PM Says new Stat Board to oversee pre-school education

[autumnbronze]

If preschool is made compulsory, does that mean that parents won't have a choice to homeschool their kids at that level?


I hope that won't be the case.

I was homeschooling DS1. Only sent him to kindy after he turned 3 yrs because I felt he was hanging around too much with the older crowd ie extended family. Neighborhood doesn't seem to have many kids his age. But that too only after he was fully potty trained and was able to understand instructions eg the importance of hygiene.

Now that I have DS2, I may just wait until he is 5 years before I send him off to kindy, or maybe not at all.

On a separate note, I think preschs should put even more emphasis on life and social skills. This can be a follow up to what is taught at home. For instance, charity sales, trips to the old folks homes, orphanages etc can be organized. Performances can be put up for them. One is never too young to be exposed to such reality. My son's first trip to an orphanage was when he was one year old. We were in Thailand then. I do not know if there are preschs now that do subscribe to such activities. I know my son's kindy doesn't, yet.

I also like Nebbermind's idea of teaching reading and fun in math My DS1 is having fun in kindy. There is no homework, spelling or tingxie. There is a lot of hands on activities and 1 field trip per term.

[Imami]

I tend to be wary with those preschools/cc which are too academic driven. So far, my kid has been with 2 cc. I am ok with the cc’s curriculum until recently.


I prefer the cc to teach my child "how to live" - learn how to dress up, social behaviors etc. Academic is not totally unimportant but don’t need to overdrive.

Was given a chance to enroll my child in a premium preschool at a discount. While I am sure my child would be learning alot more than in his current cc, I decided to turn down the offer. While this preschool is very strong academically with very proficient teachers,
- my child would be eating microwaved food
- shower facilities not designed for young children
-no child size toilet bowl (kid’s will be using an adult toilet bowl with a child size toilet seat until they renovate about a year later)

So well, I think that is not suitable for my child.
-

[Nebbermind]

er...is the govt trying to fix the k1/2 or even earlier? :scratchhead:

[Imami]

Nebbermind:

If the pre-schools teach any more than what they are doing now, the kids will be accelerated to P3 after K2!!!


I think what pre-school should be doing to to be less academic and focus more on cultivating reading habits and learning to count (maths) thru games...

Life shd be fun in pre-schools!!

Yes, support!

[Imami]

Nebbermind:

Oppsgal:

Won't be staying at home more fun?


Just my thoughts. Counting seems like stopping only at 10. So a little boring, especially for those who have learn much more.

I can't comment on what is being taught in pre-schools but what what you think is too simple may not be so for another kid. We must realise that the system should cater to somewhere in the middle so that the kids will not be left out even before starting formal school.

Also, the oldest and youngest can be separated by a year between them and at that tender age (4~6), the one year is alot of difference!!

Yes indeed. There is this girl in my child's class. She is a dec kid and you can tell, she is \"not there yet\" when you compare her to her peers. She is not just smaller built, speech and other aspects also lag behind. Not that she has developmental issue, don't get me wrong. But looking at her, I see my son when he was three.

[autumnbronze]

Ooooops, perhaps I shd clarify that preschool, in my definition, is from N1 to K2

[Imami]

Autumnb, so how ar? Have you enroll your ds2 in that cc I told you?

[Nebbermind]

If you really wanna expose the kids to social interaction, then childcare is probably the better bet.

[beanbear]

Thought I’d chip in my 5 cents worth.


Parents and children are key stakeholders in the field and our children who are the main people being affected, unfortunately, cannot articulate for themselves what is benefiting or not benefiting them. Sometimes if they are unhappy at school, they show us by crying or show reluctance to go to to school. But how much impact is school making on our child intellectually, emotionally, psychologically, socially, spiritually, physically, we all have our criteria of what is good enough. What is a set of criteria that cuts across all different strata of society?

So we ask for some independent party like the govt or a stat board to help us define these criteria. I’ve mixed feelings about having a stat board overseeing this pre-school scene. I guess we’ll have to see what parameters the stat board is given. What would be helpful is to set minimum standards about what is "sufficient knowledge or skills" required" for children to function at Primary 1.

I suspect many parents are also concerned about the exorbitant rates set by childcare or preschool providers and hope the new stat board can control that somewhat - but that’s free market forces at play. I’m not sure how far the government can control that given that it’s about demand and supply and the private operators themselves are subjected to the whims & fancies of building owners. Having put through 3 children through childcare and preschool, I’ve been fortunate never to have suffered any fee increases at 3 different childcare centres and preschools that I’ve placed my children in for the duration of 3-4 years that they spend at the centre.

As for pedagogical standards, I think there are many experts in the early childhood arena who can step forward to work in partnership with the new stat board. I believe a partnership is needed. A collaborative sharing culture of what works well for the pre-school years. Because currently, it’s a free market, few industry players would find it beneficial to share resources or teaching methods. Even at Primary school, we already see differing standards and it’s run by the government, what more in an open competition, why should I as a market leader share what’s good preschool teaching with others. In that sense, I think the govt can come in to observe, investigate and then become a central party that brings different expertise in the pre-school market to share their learnings with each other and then bring up the level of teaching as a whole.

At the moment, parents too sometimes struggle to discern what’s a good preschool. Perhaps the new stat board can provide a guidebook to parents to teach them to observe what’s a good environment, what does it mean what people say "learn through play", what is age-appropriate learning, what is accelerated learning, what is stressful learning, what are signs that teachers are doing good teaching vs teachers who are not doing good teaching.

I remembered having to consult several of my friends and more research on my own before I could decide what’s a good pre-school or childcare. When I sent my children to a Montesorri school, I remembered seeing at least 4-5 different Montessori schools and each of the centre’s directress were trained with 3 different Montesorri academies, and to a layperson, it’s hard to tell the difference but on consulting with people with the "insider" information, it’s slightly easier to discern good apples from bad ones, bona fide from wanna-be’s. There are also other kinds of schools eg schools based on the Italian Reggio Emilia’s philosophy, plus other brand-names, too many to name.

So to help parents to navigate beyond the brand names, I think it’s helpful for the stat board to help parents to discern what’s the critical factors that ALL brand names would have. Easier said than done lah, coz it can also be in motherhood statements eg good teachers, good student-teacher ratio. I mean it has to go beyond that. It can’t always be about subjective views, right? I guess it’s good if there can be some kind of friendly audit or award system that tells us we’re going to a centre with fairly good standards in terms of A, B, C. So that in the end you could have an Etonhouse standing next to a neighbourhood preschool with similar rating in terms of reading programme effectiveness, but the Etonhouse may score better in terms of other value-addedness that a neighbourhood preschool may not have.

Anyway these are just some off-the-top-of-my-head musings at the moment.

[smurfymum]

I think that the new stat board need to coordinate with moe so that both are in line and the transition from preschool to primary is smooth.