Learn how to become an Expert birth to 3 Educator in ONE DAY
Everyone recognizes the importance of a child’s early years and its impact on his/her entire life. In a time where information is in abundance, parents and professional educators alike now have access to a wealth of knowledge on how best to care for a child from birth to 3 years of age.
However, despite such advantages, most still recognize and face challenges in daily tasks and interactions with an infant/toddler. These include issues with a child’s tantrum, fussiness when feeding/napping/playing, short attention span and lack of self-management and independence. In fact, some challenges recur so often that many are incorrectly labelling them as “part and parcel” of a child’s growing up years.
To find the answers to these challenges, one must take some time to reflect on current practices. For example, how many times have we observed parents and educators alike going through the process of care-giving as a task-oriented and emotionless process? An adult carer could be changing a diaper of a baby hurriedly, picking up the baby suddenly when it is time for a bath and quickly putting on a new set of clothes before calling it a day.
It has been proven through validated research that infants and toddlers who constantly receive emotionless routine care lose their trust in their care-givers and develop insecurities. This ultimately leads to a restless child who becomes easily agitated, emotional and/or unsatisfied when it comes to other activities such as eating, resting and playing.
In response to these challenges and in line with the Singapore Government’s focus on reforming early years education, we have invited professional speakers from the internationally renowned Pikler Institute and Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) for a full day’s sharing to inspire a new wave of professional practices and skills. We hope to transform everyday parenting and care-giving efforts in to simple and enjoyable experiences for both the child and the adult.
Busting the myths on traditional infant and toddler care-giving approaches
Who is Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber?
The two remarkable educators who were instrumental and prevalent in the development of official mainstream infant-toddler curricula, operational policies, and course books used commonly today.
Dr. Emmi Pikler
(1902-1984)
Dr. Emmi Pikler was a Hungarian paediatrician, author and teacher known for her revolutionary approach to early childhood care and education. As a practicing doctor, she worked closely with parents of babies and young children and through her weekly visits, observation and research, developed a perspective on infant and toddler education.
At the birth of her daughter Anna, Dr Pikler and her husband decided to give their daughter the freedom to develop at her own pace. She also applied principles of giving careful consideration to all aspects in the care of children and to build respectful and authentic relationships on her daughter and her paediatric practice. In the 1930’s, she became well-known in Budapest as an excellent paediatrician caring for over 100 families. The children she cared for were less ill and had hardly a major disease. Dr Pikler thus became more interested in promoting healthy physiological and psychological development to prevent illnesses.
After the Second World War in 1946, Dr Pikler set up a residential home with the support of local authorities to provide care for the many children abandoned and orphaned in Budapest as a result of the war. The orphanage became known as the “Lóczy Institute” (now known as the Emmi Pikler Institute), after the name of the street it was located and took in children from birth to 7 years old.
At the orphanage, Dr Pikler was able to implement her approach to early childhood care on a large scale. Her goal was to create an institution where the occupants would not become “institutionalised”. Her approach introduced manners of which adults and care-givers can support the initiative of children via non-stimulation or non-forceful intervention practices in order for children to unfold naturally through freedom of movement, independent play, grounded in a safe and respectful relationship. Her approach emphasized the importance for an adult to understand the natural path of child development in order to allow for a child’s instinctive skills to develop.
Over the decades, the orphanage’s reputation grew internationally and the “Pikler approach” was proven to be very successful. Children in its care developed well above standards both physically and psychologically. Across national standards for orphanages, graduates from the Pikler Institute assimilated well back into society and did not display the “typical conspicuous signs generally considered characteristic of the subsequent development of children reared institutionally in their first years of life.” (J. Falk and E. Pikler, ‘Data on the Social Adjustment of Children Reared at Our Institute.’ Published in: Magyar Pszichológiai Szemle 29. 488-500.pp.1972.) In 2011, the institute no longer operated as an orphanage and was converted to a day-care centre.
Through the large amount of data collected from working with children at the orphanage, Dr Pikler started to publish her research in books, scientific papers and videos in the 1960s. Her work attracted the attention of many professionals whom would travel to train with her. She continued her work until her death in 1984.
Today, the Emmi Pikler Institute is headed by Dr Pikler’s daughter and child psychologist Anna Tardos. The Pikler Institute continues to inspire people and bring the core of Dr Pikler’s approach across the world through their research, day-care centre, adult training school and parent-child classes.
Magda Gerber
(not known - 2007)
Magda Gerber met Dr Emmi Pikler in her role as a paediatrician for local families in Budapest when Magda’s daughter was sick. Shortly after, Magda’s family came to be in Pikler’s regular paediatric care after Pikler’s work left such a great impression on Magda.
"Historically, I was the same bewildered mother as many of you, although at a different time (decades ago), and at a different place (Hungary). When I met Dr Emmi Pikler, her ideas seemed so natural, sensible and simple that I tried to learn more about them. Dr Pikler developed her unusual approach to caring for infants during the ten years she functioned as a private pediatrician to a few selected families in Budapest, Hungary. In 1946, she applied the same philosophy to infants without families raised at the National Methodological Institute for Residential Nurseries (Lóczy) in Budapest. Her talents as a scientific investigator and a practitioner involved in the most minute details of the everyday care of infants make her sound approach both practical and believable. Since my days with Dr Pikler in Hungary, I have applied her philosophy to my work with infants in California.” (Magda Gerber, 'Welcome to Educaring' - Vol I No 1 Winter 1979)
Incorporating many of Pikler’s theories into her own philosophy, Magda Gerber, together with Tom Forrest, M.D. established a non-profit organization named Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) in 1978. Magda Gerber was also the individual who coined the terms “educaring” and “educarer” in order to emphasize on the bi-directional relationship and influence of caring and educating.
At RIE, Madga Gerber gave adults and parents the skills to wait, watch and observe their babies without preconception. She taught adults to recognize the needs of infants and toddlers and to know when and how to intervene, if ever needed, in a calm and non-judgemental way. Magda often gave her learners “new eyes” in their perspective of infants and their initiations and competencies. She has allowed generations of professionals and parents alike to see how infants are active participants in their own development from the very first moment of life.
Today, RIE continues to offer classes and certificate programs for parents and professionals and is recognized around the world across various cultures. Madga Gerber’s work has also been included in countless professional journals and videos with her approach forming the core foundation of infant teachers in the United States.
5 STEPS TO MASTERY
How participants will benefit
Gaining skills to recognize and facilitate the needs of an infant/toddler
Discover the secrets to solve common programs encountered with infant/toddler caregiving with ease.
Learn 3 Simple Steps to building a trusting, loving and cooperative relationship with an infant
Making every play a profound learning experience
Key design considerations to build a safe and intriguing environment for infants
Symposium's Schedule
Symposium's Venue
PSB Academy - City Campus
6 Raffles Boulevard,
Marina Square, #03-200
Singapore 039594
Getting there:
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Promenade MRT Station (CC4 / DT15) - walk through Millenia Walk to reach Marina Square (exit from Millenia Walk’s entrance facing Raffles Boulevard and get on the escalator to Level 2)
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Esplanade MRT Station (CC3) - access Marina Square via the basement integrated walkway located just next to Esplanade MRT Station
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City Hall MRT Station (NS25 / EW13) - walk through CityLink Mall to reach Marina Square (turn right and get on the escalator when you see the directional signage indicating Marina Square)
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The nearest bus-stops are located near Esplanade Theatre, Pan Pacific Singapore, One Raffles Link and Suntec Convention Centre.
The taxi stand is located near 7-Eleven (#01-209) at Level 1 along Raffles Boulevard.
Drivers are recommended to park within Marina Square carpark's orange zone, or drop off visitors outside Carl’s Jr. (#01-202) at Level 1 along Raffles Boulevard.
Our Speakers
Ms. Charmaine Soh Chian Mui
苏小妹
Charmaine Soh Chian Mui is an educator with over 39 years’ experience in the education field. Founder of Greentree Montessori Singapore, she specialises in early childhood education for children birth to 6 years old. She is a certified American Montessori Society (AMS) teachers’ trainer and provides training and consultation with various teacher training institutions and preschools locally and internationally. She studied directly under Magda Gerber and was responsible for organizing Singapore’s first RIE conference held in 1993 with Magda Gerber herself as its speaker.
Presentation Language(s):
English and Chinese
Ms Elsa Chahin
Elsa Chahin is an in-demand speaker, author, teacher and infant-toddler consultant with more than 20 years’ experience around the globe. As one of only two certified and accredited Pikler® Trainers in North America, Ms. Chahin is currently President of the internationally renowned non-profit corporation, Pikler/Loczy USA, through which she carries on the mission of Dr. Emmi Pikler, that of raising healthy, happy children.
Presentation Language(s):
English with Chinese translation
Ms. Ruth Anne Hammond
茹丝安妮
Ruth Anne Hammond is a specialist in infant/toddler development and is best known as a RIE Associate/ Mentor with Resources for Infant Educarers, is a long-time member of the RIE Board of Directors and was its president from 2005 to 2011. She studied under and worked directly with the program’s founder, Magda Gerber until Gerber’s retirement. She currently studies Affective Neuroscience with Dr. Allan N. Schore of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. She is the author of Respecting Babies: A New Look at Magda Gerber’s RIE Approach (Zero to Three 2009).
Presentation Language(s):
English with Chinese translation
Get your tickets now
VIP
TICKET
SGD $450
Includes the following:
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1 full day training
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Course Materials
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VIP session (2hrs) to interact with trainers
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Dinner with the trainers
SINGLE
TICKET
SGD $380
Includes the following:
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1 full day training
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Course materials
GROUP
TICKET
SGD $320
Includes the following:
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1 full day training
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Course materials
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Discount for group registration of 3 or more.
Group Registration Details
Should you be registering groups of more than 3 persons, please download our group registration form:
Please email your completed form to greentreemontessori@gmail.com and we will contact you within 1 to 2 working days to complete your registration. Thank you.