Growing Together
At NTUC First Campus (NFC), our teachers and support staff play a critical role in our growth, from the custodial care and education of our children to delivering social impact. Harnessing their passion and creativity, we provide them with opportunities for development and progression through a strong learning culture so that they can have meaningful careers and to inspire the lives of future generations of children.
Nurturing our expanding family
NTUC First Campus values all our teaching and non-teaching staff and supports them in their professional development.
NTUC First Campus launches industry-first partnership with Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS)
The partnership enables credit recognition for NFC pre-school teachers pursuing early childhood care and education degree programmes at SUSS. This is in recognition of prior learning and cumulative work experience to eligible NFC-sponsored and nominated pre-school teachers who apply for SUSS’ Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) undergraduate degree programmes.
The partnership is the first of its kind to help anchor operators develop and retain their teaching staff. Each year, NFC will set aside a budget of $1 million to award a range of study awards and scholarships for in-service teachers.
This is a strong statement of NFC’s commitment to groom its future leaders, and to help them achieve mastery. This also helps ensure sufficient supply of quality leaders and educators, as they play a critical role in sustaining a high quality programme at our centres.
Cultivating an environment of learning and sharing
My First Skool (MFS) places a great emphasis on the learning and development of teachers and principals, encouraging the sharing of best practices among centres in the network. The Learning and Sharing Festival 2018 provided a platform for MFS and afterschool teachers and principals to learn distinctive strategies, practical ideas and good practices from fellow professionals in the early childhood and student care sector. The festival benefited around 3,500 teachers and principals, through 61 showcase booths and 41 mini workshops, covering various topics such as Relationships-Based Curriculum for early years, Holistic Arts (partnership with National Gallery Singapore), among many others.
Mentoring programme for teachers
To strengthen quality practices and support staff development, The Little Skool-House (LSH) developed a mentoring programme supported by roving mentors and in-house centre-based mentors. In 2018, mentoring book for mentors and mentees were rolled out and training for in-house mentors were carried out to support the programme. These in-house mentors collaborated with the mentoring team to support LSH teachers in their growth and development, and to strengthen the quality of practices.
Happy@NFC
In 2018, NFC launched Happy@NFC, articulating its vision of Happy Child, Happy Parents, and Happy Staff. As part of the Happy Child vision, we started the adoption of a positive education philosophy into the MFS curriculum – a philosophy where the development of core values, virtues and social emotional development are emphasised, as life skills for children go beyond academics. The Happy Parents narrative involves the multiple parent partnerships and strategies by the various Business Units, while the Happy Staff narrative focuses on developing engaging leaders as well as fruitful and meaningful staff engagement. The Happy@NFC movement culminated in a company-wide HappyYay! event for all NFC staff held in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in July.
