According to my contact in Italy, after doing some research and digging deeper into the issues and trends surrounding qualityy, there are inconsistencies, especially in the smaller towns surrounding the Air Base. First, she makes it clear that the in the Italian community- the view of young children and the role the mother plays is much different. For instance- maternity leave is 6months and easily extended to 1 full year. Women continue with 75% of pay for months 6-12. You will not see many infants (under 12m) out and about. Mothers literally stay home with their babies. The older generation seems to look down on the younger generation for returning to work too early (too early is anything less than 6m).
Yet, with slight changing times- there seems to be increase in women needing to or wanting to return to work so there is usually one ASILO NIDO (school for children 6m-3y) in each town. The other schools
for children are run through the local town's Church and are faith based, and other than the ASILO NIDO schools, there does not appear to be any consistent definition of quality. Many of the church ran schools are ran by volunteers and people who do not have any early childhood background.
Children enter free 'public' school at the age of 3 (if potty trained). Additionally, she shares, "In my limited experience, I have seen less emphasis on assisting children with self help skills\ until 6yr age, push for reading/writing is later than the trend seems to be for American families." She goes on to explain that the focus in early childhood is child centered learning, Montessori based. As for supportive services, the concept of Early intervention is still seen as taboo or hush/hush. There is not the advocacy for awareness, developmental screening, or concerns of potential delays until at least around 6yr. This contributes to the quality of care, as children who are in need of services or special supports are not receiving the quality of
care necessary for their individual development.
My contact did not share her career dreams or goals as of yet.
Sondi, your contact provided an amazing amount of detailed information that helped me to visualize what you were describing. It is interesting that early intervention is seen as taboo or hush/hush but whose to say that with the constant changes occuring in world that this taboo can soon come to an end. I really enjoyed reading your post, I learned a great deal.
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