Poznań is not the type of city that usually garners international attention for discussions about education. This university town in western Poland is more well-known for its museum of croissants and Renaissance town hall than for its policy disputes regarding the treatment of its youngest residents. However, Poznań will host the 78th OMEP World Assembly and Conference from July 14 to 18, 2026. The theme chosen by the organizers, “When a Child Speaks…” Korczak’s Inspirations for Education and Children’s Rights,” is specific enough to indicate that this will not be a typical event. Though perhaps less so among the general…
Author: Kelsey Myers
Kelsey Myers
Kelsey Myers is a Senior Editor at worldomep.org and a dedicated advocate for early childhood education whose work begins — and ends — with a simple belief: that the earliest years of a child's life matter more than almost anything else we can invest in. Based at a local school, Kelsey works daily alongside the children and families whose experiences inform everything she writes. She doesn't observe early education from a distance. She is inside it — in the classrooms, on the playgrounds, in the conversations between teachers and parents that shape how young children understand the world around them. That proximity gives her writing a warmth and specificity that purely policy-driven commentary rarely achieves. Through her writing at worldomep.org, Kelsey brings that same energy to readers — making the case, clearly and consistently, that early childhood education deserves far more attention than it typically receives. Kelsey shares her personal opinions on: https://x.com/Butterflyboule
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While most English schools carry out their regular midweek schedules on June 11, a loose coalition of educators, childcare providers, and play advocates will attempt something small but intentional: allowing kids an additional 31 minutes of unstructured play. No educational apps, no tablets, and no carefully chosen screen content. Just play, in whatever unstructured, messy way kids come up with when adults take a step back. It’s not a random number. It is derived from Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which acknowledges the right to play, relaxation, and rest for all children.…
A certain type of statistic ought to make people stop in their tracks, but it rarely does. Thirty-one percent of children in the UK have relatively low incomes. By the time they are five years old, children who qualify for free school meals are already five months behind their classmates. These figures are uncontested. They are derived from official government reports. However, if they are mentioned at all, early childhood care and education seldom take up more than a paragraph buried within a larger policy narrative. The World Organization for Early Childhood Education’s British branch, OMEP UK, appears to have…
For many years, OMEP UK’s work on sustainability in early childhood education took place in a setting that is familiar to anyone who follows niche advocacy: it was well-respected in the field but mostly unseen outside of it. The organization, which was a part of the 1948-founded World Organization for Early Childhood Education, had created a genuinely thoughtful framework for teaching children under the age of eight about sustainability. It featured a self-audit tool created in ten different countries, an award program, and academic support. It lacked reach, though. When Nursery World became involved, that gradually but noticeably changed. Nursery…
In the summer of 2025, representatives from over sixty nations convened in a grand hall in Bologna, Italy, to discuss children under eight. Not college students, not teenagers, and not prepared for the workforce. kids who still require assistance tying their shoes. During its 77th World Assembly, the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, also known by its French acronym OMEP, issued a statement that, when stripped of its diplomatic language, amounts to a direct accusation: most governments are failing the youngest members of their societies, and they are doing so with full knowledge of the consequences. OMEP is older…
If you know where to look, you can see that something strange is taking place in early childhood education. Corporate logos are appearing in previously unheard-of locations in cities like Austin, Nashville, and Charlotte: on the walls of daycare facilities, in the fine print of brochures for preschool programs, and on grants that support classroom operations. Once the primary provider of funding for initiatives like Head Start and the Child Care and Development Fund, the federal government has been retreating. And corporate America has quietly but clearly begun writing checks into that growing gap. The figures present a clear picture.…
You’ll see something that wasn’t there fifteen years ago when you walk into a well-funded American preschool today. The block stations and the vibrant rugs have not altered. The language is the problem. Phrases like “co-regulation,” “felt safety,” and “what happened to you?” are printed on laminated cards near the door, woven into teacher handbooks, and displayed on classroom walls. The trained response is no longer a firm redirection when a four-year-old tosses a toy across the room. It’s a pause, a crouch to eye level, a quiet attempt to figure out what invisible wound might be causing the outburst.…
The scene is nearly always the same when you walk into any restaurant on a Saturday afternoon. The bluish glow of a phone resting against a bottle of ketchup illuminates the face of a toddler sitting in a high chair. The parents are eating, chatting, and occasionally using their own devices to scroll. No one appears upset. No one appears concerned. It’s simply the current state of affairs. And it’s precisely this casual normalcy that worries an increasing number of child development researchers. It’s not the screens per se, but rather the unremarkable ease with which they’ve been incorporated into…
The international community frequently discusses roads, hospitals, and governance in the months following a conflict’s conclusion, or even while it’s still raging. Yes, education comes up. However, early childhood education? Very seldom. This may be the largest blind spot in post-conflict recovery. OMEP, the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, has been working to close this gap, frequently with little more than donated supplies, volunteer labor, and the unwavering conviction that what happens to a three-year-old matters. OMEP operates through national chapters, which don’t resemble what you might imagine when you think of an international organization in post-conflict nations like…
Observing the same individuals who created our collective screen addiction now restricting their own kids’ weekly screen time to ninety minutes is incredibly bizarre. Speaking at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival, Peter Thiel revealed that his two young children are only permitted to use screens for an hour and a half every seven days. Apparently, the audience gasped. It’s difficult to tell if that response was a result of recognition or surprise. In order to get their toddlers through the afternoon, the majority of parents worldwide are doing the exact opposite. The World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) and…