w

It is important that the child:

• Develops a set of social skills to interact, play and make friends with others;

• Has a keen sense of curiosity to learn or a spirit of enquiry; and

• Has a basic sense of values which includes loving one’s family, showing concern and respect for others, and having a sense of fair play.

Issue 08 OCT-DeC 2012

Envisioning a Successful Child Care Sector In his opening speech, then-Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and sports (MCYs), Mr Chan Chun sing, sketched out a broad vision for a successful child care sector with a focus on the Child, the Parents, the Child Care Operators and the Child Care Professionals.

to bE ContinuEd...

A publication of the Child Development Network, Child Care Division of the Ministry of Social and Family Development

MCYS Child Care Awards 2012 The 4-Day Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC) Masterclass A CPD Framework for the Child Care Sector Upcoming Event & Updates

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Over 1000 child care educators, operators, trainers, professionals and academics attended

the annual MCYs Child Care seminar held on October 5 2012, at Max Atria, singapore expo. This year’s seminar, “Creating Collaborative Communities for excellence”, held a strong resonance with the child care sector’s ongoing commitment to excellence to early childhood in building both leadership and pedagogical capabilities, and enhancing the sector’s productivity and performance.

Creating Collaborative

Communitiesfor

exCellenCe

Parents Professionals

Operators

Child

Minister and Minister of state interacting with winners of the Innovation Grant

The Child

and toddler development as well as a showcase of early childhood research and innovation projects from the sector. The diverse mix of presenters allowed for lively discussions and hand-on activities while challenging participants to reflect on the main theme of the seminar - an ongoing commitment to excellence to early childhood in building both leadership and pedagogical capabilities and enhancing the sector’s productivity and performance.

Operators, professionals, parents and the community need to work collaboratively in the interest of children and for this, “We should be concerned with how far our children go rather than just how fast our children start. A fast start without strong foundations will not allow our children to go far. A gradual start with strong foundations will certainly allow our children to go further.” – Acting Minister, Mr Chan Chun sing

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Parents are generally concerned with the quality of care for their children and that includes their wellbeing and safety. Centres need to help parents identify and make informed decisions about programmes and services that best address their children’s needs and development.

The quality levers for early years provisions hinge on the quality of professionals working with the children, families and the community. For this, the newly-launched Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework provides a coherent

structure and the means to further enhance their professional development to broaden and deepen theoretical foundations and hone pedagogical skills as well as open up career opportunities.

indicators such as reflective curriculum planning, family engagement, inclusion of children with special needs, and reflective supervision. Dr Mangione concluded that attention needs to be given to adequately support teachers in effectively provide the kind of early care and education that fits with the community’s shared vision of young children’s learning and development.

Concurrent Sessions

The theme of the seminar “Creating Collaborative Communities for excellence” was reflected throughout the 20 concurrent sessions. Participants heard from a multidisciplinary team of professionals comprising social Workers, Practitioners, sports, Arts and Music specialists, Centre Administrators, Academics, Researchers and even Policy Makers. These interactive sessions focused on various aspects of early childhood care and education, such as curriculum and programme planning, professional and leadership development, infant

Creating a Shared Vision of Quality for Children from birth to Age 6: the Starting Point for Collaboration

The child at the heart of the programme was a key message which ran through the keynote presentation by Dr Peter L. Mangione at the annual child care seminar. Dr Mangione, Co-Director of the Program for Infant Toddler Care

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Key messages fOr eduCatOrs• Match developmentally appropriate practices to each child’s

current interests and needs

• Provide adequate challenges to assist the child to move to the next level of development.

• Bear in mind the 4Rs in teaching and caring – Responsiveness, Relationship, Respect and Reflection.

• ensure that care for young children is provided in safe, interesting, and intimate settings where children have the time and opportunity to establish and sustain secure and trusting relationships with other children and with knowledgeable caregivers who are responsive to their needs and interests.

Dr Peter L. Mangione giving the keynote presentation “Creating a shared vision of quality for children from birth to age 6: The starting point for collaboration”

The Parents

Child care operators, too, have a role to play in creating spaces for children to learn to socialize, get along with their peers from different racial, religious, and social and economic backgrounds, as well as address the different talents and learning needs.

Ways in which operators can create these learning spaces:• Provide environments that are

wholesome and developmentally appropriate;

• Be dynamic and embrace the desire for innovative programmes and practices; and

• Develop a long-term brand equity with parents and the community.

The Child Care Operators

The Child Care Professionals

(PITC), Wested’s Center for Child and Family studies presented the image of child as vulnerable yet competent.

Dr Mangione highlighted the importance of creating a shared vision and a strong commitment within the community as a one of the key cornerstones to implementing high-quality early learning programmes for the children. With relationships as the center of high-quality early care and education for young children, Dr Mangione also identified other

“The seminar and concurrent sessions I went through gave me lots of ideas and knowledge for me to

practice in my centre”

Accolades from the seminar participants...

“It gets better every year, with more

concurrent sessions for us to learn from”

“It gave me new insights that I can

apply to my class on an everyday basis”

“environment is good! Able to share

thoughts and insights with teachers of

different schools”

“Thank you for doing your best and finding

ways to recognise child care teachers,

supervisors, operators for their hard work”

(top left) Participants happily singing and dancing in a music-

based concurrent session.

(top right) The concurrent session held by the singapore sports Council

engaged participants in physical games designed for children

Collaborative Communitites

(bottom) Participants involved in hands-on arts and crafts during a

concurrent session.

14. My First skool @ Blk 503 Bedok North Project: Be Very excited About Reading (B.V.e.A.R)

15. etonHouse Pre-school Pte Ltd Project: educating for a Green Mindset

Bronzes

16. My First skool @ Blk 183 edgefield Plains Project: Cooperation-in-Action

17. Pitter Patter Child Care Centre Project: Young Gardeners of Gaia

Merits

18. shaws Preschool Group Project: shaws sports

19. My First skool @ Blk 50 Havelock Road Project: Innovate to Motivate

20. My First skool @ Blk 677 Hougang Ave Project: Quality Assurance and Development at NTuC First Campus

21. Nobleland Arts N Learning Place Pte Ltd Project: Integrating Arts Curriculum into Building of Literacy, Numeracy skills and Learning of Chinese

Celebrating exCellenCe

in early

Childhood and

development

mCys Child Care

awards 2012

To honour and salute the commitment and dedication to excellence in programmes,

pedagogical and innovative practices, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and sports (MCYs) conferred the Child Care Awards 2012 to 21 outstanding child care teachers, leaders and employers. The awards given out in the following categories were:

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individual Awards

Outstanding Early Childhood Teacher Award

1. sun Ying Jian Pat’s schoolhouse (Meyer Road)

2. samantha Morier etonhouse (764 Mountbatten)

3. Nurul Raudha Roslani PPIs (Pasir Ris)

4. Nur Ashikin Bte Mohd salehan Kinderland (MOM)

5. Tan sow Moi Kinderland (Woodlands)

6. Nur Fazelah Bte Ahmad The Little skoolhouse International Ltd (AMK Hub)

Outstanding Early Childhood Infant Educarer Award

7. Ong Yock Lan, Irene Presbyterian Community services Ghim Moh Child Care Centre

Outstanding Early Childhood Leader Award

8. Rohayu Bte Nabebe My First skool Blk 677 Hougang Ave 8

9. emelia Prayogo etonHouse Pre-school Pte Ltd

Exemplary Early Childhood Employer Award

10. NTuC First Campus Co-operative Ltd

11. shaws Pre-school Group

Early Childhood innovation Award

Gold

12. My First skool @ Blk 18 Marine Terrace Project: My Green City Game

Silvers

13. My First skool @ Blk 612 Yishun Project: A Cooperative effort Goes a Long Way (A Literacy Initiative)

The Spotlight on 3 of the Winners

madam Ong yock LanOutstanding early Childhood Infant educarer Award

Mdm Ong Yock Lan, 56, is an Infant Care Teacher at the Presbyterian Community services, Ghim Moh Child Care Centre.

In her 23-year long career, she has derived untold satisfaction – not only from caring for infants but from walking alongside parents in their journey as they watch their infants grow.

she shares that her secret to building strong rapport with parents is putting herself in their shoes: “I am a mother myself so I know how it feels. When new mothers bring infants to infant care centres the first day, you can tell from their eyes how difficult the process is for them. That drives me to do my best in caring for the infants, and having open and honest communication with the parents.”

ms Nurul raudha roslaniOutstanding early Childhood Teacher Award

Ms Nurul Raudha Roslani, 30, is a Child Care Teacher at PPIs (Persatuan Pemudi Islam singapura) Pasir Ris.

Being a committed, responsible, energetic and creative teacher, she exudes these qualities in all her interactions with young children. says Ms Nurul: “I strongly believe in the importance of understanding children’s needs and abilities as well as respecting children as young learners and unique individuals. When planning and implementing effective lessons and activities for my children, I place emphasis on their developmental capabilities and interests in order to encourage creativity and freedom in exploring their surroundings.”

my first skool @ marine terraceearly Childhood Innovation Award

(Gold Award for ‘My Green City’ Game)

My First skool @ Marine Terrace is committed to environmental education through its ‘Greening the Curriculum and Classroom’ programme. using recycled materials and drawings, the children and teachers created ‘My Green City’, a board game which caught the attention of the south east Community Development Council and National environment Agency. The centre was invited to showcase their project at the seminar.

says Ms Jasmine Yeo, executive Principal, My First skool@Marine Terrace: “It’s difficult to go to someone and say, ‘Hey, you should go green’, so we brainstormed with the kids on how we could motivate the parents and the community to go green in a fun and interactive manner. The kids came up with the idea of a board game and we took it up. They even did all the research for the type of questions we should have in the game.”

2012

MCYs

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The

awardWinners

Shaws Preschool Group

shaws Preschool Group is led by the mother- and- daughter team, Lucy and Liane shaw. It was established in 1989 and at present, 23 years on, shaws Preschool Group operates 3 preschools.

How do you create a staff-family friendly environment?We strive to ensure everyone has a healthy work-life balance. Personal commitments change as the years go by and we accommodate this through flexible working arrangements where possible. This includes working from home for senior staff or management

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staff who have children at home, or flexible working hours depending on the personal needs of the teaching staff. We also try to include their families in various events to show appreciation for their support.

It is the close-knitted relationship between Shaws Preschool Group and its staff that made the judging panel select the Group as a winner of the “Exemplary Employer Award 2012”. Could you elaborate on this?We try and make it a happy place for everyone, a place where everyone feels important and a sense of belonging. shaws strives to cultivate a culture of positivity in employer-staff relations. We are a very lean organisation which helps greatly in the communication channels and implementing new ideas. It also helps us work quickly on staff feedback and produce results. One of the recent works was “Project Adventure” which was a result of taking on board staff’s suggestion and ideas and working on it intentionally. This was a great collaborative effort which was empowering and professional fulfilling. What are the attributes that your management team possess which makes you a good employer?everyone in our management comes from an early childhood background and training. The management team has been in the teachers positions once upon a time. We have all changed dirty diapers, we still do in fact. And because

the teachers know that we are happy to come into the classrooms and help them through any problems they are facing, be it with parents, routines or children, staff are more responsive to us. There is a high level of trust amongst the team members.

What would be some challenges you face? Like any family, there are different people with different needs. so balancing this can also be tricky. We try to meet each staff’s individual needs. If we are unable to meet personal needs, we try and have the teachers understand the position of their team members. This can be tricky. But we take time to engage them in discussions.

Can you tell us in one statement the philosophy that Shaws stands by? We believe that a school can have the best curriculum, the best facilities or even the best management but the school succeeds via the efforts of the entire team of people. I am very lucky to have a wonderful team.

We put the spotlight on shaws Preschool Group who was one of the “exemplary employer Award” winner to share with us their thoughts, strategies as well as some of challenges in maintaining a ‘culture of positivity’.

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mCys

Exemplary

employer

Award

2012

2012

MCYs

The CDN Parenting Seminar 2012

Building Foundations

of suCCess

from Birth

“every parent wants to be a good parent and role model for their children. But effective parenting

is not easy. It is a journey of trial and error, continuous learning and growing together with your child” - Madam Halimah Yacob, Minister of state for Ministry of social and Family Development (MsF)

some 400 parents attended the inaugural seminar organised by the Child Development Network (CDN) on 27 October 2012 at the singapore expo. One of the main highlights of the seminar was the launch of the “Growing with your Child from Birth the Three Years” resource kit. Packed with strategies and practical tips across the physical, language, cognitive, social and emotional domains, the resource kit will support and guide parents in building stronger bonds and nurturing

positive relationships with their children. The booklet also comes with a series of video clips depicting ways that parents can better interact, communicate and support their children through a variety of developmentally appropriate activities.

The e-version of the resource kit and video clips can be downloaded from http://app.cdn.gov.sg/GrowingWith YourChildResourceKit.aspx.

A timely Reminder

Dr Aline Wong, Chair, CDN Advisory Committee, called for parents to, “Give your child the Attention she needs, Bond with your child and Communicate. These are the cornerstones for building a great relationship with your child, and through which imagination, creativity, resilience and a passion for life and learning are effectively planted in the child. Happy parents produce happy children.”

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M

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CM

MY

CY

CMY

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What did parents have to say about the seminar and the hands-on workshops ranging from health and mental well-being, IQ and EQ, caring for infants and toddlers, storytelling, music, art to sports?

“Very well run Parenting seminar. Well done. I learnt a lot.” “seminar was very engaging, educating and enriching.”

“Good advice and insight into growing years.”

“The entire programme was very well thought through and excellently executed, from beginning to the end; I personally loved MOs Halimah's opening address, with her heartfelt reminders and reflections.”

“I am happy that the seminar is organized by CDN, showing support for holistic development of children coming from the highest level.”

Parents enjoying the programme and concurrent workshops offered at the seminar.

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“Together, Peter, Alicia, Intisar and Janet, you have given us a new philosophy, a new vision of Quality Care with Infants and Toddlers. Your commitment to the work you do with infants is inspiring. I am sure my fellow trainers would all agree with me if I said – you have awed us with your deep knowledge and wisdom. We hope to take up this fire and spread this passion amongst our infant/toddler educarers and continue to change the way infants are cared for in singapore and make it even better.”

“We really need this kind of programmes and support to refresh ourselves and to be able to give more especially for our infants, toddlers, educarers and the families. This is a meaningful opportunity to learn and to build a team of dedicated professionals coming together to work together. I am very thankful for the opportunity to learn again and to be able to share again.”

between nurturing and scaffolding the child’s growing capabilities/potential and protecting the child’s vulnerabilities. It is a dance, sometimes the child leads and sometimes the adult leads and, both need to be good followers in order to make the dance beautiful. Lastly, individuals who work with young children need support and opportunity for continuous development so that they are up-to-date with current eCe pedagogy and practices.”

dr Jane Ching-Kwan, CeO, KLC school education

mrs Puspavalli Namasivyamearly Childhood Consultant and Trainer

"I would like to congratulate MCYs for organising the PITC Master Class; timely provision and a milestone achievement for the field of early childhood education in singapore! My key "take-aways" from the interactive exchanges with well-established and highly esteemed facilitators, and participants in the master class are that the early years from birth-to-three is as, if not more, important as the preschool years for foundational learning and nurturing positive values and dispositions. It is not just looking into custodial care! It is about being intentional about what we do, say and think about and with young children. Next, early childhood professionals and practitioners need to be mindful of the delicate balance

ms geraldine Zuzarte Centre Director for The Caterpillar’s Cove

Child Development and study Centre and Deputy Head Academic for

seeD Institute

Participants involved in a role play depicting a chaotic infant toddler group care scenario.

Participants fed one another unknown food items to simulate infants’ feeding routines.

I deeply appreciate the effort you and your team has put into bringing the PITC program over to singapore. I have benefitted a lot from the program. A Big thank you to have made this meaningful learning experience possible for the four days.

ms Chew miew yinTrainer & Practicum supervisor

The Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC) is the most widely used training system for infant and toddler educarers in the united states. The primary objective of PITC is to help infant and toddler educarers understand the importance of providing good quality care and education through attentive reading of children’s cues. The PITC philosophy emphasises strongly on developing strong caregiver-child relationships, advocating child-directed learning, providing safe and holistic learning environments, ensuring child welfare, as well as connecting and strengthening children’s family and cultural identities.

A Catalyst

For Change In early years

training And

programmesThe 4-Day Program For

Infant Toddler Care (PITC) Master Class

Over an intensive 4-day master class, 57 early childhood trainers, curriculum specialists,

centre directors, supervisors and educators learned from PITC experts from the Wested Center for Child and Family studies (usA). They engaged in dialogues and conversations on early years topics and issues, networked and participated in developing strategies to raise the quality of training and programmes for infants and toddlers.

Madam Halimah Yacob, then-Minister of state for Community Development, Youth and sports (MCYs) presented the certificates to the participants, signalling a strong support for the participants and affirmation of the importance of quality for the early years.

The PITC Master Class was held from 8 to 11 October 2012 at the Novotel singapore Clarke Quay. The expert trainers were Dr Peter L. Mangione, Ms Alicia Tuesta, Ms Janet Gonzalez-Mena and Dr Intisar shareef.

Focusing on social-emotional growth and early brain development, group care, the key objectives of the Master Class were: • To raise the quality of early Years

training• To develop resources and materials• To broaden and deepen the knowledge

base in the care, development and learning of infants and toddlers

• To build capabilities and competencies in training methodologies, instructional strategies and delivery skills

A group photo with Madam Halimah Yacob, Minister of state

Participants demonstrating the ‘Hand-Dance’ to getting in tune with infants and toddlers

Key takeaways from some PitC Master Class Participants

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What do supervisors and teachers have to say about the CPd?

What the CPd Editorial Consultants envisage from this framework?

A CAtAlyst for ChAnge

says Ms Lynn Heng, Group Professional Leadership Officer, NTuC First Campus, believes, “The issue of quality in the early childhood sector is inextricably linked to the issues of training, education and professional development. I see the introduction of the Framework and Toolkit as a catalyst to a creative, rigorous and relevant approach to supporting the learning and development of eCe professionals. It has the potential to change the way we see our careers, skills and our next professional steps.”

legitimises mindset

says Dr Jane Ching-Kwan, CeO, KLC school of education, “This CPD Framework is a vision whose reality will be shaped by our commitment to the quality and professionalism of the field. If early childhood teachers and leaders want to continue to improve teaching, and have positive impacts on children’s learning for the better, then they have to start being life-long learners themselves. The CPD framework legitimizes that mindset, and the toolkit, I hope, will put the gears of change in motion.”

unlocking Professional development opportunities: What’s in the CPd Framework?

It includes:

• A core competency lattice Level 1: Beginning Practitioner Level 2 experienced Practitioner Level 3: Advanced Practitioner 3 Levels of Mastery

1. emerging2. Developing3. Proficient

4 Core Knowledge Domains

1. Child Development2. Learning environments and

Curriculum3. Family and Community

engagement4. Management, Administration and

Leadership

and tools that educators can tap on in pursuing professional excellence in their programmes, pedagogical practices and partnerships with families and the community.

2012 marks another significant milestone for the child care sector in singapore. On 5 October 2012,

Mr Chan Chun sing, then-Minister for Community Development, Youth and sports together with Madam Halimah Yacob, then-Minister of state launched the CPD Framework for the Child Care sector at its annual child care seminar entitled “Creating Collaborative Communities for excellence”.

The Framework “Achieving excellence through Continuing Professional Development” unlocks a myriad of professional development resources

Achieving Excellence through Continuing

Professional Development

A Cpd

Framework for the

Child CareSector

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MS RohAyu btE nAbEbE executive Principal

My First skool, Hougang

MR Abu bAKAR senior Teacher

Chiltern House (east Coast)

MS JoCElyn liMTeacher

Little skool House International

MRS RAJESWARii d/o RAGhAVAn

Teacher Care Corner Child Development Centre

“The four domains allow leaders and practitioners to reflect and assess their growth according to the required competencies in the various domains. so, a centre leader is able to evaluate the competencies of each staff and manage their professional development accordingly.”

“CPD gives you the drive to learn. You can’t stagnate in your work and it’s important to keep up to date with the latest developments in the field.”

“In a few years time, I would have improved as a teacher and even move up to the management level.”

“Through my degree, I am getting a lot of in-depth knowledge that is based on research, and this goes hand-in-hand with my classroom practice. I would like to influence teachers with what I have learnt.”

“By attending these training sessions, we are Better aBle to help teachers address their issues they face in the training course By sharing the ways in which we overcome the challenge.”

Madam Rebecca Goh-QuekZone PrincipalKinderland educare services Pte Ltd

• A toolkit which outlines a series of steps, strategies and planning tools to create a meaningful and purposeful professional development plan.

• A list of useful resources and suggested CPD activities such as attending conferences, professional reading circles to presentations and literature review.

CPD Framework: Toolkit To Create A Professional Development Plan

Editorial tEamDr Chan Lin HoMs Angela AnthonyMs Maria MahatMs Sandra WuMs Daphne Lim

ContaCt UsWe would love to hear from you! If you have any feedback or wish to contribute to this newsletter, please email us at MSF_CDN@msf.gov.sg

issue 08 Oct - Dec 2012

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Make the EYDF come alive in your practice!16-hr WSQ EYDF Training Programme for Child Care Centres

Not sure what the eYDF looks like in practice? This is the chance for you and your educarers to unpack the Framework. Don’t miss this 16 hour

training programme specially designed to promote professional discussion and exchange of information with fellow practitioners and MsF-approved eYDF trainers.

From 1 Nov 2012 onwards, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and sports (MCYs) is officially renamed as Ministry of Social and Family

Development (MSF).

The Child Development Network will continue to bring to the sector recent updates and developments on behalf of MsF via the eC Digest.

We would also like to bring to your attention that after 1 November 2012, our official email address has changed to MSF_CDN@msf.gov.sg. Please

direct all feedback, contributions and enquiries to the new email address. For more information, please go to www.cdn.gov.sg.

The training programme is available from August 2012 onwards. The full course fee is $350. The programme is co-funded by MsF and WDA:• 90% of course fee will be

subsidised, participants pay $35 (excl. GsT)

• Absentee Payroll subsidy: up to 95% employees’ hourly salary

The funding support is available from Aug 2012 to Dec 2013 and when you register at:• Asian International College (AIC)

www.aic.edu.sg• KLC school of education (KLC)

www.klc.edu.sg• seeD Institute (seeD)

www.seedinstitute.edu.sg

Post launch: What is in store for the child care sector in 2013?

Continuing professional development (CPD) is an essential piece for ensuring quality as it helps educators to broaden their knowledge base and hone their repertoire of teaching skills. The CPD is also intended to complement existing training pathways for early childhood educators, going beyond the basic accreditation training courses required for teacher certification. For the child care sector, the CPD Framework is designed to provide a structured pathway to develop, update, and even specialise in knowledge and skills relevant to their professional so

that educators may continue to provide high quality programmes and services to children and the families they serve. Child care personnel can look forward to:

a. Copies of the framework and toolkit will be delivered to all MsF licensed childcare centres from 1 November 2012.

b. A series of customised training and familiarisation sessions vis-à-vis seminars and workshops.

c. Close collaboration between MsF and WDA with training providers to design and develop CPD courses.

d. Funding scheme developed and introduced to support educators in their continuing development.

What’s happening!