My ECE Assignments : Practicum #2, Vocational Placement

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Lesson Plan #1 – Subject area : Language Development
(A) No. of children : 12
(B) Age Group : K2
(C) Date : 19 March Time: 10.30am Duration: 40 mins
(D) Theme : Stories and rhymes make learning come alive!
(E) Prior Knowledge :
The children have learnt to spell words up to 5 letters long before.
(F) Lesson Objectives:
1. Children will be able to listen and speak the opposite words (antonyms) of “young”, “old” and “asleep”, “awake”.
2. Children will be able to spell these 4 words.

(G) Materials :
1. Large canvass mat and portable whiteboard
2. “Jack and the Beanstalk” tall-book.
3. Walking stick and a baseball cap
4. Journal book, and pencils for each children

(H) Tune-in Activity (Steps):
1. The K2 children will be asked to put on their shoes, and prepare to be taken out of the Centre, in an orderly fashion of 2 rows.

2. The class teacher will be bringing along a large canvass mat for the children to sit on.
He will ask 2 children to volunteer to carry the canvass, the walking stick and baseball cap.

3. All the children will be seated in front of the Centre’s side-wall painting, under the shelter of a walkway, and will be asked by the teacher to imagine why they have been brought to this area to sit, instead of being in the centre. Their responses will be noted by the teacher and acknowledged.

(I) Main Lesson (Steps):
1. The class teacher will initiate the beginning of a story-telling session, the story being “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Both the writer and publisher of the story will be mentioned to the children.

2. The children will see the character of Jack ‘coming alive’ when the teacher points to the wall-painting.

3. As the teacher talks through the story, both the pictures in the book and on the wall painting will be used to stimulate and capture the interest of the children.

4. When the first run of the story-telling finishes, the teacher will now ask the children to listen and speak out the words “young”, “old”, “asleep” and “awake” from the second run of the story-telling.

5. This time, as the four words are told as part of the story (and emphasized by the teacher for each word), the teacher will also write these 4 words on the whiteboard by her side.

6. The teacher will then ask 2 boys to stand by his side at the front. The teacher will ask one boy to hold the walking-stick and ask him to walk like the old giant in the story, while the other boy puts on the baseball-cap to show that he is a boy.

7. Another 2 girls will be asked to volunteer to show the class what “asleep” and “awake” mean to them, and act it out.

8. The children will now be asked to take out their own journals and be prepared to spell the 4 words. The teacher will say the 4 words one by one, while the children writes them down on their journal. When they have finished, they will hand the journals to their teacher for marking.

(J) Closure :
1. To round out this learning experience, the children will be asked by the teacher if there are volunteers who wants to act as the four main characters of young Jack, his mother, the old giant and the beanstalk.

2. They will re-enact the scenes, as they see fit, for the next 7 to 8 minutes, before wrapping up and returning to their class.

(K) Follow-up :
1. At the end of the day, before the children finish their formal lessons, the children will be asked by the teacher if they remembered who fell asleep in the castle, and what happened to young Jack when the old giant was awake. This will reinforce the learning of these 4 words by the children.

2. They will be asked what is the opposite of “old”, and the opposite of “awake” to reinforce their learning.

Lesson Plan #1 : Reflection and Evaluation :

Q1 : What new learning has occurred for the children?
It was clear to me that the children were interested in the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, even though some of them have heard about it before. This allowed me to achieve my learning objectives of them listening, speaking and writing the 4 focus words.

Q2 : What part of the physical environment would need to be changed, and why?
The children took to the task of moving outside of the class to the side walkway of the centre with much delight. The walkway was a public area, and as such, there were some distractions when several people from the neighbourhood stopped briefly to watch the story-telling.
But by and large, the children were focused on their tasks at hand, including the period when they were required to write the words on their journal. So, space and materials supported the attainment of the lesson objectives well. What can be changed would be allocating more time to this lesson, from 40 minutes to 45 minutes to allow more time for the children to perform their play-acting, which they enjoyed.

Q3 : Which teaching strategies supported the children, and which need to be reconsidered?
The use of a story like “Jack and the Beanstalk” clearly supported the children’s learning. They were remained interested throughout the story itself. The use of props such as the walking stick, the baseball cap and the impromptu play-acting by the children added to their learning experience, as a whole.


Lesson Plan #1 : The Next Step

The children have learnt to spell 4 words as a result of this lesson plan. But I believe they learnt more than that. What stood out for me were 2 things:
1. the use of story-telling as the “vehicle” to reach out to the children was a successful endeavour. In this case, it helped me to bring the children to the point of achieving my lesson objectives with ease simply because they were interested in listening to the story.

2. that play-acting by the children drew out the usually silent children from their shells. I believe that because they were seeing their peers having so much fun with the play-acting, they too were drawn into this activity. They too were laughing side by side with their peers.

The next step for me would be to use this experience of story-telling and games to reach out to the children in what would be typically regarded by teachers as more “serious” subject areas such as science and math.

Student Self Evaluation

(1) Professional Knowledge and Behaviour:
Q : Have you provided a positive role model for children? Provide a brief example.

I have provided a positive role model for the children by constantly using proper English words and sentences when conversing with them. I find that the children are easily swayed by the way English as a language is used by their peers and their parents at home. It is therefore not surprising to find them using localized English frequently, and in my view, excessively by most of them.

I am of the opinion that preschool teachers need to ensure that the children in their classes do not fall into the easy ‘trap’ of using colloquial English when in school, both in conversations or when words and sentences are being constructed by them. When the children get older, this form of colloquial English will become even more difficult to change in their conversations and in writings. It is therefore the role of the preschool teacher to ensure that English is properly used and spoken in school, and at all times to instill its proper usage by the children.

Q : How well am I applying my knowledge of the theories of child development in the classroom?

I believe I have applied my knowledge of the theories of child development well in the classroom during this practicum.

From the beginning, I had wanted to inject play into my lesson plans, realizing the significance of play in teaching our children, as noted by Parten (Dockett, Fleer, 2002). For example, I took the initiative to bring all the children out of their classroom environment in one of my lessons on the subject area of language, and asked them to role-play the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in front of a large painting of one of its scenes in this story. Clearly, the children enjoyed that role-play as one of them took the role of the “Giant” and spouted loudly, “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum”.

I was also able to scaffold the children’s understanding of the scientific concepts of sinking and floating, thus applying the theory espoused by Vygotsky (Mooney, 2000). The children were perplexed to find that a small grape actually sinks in water, while a larger orange floats. It was through my explanation of density that they were able to see why that was so, thus helping them to extend their own knowledge, through the guidance of an adult like me. The theory of ZPD, as stated by Vygotsky, was well on display then.


(2) Interactions with Children:
Q : How do I demonstrate appreciation of children’s effort?

I demonstrated appreciation of children’s effort by doing the following:
a) I acknowledged all their answers by writing them down on the whiteboard, when I asked them for answers to questions, or opinions on various matters.

b) I praise their role-playing efforts, regardless of how they actually performed their role-plays. Some of the children even extended the stories in their own ways. For example, one of them wanted to turn the axe into a laser gun to shoot down the Giant in the Jack and the Beanstalk story, instead of cutting down the beanstalk. I thought that that was indeed a creative display of the mind of that child.

c) I put up their drawings on the display areas within the class to acknowledge their individual efforts. I ensured that they are put up at their eye-level, and not at that of an adult’s, to allow them to see the fruits of their labour as well as their peers.

d) I openly praise any child that showed their efforts to help another peer of theirs, from the simple task of assisting another with putting away their toys, to bringing an eraser to the reach of another child.

e) I openly acknowledge the children whenever they displayed hygienic behaviours when performing their toileting needs, such as flushing the toilets immediately after use, or washing their hands with detergent and drying them carefully before returning to their classroom.


Q : How well do I interact with young children? Provide an example of your communication with young children in which you feel you interacted positively.

I believed that I interacted with the children very well. An example would be the day when a rabbit was brought into the Centre. Instead of getting them to gather round the rabbit to view it, I took the opportunity to turn it into a ‘teacheable moment’ by first asking them if they have pets at home, what they are and the names of their pets. I then asked them if a rabbit can be a pet, whether a rabbit is a mammal and the food that it eats. It was at this moment that I then brought the rabbit in, to show it to them, right in front of their very eyes, as they sat in a semi-circle. The delight on their faces clearly showed how much they enjoyed the occasion.


(3) Communication:
Q : How well do I interact with colleagues?

I interacted with my colleagues well. I had a healthy respect for all of them, not just the teachers but the cook and the cleaner, because I realized the difficult and challenging jobs that each of them had to discharge, every single day. I specifically interacted well with the class teacher, Teacher S because from the start of my practicum, she showed warmth in receiving me and more importantly, she showed a high level of care and concern for her class children, which I appreciate greatly and will try to replicate the same when I begin my own career in a preschool.

Q : How do I demonstrate positive working attitudes?

I demonstrated positive working attitudes by being 10 minutes early to work every day, which was an easy first step to make. That gave me the opportunity to meet some of the parents of my class children who drop their children off earlier than others. This was, in itself, a bonus for me. Having the chance to meet more of the parents gave me additional confidence in dealing with matters involving parents in the future.

I was always eager to learn, especially from Teacher S. I took the initiative to assist her in her lessons by asking her at the beginning of the day what were the things that I could do to help with her lessons. She was a willing partner in helping me understand all that I wanted to know to be a professional early childhood educator, like her. Whenever I was taking on her class with my own lesson plans, she took the initiative to provide feedback, both good and bad, on how I performed on that day with the children. I was therefore very appreciative of her personal efforts.

With the children, I was always mindful of the need to be respectful to them, and in return, I expected respect from them as well. I believe that this positive atmosphere would rub off to the children and in so doing, afford them the environment to learn optimally.


References
1. Dockett, S & Fleer, M. (2002), Play and pedagogy in early childhood : Bending the
rules. Harcourt, Australia.
2. Mooney, C. G. (2000), Theories of Childhood, p.93 . Readleaf Press, Division of
Resources of Child Caring, 450 N, Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN 55104.

Falling English Standard in Schools : Education Minister

Raise standard of English: Ng Eng Hen
A language institute will pool resources at national level, could eventually cater to teachers in other countries
Neo Chai Chin 05:55 AM Sep 18, 2009, Today Online

IT HAS been a long-standing issue punctuated by periodic media reports of bad English usage and the Speak Good English Movement's efforts.

Yesterday, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen issued the challenge to all teachers for the year ahead: Raise the standard of English.

In his keynote address at the Ministry of Education Work Plan Seminar, the most important speech in the annual education calendar, Dr Ng not only stressed the need to speak better English, he said Singapore can aim to be an English teaching hub for Asia.Language ability is "an important skill that we must cultivate in our students for this globalised world", where those able to communicate their ideas and convince others will have a competitive edge, he said.

"While most teachers are proud of our standards in, say, Maths and Science, we are less enamoured of our standard of English. This is a sensitive subject and I'm not raising it to demoralise teachers and students, but to signal that we should begin concerted efforts to raise the standard of English."

One of the building blocks for teachers will be an English Language Institute of Singapore - a recommendation of the English Language Task Force, itself newly set up by MOE in June, with Senior Minister of State (Education) S Iswaran as adviser and director-general of education, Ms Ho Peng, as its head.Dr Ng said the institute will pool resources at the national level and could eventually cater to English language teachers "in the region and beyond".

Progress is starting to show, with programmes such as Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading (Stellar) introduced to all Primary One classes this year and to be phased in at all levels by 2014. It aims to develop better speakers through the use of show-and-tell, role-play and dramatisation, and schools attest that Stellar students speak with more confidence.

Grammar is also taught more explicitly now, said Ms Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray, a teacher of 29 years who guides a cluster of schools in Literature-driven English programmes. Through exposure to books such as Sing To The Dawn, she sees Secondary One Express students' writing "getting more descriptive, with less paucity of ideas when they write".

Another boost will come next year: A new English Language curriculum for Primary One and Two students, as well as at the Secondary One Express and Normal (Academic) levels. It will focus on developing oral confidence, grammar knowledge and a love for reading, said an MOE spokesperson.For more senior students, a new subject called English Language and Linguistics was launched at six junior colleges and schools this year.

But Singapore's bilingual policy has served it well, and curriculum time for mother tongue languages will not be cut, assured Dr Ng.In a landscape where the proportion of Primary One students from English-speaking households has spiked in the last 25 years, however, getting students to use and appreciate their mother tongues should garner as much emphasis as test results, he said.

Today, English is the dominant home language for the majority of Primary One pupils - and in Malay households, the figure has grown from 27.7 per cent in 2005 to 35 per cent.

"We need to face these challenges for mother tongue languages squarely," said Dr Ng, who advocated the use of innovative approaches such as podcasts."If our students are put off by their mother tongue languages when they leave schools, then I think we have failed in our efforts."

Amazing Sand-painting - A Language in itself

When talent comes in the form of sand-painting like this, one gets blown away by the power that it holds as a language in itself.

Watch this beautiful (and touching) display of pure talent..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhf3OvRXKg

(thanks to Jennifer C of DPT class of 2008/09 for bringing this to us)

My ECE Assignments : Practicum #1, Vocational Placement

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Module : Practicum #1, Vocational Placement

Observation #2 : Photographic Documentation
Time and Duration: 9.40am, 15 minutes
Setting: N2 classroom and Shakespeare Corner

Context and Narrative on Photographic Documentation:
L (4.3) was gathered together with his 6 other classmates in their N2 classroom. They were tasked by their teacher to colour a worksheet with a picture of a clown on it.

The children were seated around a table, and L (4.3) was together with 4 boys and 2 girls. His teacher was keeping an eye on all the children but was spending more time at the area closer to L (4.3).

After about 6 minutes into the observation, L (4.3) was asked to move from their current classroom area to a new area by the Shakespeare Corner. They were there for the next 15 minutes until the teacher called for the children to put their colour pencils and containers away, and be prepared to move back to their N2 classroom.

Interpretations:
Physical
L (4.3) appeared to have developed his fine motor skills well. At his age of 4 years and 3 months, his development in this area of fine motor skills was in line with his milestones (Bredekamp & Copple 1997, p. 105). He was able to use the pincer grip well, as he held his colour pencils to colour within the lines of the picture most of the time.

Intellectual and Linguistic
L (4.3) exhibited his development in the intellectual domain when he pointed out to his teacher that his classmate was doing his colouring in the wrong way, according to L (4.3)’s view. In other words, he was able to understand the teacher’s instructions and at the same time, able to perceive his classmate’s work as being incorrect. This fits in well with the theory expounded by Piaget, when he said that children at the age of 4 are in their “Preoperational Stage” and therefore, are expected to form ideas from experiences ( Mooney, 2000).

L (4.3)’s language skills can be better for his age group. When he said to his classmate, “No, I hit you”, it showed the level of linguistic development that he had achieved so far. According to Schickedanz., Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth (2001) , he should be at a more advanced stage than his current development on language skills.

Emotional
L (4.3) had shown that he was prone to being angry. He showed this whenever he did not get his way, or if a classmate was viewed as provoking him. This was typified by his reaction to a classmate who accidentally covered his worksheet, while he was colouring. According to the theory described by Dr Howard Gardner (Campbell, Campbell, Dickinson 1999), L (4.3)’s interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence were lacking. Not being able to self-regulate and self-control would be a potential problem for L (4.3) when he grows older.

Social
L (4.2) had shown that his social skills could be improved. When he was asked to move to a new area, he was unhappy with the change and showed his displeasure by snatching at the colour pencil containers that were held by another boy. His forceful nature had caused others to stay away from him, especially the girls. Such an aggressive disposition would become an issue for him, if left unchecked (Schickedanz , Schickedanz, Forsyth , Forsyth, 2001).

Observation #5: Work Sample
Time and Duration: 11.40am, 16minutes
Setting: K1 Classroom

Context: A (5.2) was given the task of completing a worksheet. It consisted of sentences with a word blanked out, for the children to fill in. They were then required to colour the pictures that were aligned to these sentences. All 12 children were seated by their tables, six to each table.

Narrative of Work Sample:
A (5.2) sat together with 2 other girls and 3 boys by a table. Her teacher asked for everyone to be quietly seated, while she passed six worksheets to A (5.2), who took one and handed the rest to the girl, L, seated next to her. A (5.2) was smiling when she first saw the worksheet and said to L, “Look , rabbits”, while pointing to a picture with 2 rabbits on it. L giggled with her.

A (5.2) was then given instructions by her teacher. She was told to read the sentences, complete them by filling in the missing word, and then to colour the pictures. A (5.2) focused on her work at hand by starting with the first sentence. She looked towards L, wanting to see if L had written the first missing word. She didn’t see L writing the word and looked back to her own worksheet. After 5 seconds, she filled in the first missing word. She looked up and realised that L had also written the same word. She flashed a smile and went back to completing the next sentences.

At one point, A (5.2) said to L, “ Do you know what this word is?”, pointing to the word “pretty”. L said she did not know. A (5.2) then stood up, walked over to her teacher and asked, “What word is this, teacher?”. Her teacher then prompted her by using the “Per” phonetic sound of the letter “p”. She then guided A (5.2) with the letter “r”, and so on, until the word was properly pronounced by A (5.2).

A (5.2) then walked back and told L, “It is [pretty]”, and smiled. A (5.2) completed the rest of the sentences, and began colouring the 5 pictures beside each sentence. She started colouring the rabbits first, and then went back to the first picture. Her colouring was not within the lines of two out of the 5 pictures, while the rabbits were coloured fully within the lines, in green.

Interpretations:
Physical
A (5.2) appeared to have developed her fine motor skills well, as shown by her good pincer grasp, when holding her pencil. This would have to be expected of her at her current age of 5 years and 2 months old, and in fact supported by expected milestones in her physical development, according to Bredekamp & Copple (1997). But when she seemed hurried, she was not colouring her pictures within the lines as well as she could.

Intellectual and Linguistic

A (5.2) was able to follow the instructions of her teacher well. She finished her sentences on her worksheet without much effort, showing that she understood verbs. She however needed assistance from her teacher with a more difficult word. The good thing was that she was spontaneous in asking for help from her teacher.

She was conversing with her friends using relatively good grammar in her sentences, which pointed to her good development linguistically.

Emotional
A (5.2) appeared to have a happy disposition. She smiled frequently and did not show any part of her temperament that was out of the norm. This made her an easy and likeable classmate to be with.

Social
A (5.2) worked well amongst her classmates. She appeared to have no hang-ups working along side either girls or boys. She appeared to particularly enjoy sitting beside and working with her classmate, L.

Observation #8 : Anecdotal Record
Time and Duration: 10.25am, 15 minutes
Setting: Dramatic Corner

Context: A (5.2) was given free play time at the Dramatic Corner with her 11 classmates. While her teacher was sitting on the side making observations on her class children, A (5.2) was playing with her plastic cup and saucer set, together with a boy, D.

Observations:
A (5.2) was seated against the wall. She had a plastic cup and saucer set with her, and pretended to make breakfast for her and her classmate, D. She included another play piece, in the shape of a fried egg and was making the “Shhee, shhee” sound to imitate the cooking of the fried egg.

She told D, “Breakfast is ready, D. You can come me and eat now”. She served the fried egg on a plate and pretended pouring Milo into the cup. When finished pouring, she said “There, drink”. D was happy to see A (5.2) serving breakfast to him and gave his thanks. A (5.2) joined him in eating, while making the “Chomp, chomp” sound.
Another girl came over to pick up A’s (5.2) cup and saucer, but A (5.2) did not react negatively to her. A (5.2) stood up and got hold of another play set of cup and saucer from the main kitchen play area.

While at the kitchen area, A (5.2) watched another girl, S cooking and asked “Is this breakfast?”. S said no but this would be lunch for the teacher. A (5.2) smiled and said to S, “Oh, can I cook with you?”. S agreed to the request and showed A (5.2) a ladle piece, and then asked A (5.2) to stand beside her and cook like her. A (5.2) flashed a big smile and moved beside S, and began cooking together.

A boy came over and tried to grab hold of the frying pan that S was using, and A (5.2) said to the boy, “Hey, that’s not yours!”, and both A (5.2) and S then said loudly for the boy to go away and play somewhere else. The boy noticed he was outnumbered and moved away from the 2 girls. Both girls giggled, as they began to finish their cooking and prepared to serve their food for the teacher.

Interpretations:
Physical
A (5.2) displayed her gross motor skills as she moved from area of the Dramatic Corner to the next with ease. She squatted down and stood up twice during her play, which showed that her large muscles of her legs were well developed. This was in line with her physical development at her age (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997).

Intellectual and Linguistic
A (5.2) was able to make pretend play a part of her daily interactions with her classmates, both when making breakfast and when cooking at the kitchen. This was in line with Jean Piaget’s Theory of the 4 Stages of Cognitive Development of a child (Mooney, 2000). Piaget’s theory expounded the notion that a child at the Pre-operational Stage would exhibit an ability to make mental representations, which were the cornerstones of pretend play.

A (5.2) showed good linguistic skills for a child of 5 years of age. Her sentences were grammatically correct most of the time. This coincided with her developmental milestones, according to Bredekamp & Copple (1997).

Emotional
A (5.2) showed her ability to control her emotions when one of her classmates snatched a toy away from her play area. She did not pursue the matter with him further, except to indicate her displeasure over the incident. Such self-regulation on her part showed her emotional development level her age of 5 (Schickedanz., Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001).

Social

A (5.2) was socialising with her classmates well. She did not show a preference to play with girls only, as her time with classmate D showed. Her interpersonal intelligence was also on display as she moved from one group of classmates to the next, during her time making breakfast and the time cooking at the kitchen. She talked and socialised well with her classmates. This, according to Dr Howard Gardner, showed she had very good interpersonal intelligence (Campbell, Campbell, Dickinson 1999).

Reflections
6. Reflections on Tuesday, 23 September 2008.

The day started with an incident pertaining to the health of an N1 child. She was screened at the entrance for her temperature and checked for symptoms of HFMD, a daily procedure which this centre had instituted 18 months ago. The N1 child had a higher than normal temperature. Compounding that were blisters on her palms, as well as several ulcers in her mouth. Her father was told that his child needed to be taken to the nearest clinic for a doctor to examine her more thoroughly. He refused to do so, and said that he had to leave for his office matters, despite the centre supervisor’s best efforts to reason with him.

The child was brought to the office instead of her class, and isolated. It was decided by the supervisor that the child needed to be examined by a doctor as soon as possible. A call was made to her father to seek his permission for the centre to bring his child to see a local clinic doctor nearby. He agreed.

I decided to volunteer to bring this N1 child to the doctor, and the supervisor agreed to this task for me. After a 20 minute wait, the doctor confirmed that the child had HFMD. He wrote a note to her parents, requesting that their child be isolated at home for the next 7 days. I brought the child back to the centre, and related the doctor’s prognosis to the supervisor, who immediately called the child’s father to have his daughter brought. After 30 minutes, the child’s mother came to fetch her home.

My first instinct was to feel sympathy for the child, which I did. But when I heard from the supervisor that the child’s father did not mutter a word of appreciation for the centre’s initiative to bring his child to be examined by a doctor, I felt indignant. Why would a parent compromise his child’s health for his job’s requirements, I thought. And would it not be reasonable to expect a word of appreciation from this parent for the out-of-the-norm effort put in by the centre for his child?

As I thought about it more, I rationalised that the father might have felt angry that the centre had inflicted the HFMD virus on his child. In that instant, I realised that what the father did was understandable, but not excusable. His child’s health ought to be the first priority of his day, and not his job.

I also realised too that childcare centres of today carried a huge responsibility, not just for the education of a child but also the potential exposure of deadly illnesses such as HFMD to the children in the centre. It was therefore incumbent upon a teacher in the centre to ensure that the probability of an occurrence of such deadly illnesses to the children be minimized as much as possible, if not totally prevented from happening in the first place.

"Today/Voices" article - MCYS replies

Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Patricia ANG wrote:

Dear Mr Lee

Please refer to your email dated 7 September 2009 sent to DrVivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports(MCYS), highlighting your article titled "Why leave us out" in TODAY on 3Sep 09.

2 The Ministry recognises the important role of early childhood educators in nurturing and moulding the future of our young children and has sought to provide that recognition through various avenues. Together with the Association for Early Childhood Educators, Singapore (AECES) the Ministry had organised the annual Child Care Seminars for the child care industry. In the past few years, the seminar event was the platform for thegiving out of the Early Childhood Teachers Award. Child care centres operators/ supervisors were invited to nominate their exemplary teachers for the award.

These efforts dovetail with our on-going collaboration with public and private agencies to create platforms and channels to profile theearly childhood profession. This year the Ministry collaborated with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the Ministry of Education(MOE) and key child care organisations and agencies to promote and enhance the professional image of early childhood educators, and position the early childhood sector as an industry of choice.

3 Since 2008, together with the MOE, who oversees the kindergarten sector, MCYS had put in place supporting measures and schemes to award grants, bursaries and scholarships to enable early childhood educators to upgrade their professional qualifications in early childhood care and education. These measures would invariably translate to enhanced professionalism, prospects and recognition for our early childhood educators.

4 We will continue to press on with efforts to give early childhood educators the recognition they deserved. The AECES has indicated that from next year it will be recognising all early childhood educatorswith a special dedication on Teachers' Day.

5 Once again, we would like to thank you for your feedback.

Yours sincerely
Lee Kim Hua
Director
Family Services Division for Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Patricia Ang (Ms) / Senior Family Services Officer / (Embedded image Family Services Division (FSD), Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports



George Lee to Patricia ANG
date Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 4:00 PM
subject Re: "Today" newspaper on the 'missing' Early Childhood Educators
Sep 14 (2 days ago)

Dear Mr Lee and Ms Ang,

Whilst I can see the efforts made by MCYS to bring forth a positive image for early childhood educators, as described in your reply, I don't think the public at large can see that same positive image on a day as significant as "Teachers' Day", precisely because the TV and print advertisements were totally quiet on ECE.

That was the point I was making. And I don't think it takes that much more effort for MCYS and/or MOE to include us, to be frank.

While AECES should be lauded for taking a step in the right direction next year (and given their vested interest, they should have done so, regardless), I would hope that the government itself, via MCYS, would pay a similar public recognition to us, which would mean a lot more not just to us but to the community at large (read: parents).

But I thank you for your reply, on behalf of Dr Balakrishnan, all the same.

warm regards,
George Lee

AECES replies to Today-Voices..

'We hear you'
Special dedication for them on Teachers' Day next year
Letter from Christine Chen President, Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore 05:55 AM Sep 07, 2009

I REFER to "Why leave us out" (Sept 3).

We early childhood educators are a special breed who are often forgotten. It is in this belief of building foundations for learning that we carry out our professional responsibilities quietly and tenaciously, reassuring each other that indeed, we make a difference. We give without expecting any return but being affirmed once in a year - like what Mr George Lee has said - would indeed help.

Mr Lee's letter gave the Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore an opportunity to reflect. As such, in 2010, the association will indeed affirm all early childhood educators with a special dedication on Teachers' Day for the important role that they play, not only in "foundation building", but also nation building.

http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC090907-0000031/We-hear-you

"Why leave us out?" - Voices, Today

Why leave us out?
Pre-school teachers should be included in Teachers' Day
Letter from George Lee
05:55 AM Sep 03, 2009

SEPT 1 was Teachers' Day and it was heartening to see advertisements in print and on television, exhorting the virtues of the teaching profession.

But these inevitably talked about primary, secondary and tertiary educators. What about us, the early childhood educators?

Do we not count as educators in the eyes of the Education Ministry and the other relevant authorities? After all, do we not preside over the critical years of growth, as by the age of five, a child has already developed 92 per cent of an adult brain?

Do we not teach the young ones with the same degree of dedication and inventiveness as a primary or secondary school teacher? Many would argue, and justifiably so, that early childhood educators indeed do more than a typical teacher - on top of teaching, they provide the crucial care these two- to six-year-olds need, while their parents are busy at work, holding up the economy of this country.

Doesn't this fact alone justify a small advertisement on Teachers' Day by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, the ultimate gatekeepers of the more than 750 childcare centres in Singapore?

There are approximately 6,000 preschool teachers in Singapore. Don't we merit some recognition?

Why make us feel like the "poor cousins" of this noble profession of teaching?

Url in TodayOnline:
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC090903-0000059/Why-leave-us-out?


For completeness, this was the original letter that was sent to the Today newspaper on 01Sept:

Why treat us like the 'poor cousins' of the teaching profession?

Today, being Teachers' Day, it is heartening to see advertisements in both the print and TV media, exhorting the virtues of the teaching profession. But they inevitably relate these virtues to primary, secondary and tertiary educators.

But what about us, the early childhood educators?

Do we not count in the eyes of the ministries as educators?
Do we not preside over the most critical years of a growing human being, when by the age of 5, a child has already formed 92% of an adult brain?
Do we not teach the young ones to the same degree of dedication and inventiveness as a primary or secondary school teacher?

Many would argue, and justifiably so, that the early childhood educators are indeed doing more than a typical teacher by the mere fact that, on top of teaching, they are providing the crucial care that the 2- to 6-year olds need, while their parents are busy holding up the economy of this country.

Doesn't this fact alone justify a small advertisement in the papers today by MCYS, who are the ultimate gatekeepers of the over 750 childcare centres (or approximately 6000 preschool teachers!) in this country, to recognise us?

Why make us feel like the 'poor cousins' of this noble teaching profession, whenever we open the daily papers every Teachers' Day?