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Jockey Club ‘CoolPlay’ Project 4th ‘CoolPlay’ International Conference on Early Exploration and ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’ Award Ceremony Successfully Conclude
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28 Sep, 2024
17 : 39
Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education joined forces with Hong Kong Christian Service on a four-year long early childhood education initiative. Commenced in 2023, Jockey Club ‘CoolPlay’ Project Phase 2 will continue to follow a child-centric approach and is extending its reach to seven handpicked grassroot communities in Hong Kong, providing early childhood educators and parents with educational resources, training, and support tailored for young children. In school and daily life, young children are encouraged to put into practice ‘exploratory learning’, equipping them with 21st century key skills including innovation, communications, and collaboration. The project has been organizing the CoolPlay’ International Conference on an annual basis – as this year’s key local event in early childhood education, the 4th CoolPlay’ International Conference on Early Exploration and ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’ award ceremony was a wrap at Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education City Campus on 28 September (Sat). The event was attended by over 300 guests, school principals, teachers, students, and public figures in personal or through live stream.
This year’s event continues to serve as a platform for exchange among early childhood education specialists from across the globe, who are invited as distinguished guests alongside international, mainland, and local academics and school representatives. With the theme ‘Cultivating the Soil of Exploration’, practitioners will gain insights on the theoretical background and implementation methods of ‘exploratory learning’. Through cross-region professional exchange, the conference aspires to ignite the spark of innovation and unite with practitioners to usher in a new era of ‘exploratory learning’ for the field of early childhood education.
Member of the Board of Director of Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education Ir Edmund Leung Kwong Ho delivered an opening remarks. He acknowledged the impact and scope of the project which cover more than half of the number of kindergartens in Hong Kong, not only teach children but also future educators of young minds.
Professor Paul Howard-Jones, Professor of neuroscience and education at the School of Education, University of Bristol, delivered a presentation on "Development, Learning, and STEM Education." The presentation covered the development, learning, and biological changes of the human brain. Professor Howard-Jones emphasized that learning involves biological change and development, indicating that development occurs throughout the lifespan. He noted that while development is gradual, it is significant; the developmental brain changes during childhood make this period a unique time for learning.
Another keynote speaker, Mr. Li Jie, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of A4 Art Museum in China, shared his project—the iSTART Children's Art Festival—and discussed the importance of prioritizing children and the influence of parents. His initiative encourages parents to respect their children's ideas and perspectives, resulting in positive turnout and unexpected educational outcomes.
YCCECE Board of Director Ir Edmund Leung Kwong Ho delivered an opening remarks
Professor Paul Howard-Jones shared his knowledge on brain development
Mr Li Jie, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of A4 Art Museum
The first ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’ Aspires to Provide professional framework for early childhood educators
This year marked Jockey Club ‘CoolPlay’ Project’s launch of the ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’, which aims to recognize local education organizations and elites with outstanding performance in early childhood education. The scheme also carries the aspiration of setting a standard of excellence for early childhood education in Hong Kong, providing professional guidance to pioneer the industry to reinvent by injecting innovation in implementing ‘exploratory learning’.
The first edition of the ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’ features three awards, including ‘Excellent School of Exploration Award’, ‘Excellent Teacher of Exploration Award’, and ‘Pioneering School Sponsoring Body Award’.
Comprising numerous early childhood education experts and academics, the scheme’s jury panel is chaired by Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education’s Dr Brad Chan Yu Wing, Project Co-leader of the project. The jury panel has launched and delineated a framework pertinent to ‘exploratory learning’, which measures performance based on the standards of excellence including ‘Child-led Approach’, ‘Hands-on Experimentation’, ‘Documented Student Voice’, and ‘Integrated Curriculum’- all in the hope of providing tailored and relevant professional knowledge to early childhood educators, supporting them in enhancing their exploratory offerings through scaling the curriculum in terms of planning and implementation.
“Over the past four years, the team has shrewdly observed through activities and realized that there is a marked improvement in Hong Kong’s early childhood education sector’s understanding and application of exploratory learning. Various practitioners are leveraging knowledge by tailoring exploratory activities based on their school’s needs. This popularization of ‘exploratory learning’ is a source of pride for us. However, we came to realize that Hong Kong is in need of a clear framework to support practitioners in setting an early childhood education strategy that is fleshed out and systematic. Through collective efforts from the team, an evaluation system of consistency came to be, allowing practitioners to set them education goals.” said Dr Brad Chan Yu Wing.
A Strict Two-Step Judging Process to Certify Elites
To facilitate the wide acceptance of the ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’, all schools or representatives are required to go through a two-step judging process. Participating units need to submit a plan and report with detailed description and analysis of their learning environment, education resources, curriculum, policy and method of ‘integral education’. For the second phase, the professional judging panel will conduct site visits to participating schools after reading submitted materials, to observe their teaching and learning in action while providing feedback on the overall performance.
For the Outstanding Exploratory Teacher Award, the judging panel evaluate participants based on six criteria, including ‘teaching method’, ‘documentation of student progress’, ‘teaching environment and resource selection’, ‘integration of STEAM education elements in curriculum’, ‘indoor out, outdoor in’, and ‘student-centered approach’, allowing a comprehensive examination of teachers’ overall ability to implement ‘exploratory learning’.
First Edition’s Three Awardees Announced – Reimagining the Industry to Become Hong Kong’s Prominent Award in Early Childhood Education
After meticulous evaluation and repeated discussion, the judging panel was delighted that the overall performance of all participating schools or representatives has adhered to the scheme’s criteria. One School Sponsoring Body, three kindergartens and four early childhood educators beat stiff competition to emerge as winners, garnering the three awards from the first edition of ‘Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme’.
The gold award of ‘Excellent School of Exploration Award’ was garnered by NTW & JWA Ltd Fanling Nursery School while the gold award of ‘Excellent Teacher of Exploration Award’ was netted by Teacher Lai Man Ting from NTW & JWA Ltd Fanling Nursery School. The highest honor of the scheme ‘Pioneering School Sponsoring Body Award’ went to New Territories Women & Juveniles Welfare Association, in tribute to the organization’s majority of education units’ promotion of ‘exploratory learning’.
Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education’s Dr Brad Chan Yu Wing, Project Co-leader of the project, commented on the ‘Excellent Exploratory School Award’, “Looking ahead, we hope that the scheme can become a prominent annual industry award in Hong Kong, promoting constructive competition and encouraging peers to learn from one another for the industry’s betterment. As the organizer, we also aspire to evolve with the changing times and will endeavor to evaluate and modify the framework when warranted. We sincerely hope that the scheme can become a performance benchmark and self-evaluation tool for the industry, thereby championing early childhood education’s continuous development in Hong Kong.”
The Online Version of ‘Education Resource－JumpStarter’to be Launched in October, with New Elements for Collaboration between Schools and Parents
Entering the second year of The Jockey Club ‘CoolPlay’ Project Phase 2, the team will launch the online version of ‘Education Resource – JumpStarter’ in October after multiple phases of testing and exploring. The brand new platform continues to be equipped with tools for both parents and teachers, introducing ground breaking elements such as personalization and transparent documentation of children’s learning path. Enabling close collaboration between parents and schools, the platform delivers a personalized journey of ‘exploratory learning’ tailored for young children.
Parents can select activities and personalize their learning plan at home based on their young child’s preferences and needs. Upon completion of each activity, they can upload to a platform to document with language or photos their young child’s performance and observation. Teachers have the right to check out parents’ sharing to provide evaluation and suggestions, allowing parents to gain timely professional support in effectively teaching their young child outside of school. On the other hand, teachers can easily grasp young children’s exploratory performance and can adapt classes based on their inclinations. Also, teachers can leverage the platform to assign exploratory activities as parent-child assignments, allowing learning to go beyond school into families. Serving as a regular and effective communication channel for all parties involved, the platform facilitates communication and fosters trust between parents and schools – this collaborative partnership empowers the seamless transition of exploratory learning from school to family.
The online version of ‘Education Resource – JumpStarter’ will launch an award scheme next year. Upon their young child’s completion of activities, parents can upload their learning adventure onto the virtual platform. Young children who can finish exploratory activities within a given timeframe will be awarded a ‘Gold, Silver or Bronze’ certificate from Jockey Club ‘CoolPlay’ Project as a token of encouragement and affirmation. Among the gold certificate winners, the team will handpick excellent and inspirational sharing and select 15% as awarded students with the highest recommendations, who will be given the newly added ‘Outstanding Exploratory Student Award’ next year. Students will receive this accolade at the 5th ‘CoolPlay’ International Conference on Early Exploration, showcasing the endless possibilities created by young children in their exploratory journey.
Award Scheme - Online Version of ‘Education Resource – JumpStarter’
|
|
Gold（Number of activities required） |
Silver Number of activities required） |
Bronze Number of activities required） |
|---|---|---|---|
|
K1 |
20 |
15 |
10 |
|
K2 |
30 |
20 |
10 |
|
K3 |
30 |
20 |
10 |
Exploratory Kindergarten Certification Scheme - List of Awardees
Pioneering School Sponsoring Body Award
|
Organization |
|---|
|
New Territories Women & Juveniles Welfare Association |
Excellent School of Exploration Award
|
Award |
School |
|---|---|
|
Gold |
NTW & JWA Ltd Fanling Nursery School |
|
Silver |
NTW & JWA Ltd Sheung Shui Nursery School |
|
Bronze |
Yan Chai Hospital Ming Tak Kindergarten |
Excellent Teacher of Exploration Award
|
Award |
Teacher |
|---|---|
|
Gold |
Teacher Lai Man Ting (NTW & JWA Ltd Fanling Nursery School) |
|
Silver |
Teacher Wong Wing Yan (NTW & JWA Ltd Sheung Shui Nursery School) |
|
Teacher Ng Tik Sze (NTW & JWA Ltd Fanling Nursery School) |
|
|
Bronze |
Senior Teacher Fung Ching Man (Yan Chai Hospital Ming Tak Kindergarten) |
