What is Education?
The German philosopher Karl Jaspers says 'The essence of education means that one tree shakes another tree, one cloud pushes another cloud, and one soul awakens another soul.'
August was destined to be an extraordinary month. In addition to the preparation works, ACZS(Kindergarten) also welcomed nearly a month of IB training and a unique training session for all staff.
Throughout the month of August our teachers and staff continued their training related to our school mission and vision, classroom management, parent communication, the IB, planning for their Programme and Units of Inquiry, Health and Safety along with team building and school culture. Through the training, our teachers improved their academic skills, built a common bond with each other and broaden their children's future development.
Empower Future
by IB Training
As one of the few kindergartens in Zhongshan that incorporates the core logic of IB PYP, the educational philosophy and curriculum quality are core points that have always been the focus of ACZS(Kindergarten). Led by the Ardingly College, the teachers were able to re-enforce the core educational philosophy of Ardingly College, as well as knowledge of the curriculum related to early education and EYFS.
At the same time, the teachers had an in-depth discussion with Ardingly College on how to better integrate elements of the Ardingly College into our early years curriculum, further optimising the curriculum for the new term at ACZS. Through this IB training, our academic team have successfully re-integrated the essence of diversity in education and ensured that it can be successfully implemented in the future.
Cutting-edge
Educational Philosophy
The IB training was closely focused on educational philosophy. Whether it was high praise for whole-person education or a deep feeling for bilingualism, the outstanding teachers often shared the same philosophy. But to deliver a perfect response for the times, teachers need to fully integrate their diverse philosophies with those of the school and IB.
In order to implement and deliver a clear and future oriented educational philosophy, the teachers outlined the competing and important elements of our educational philosophy on a sheet of paper that clearly reflects the future direction of global citizenship. The apples follow the core values of ACZS, the branches are the IB learner profiles, the soil is the IB mission statement, and the trunk and branches are the educational philosophy and global competency goals championed by the school and our teachers.
Effective Planning
and Implementation
The key to creating a high quality start in life for children is to plan teaching and learning that is well suited to their development and connected to their future. Ms. Caroline, the IB PYP Coordinator of ACZS(Kindergarten), focused the second part of our teachers training on course mapping, lesson planning, and goal setting for the new school year.
Each teacher was enthusiastic about the challenges of the new term and seemed to have an endless supply of ideas and ways to engage learners. After multiple rounds of discussion, the academic team, and teachers at ACZS worked together to write collaboratively develop the school’s Program of Inquiry, Units of Inquiry, refine the subject scope and sequences fully integrating the EYFS, Chinese 3-6 Guidelines and the IB PYP. This will ensure every child has clear goals to work towards and gives our teachers and school a strong foundation from the start.
Micro-Lessons
and Role-Play
The training also gave teachers the opportunity to practice their skills and further enhance and refine themselves, while learning from their colleagues. After reading the IB standards and practices and familiarising themselves with the available resources and equipment to both teachers and our families (e.g. Managebac, Renaissance, etc.), each teacher was encouraged to complete several micro-lessons and demo's focusing on a variety of aspects.
Through the diverse role-play and micro-lesson sessions, our teachers not only deepened their understanding of the IB philosophy and IB teaching, but also strengthened their skills providing an inquiry-based approach, developed skills in high-quality curriculum planning and mapping, worked on their collaborative design approaches, worked through means of assessing learning outcomes. By providing training that combines theoretical and practical elements we believe it will greatly enhance the ability of each teacher to implement our curriculum effectively from the very beginning of our school year.
Life-long Learning Community
As a school that will carry children well into the future, ACZS(Kindergarten) aims to effectively implement its outstanding philosophy into every corner of the campus. Some of our other recent training sessions for all staff and led by our campus management team and academic team shared our expectations, rules and regulations as well as ACZS’s unique educational philosophy, helping to deepen the school culture and philosophy of each staff member.
The ability to fully respect the diversity of cultures and ideas is one of the most distinctive features at our kindergarten. Through open roundtable discussions, everyone's opinion or idea is valued, whether they are Chinese or Expat teachers, Life Teachers, or the logistics team. Everyone’s experience adds value to our school and enhances our unique educational philosophy, and this encourages all of us to continue to put all our effort and passion into education.
In addition to the wealth of educational experience already available, ACZS has always embraced the idea of being a lifelong learner. As one of our first initiatives on campus was the development of a lifelong learning community, here at ACZS. The group shared their thoughts on the books they had previously read and challenged additional thought-provoking questions by combining new knowledge with past educational experience and examples. The sharing also allowed each teacher to enhance their prior knowledge and challenge themselves to think more critically or creatively.
In the future, ACZS will continue to expand its lifelong learner community programme. In addition to the growing number of staff, we will also be inviting parents to join us as lifelong learners, helping you to better guide and support your child's development with us through regular parent workshops and resource sharing.
From our Academic or IB training or developing and implementing an effective holistic educational programme that is challenging, supportive and forward looking, ACZS is committed to both improving teachers' overall skills and creating a culture of lifelong learning for children. We believe that a symbiotic relationship with staff, families and the community is the only way for us to pass on Ardingly College's centuries-old educational philosophy and tradition and to produce a cohort of global citizens with Chinese souls who can move freely through multiple cultures.
If you are also interested in ACZS's philosophy or our curriculum framework, you are welcome to scan the QR code at the end of this article to discuss more with our Head of Early Years or our academic team!
