66

Margaret Roberts!

and

Margaret Weiser2

NEWS FROM OMEP

OMEP~EWS

Proceedings of the WorldCouncil in OSLO 1987

Inspiration and Challenge

The selection of the wordsinspiration and challenge was deliberate,because they best convey the impact ofthe recent OMEP World Council meet­ings and happenings. This summary isoffered so that all the members and

friends of OMEP may be aware of, andbenefit from, the sharing of concerns andaccomplishments which occurred in Oslothis past summer. Yes, we were inspiredwhen we learned of the many efforts inplace for the betterment of the world'schildren, and yes, we were challenged bythe continuing and ever-increasing needsof children the world over.

Close to 100 persons from 31countries were registered for the Councilmeetings and the following Seminar on"Cultural Aspects on Play": delegates,deputy delegates, official observers,OMEP Commission members, officers,and dedicated friends of children fromevery continent and geographical regionof the world. These persons includedpsychologists, sociologists, historians,

1Margaret Roberts is the Co-ordinator of the OMEP Publications Commission and lives in Great Britain

2Margaret Weiser is OMEP Vice-President. North American Region

ROBERTS & WEISER

administrators, pediatricians, teachers,humanitarians, representatives ofGovernment Ministries, professors andlawyers. These persons are the keyspokespersons for the protection, careand education of young children and theirfamilies in their respective countries andregions, and as such have the opportunityto wield influence in the formulation ofpolicy and procedure...

High up on the mountainside over­looking the majestic Oslo Fjord, the HotelVoksenasen was the venue for thesemeetings arranged by the Norsk Na­tional OMEP committee. Unfortunately,the trolls remained hidden, no doubtoverwhelmed by such an auspiciousgroup of people.

The program included all aspects ofthe work ofOMEP such as Regional Vice­Presidents' reports, Commission andRegional Meetings. This heavy schedulewas enlivened by social activities includ­ing a visit to the Bygdoy Folk Museumand a Reception by the Deputy Mayor ofOslo in the City Hall. In addition wewere able to meet together to enjoy infor­mal discussion and the wide range ofNorwegian food at breakfast and lunch.

We all partook of a gala dinner,hosted by the Norwegian Committee,during which we actually discovered thelocation of the pot of gold at the end of therainbow! The magnificent rainbow whichappeared during our celebration dinnerended in the Oslo Fjord, at our very feet.Many pictures were taken, so there isdocumentation. Unfortunately, no onevolunteered to dive into the water toretrieve the pot of gold (OMEP couldha ve used it). And the Grand Finale ofthe three day Council meeting was thetraditional dinner (sour cream porridgeand salad plate) and folk dancing at theBygdoy.

We especially appreciated, runningthrough the whole week, the warmth,

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friendship and ever-ready assistance ofthe Norsk Committee Members. Theyworked together, they were always therewhen we needed help and they guided theproceedings smoothly. All present wishto express grateful thanks to them for allthe planning and hard work that musthave gone into ensuring the success ofour 1987 OSLO World Council Meetingsand Seminar.

Norsk OMEP had a particularreason for being determined not only tohave successful meetings but that peopleshould enjoy themselves and feel that thework of OMEP was moving forward asour newly elected World President, EvaBalke, is the second World President tocome from Norway (Ase Skard being thefirst), which in the history ofOMEP is animportant record.

Highlights of our working sessionsincluded our remembrance and apprecia­tion of the life and work of Vera Webberin South Africa for multi-racial earlychildhood education and our welcome tothe newly elected delegate and Presidentof S.A.E.C.E., Mapitso Malepa. How thiselection would have gladdened the heartof Vera Webber!

A presentation was made toHeribert Morsberger, the retiring WorldTreasurer, with much appreciation of hisseven years as guardian of OMEP'sfinances. He was glad to report thatOMEP accounts were relatively healthybut stressed the need for continuedeconomy in view of the reduction in theUNESCO subvention.

The scope ofOMEP involvement andactivities was contained in the reports ofPast-President Madeleine Goutard andcurrent President Eva Balke, and in thereports from the OMEP regions and na­tional committees. These reports aresummarized below.

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Reports of the Presidents

In the last six months of MadeleineGoutard's term of office, the financing ofearly childhood projects in Cameroon andEcuador has been achieved, Costa Ricahas been contacted regarding the initia­tion of a new national committee. OMEPrepresentation at the UN in New Yorkwas continued with the appointment ofRita Cooper, and correspondence was ex­changed with UNESCO, the Council ofEurope, and the Commission of EuropeanCommunities. OMEP was representedand participated in meetings of the non­Governmental Organizations relating toeducation, Children's Rights, and HumanRights, and in the Colloquy on educationfor peace sponsored by the InternationalLeague for popular Culture and Educa­tion.

In the first six months of Eva Balke'sterm as President, not only was asecretariat established with a full-timesecretary (supported by the NorwegianMinistry of Administration and Con­sumer Affairs); but the Norwegian Com­mittee hosted the World Council andSeminar. Our president has also servedas UNESCO advisor to the establishmentof a demonstration kindergarten at theUniversity of King Saud (Saudi Arabia);has assumed the responsibility for achapter in A Reader on Early ChildhoodCare and Education to be published byUNESCO; has participated in the FrenchOMEP annual meeting, in the Inter­national OMEP conference on intercul­turalism in Yugoslavia, and in an inter­national conference sponsored by theNorwegian Centre for Child Research;has met with the officers of the proposedNational Committee of Iceland; and hasmet with members of the Czechos­lovakian National Committee, which willhost the 1988 "FORTY YEARSJUBILEE" in Prague.

OMEPNEWS

These activities, of course, are in ad­dition to the usual responsibilities of anyincoming president of an internationalorganization. But it is these out-reachactivities which give OMEP the oppor­tunity to make itself heard and respectedon a global scale.

In addition to the active involve­ment of our presidents, OMEP wasrepresented at the UNESCO conferenceof Ministers of Education and Planningin the Latin American and Caribbeanregion by Beatriz de la Vega (Colombia),at the first regional consultation ofAfrican NGOs by Mireme Daira-Diop(Senegal), and the UNESCO workshop inSantiago by Vital Didonet (Brazil).

Mme Goutard is now serving as theOMEP representative at UNESCO inParis, and included the following items inher UNESCO report: OMEP has beennominated as a member of the standingcommittee (the working committee) forthe Non-Governmental Organizations;the International Journal will contain in­formation about the upcoming Decade forCultural Development; UNESCO is con­tinuing its project "Education for Peace,"and its sponsorship for the TraditionalGames project under Ivan Ivic(Yugoslavia); and our current represen­tation to the international organizationsas follows: UN and UNICEF (New York)- Rita Cooper, Georgie Glenn, GordonKlopf; UNESCO (Paris) - MadeleineGoutard; UNICEF (Geneva) - JosetteFeyler; and the Council of Europe ­Madeleine Abbadie.

The preceding information rein­forces the opening statement to the Coun­cil by President Balke, "The capitalresources of OMEP are the humanresources who work for young children incoordination with UNESCO and the na­tional governments. " The humanresources of OMEP go far beyond thepresidents and the representatives to

ROBERTS&:WEISER

various organizations. They are alsofound in the persons serving on the Com­missions and in the regions and the na­tional committees, without whom ourpresidents' activities would have littleimpact.

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Reports of the Commissions

Persons serving as new or continu­ing coordinators of the OMEP Commis­sions, and the Commission links to theExecutive Committee, were approved asfollows:

Commission Coordinator Executive Link

Constitution Irene Blakeney (l:Kl Candide Pineault (Canadal

Finance Heribert ~onberger(FRG) Susanne Harttung (FRG)

~embership Lynne Jasik (Israeli Lynne Juik

~ominations Josette Feyler (Switzerlandl .Joset,te Feyler

Program Olga Skaric \Yugoslavial ~adelein. Goutard IFrance)

Development Vital Didonet (Brazill ~arion Clegg (Australia)

Publications :Margaret Roberts (e K) ~largaret Weiser <eSAl

Journa! Otto Weininger (Canada) Otto Weininger

Resolutions Joyce HuI,in. (eSA I Eeva Haijanen <Finland) T

The reports of the coordinators ofthe individual commissions containedpast and present activities and concerns.For example, Blakeney stressed thenecessity of a new definition of theregional structure, due to financialrestraints, and a new schedule for theelection and/or term-of office for theregional vice-presidents. She stressedthe importance of open access to allOMEP members who wish to attendOMEP meetings. At the present timethere exist restrictions in visas andtravel to and from some countries.

The report of the Finance Commis­sion included the 1988 budget, which was

passed. However. the source of $12,000US which was listed as income is as yetunknown. A revised National Committeemembership fee structure was alsoadopted. with levels ranging from lessthan $250 US to over $2,000 US. Na­tional Committees were asked to declaretheir level of membership to the WorldTreasurer by October I, because their1988 membership fee bill will reflect thisamount.

Balke. in her Membership Commis­sion report, listed 43 national com­mittees, 4 preparatory committees, oneassociate committee. and seven in­dividual members. India is the newest

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national committee (and was representedat the Council); the applications fromSingapore and Senegal were approved,and Thailand's admission was condition­ally approved (the Thai Constitution hadnot been received at the time of thevoting). Preparatory status was ap­proved for national committees inCameroon, Iceland, and the People'sRepublic of China. The application fromZaire will be voted on at the next WorldCouncil meeting. Associate membershipapplications received from Malawi,Korea, Kenya, New Zealand, Nepal,Madagascar, Kuwait, Togo, the Inter­national Association for InterculturalEducation, the Preschool Association ofZambia, and the Association MontessoriInternational were accepted. The SovietUnion was proposed as a potentialpreparatory committee by the Japanesemember. The Council members openlyexpressed approval of the ever-increasinggeographical scope of OMEP member­ship.

The Nominations report was given,and the subsequent voting resulted inSusanna Harttung (FRG) as the newtreasurer, and Bokko Tsuchiyama(Japan) as the second elected member tothe Executive Committee. Lynne Jasik(Israel) was elected as the other electedmember in 1986.

The report of the Program Commis­sion included the eight projects in variousstages of completion. The "PreschoolEducation for Peace" project hasproduced three main documents, includ­ing the analysis of the "preschool educa­tion for peace questionnaire, in five lan­guages, the UNESCO document Seeds ofPeace, and Children and Peace, the reportof the Bulgarian seminar. Work on theAnthology of Traditional Games is con­tinuing; the early childhood glossary willbe completed in time for the Praguemeeting, as will the publication of the

OMEPNEWS

History of OMEP: The First Ten Years.The responsibility for the OMEP HumanResource Bank was transferred to theU.S. National Committee. The proposalto collect a "bank of videotapes" insteadof written narratives to describe the"Pedagogical Innovations in PreschoolEducation" was considered. The sponsorsof the international study of home-basedprograms ("Preschool Education in theFamily") have received responses fromonly five countries, and have no funds forcontinued work. The interculturalproject in education under the directionof Skaric is active and gaining momen­tum.

The Development Commission(report by Clegg because of Didonet's in­ability to attend) has as its purpose toimprove early childhood education in dif­ferent geographical areas by selecting ex­isting projects which comply with theaims and objectives of OMEP inter­nationally, but are not OMEP projectsthemselves, to receive financial supportfrom OMEP. Proposed guidelines for theselection of projects were approved.

Roberts (Publications) has receivedreports of the first ten years of OMEPfrom nineteen countries, and the publi­cation will be ready for distribution atthe Prague meeting in 1988.

Weininger, Editor of the Inter­national Journal, explained that he andat least two others evaluate all submittedarticles, and suggested that the nationalrepresentatives encourage both the sub­mission of articles and the acquirementof new subscriptions. In response to acomment, Weininger replied that most ofthe accepted articles are in English be­cause very few French or Spanish articlesare submitted.

After a comprehensive report fromthe Resolutions Commission by Huggins,it was voted to request each nationalcommittee to select two resolutions from

ROBERTS & WEISER

the 14 approved by the XVIIIth WorldAssembly in Jerusalem, 1986; to imple­ment them in their own countries; and toinclude a written progress report in theCommittee's annual report to the WorldPresident. The selected resolutionsshould deal with important concerns inthe specific country, and should be re­lated to the OMEP objectives as stated inthe Constitution.

Reports of the Regions andNational Committees

The regional reports highlightedmany issues and concerns, both region­specific and global. For instance, theAfrican region is plagued with politicalproblems, even though OMEP per se isapolitical, and regional seminars are im­possible to achieve, because persons fromsome African countries are not allowed inother African countries. There are alsolanguage problems with French andEnglish, as well as with the numerouslocal languages and dialects. The SouthAfrican delegate stated that the OMEPmembers in their region were not repre­sentative of the communities they wereserving, and their biggest concern wasthe upgrading of early childhood tea­chers. Their forward look is toward post­apartheid South Africa.

The report from South Americastressed the importance of alleviatingpoverty, and urged international OMEPto acknowledge that poverty or otherproblems in one region were not regionspecific, but were problems for us all.

The North American report includedUS concerns about needed support forrefugee and migrant children and theirfamilies; peace education for children,adults, and governmental leaders; andthe need for regulations for child care,particularly care of the very youngchildren. Priorities of the Canadian Na-

71

tional Committee included the mis­match of the delivery of children's ser­vices and the needs of working parents,and the low national priority for childhealth.

Other regional reports included theprograms related to parents and childrenliving in "bed and breakfast" homes, andthe proposed dilution of early childhoodteacher training (UK); the effects of un­employment on families and children(Yugoslavia); restricted welfareprograms and changing family structures(Finland); and lack of communication andcoordination among professionals work­ing with children (Switzerland).

Activities taking place in thevarious regions included numerous na­tional and regional conferences and semi­nars, plans for publications, and teachertraining institutes in Mexico, Costa Rica,and Malawi. Reports from Sweden, Is­rael, Poland, Switzerland and Bulgariaincluded efforts toward peace and peaceeducation.

It became evident during reportsfrom delegates and from the Commissionthat much remains to be done to extendthe influence of OMEP among its mem­bers, and beyond, to improve andsafeguard the welfare, health, happinessand education of all young children intheir early years. Throughout the worldchildren are suffering hardship, mal­nutrition, health hazards and denial oftheir basic human rights. They cannotspeak for themselves except in their suf­fering. OMEP seeks, in collaborationwith other UN agencies, to raise the levelof awareness of young children's needsand to fight for decent standards of healthand education for them. Throughout theentire Council proceedings it also becameincreasingly apparent that OMEP's focuson the protection, care and education ofyoung children must include administra­tive, political and social issues far beyond

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the definition of early childhood (orpreschool) education.

The inspiration and challenge in­herent in the reports and discussions andcamaraderie should move us all towardthe realization of OMEP's goals for thechildren of the world.

In 1988 OMEP will celebrateits 40th Anniversary in Prague,the city where the organizationcame to life as a result of thework and vision of its Founders.The Czech OMEP Committeehas invited us to join them inPrague - for details see OMEPUpdate.

The next World Congressand Assembly will be in Londonin July, 1989, with the title andtheme: "THE VOICE OF THECHILD - Who speaks? WhoCares? Who Listens?" UKOMEP is planning for 1,000participants, please come! In­formation leaflets are nowavailable for distribution byNational Committees fromMrs. Audrey Curtis, Univer­sity of London Institute ofEducation, Bedford Way, LON­DON WCIH OAL, U.K.

OMEPNEWS

OSLO Seminar:"Play and Culture .

the Child between theWorld of Yesterday and

the World of Tomorrow."

Thirty-one countries wererepresented at the Seminar. There wasvigorous and varied participation inresponse to the formal presentations.Time was also available for reports ofstudies from Member countries con­tributing to the Belgrade-OMEP Tradi­tional Games Project.

The Seminar concept was good:looking at the place of play in a range oftraditional cultures in contrast with thescene today where the space-age fan­tasies on T.V. and video appear todominate the child's world in many so­called developed countries. Paperspresented had been well researched andhigh-lighted a wide range of aspects ofthe topic. The use of video and slidesgreatly assisted in breaking through thelanguage barrier.

The overwhelming impact was aheightened awareness of the complexityand many-sided nature of the topic whenthe adult mind tries to trace historicaldevelopment, for example, through oralstreet games, or through toys, and thenputs this kind of study in juxtapositionwith modern space-age science fictionfantasies involving powerful weapons ofannihilation depicted through T.V. andvideo which is the diet for many childrentoday in "high-tech" societies. Seminarmembers for whom this was a new ex­perience were anxious about the likelyfuture impact of violent T.V. and video ontheir children and wanted to know how toinfluence the producers of this kind ofmaterial - action was promised here.

ROBERTS & WEISER

What was unrepresented, and to alarge extent unstudied, was thechildren's own experiences and reactionsto this kind of "play" though some obser­vations had been made of the children'suse of dolls representing their fantasyspace-age heroes, goodies and baddies.This was seen to be valuable in that itpermitted the children to have some con­trol over the dolls and their activitiesrather than remain passive watchers.But it was pointed out few children wouldwatch a non-stop two-hour series ofspace-age fantasy programmes as we did- the noise alone was too much for some!From a developmental point of view andfrom my own experience, having ob­served a number of young children grow­ing up with this new "toy" to the ages of11 to 12, I would suggest that they be­come increasingly aware of the fantasticnature of the material and of the rulesthat are operating. For example, wheninviting familiar family adults to jointhem in "playing out" these fantasieswith their space-age dolls, they are quickto remind an over-enthusiastic adult:"It's only pretend. you know." The"playing out" does permit the child tocontrol the situation but some peoplewere concerned that this could lead to"acting out" and for some young peopleactually "living out" the violencedepicted on the screen. It was agreedthere is a need to limit the amount ofviolence even if the "baddies" always gettheir desserts.

Looking again at the traditionalplays and games, there were some whowanted to see these regenerated by theadults, perhaps through educationalprogrammes. Others thought that oppor­tunity for spontaneous play of this kindincluding the necessary space and time

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was more like ly to safeguard the neces­sary vitality of a developing play culturewhich must in essence satisfy the deepestneeds of children. It was also agreed thatadults working with children needed toknow more about the video programmeschildren were watching as there was anincreasing tendency for children to dotheir viewing on their own. Participantsexpressed their appreciation of the Semi­nar and expressed the hope that the studywould continue with further explorationsof the children's own views and ex­periences. We hope that some of thepapers presented will be available tomembers; requests were made for copiesof the video materials.

Eeva Haijanen T

As the Journal was going to press, thesad news of the sudden death of EevaHaijanen reached us.

She was the OMEP Committeedelegate and chairperson of OMEPFinland since 1974. She also was thevice-president of the North EuropeanRegion of OMEP and the link with theExecutive Committee ofOMEP.

A memorial service for Eeva Haijanenwas held in the Helsinki Cathedral onNovember 28,1987.

All who knew her will miss her as afriend and a long-time loyal OMEPmember.

A complete In Memoriam will appearin the next issue of International JournalofEarly Childhood.