How to Help Your Child Excel in the 21st Century?

The world our children will face as they enter the workforce will be dramatically different from the ones we faced today. The increasingly connected, innovative environment is accelerating the pace of change, making an already uncertain world even more complex and ambiguous. The need to adapt rapidly to these changes will no doubt intimidate most, but with a prescient understanding of the skills necessary for success for the 21st century, you can give your child a critical head start from his/her peers.

Numerous researches had been done to pinpoint the core skills that can help a child reach his/her learning potential and be successful in the future. Leveraging and adapting the latest insights available on the topic and our experience as educators in both the US and Singapore, we have developed a set of practical tips and advice on how you can help your child develop the core skills required for success in the 21st century.

As a preamble to a multi-part series on this topic, we will explain the framework that we have adapted from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Excellence in the 21st century environment requires not only a strong appreciation of Core Academic Concepts and Foundation, there are also 3 other prerequisites – Learning, Thinking and Innovation skills, Life and Social skills, and Technology and Information Management aptitude.

Core Academic Foundation, with 21st Century Themes

A mastery of core subjects and 21st century themes is essential for children today. This extends beyond the typical Science, English and Mathematics that were the core focus during our school days. There is an urgent need to build up an appreciation of humanities and social sciences, such as history, geography and arts. Humanities do not typically demand a right answer and often allow students to think from multiple perspectives, debate the various possibilities, before coming to a meaningful and well thought through set of responses. This trains students not to accept the one “right” answer, but also to question and probe deeper – skills critical for the knowledge based economy.

However, basic competency in the “new core” is insufficient. There is an urgent need to weave multi-disciplinary themes in the 21st century into your child’s learning. These include a broader global awareness (critical in an increasingly global and connected world), financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy and civic mindedness. Our education system, while increasingly open and broad-based, may not be able to spend too much resources outside the core, as an enlightened parent, you can play an active role to shape your child’s education outside the classroom and help your child learn at a higher level.

Learning, Thinking and Innovating Skills

The global knowledge economy in the 21st century presents increasingly complex, ambiguous life and work environments and has heightened the importance of creativity and independent thinking. Success is thus dependant on the ability to question established norms and commonly accepted knowledge, thinking critically at a deeper level and creating new found knowledge and concepts beyond the obvious. A focus on creative, critical thinking, communications and collaboration is essential to prepare your child for the future. Despite best efforts by school systems and governments around the world, this remains a significant challenge in the lecture-style classroom environment. It is important to find ways to help your child master these critical skills to make him/her a 21st century problem solver and innovator.

Life and Social Skills

Having first-class academic achievements and an inquisitive and inventive mind may not make your child exceptionally well-placed to overcome challenges in the 21st century. The 21st Century society is not merely about acing exams, getting a degree and obtaining a stable job. The ability to navigate complex life and work environments in a globally competitive information age is critical. Firstly, he/she must learn to be flexible and adaptable to work effectively in an ambiguous climate of changing priorities and varied roles. Your child must also be motivated, self-directed and be willing to take initiative at work. In a multicultural, diverse and global workplace, one must learn to be culturally aware and sensitive to earn the respect of a multinational team. He/she must also set and meet high standards and goals in delivery quality work on time. More importantly, he/she must take up responsibilities, acquire leadership skills and build his/her self-confidence. This requires him/her to pay rigorous attention and significant guidance from you and other mentors to master these life and social skills.

Technology and Information Management Aptitude

We live in a technology driven and media saturated environment, where there is an overflow of information and rapid changes in technology platforms. The pervasiveness of internet has also empowered individual contribution on an unprecedented level in today’s knowledge-based economy. One can only imagine how rapid technological innovations would impact the working environment of our children. As Daniel Burns aptly pointed out in his book ‘24 technologies That Will revolutionize Our Lives’, “The future belongs to those who are capable of being retained again and again.” To be effective 21st century leaders, managers and professionals, your child must learn to adapt to the rapidly changing technology landscape and be competent in accessing, evaluating and applying information effectively. He/she must also be able to interpret and decipher messages from various media sources and actively use digital and information technology to manage, create, integrate and communicate new found knowledge and concepts.

While this seems a gargantuan task, there is room for schools and parents to work closely together to impart and reinforce these skills. There is also room for parents to shape their children’s learning environment and allow them to acquire these critical foundation skills and learn more effectively at a higher level.

In the second part of our series, we will explore how you can help strengthen your child’s core academic abilities and help him/her connect the dots between the different disciplines. We will also share some practical tips on how you can weave in some global awareness and financial literacy into his/her daily learning.

By Miss Brenda Yeow and Ms Angeline Tong

How to Choose the Right Pre-School for Your Child

This is probably the first of many important decisions you would have to make for your child. While going to pre-school is not a pre-requisite for admissions to kindergarten, let alone guaranteeing a successful life ahead, the right learning environment and social experience will no doubt provide your child with a critical head start academically and socially over their peers.

One of the most important learning outcomes for a pre-school programme is providing the child with the right academic foundation. This includes linguistic skills (reading, oral and aural), cognitive development, creativity, motor skills, number sense and rudimentary numerical skills. Socially, a good pre-school will also allow him/her to learn to interact with others, to share toys, to work and play in teams/groups. The experience will impart rules and structures of society and what is acceptable and not acceptable in school and in society to your child, critical in fostering emotional development and discipline.

Every child has unique developmental needs and there is certainly no one size fit all solution here. A pre-school that is suitable for your niece may not necessary be suitable for your child. Thus, we have developed a set of criteria that can help you evaluate the different pre-schools out there and select the ideal learning environment for your child.

1) School Leadership and Philosophy: First and foremost, it is critical that you evaluate the school leadership as well as its philosophy. What do we mean by philosophy? For instance, a pre-school that follows the Montessori Philosophy may stress learning through self-guided play while another pre-school may foster discipline and group work. As an enlightened parent, you will need to decide which environment would suit your child better and select one that accords to your values. Do not choose a pre-school strictly on pedigree or reputation if you do not feel comfortable with the vision or philosophy of the school.

Additionally, it is important to evaluate the experience and training of the principal and the teachers. What are their qualifications? Which institutions did they graduate from? How long have they been in the education field? How do the teachers interact with their wards? What is the approach to discipline in the pre-school? Finding answers to these questions during the interviews or site visits can certainly be helpful in making your decision. Visiting the school to see firsthand how the teachers interact with the children and how the children react to the teachers and environment will also give you a good idea whether your child will fit into the environment.

2) Level of Parental Involvement: While the credentials of the school leadership are important, it is also critical to understand how the school will involve parents. Research has shown that the higher the parents’ involvement in their children's education and school, the greater the child's chances of success. A good pre-school should be able to involve parents in a constructive way. For instance, does the pre-school inform you of what the child is learning in classes and provide some follow-on activities to help your child reinforce his/her learnings in school? Ideally, the teachers will also help identify your child’s talents/interests and are able to recommend extra-curricular lessons that can help develop this innate talent, be it in art or music.

3) Ratio of Students-Teachers: Studies indicate that the ideal class size is 1 teacher to 7 - 8 students for younger children in the 1st year of pre-school and 1 teacher to 10 students in their subsequent years to kindergarten. Class size determines the quality of care, interaction and instruction, and it is important that your child can receive ample attention and guidance from the teachers. It is only through such close interaction that the teachers can provide you with insights and progress of your child’s learning. However, class size alone will not determine the quality of your child’s learning experience. Having the same, constant relationship with the teacher is also critical.

4) Turnover rate of Teachers: While the impact of a child losing a teacher depends largely on the level of attachment, teacher turnover remains a serious and complicated issue. It is important for a child to feel safe and secure in a learning environment. Constant changes in a caregiver will not only affect your child emotionally, but also reduce the quality of instruction and learning experience of your child.

5) Quality of Instruction, Materials and Facilities: Last, but not least, it is important that you are comfortable with the quality of the pre-school experience. These could include quality of instruction, interactivity of the materials used and activities offered, safety and precaution that the school takes, nourishment of meals provided etc. For instance, activities and instruction materials should be interesting and varied to continue to engage young learners’ curiosity and motivate them to explore topics covered further. During class, teachers should also inculcate good habits, such as the right way to hold a pencil, good sitting posture, courtesy and treating all with respect and careful handling of common property.

Once you have interviewed the school principal, visited the pre-school and observed how the lessons progressed, you will be able to make the right decision for your child. However, bringing your child to an unfamiliar environment and leaving him/her with unknown care-givers will certainly pose some difficulties. While separation anxiety is a normal and positive part of child development, here are some simple tips for an easy transition:

i) Talk to your child in a positive mood about the upcoming change
ii) Visit the pre-school with your child to familiarise him/her with the new environment
iii) Develop a drop-off and pick-up routine and let your child know if it changes. It is important to plan ahead and do not rush or extend/delay the drop off & pick up
iv) Tell your child your schedule and activities while he or she is at pre-school
v) Always bid your child goodbye in a firm, loving and consistent way

It is important to consider what your child needs, evaluate the programmes and pre-schools available and select the ideal programme that can put him/her on the right track.
The right pre-school programme can provide a head start to long term academic success. It can also promote moral values, good habits, right attitudes, inspiration to learning and lay the path towards a life-long enjoyable learning journey.


By Miss Brenda Yeow and Miss Angeline Tong