BRITISH EDUCATORS LEARN ABOUT U.S. SYSTEM

The terminology may be different, but members of a British professional development exchange visiting Southeast Missouri say there are a lot of similarities between child development programming and education on both sides of the Atlantic.

The 12-member group -- who included university professors, a day care licensing professional, social services professionals, students working to become day care specialists and others -- wrapped up their visit Friday, and headed to St. Louis, where they will visit with professionals there.

The local visit was a cooperative effort between Southeast Missouri State University and Harrogate College in Harrogate, England, which is about 200 miles north of London.

"It's not a student exchange," said Sheila Annarkin, a university lecturer in child studies education at Harrogate College, and one of the organizers of the exchange. "It's for people who have already qualified for their work with children. They're here to work with people in a similar field as themselves and learn new ideas and trans-Atlantic procedures."

Last year, a group of American professionals visited Harrogate, Annarkin said.

Annarkin visited the Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Development Center and the university's business studies departments to "look at ways of taking education and opening it up to the business fields."

Glynnis Smith, a university lecturer in special needs education and mathematics at University College in Ripon-York St. John, visited Jefferson School in Cape Girardeau to "see their special needs programs" and a school in Southern Illinois.

It's difficult to compare curriculums based on visits to two schools, Smith said, "but there are lots of similarities in terms of the sorts of programs you have. I think both countries take special education seriously. I think both countries really have to face the same sorts of issues, particularly the roles of parents and the wishes of parents. We have a sort of legislative structure which is similar to yours in the ways in which we meet the needs of children in mainstreaming them in schools."

The "biggest difference" Smith found is in teacher certification. In England, teachers transfer to special education only after they've already worked with non-special needs children, and England does not require their teachers to be certified in special education.

Carol Ann Shaw registers and inspects child care facilities for Harrogate Social Services.

In England, she said, "basically everybody has to be registered who looks after children, even if it's just one child, for payment," she said. "So we register many, many people. All home day cares that are not registered here are registered at home."

Shaw has visited several day cares in the area, and said the exchange "has been very much a sharing of information. We have very similar ideas of what quality child care is."

Patrick O'Brien, a play development officer, has been looking at the types of recreational and leisure activities available for youngsters locally.

"I wanted to see if it was structured in a similar way over here," he said, adding that in England, recreation services are much more centralized.

O'Brien visited with Cape Girardeau parks department officials, as well as the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, the Cottonwood Treatment Center and the Missouri Conservation Department.

He said he was impressed with the number of volunteers who "all work very closely together."

A lack of funding for programs is something both countries share, O'Brien said, "but you seem to get sponsorships from industry and scholarships quite easily. That's something I want to pursue back home."