INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION
ANNA
Purpose of focusing on Mother Tongue Teachers
In the beginning, after selecting manpower as our topic, we focus on high turnover rates in relations to low manpower that we observed and had occurs during our internship. This allowed us to come up with our first set of inquiry questions and interview questions that were used to interview the centre’s principal, which was focusing on high turnover rates in the centre. However, after looking at the interview and analysis of transcript, we realize that the needs of the centre pertaining to manpower is the increasing demand for Mother Tongue teachers not high turnover rate which we at first assume or thought, this also allowed us to also change our inquiry question to better fit what was found through the interview which was the reason for low manpower. This allowed myself to learn that nothing is fixed in this assignment and how flexible I need to be, to be able to quick to adapt, to better fit what was required.
Personal development and Learning points
Doing this project has allowed myself to learn the importance of collaboration and communication with my group mates and the centre that we worked with for this project. The importance of collaboration between group mates comes when we need to come together to plan and work on what was needed at each part, such as the planning of interview questions, interviewing the principal and even analysing the interview. This allowed us to come together with different working style to work together to achieve what was planned and needed. As this is a major projects that has different parts, this required collaboration from all party in the group.
The importance of communication comes in when we need to arrange time to meet up, to clarify what we do not understand, to deploy work and even come up with recommendation. This all requires the group member and me to work and communicate with each other on the progress and keeping everybody on the same page while doing this project.
All in all, besides realizing the importance of communication and collaboration, time management skills is also important as since there were a lot of things to plan, I need to manage my time wisely on when things was needed and how to adapt to people’s schedule for the benefit of this project. This was especially so when there was a delay in the response from the survey as the centre principal was too busy to send out the link, arrangement and deadline were shifted to accommodate.
SYARIF
Purpose of focusing on Mother Tongue Teachers
My group members and I spent a lot of time in settling with our issue and solution. Initially, we thought that our focus is on the low manpower in general. However, after going to the centre with our interview questions, we realised that there were different things that we overlooked on. The Centre Principal highlighted the need of Mother Tongue teachers in the centre. She explained to us that they need Malay and Tamil teachers for the minority children to learn about their own mother tongue language. However, in this project, as we are focusing on a short-term project, we are focusing more on the Chinese teachers. Based on our interview, as they have shortage of Chinese teachers, it leads to high workload. Therefore, the Chinese teachers have no time in planning for the learning corner for the Chinese Language. Hence, my group members and I wants to introduce to the children on the learning materials so that at the event where when the Chinese teachers will get busy, they can get the children to go to the learning area to keep the children occupied.
Personal development and Learning points
From this project, I personally feel that it is important to have a focus on direction and to make things clear in decision making. As we had a lot of areas that pop up from the interview, it is easier to categorise our ideas and examine them. Hence, the mindmap that we did as a group makes it easier for us to sort out our ideas. On top of that, when deciding and arriving at an agreement, it is important to ensure that everyone’s opinions are heard to ensure that the agreement makes sense to everyone. Also, I find that I had difficulties in adapting to the project as I do not comprehend the Chinese language, it is difficult for me to help out on writing the characters. Hence, to support my groupmates, I gave the ideas and ensure that everything went smoothly, Therefore, having teamwork is important in a group project.
LIU YANG
Purpose of focusing on Mother Tongue Teachers
There were different topics raised when we are deciding and selecting our topics. We have chosen manpower as our main topic for this project because it is a common issue that the early childhood sector is currently facing now. Based on our research and internship experiences, it was obvious that this manpower issue was faced by many different centres in this sector. This helped us in coming out with our inquiry questions and deciding the subtopic of turnover rates which might be the main reason of low manpower. However, after conducting the interview done with the centre’s principal, we realized that the needs of the centre is on the shortage of Mother Tongue teachers. This allowed us to change our inquiry question to suit the needs of the centre and found out the main reasons of teachers leaving the sector. This helps us in deciding our topic on focusing on the reasons of low manpower rate instead of turnover rates. It also taught me to not only look at the given topic, I will also need to look at the bigger picture of this whole project to make modifications in order to meet the requirements.
Personal development and Learning points
After doing this project with my groupmates, it allowed me to build relationships with others as it was the first time working with them. Through this process, I have learnt the importance of collaboration and communication as a group. When we were discussing about the interview questions and planning this project, we had different opinions on the different parts of the project. It was important for us to listen to what the others is saying and respect their opinions. It allowed me to communicate our ideas and collaborate with one another in order to come up with a good plan and recommendations for our project.
It was also important to communicate with them in order to decide on dates to meet up, this requires everyone cooperation as each of us has our own timetable or schedule, which taught me that we need to give in and contribute to the group. It also taught me that teamwork is very important in every project as we need to help one another when we face difficulties, there is always someone to explain and clarify the doubts that we have when we are doing this project. Lastly, it also taught me to manage my time properly and keep track of the progress of the project. As there are other assignments that need to be completed, it is important for me to manage my time and make sure that I did my part and did not dragged the progress of the project. It is important to keep track of the progress as when we are sending out the survey, it took a long time to get their replies, this will need out group members to constantly remind the principal and clarify their doubts if they have any. This allows us to follow our timeline closely and remind one another of what we are supposed to do at certain dates.
JING WEN
Purpose of focusing on Mother Tongue Teachers
During my Internship experience, my centre faced low manpower issue and teachers that left have personally told me the reasons. With that, I decided to work on manpower issue for my Capstone Project, to find out the different reasons that resulted in teachers leaving the field. At first, our group worked on the turnover rate in the Early Childhood Sector. We searched up and crafted out our interview questions to know more about the turnover rate. However, after interviewing the Centre's Principal, I have discovered that the Principal had provided us more on different reasons why there is low manpower rate in Early Childhood. She also provided us on the needs in the centre, which is hiring Mother Tongue teachers. Through this interview, I have found out that the common reasons for teachers to leave the field is due to salary, working environment and high workload. Hence, our group decided to focus on searching up the reasons for low manpower rate in the Early Childhood Sector.
Personal development and Learning points
Through this Capstone Project, I have improved on my communicating skills and self-confidence. When our group faced difficulties in coming out with a new inquiry question after interviewing the Centre's Principal, I tried my best to explain to them on what my views were. This project allowed me to see how each member of the group was able to contribute to the whole project. For example, when we went down for the interview, we have different roles on that day. Collaborating as a group is important as we have different materials and tasks to complete, which can't be done by one person itself. Hence, it required us to work closely as a group. Not only that, communication is very important as this project required us to discuss and think deeper on the recommendations. So, to sum up, I have learnt a lot through this project. The whole process to complete this assignment had helped to build on my confidence in speaking, working with team members of different working style and deepen my knowledge regarding manpower issues.