How MCIE’s partnership with China’s Brightness Good Kindergarten Group is helping kindergarten teachers in China.
With plans for ongoing support and Professional Development (PD) training programs to help embed Australia National Learning Framework (NLF) and Early Years curriculum in the early years teaching programs in China, MCIE is on a mission to redefine the skills of educators teaching pre-school programs in the country.
In 2018, on a trip to China, MCIE’s leadership team along with the Directors of the Zhanjiang based Brightness Good Kindergarten Group and officials from China’s Department of Education and Training sat down to discuss how MCIE can support them embed Australian National Learning Framework (NLF) in their current early years learning curriculum and programs. The Brightness Good Kindergarten Group, which owns and operates a chain of Early Learning Centers in Zhanjiang, China, and MCIE, subsequently entered into an agreement to work in partnership delivering Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and English language support training to the Group’s pre-school teachers and staff across their centers in Zhanjiang.
The partnership aims to not only help improve the skills of pre-school teachers in Zhanjiang but also foster intercultural exchange, experiences, and work opportunities for MCIE’s students and teachers in China with the Group’s support.
Speaking about the partnership, Gary Coonar, Managing Director, MCIE, said, “ We recently conducted our first Professional Development (PD) training program in China and while we look forward to delivering more such training programs and an ongoing support to include Australia National Learning Framework (NLF) and Early Years curriculum in the early childhood education curriculum and programs in China, our partnership has also created new opportunities for our current Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Certificate III and Diploma students to work in China with the full support of The Brightness Good Kindergarten Group as a sponsor and host. Our students, under the MCIE-China Student Exchange Program, now have access to an opportunity to travel to and work in China and deliver ECEC programs to children aged 3-6 years in kindergartens in China. One of our students had recently travelled to China under the program.”
Maryann James, Head of Department, Community Care (ECEC, Individual Support, Disability and First Aid), MCIE, said, “After the success of our first Professional Development (PD) session in China, we now aim to gradually roll it out to the Group’s other early childhood services centres in Zhanjiang. Apart from creating opportunities for our students where they can explore new horizons both in Australia and China, the partnership also enables our teachers to gain international exposure and working experiences to provide better training strategies and pedagogical practices to our students.”
The first training session in China was conducted by Dilbear Kirimof, Senior Bilingual Teacher, MCIE, who had specially designed the session for the pre-school teachers in China. Dilbear has previously formatted, interpreted and translated Australia National Learning Framework and service policies and practices to Mandarin.
“Our first training session in China reflects on our commitment to enhance MCIE- China relations and we now also hope to be able to provide direct training to other educators in China teaching pre-school programs in the country on the Australia National Learning Framework and Early Years Learning Framework.” Added Maryann.
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