The picture of a child sitting cross-legged on a carpet with their hands buried in a tub of colorful sand while tiny asbestos fibers float upward into the surrounding air is incredibly unsettling. Numerous British homes witnessed this scene, and it’s possible that it’s still occurring today in homes where the recall notices never showed up. Researchers at Brunel University’s Experimental Techniques Centre, a lab located inside the university’s Uxbridge campus in Middlesex, released findings in May 2026 that ought to have shocked the UK toy industry. Five of the six children’s toys they tested that were bought from UK…
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
Read More
A graduation ceremony without a speaker has a subtle peculiarity. A podium that was either empty or occupied by someone no one objected to, rows of white chairs set up on a sun-warmed lawn, and thousands of graduates wearing caps and gowns receiving something thoughtfully chosen that was safe, unoffensive, and unmemorable. It’s possible that nobody anticipated commencement season to be so tense. However, here we are. During his tenure as president of the university, Morton Schapiro delivered 28 commencement speeches. He wasn’t a provocateur. He had worked in academia for decades, so he was familiar with its politics, rhythms,…
Q.J., a high school student in Chicago, used Naviance to prepare for a college application. The platform, which school districts nationwide use for career and college guidance, was a standard tool that students open in between classes, sometimes late at night at home, and type in their future aspirations and worries. Q.J. allegedly was unaware that third-party analytics firms might have been intercepting that data without authorization. That accusation was made public in a 2023 lawsuit. A $17.25 million settlement this spring gave it credibility. PowerSchool, its predecessor Hobsons, an analytics platform called Heap, and the Chicago Board of Education…
For as long as most parents can recall, families with children who have high academic aspirations have dreaded the weeks between July and September every summer. Even before the holiday tan fades, the school bags emerge from the cupboard. Kitchen tables are piled high with old papers. Due to the consistent demand, tutors reserve their time in advance. For many years, summer in England has been more akin to an extended exam rehearsal than a school holiday for a particular kind of ten-year-old. It appears that a few grammar schools have concluded that this has been going on long enough.…
Before a lesson even starts, you can see the investment in practically every school that has been constructed or renovated in the last fifteen years. Every room has a smartboard installed in front of it. Along the walls of the hallways are charging stations. Chromebook carts are waiting outside classroom doors. The notion that improved technology leads to improved education has cost districts billions of dollars. The test results have stubbornly disagreed. This is the area that school boards continue to covertly ignore while researchers continue to run into it. Giving every student a device did not significantly improve learning…
A fifteen-year-old is sitting through a wellbeing lesson somewhere in an English secondary school, and they are essentially told that the objective is to feel happy. to control the negative emotions. to recover. It’s probably harmless, well-intentioned, and possibly even somewhat effective. However, there is a growing belief—supported by a Cambridge study—that this entire strategy is misdirected. Over 600 teenagers from seven English schools participated in the study, which was headed by Dr. Tania Clarke of the Faculty of Education. What it discovered is the kind of outcome that only becomes apparent when stated aloud. GCSE scores were significantly higher…
The majority of contemporary educational systems exhibit a specific type of cognitive dissonance. Play is one of the most potent forces behind early childhood development, according to decades of developmental research, from Vygotsky in the 1930s to neuroscience labs working today. However, real classrooms are going in the opposite direction, cutting down on free time, speeding up formal education, and viewing play as something kids can earn after finishing their actual work. There is little opportunity for diplomatic hedging in OMEP’s 2026 stance on this tension. Play is not an add-on. It’s the education. That framing may seem straightforward, even…
1948, Prague. Europe was still trying to comprehend what had happened to the world, counting its losses, and physically rebuilding. Nevertheless, in the midst of that unsettling environment, a group of advocates and educators came together to take an action that may have appeared to some onlookers to be almost naively optimistic: they made the decision to establish an international organization solely focused on the welfare of young children. not rebuilding. Not in economics. Kids. It recently celebrated its 75th anniversary as OMEP, the World Organization for Early Childhood Education. It’s the kind of anniversary that merits greater recognition than…
Even if you’ve been watching this tournament for years, there’s still a certain thrill when the bracket drops. Within minutes of the NCAA announcing its 64-team field for the 2026 Division I baseball championship on Monday, May 25, coaches were likely staring at unexpected matchups, analytics staff were running numbers, and somewhere, a mid-major fan base was already making travel arrangements. Since UCLA finished the season with a 51-6 record, it’s difficult to argue with them for the top overall seed. There isn’t much room for disagreement with that record. Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Bruins will…
Four years have passed since the morning in Uvalde, Texas, when 19 students and two teachers perished in Robb Elementary School’s classrooms 111 and 112. A new school can be constructed in four years. Legacy Elementary, located next to Dalton Elementary, opened its doors in the fall of 2025 with the intention of housing both the survivors and their descendants. By no means is it long enough to make the grief bearable. Robb Elementary School was located 85 miles west of San Antonio on Old Carrizo Road in Uvalde, a predominantly Hispanic city in South Texas with about 15,000 residents.…