Visit to IBM & Employee Engagement

Yesterday, I went to visit IBM as part of the MLS programme for industrial visit. I was not there to learn about their IT solutions though it is a technology company. Rather, I was there to learn about their Human Resource Management  (HRM) and Human Resource Development (HRD) policies.

I will not attempt to list or compare between what they have / do not have and versus what we have / do not have as we are dealing with 2 different contexts. But suffice to say, like MOE, they have very comprehensive training , career progression and development initiatives, frameworks and programmes in place at all levels ranging from junior staff to senior executives. They also have a department that looks into Corporate Citizenship, harnessing their employees' existing knowledge and expertise and partnering schools, NGOs and voluntary organizations to address societal problems..They believe in empowering their employees to serve others.

But what I do want to share is this topic on "Employee Engagement"

In IBM, they place a great emphasis on Employee Engagement. Many people associate employee engagement with employee happiness. That is incorrect. We can be happy in a place because "life is so good" that we are left alone to do our own things at our own time but at the end of the day, we neither grow in our professional life and worst we short change the organization that we are in.

In IBM, they define engagement for their employees as follows:

" Am I rationally and emotionally connected and motivated to invest discretionary effort (in my organization)?" 

I thought is a good reflection question to ask ourselves from time to time.

In a Gallup's global workplace survey, the results indicated that only 9% of workers in Singapore are engaged while the majority are either "not engaged" or "actively disengaged"

http://sbr.com.sg/source/humanresources-magazine/majority-singaporean-employees-report-work-disengagement

In a recent CNA report, it mentions that Singapore is falling behind in productivity

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/singapore-falling-behind/1665666.html

I am not too sure whether the 2 are co-related. Maybe yes. But it does shows that it is not a good sign.

Back to our question. As teachers, we must always put children's interests above self. There are many factors that can cause us to become disengaged but let us always remember our mission, our purpose in Education and our obligation to the young minds that have been put under our charge.

The mission is sacred. Never lose sight of it.

Have a restful March holidays!

Be a Force for Good in the World

I feel compelled to write 2 more articles before I fly off next Monday. Hope it will inspire you.

Time flies. I am almost half-way through the course. This whole week has been spent preparing for the regional visit trip. In the team, each member takes charge of coordinating with the schools that he or she has established contacts with. For me, I am coordinating City University and Fresh Fish Traders School. The latter one is really the school that I am looking forward to.

One question I ask myself before I fly off is this -"What exactly do I want to achieve in this trip ? Is it just merely going to listen to some presentations, looking at facilities , interacting with organizational leaders and staff etc?

I was quite inspired by Mr Chua's account of his Cambodia trip last year. For our new colleagues, during his Sabbatical, Mr Chua  went to Siam Reap to help build bio sand water filter systems for the villages. If you are interested to find out more, you can access the set of slides in the new shared drive (ICT folder-> P's Sabbatical Trip_Siam Reap).

So, I told myself -" Let's do something more and make it a truly worthwhile experience". At the same time, I am also pondering - "How do we as a school community be forces of good in the world ?" If we expect our pupils to espouse the school mission, then we ourselves should walk the talk.

Now, here comes the meat. In preparation for the trip, I chanced upon this movie - " A simple life" (桃姐).Directed by well known director Ann Hui, this movie is adapted from a real life story that actually happened in Hong Kong. This movie is rich in social values and is definitely worth watching this coming March holidays.

                                   (Source : http://cinebel.dhnet.be/nl/film/1008698/A%20simple%20life)

桃姐 ( Ah Tao played by Deanie Ip) is a maid who has served 3 decades for a wealthy family in Hong Kong. The family eventually migrated to US except for Roger (played by Andy Lau), a member of the family who remains behind.

Roger is a young, successful and busy film producer. He stays at a modest apartment with Ah Tao who continues to take care of her young master and the daily house chores. Things change when Ah Tao suffers a stroke and decides to check herself into a nursing home.  Ah Tao has to adjust to a totally new environment.  Roger then takes it upon himself to find Ah Tao a decent home. In one scene, he is seen questioning the nursing home staff asking about the kind of facilities, the kind of staff that they have. He also takes care of the monthly fees for Ah Tao's stay there.

The movie gives an interesting and unapologetic glimpse of what life is inside a nursing home-There are many feeble and immobile residents needing assistance to be fed and in moving around. There is this man who like to  show off his tango moves to the residents and tries to borrow money from people he befriends and he would later spend the money on whores. Then, there is this elderly woman who cries pitifully every night and another who begs to return to her village home, until the "tango" man comes and and walk her in circles, pretending to take her home. Despite all these, Ah Tao manages to integrate well into the community.

Despite Roger's busy schedule travelling between Beijing and Hong Kong for his filming assignments, he made it a point to visit Ah Tao whenever he is back. He would bring her for a walk in the park or bring her to eat her favourite dim sum. Despite the movie depicting Roger as a cold and seemingly " care-less" person, he is actually a very filial man who shows gratitude and care to Ah Tao, whom he affectionately calls his "godmother". There are many light-hearted moments in the scenes such as Roger teasing Ah Tao why she did not get married. Ah Tao replied her suitors all have "fishy smell on them". There is another scene whereby Ah Tao reminded Roger that she used to carry him (when he still an infant) in a beautifully embroidered sling. And then, there is this scene where Roger's family (based in US) exchange CNY greetings with Ah Tao. Roger's mother returns to Hong Kong and the first thing she does is to visit Ah Tao at the home bringing her bird nests. Roger even takes Ah Tao to a film premier to meet famous film personalities and readily introduces to everyone that Ah Tao is his godmother.

You can watch the movie here (Cantonese with English Subtitles)-Use Chrome to watch



or click on the following link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsnCcfrkzsc

It is a great movie- a simple story with so much emotional breadth and depth. You may ask, why on earth do I devote almost a page on writing about a movie. I believe that Education is a noble profession, beyond our educational objectives, Educators need to embrace a strong human spirit and a soul where we can care for the underprivileged , the poor, the homeless and the hungry .

Back to my regional visit , I have made a request to the P of Fresh Fish Traders School to allow me to visit 2-3 families living in caged homes during my extended stay in Hong Kong. In case you are not aware of what a caged home looks like.

(Source :http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/hong-kong-poor-cages_n_2638068.html)

Caged homes are very common in Hong Kong. The poor people stay in them and in a room, there can be many of such cages. Living conditions are bad. I would like to present the selected families with some groceries and perhaps if time permits to talk to the children, encouraging them to study hard and break out of the poverty cycle.

My team has bought 300+  stationery set for the children in Fresh Fish Traders' School. This is a modest gift from every team member and this is the least we can do for them.

In conclusion, let us always always remember that school is not merely a place to get knowledge, it is also a place where the human spirit and soul is nurtured. To end, I like to reproduce a FB quote that Melanie has put up recently, it goes something like this:

“How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong, because someday in your life, you will have been all of these.”
George Washington Carver | botanist, agricultural chemist, inventor, educator


Thanks Meow for the permission to reproduce the quote from your FB page.

My visit to School of Science & Technology (SST)

This week I am going to share about my school visit experience.

School visit is an integral component of the MLS course. We are also expected to visit at least one industry ( I will be visiting Media Corp on 24th March). So for the school visit, I actually chose the School of Science & Technology (SST).

                                          Group photo with SST School Staff and MLS cohort

Why this school  ? I have heard quite a bit about this school before the visit, especially their famed "Applied learning approach" . So I thought well, go and take a look.

Oh Boy, I got more than I what I had expected and I will attempt to summarize what I have observed.

The SST curriculum

The SST curriculum which they have put in place are based on best practices and research-based curricular and instructional design models and approaches. They use models such as

• Wiggin's & McTighe's "Understanding by Design" curriculum design model

• Apple's challenge based learning model for ICT integration (https://www.challengebasedlearning.org/pages/welcome)

• Treffinger's 'Level of Service" for talent management (http://www.academia.edu/8915226/treffinger_levels_of_services_amfitheatre)

• Maker's model for curriculum differentiation in the classroom (http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/policies/gats/assets/pdf/ust3beach.pdf)

to guide their efforts in designing learning experiences to meet the varying needs of their students according to their readiness, interests and talents.

The P shared with us that a teacher in SST have to be comfortable in all these models. Heads definitely got to know more than the teachers.

I was like "wow ! ". Very high standard and expectations for the staff !

This is also a reason why the P mentioned that in SST , they are very serious in professional development .They have a very comprehensive learning ecosystem that looks into 3 areas:

• Pedagogy
• Technology use
• Classroom management

Most of their teachers have post graduate qualifications or are experienced teachers seconded from Ngee Ann Polytechnic as well as professionals from other fields who have chosen to make teaching their 2nd career.

The P acknowledged that workload can be very heavy in the school but his teachers are not complaining because many have applied to join the school. In fact, he shared with us that 3 of his HODs who have cleared VP interviews love the school so much that they quit MOE to join SST .They rather stay behind as HODs!


Their philosophy towards Education

The P believes in making "coming to school enjoyable" and " learning is enjoyable" for the students. He believes that it is important to ignite their passions and interests. His beliefs are translated in the way programmes and processes are structured in the school.

When we went on the school tour, the school was literally bursting with activities. By the way, the visit was not pre-planned, we got to see the real stuff.

                                                   Students working on a Robotics project

                                    Students built their own drones using engineering concepts


The P also gave us some interesting stats...

• All of his students qualified for the JC route at the end of the education in SST but 41% of them chose to enter the poly route and many of them aced their poly courses  and some were even given exemptions for certain modules.

• Last year 80% of the graduating cohort achieved distinction in combined Humanities. ( When I heard that I was like wow ! Naturally, you expect SST to ace in Science and Maths in any national exams but Humanities hmmmm......, well their results speak for themselves.

          The P shared that even the other Ps from the cluster were surprised. This was where I thought 

          he sumed it up pretty well- " Do the right things and not doing things right and the results 

          will take care of itself." He was actually talking about the kind of education experiences that 

          his students go through and because they have acquired the necessary competencies (design 

          thinking, 21 CC skills, I & E etc), they are able to apply all these in any subject that they take. 

         

                                                     Students' research project work

Summary:

I think I have made the right choice in visiting SST. It has inspired me to dream even bigger than what we can do for our pupils. Of course we are not SST, we do not have the kind of funding and certain high tech facilities that they have. But what we have is human capital and this is the most important in any organization. That is also why this year, I am a bit firmer in the area of PD- your attendance and especially on applied learning ( how you intend to apply what you have learnt in your courses and workshops for the benefits of your pupils - you will hear from me again on this). 

To digress a bit, I am rather excited about the Skillsfuture credit announced by DPM where every Singaporean aged 25 will receive $500 to go for work skills related courses.

Source : http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/data/budget_2015/download/FY2015_Budget_in_Brief.pdf

My wish for the school is that all of us will be good in the things that we do . Among us, there will be curriculum experts, ICT experts, research experts etc etc in addition to us being Skillful Teachers.

We must continue to think big, to think "out of the box" , to bring about an educational experience that will prepare pupils for life ( and hint hint, please apply for the coyote funding). We should not solely focus on academic results  (they are important but let us not neglect 21cc skills, character values etc) in the pursuit of academic rigour.

I am also inspired to go more in-depth into curriculum design and educational research, something which I hope I can value add to the school's T & L environment when I return.

                           The MLS course gives me the time and space to do what I like most-READ!

The next few posts will be dedicated to my LJ in Hong Kong. Travel with me to HK & Macau as I bring you insights and learnings from 9th March onwards.

Updates on my upcoming MLS trip to Hong Kong & Macau

I am looking forward to this trip !

I will be in Hong Kong from 9th to 13th March (official trip) and my own extension from 14th to 21st March.

                          (Sources: City University of  Hong Kong & Singapore Hong Kong International School)


My team has managed to secure visits to the following organizations:

• Singapore Hong Kong International School (HKSIS) to look at their IB curriculum
• Sao Paulo School (Macau) - a "Future School" to look at their ICT enabled curriculum 
• Fresh Fish Traders' School - a school with children whose families are on the dole
• City University of Hong Kong - to learn about their structure and research capabilities
• A social enterprise firm which actively reaches out to the community
• S'pore Airlines (HK Subsidiary) - to learn about organisational excellence
• Hong Kong Ocean Park- to learn about their innovation efforts ( their competitor is Disneyland HK)

After the official trip on 13th March, I will extend my stay and will take a few days to visit some museums and places of interest, notably the Science Museum (they have some exciting events coming up), the Hong Kong Museum of Art ( the Hong Kong Arts Festival, one of the biggest and most successful events in town) as well as being a wannabe Archaeologist by embarking on a self- exploratory trip to the Hong Kong Global Geo-Park (香港世界地質公園) to learn about volcanic rocks and landforms.

                                                      Source: www.discoverhongkong.com

 
    Will update this space again. Come with me to Hong Kong (virtually).
 

Teaching is a noble profession -remember that always !

In one of the lectures that I have attended on school leadership, I felt pretty inspired when the lecturer challenged all of us to put "mission above self". This leads me to my topic this week - "Are we noble professionals?"

                                                            (Source : www.quora.com)


In my 15 years of service, I have witnessed the good and the "not-so-good" of human behaviours in the schools that I have been to.Thankfully we don't have these in our school.

While I do not need to go into the good things, some not so good things are :

• chasing after positions and promotions- When can I be HOD,VP & P ? (Wrong motive)
• running projects to impress with no clear educational outcomes for pupils
• backstabbing 
• misrepresentation (claiming that a majority stands for something but in fact is not true ) (Integrity issue)
• upset over PB

All these sadden me. As teachers, we are called to be role models to both our pupils and fellow colleagues. If we are always pre-occupied with all these distractions, how can we do a good job for our pupils ?

While MOE has the code of ethics to guide our professional conduct,it is useless if we lack personal self mastery. We must first conquer ourselves, our motives and to constantly align our moral compasses to our sense of mission and purpose.

To end, let us always remember- teaching is a noble profession. Keep it as such and be the teacher that you have first set out to be.

Building an environment of scholarship and inquiry

One of the things that I like most in MLS is the opportunity to be engaged in curriculum projects. In the project team, I get to learn from experienced colleagues in the way they run their curriculum in their schools. This semester, I am taking "Differentiated Instruction for diverse learners" as one of my electives.

I thoroughly enjoyed the planning and discussion sessions. For instance , when we were designing a lesson on the Comparison Concept (P1 Maths .."More than" & "Less than") , we conducted clinical interviews on pupils who were struggling with the concept. After that we went to source out for Lit reviews to find out whether there are research out there that address those areas of problems we have identified. After that , we devised appropriate intervention strategies (with considerations in curriculum planning) to address those gaps. Not only that, all members in the team brought in their own experiences in teaching the concept. The whole discussion became very lively , informative and purposeful. In short, our practice is informed by theories.

                                                           My project team in discussion


As I begin to think about the way we carry out our TTTs, CRDs and the way we conduct our Department meetings, I wonder - can we be more data driven ? Can we be more research-driven? Can we be spend more time going down to the root causes of why pupils fail to learn a particular concept and from there, think of creative ways to address them?

                                                    A screen-shot on my team's final presentation


My sense is that we are not doing enough of these things. If we really want to strive for excellence in T & L, then our paradigm need to shift.

Heads & LMs, I challenge all of you to take the lead. If you don't start, don't expect your members to start.

I am looking at introducing more workshops in educational research in next year's training plan.

Let's work towards to build an environment of scholarship and inquiry.

Exemplifying Caring Heart

An important component of the MLS course is the opportunity to travel overseas with a full sponsorship from MOE.  The MLS cohort (divided into several teams) will be sent out to different countries. The objective of the trip is to allow us to learn about the educational system and culture of the host countries.

Well, my team has been assigned to Hong Kong & Macau. I am pleasantly surprised.

But what I really want to share about in this post is a school which I am very excited to visit ( with my team members). I have been eyeing this school for years and this March I am going in !

This School, Fresh Fish Traders' School (鮮魚行學校) is situated in Tai Kok Tsui (香港九龍大角咀), a low-income estate in Kowloon.70 per cent of the 266 pupils are from families on the dole. About half are children of new immigrants from the mainland. Licking inter-generational poverty there is an uphill mission. Only three out of about 500 of its pupils the past decade eventually made it to university. The majority, says Mr Leung, the school Principal, end up as drivers or cooks.

Reading from online media, I can infer that Mr Leung is quite a unique Principal. He has the heart for the children. He will do whatever to keep a child in school. If you read the book, "Totto Chan" by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, you can draw parallel from the book's character,Mr Kobayashi, the Principal of the school where Totto chan studied to how Mr Leung runs his school.

I have established contact with the Principal and he is willing to host our visit. I am so happy ! In fact, all my team members are leaping with joy !

In my team, we have all agreed that we are going to do something special for these children. We will be buying them stationery and helping the school to set up a mini school library. We are all willing to come out with our own money to help these children.

So folks , stay tune. I will bring you up-to-date news when I visit the school on 11th March. 



In case you like to know more about the school, check out the links:

(1) http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/asia-report/hong-kong/story/fishing-success-bid-lick-poverty-20121202

(2) http://www.skhsch.org.hk/files/upload/20111205092541dTogether-v60-webS.pdf