
"However, we still need standards that define quality and more detailed research on whether access to quality ECE is equal and reaches all children. Thanks to the project, I think I will have the opportunity to share good examples with practitioners, academics and researchers in our country. Our university, especially the FHS Child Development Department, will contribute to this process, and of course, we will have a lot to learn from the process. We can say that it is a process of gaining a good experience.
Furthermore, our university is very ambitious and successful in working on the Sustainable Development Goal. According to the 2024 results of Times Higher Education's (THE) Impact Ranking, it was deemed worthy of receiving all 17 labels applied for. It is possible that this study, which we will carry out in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 4.2, will make a positive contribution to the scoring of our university in this field."
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)