Henry David Hochstadt Early Childhood Education Endowment Fund

Mr Herman Hochstadt has named the fund in honour of his father, Mr Henry David Hochstadt, who dedicated his entire working life to the service of education in Singapore.  The latter was first a primary school teacher, then a school principal and concurrently a lecturer at the then Teachers' Training College.  Later, Mr Henry Hochstadt became an inspector of schools before finally serving as a senior Minister of Education official in which capacity he retired in 1963. He was also a founding member of the Singapore Teachers' Union.  The gift represents the vision and passion that the Hochstadt family hold for the nurturing of young minds and hearts in Singapore through quality early childhood education.
Mr Herman Ronald Hochstadt has been a top civil servant serving in various ministries. He has received awards such as the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1978 and the Public Service Star in 1998.
The Henry David Hochstadt Early Childhood Education (HDHECE) Endowment Fund is a gift from Mr Herman Hochstadt, the eldest son of Mr Henry David Hochstadt and a Pro-Chancellor of the Nanyang Technological University. The fund resides with the Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group (PCHD AG) at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.  It has been set up to support development and research for the enhancement and sustainability of quality practices for early childhood education, especially within the Singapore context.

Mr Hochstadt's endowment gift was for $500,000.  With a dollar-for-dollar matching from the government, the fund amounts to one million dollars, and this generates interest on an annual basis which NIE's PCHD AG taps on for the fund's various projects and initiatives.

About the symposium
The symposium was conducted on 19 Jul 2014 at NIE.  Its theme was 'Transition: Building Bridges for Children' to highlight the critical role of the transition process on children’s development and learning, and the increasing concerns from practitioners and families in the local context on how they can support the children in the process. 

The symposium was intended as a sharing and learning platform for academics, practitioners, parents, carers and interested community members in key areas of the early childhood field pertinent to the Singapore context.  It was co-organised with the Association for Early Childhood Educators (Singapore).

In the news

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/nie-launches-new-symposium-and-award-in-pre-school-and-special-needs-education

About the resource

This resource is a book and a product of the inaugural Henry David Hochstadt Early Childhood (HDH EC) Symposium.  The book is divided into two parts.  The first part presents the significance of and the strategies for early years transitions from a review of the literature and practices.  The second part documents the workshop sharing from the symposium to showcase local practices of successful transitions.  A CD-Rom of the video recordings of the keynote addresses and workshop presentations is attached with the book. 

1500 complimentary copies of the resource were distributed to lower primary teachers, early childhood educators and parents.

An e-copy of the resource is available here.

About the project

This was a 3-year project that built on the theme of the inaugural symposium.  Its goal was to develop a booklet to guide parents and educators in enabling a smooth transition for children entering primary schools in Singapore.  The booklet is entitled  'Supporting children in their transition to Primary 1: A guide for teachers and parents in Singapore' and is now available online.

3300 copies of the book have been printed for free distribution to early childhood and primary educators and parents.

In the news: Making the jump

Entering primary school is a milestone for you and your child. It can be a daunting experience for some of the little ones being in a brand new environment. Have you thought about how you can support your child in his/her transition to primary school?

A research team from NIE’s Early Childhood and Special Needs Education Academic Group launched the guide book, ‘Supporting children in their transition to Primary 1: A guide for teachers and parents in Singapore’ to support teachers, parents and other early childhood education stakeholders in enabling a smooth transition for preschool children entering  primary school.

YouTube

Facebook-http://bit.ly/fromK2toP1


In the news: Interview with Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao and Berita Harian

Straits Times-

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/children-need-more-support-to-transition-to-p1-researchers

Lianhe Zaobao-

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/znews/singapore/story20190207-929799

Berita Harian-

https://www.beritaharian.sg/setempat/kanak-kanak-perlu-lebih-banyak-sokongan-untuk-beralih-ke-darjah-1

About the symposium

The theme for this symposium was 'Partnerships in Early Years Transitions'.  The main aim of this symposium was to consolidate the theme on early years transitions by focusing on collaborative practices and also to further reinforce good local practices which the early childhood field in Singapore can adopt or adapt. Another key objective of the symposium was to launch the guide book 'Supporting children in their transition to Primary 1: A guide for teachers and parents in Singapore'.  There was also a greater focus on the transitions of preschool children with special needs in this symposium and this was an area of concern in the Singapore context in recent years.

The symposium was held on 25 August 2018 at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Paya Lebar and organised in partnership with Association for Early Childhood Educators (Singapore).

Link to Synopsis: https://www.aeces.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HDH-Synopses-and-Speakers-Profiles-updated-26-June-2018.pdf