Advocating for early childhood education

Teacher and Special Education Professor, Krystyna Nowak-Fabrykowski, Ph.D., was appointed to the Governing Board of the OMEP World Organization for Early Childhood Education - USA. The OMEP has been working worldwide to realize human rights in early childhood for over 70 years, with members hailing from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Nowak-Fabrykowski will be serving as the Regional Representative for Region 2, which oversees Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Founded in 1948, the OMEP-USA advances early childhood education across the United States, ensuring access to quality education and development. They are dedicated to defending the human rights of kids from birth to eight years of age and advocating for early childhood education and care as a fundamental right.

Nowak-Fabrykowski has been involved with OMEP for many years and presented her research at the 2025 conference in Bologna, Italy, titled “An understanding of the empathetic awareness of young children playing a matching cards game called Super Me.” In 2017, she presented "Children’s Metaphoric Expressions: The Meaning of Friendship. A Comparative Analysis between the USA and Poland” in Opatija, Croatia. And in 2010, “Creating prosocial play experiences in Michigan’s Child Development and Learning Center, inspired by Reggio Emilia philosophy” in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The 78^th OMEP World Assembly and World Conference is slated for July 13-18, 2026, in Poznan, Poland, under the theme “When a Child Speaks… Korczak’s Inspirations for Education and Children’s Rights.” This conference will include visiting the Treblinka Museum, where, in 1942, Janusz Korczak­­—one of the greatest pioneers of child-centered education and a forerunner of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)—was murdered alongside 200 children from the Warsaw Ghetto Orphanage. According to the OMEP, this conference aims to inspire educators, policymakers, and researchers to reaffirm their ethical and pedagogical responsibilities and to reimagine early childhood education and care as a cornerstone of justice, peace, and sustainability. 

Congratulations to Dr. Nowak-Fabrykowski!