Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education (YCCECE) held hosted an engaging Principal Forum themed “Child-Centered” Curriculum Practices - Kindergarten Teaching Design Template on Thursday, 12 December 2024.

The event aimed to explore ways of delivering top-notch early childhood education in line with the “Child-Centered” educational philosophy, focusing on the diverse growth needs of young learners. 

Speakers including Ms Joey Chan, Lecturer (Practice) of YCCECE, Principal Li Shuk Yin of Oi Kwan Road Baptist Church Lui Kwok Pat Fong Kindergarten, Principal Wong Yuk Hing of The Endeavourers Chan Cheng Kit Wan Kindergarten, and Ms Chow Wai Chun, chairman of Hong Kong Early Childhood Educators Association. 

Professor Kerry Lee, President and Chair Professor of Child Development of YCCECE, delivered a welcome note and kicked off the event. He emphasized the importance of child-centric approaches and learning through play.

Following this, Ms Joey Chan, Lecturer (Practice) of YCCECE, shared insights on “Unity of Knowledge and Action”, underlining the mindset that educators should: 'embrace change', 'adapt fearlessly', and 'avoid stagnation'. 

She introduced how the Yew Chung Approach to Early Childhood Education helps educators identify children’s growth, through different play settings to stimulate attention and learning, promote child-led learning and guiding children through observation, reflection, and response. 

Principal Li Shuk Yin and Ms Lau from Oi Kwan Road Baptist Church Lui Kwok Pat Fong Kindergarten shared their picture book education. The school's picture book teaching curriculum gradually cultivates children's interest in reading over a period of three years, adds picture books to extended learning, and then replaces part of the unit teaching with picture books, and further launches the "Parent-Child Reading Book Scheme", which moves books from the library on the second floor to the first floor every week for parents to easily borrow. It also organizes drama teaching training for teachers and parents, and arranges picture book extended drama activities for children, so as to enhance the ability of teachers, students and parents to grasp and interpret picture books in all aspects. The school will continue to turn "picture book education" into a teaching tool through drama techniques, and hopes that other schools will learn from the experience to develop picture book education.

Principal Wong Yuk Hing introduced the JELIC “Multi-talents Program" used in the Endeavourers Chan Cheng Kit Wan Kindergarten, designing to help children build learning habits and concepts, nurturing their judgment, emotional management, logical thinking, and creative abilities. 

JELIC is the abbreviations for: Judgment Quotient (JQ), Emotion Quotient (EQ), Logic Quotient (LQ), Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Creativity Quotient (CQ). Principal Wong  then shared a video of students playing with the JELIC treasure box to showcase their learning outcomes, which captivated all attendees.

Concluding the event, chairman of Hong Kong Early Childhood Educators Association Ms Chow Wai Chun stressed the importance of “Unity of Knowledge and Action” emphasizing the need for teachers to apply educational theories and for principals to seek teaching resources, empowering teachers to implement “Child-Centered” Curriculum Practices.