How many preschools that you know of that have teachers that have a genuine interest to nurture your child’s development? Too many, too few…the unfortunate truth is that there are many preschools with few teachers who are genuinely interested in the children.
In Singapore, early childhood education has been a career taken by many, when they are not faced with much options, i.e., just armed with an ‘O’ level passes and nothing more. Some don’t even see the need for further development and are contented with status quo. I think there is a cause for concern when there have been so much research written about the window of learning that can be maximised for the child between 2 to 6 years old.
As for the quality for preschool education in Singapore? There is little focus on learning through play and more focus on rote learning to prepare the child for primary school. It’s sad to think that this generation of Singapore children have hardly any childhood to talk about. I have to re-emphasise that children really learn the best through play in early childhood.
I am going to commence my search for that ‘perfect’ pre-school (which probably does not even exist) for Kyle from the beginning of next year. Yeah…extremely k.s. since he hasn’t even reach 17 months. I figured that my search will take some time, since I may have too high expectations and rigorous standards for the pre-school. I probably will drive the principal crazy with my never-ending list of questions, yet will choose not to let her know that I am a fellow childhood educator…
See I already told you, it is not going to be easy to convince my mommy!
Just thought I should also give some mothers out here some help on what’s make a good pre-school. since I have recently wrapped up an assignment on quality indicators for pre-schools. Click on this link in other blog to find out more details on the type of questions to ask when you meet the pre-school principal, http://parachutetime.blogspot.com/2008/08/questions-to-ask-when-you-meet-pre.html
My son is lucky that his current teacher is one who obviously loves children. I agree not all have the passion. Some are in it for the work only, not the pleasure. Hope you’ll have luck finding a good one for your child.
Wow…Well done! u sound like u are going to be very well researched mum! Kyle definitely deserves the BEST! Will be reading to find out what your research finds out!
my son is going to P1 in 2010. And my in-laws are pretty adamant about sending him to a so-called branded school.
i prefer to send my son to an ordinary neighborhood school where there’s less stress and pressure to perform.
Especially since my son is not the conformist type who sit still and listen attentively to the teacher and follows every instruction to the letter. Everytime after lesson (he’s now in K1) when we ask him what has he learnt for the day, he would reply, “Don’t know.” :p