Last month, LOT Tampines hosted a Special Education learning journey for teachers and lecturers from Vietnam through our partner, Singapore International Foundation (SIF). They were in Singapore on a study trip to reinforce key concepts and approaches in working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder through first-hand exposure and introduce the Vietnamese delegates to the intervention approaches and practices in Singapore’s Special Education ecosystem.
They were surprised to find out that we have inclusive mainstream preschools here in Singapore, so they came by to learn about our Educational Support Programme (ESP) and how it was run in our preschools, as they are still considering what kind of a model they should adopt back in Vietnam.
Ms Erin Tan, Educational Support Teacher (EST) at LOT Tampines, first shared a little more about our ESP before the guests did a tour of the school and observed a few lessons. During a Q&A and dialogue session, both the LOT and Vietnamese educators realised that there are similar challenges that they face, such as having undiagnosed children with high needs in their classes and having to encourage parents to bring their children for further examinations.
The Vietnamese educators were most interested in the way we do our documentations in LOT and observing how teachers interact with children with needs and include them in their classes. They were also curious about the planned curriculum, timetables, diagnosis of children and how various teachers work together to support the children.
“I felt honoured to be sharing about the ESP program and the benefits on inclusive education with the Vietnam delegates. From the fact that they are willing to come over to Singapore to learn more about what was being done by far for special children here, it shows an increasing emphasis on providing quality education for every child globally. I look forward to having more conversations and interactions like this with like-minded people who wants a better future for every child in the world!” Ms Erin Tan, Educational Support Teacher. We hope to continue to share our knowledge and expertise with educators of different backgrounds, and contribute to enacting positive change even across borders.