Kinderland Professional Development Day: Small Steps, Giant Leaps

130 principals and teachers from Kinderland, convened virtually for Kinderland Professional Development Day. They bonded and sought innovative ways to elevate early childhood education skills and mastery. Freshly out of a period of heightened alert, the team was abuzz with excitement to gather, socialise and exchange ideas in a safe space through the Zoom platform.

Kinderland International Education’s General Manager, Mr Seet Lee Kiang, and and Dr Carol Loy, Director of Curriculum and Professional Development, started the day with their opening addresses. Both speeches shared a common point, the need for growth, to seek improvement within ourselves. The framework known as Small Steps, Giant Leaps helps Kinderland staff embark on their innovation journey.

This year’s training involved staff from across all 12 centres and headquarters. The end goal is to boost team bonding and individual growth by diving into their career purpose and motivation.

The first part of the training session was centred on having teachers constructing their ‘Why’ statements. In this portion, participants were encouraged to share their purpose and motivation as to why they are in preschool education.

In the next half, teachers discussed innovative ideation methods were, including the SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, Eliminate, and Reverse) method. Teachers at Kinderland Preschool @ Woodlands Mart recognised the application of this method when they were tasked to plan the themed term-end party. They implemented the “Combine” step on the SCAMPER method by merging the children’s entertainment and curriculum learning points.

The teachers at Revenue House also found the SCAMPER method relevant to the centre’s “Love to Read” campaign. They saw the opportunity to use the technique to initiate more discussions on how our children’s reading can be made more meaningful and interactive. Through these brainstorming sessions, they found engaging ways to enhance the experience through flashcards, gamification, puzzles, and dramatization.

While we are at the frontier of education, giving every child a good head start to their lifelong journey, we also strongly believe in continued learning for our staff. The day’s events left all participants invigorated, energized and inspired by the new ways to improve our work and daily lives.