Inspired in Singapore

by Elanna S. Yalow, Tags: Add new tag, Busy Bees, cclc, kindercare, knowledge beginnings, knowledge universe, Learning Capital College, Learning Vision, Odyssey Global Preschool, Pat's Schoolhouse, Singapore, The Children's House, UK child care

I recently returned from Singapore where I had a packed week of visiting centers from several Knowledge Universe brands, including Learning Vision, Pat’s Schoolhouse, and Odyssey, giving lectures to faculty and staff on issues in early childhood education, addressing parents of young children at parent meetings, conducting media interviews, and participating in an inspirational graduation ceremony for students from Learning Capital College who will primarily be entering careers in early childhood education.

The main reason for the visit was to offer a series of guest lectures across a wide range of topics including leadership, global Issues in early childhood education, establishing partnerships between centers and parents to promote child literacy, and research on the developing brain. However, the opportunity to visit our sister centers from across the world and learn more about their approach to early childhood education was gratifying and enlightening.

Each of the programs that I visited had a slightly different approach to their programs. Learning Vision offers a content rich program, primarily at the workplace, for many ministries and other agencies including, notably the Ministry of Education and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory.

Pat’s Schoolhouse features a child-centered approach and has received international acclaim for its distinctive dual language immersion program, where skilled teachers in English and Mandarin work in tandem in the classroom to promote language mastery in both languages. It should be noted that Knowledge Universe US was so impressed with the language rich experience at Pat’s Schoolhouse that we imported her program to the US, and it is currently available at four KinderCare or Knowledge Beginnings locations in California (Silicon Valley, Roseville), Portland, and Chicago.

And finally, I had the opportunity to visit the latest Odyssey Global Preschool to open, which offers an emergent, project-based curriculum, based on international best practices and highlighting the importance of a child’s relationship with the natural environment, both indoors and outdoors. You may recall my prior posting on my visit to the first Odyssey center earlier this year.

Despite the differences, each program was impressive in its own way, with a common focus on recognizing the unique needs and interests of the individual child through consistently outstanding and engaged teachers, the most important component of quality in any early childhood education program. And I am not alone in my assessment of the excellent care and education programs offered by Knowledge Universe in Singapore.

Just as I was boarding a plane for my return home, I received word that The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), recognized both Learning Vision and Pat’s Schoolhouse with the Outstanding Program Award for 2010, and Ms. Jessica Marie, an infant teacher at Pat’s Schoolhouse Baby Haven as the 2010 Outstanding Infant Educarer.

Not coincidentally, Knowledge Universe Singapore was also recognized by the MYCS as the 2010 Outstanding Employer for early childhood education, as it takes a great employer to create the right environment to nurture and develop outstanding educators.

In the US we are justifiably proud of our sister programs in Singapore. Even more importantly, we continue to share best practices in program and professional development with them as well as our programs in the United Kingdom and now Malaysia. In fact, our employer sponsored division, CCLC [link], has recently partnered with the Singapore team to support worksite programs in Malaysia and India.

Every program in the Knowledge Universe family is unique, just as every child is unique and every family has a different set of expectations for their children. But by learning from and sharing with our global partners with a common commitment to excellence, we know we provide a better experience for all of the children in all of our programs–in the United States and abroad.

Previous PostNext Post