Reflection - Ho Jia Yu

 

Awareness of Early Childhood Issues

 

Through the Capstone project, I have gained insights about issues happening in the Early Childhood industry as it requires researching information and lots of readings to be done in order to proceed with the project. One of the issues that we had discovered is about high turnover rate of preschool teachers which led us thinking what can be the causes to this problem. Thus, we begin to research more and realised that most answers lead to burnout.

 

Initially, I thought that it would be a good topic to venture on as it is currently the most common issue faced by many preschool teachers realised that not all centres have the same problem and burnout is a personal issue that we should not make judgments on. She added that the megacentre is currently facing challenges mainly about poor centre’s culture and limited interactions between teachers across levels. These problems might not look severe but it can have a bigger impact on a megacentre compared to a normal preschool centre. From this, I learnt to be more thoughtful and look at things from different perspectives. I have also learnt to be open-minded to listen to other people’s point of view and accept it.centresacross . However, after the interview with the principal, I

 

I am really excited about brainstorming proposal ideas to help tackle the centre’s needs. Yet, I missed out the thought process of thinking whether these ideas are realistic and feasible for the principal to execute. The principal’s feedback mentioned that she like our ideas but deeper thinking and practicability of the proposal have to be put into considerations. This reminded me of the importance of being mindful especially as an educator when taking care of the children.

 

Personal Growth

 

 

Organisational Skills

 

This project enabled me to improve my organisational skills as many plans and agenda have to made beforehand or else it can cause serious consequences like not being able to submit the assignment on time. I started to plan my meetings earlier and organise it by taking down the time and date of the meetings on my phone. Organizing meetings also allowed me to show my leadership skills in leading the group on the agenda. The number of times of me being late also decreased. After the experience, I felt that organizational skills are important because it affects the efficiency and productivity of the work.

 

Problem-solving skills

 

Throughout the project, I have encountered many problems such as changing the topic, arranging group meetings and having limited manpower and time to complete the website. At first, it was the changing of the topic that made me startled as we would have to restart from the beginning and we did not have much time. After that, it was about the scheduling of group meetings and the time we had left to work on our assignment. We had a difficult time to arrange timings for all of us to meet up. Hence, I initiated to stay over a few days at my group member’s house and complete the assignment. Sometimes, it is not so difficult to solve a problem if you are willing to work on it. Moreover, I felt that as a team player, I would need to give my best and contribute as much as I could to the team. It also enabled me to showcase initiative, responsibility, and perseverance.

 

Communication skills

 

Personally, I found that communication could be a challenge for me as my English is not that good. For example, when I wanted to give explanations of my point of view I cannot find the right vocabulary or word to express what I meant accurately. Sometimes, it could also cause misunderstandings. Fortunately, I had very understanding group mates that were willing to listen and tried to understand what I was saying. Despite having problems communicating with my group members, I discovered various ways to express myself and picked up more vocabularies and improved my communication skills. I felt that communication skills are an essential tool to acquire as it is necessary everywhere regardless whether is it at work, in school or at home.

 

I grew a lot as an individual as well as instilled skills that would be useful when I am in the workforce.