In Helsinki, we have collected more than 10 000 observation in the term of 2017-2018. Feedback of the results was delivered for all kindergarten principals. For example, the results support the new guidelines for increasing planning time. Also, happy to announce that the objectives for physical activity were met in Helsinki! Congratulations.
The participating municipalities and cities shared their development in a whole day conference in Helsinki. The municipalities do excellent development work and the day was very inspiring. A lot of good things have happened, but we still have a lot of work ahead. In the picture, city of Hämeenlinna present their plan of pedagogical principals doing the observations, giving staff feedback and building development tasks together. An exciting plan, that can be executed in reality. Among other new developments, we are going to enhance the observation of childminders and Helsinki starts Progressive Feedback process with the city playgrounds, this will give everybody a fresh perspective!
We have three presentation in EARLI 2017 conference 29 Aug – 2.Sep:
Enhancing Physical Activity in Taiwanese Early Childhood Education and Care Jyrki Reunamo, University of Helsinki, Finland; Li-Chen Wang, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Hui-Chun Lee, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan.
How to implement the observation strategies to raise the Quality of Early Childhood Education (ECEC) James Ko, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Jyrki Reunamo, University of Helsinki, Finland; Hui-Chun Lee, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan; Li-Chen Wang, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Hui-Hua Chen, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan; Shu-Shuan Shih, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan.
Progressive feedback in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Jyrki Reunamo, University of Helsinki, Finland; Li-Chen Wang, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Hui-Chun Lee, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan; Shu-Chuan Shih, National Taitung University, Taiwan; Hui-Hua Chen, Dong Hwa University, Taiwan.
In Finland, Progressive feedback in Early Years is a project funded by the National Agency for Education. There are 12 municipalities participating in the project, which aims for sustainable development of ECE. We develop tools, measures and practices, with which we can get valid and reliable research results on Early Education activities.We also aim for data driven feedback for the educators and experts of Early Education. We have a conference describing the project and working out future plans 16 August, with some Taiwanese examples to share with the Finnish participants.
Taiwanese researchers, teachers and students have arrived in Finland. They will be introduced to Finnish Early Education, day care centers, kindergarten teacher studies and research on the subject. Our colleagues also have produced new development models for their work and they are eager to discuss them with Finnish teachers. We have also done similar data collection in Finland and the comparison have resulted in a lot of interesting similarities and differencies across cultures. You can meet the Taiwanese colleagues, for example, at the Progressive feedback conference in 16th August in Helsinki.
The Early Childhood Education SIEE EXPO (Shanghai International ICT Expo for Early Childhood Education & Shanghai International Franchise Expo for Educational Brand) in Shanghai was held 9-13 March 2017. The expo is the largest Early Childhood expo for enterprises in the world. Progressive Feedback provides possibilities both for enterprises and China as nation.
The workshop in Taipei on Sunday 20 November collected together the teachers, who had participated in the observation and data collection. The main content of the day was the sharing of teachers experiments and examples of their development models based on the research results. Many of the development tasks were related to outdoors and physical activity. Taipei is a cramped metropolitan, in where the pre-schools may not have a proper outdoor yard of their own. It was very inspiring to see creative solutions for fun and creative physical activity in constricted environment. Of the participating researchers were included, for example, Hui-Chun Lee (Tzu Chi University), professor Li-Chen Wang (Chang Gung University), professor Doris Cheng (Tung Wah Collegesta Hong Kong) and professor Karen Liu (Indiana State University). As an example, in Sanmin pre-school, the children go to the park every day. The group collects smiles from the people they meet in their way. They get smiles a lot! There were people waiting for the children to pass by. For example, a choir of senior citizens were waiting for the children and performed a song for the children. In the park the activities were fast, but the path to park and back took a long time, because there were so many familiar and unknown things to explore.
The workshop in Hualien on Saturday 19 November 2016 collected together the project early childhood educators participating in the data collection. The teachers presented examples from tree houses to using stumps in math. We also compared the Finnish and Taiwanese research results. In the workhop the teachers input, examples and sharing were essential. There were researchers from Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Turkey and Finland. Participating researchers included professoriHui-Chun Lee (Tzu Chi University), professor Li-Chen Wang (Chang Gung University), professor Doris Cheng (Tung Wah College of Hong Kong), professor Shu-Shuan Shih (Taitung University), professor Hui-Hua Chen (Dong Hwa University), Yeni Rachmavati (Pendidikan University), Mehmet Sahin (Dong Hwa University) and Wei-Chen Zhang (Dong Hwa University). The natural resources, Pacific Ocean, rivers, mountains, plants and animals give the pre-school settings a unique environment, which calls for respect and exploration. Thank you for the participants for a very inspiring day!
At the 2015 Quality Childhood Conference International (QCCI) at 19th June in Hong Kong, an Orientation project symposium was organized. Presenters from Hong Kong, Finland and Taiwan described the project results. In the picture conference chair Doris Cheng presents the differences in children’s orientations at play-based and academic preschools in Hong Kong. The presentations were:
The conference was also a great place for networking and synchronization of the project. Special thanks for Doris Cheng for the opportunity.
The Singapore observation training lasted for two days. More than 40 observers were trained. The training produced a wealth of interesting discussions and insight. The data will be collected from kindergartens in 5-year-old groups between February and May 2015. After the data collection the kindergartens and observers will get detailed feedback on the activities observed. Thank you for the organization and support for Christine Soo Mee Ling and to the other helpful people at PAP Community Foundation. Now the observers will practice the use of the observation instrument and collect questions about its use. In January, just before the data collection, we will discuss the raised questions to ensure a valid and reliable observation across all four countries and kindergartens. The observation details were also presented in the PAP conference for ECEC teachers: Serving with pride, nurturing with passion.