Footprints Childcare hosted the first ever HighScope Training Workshop in India; conducted by esteemed US-based educationalist Debbie Handler
New Delhi: Footprints Childcare, a national preschool chain, kick-started 2019 by hosting the first ever HighScope Training Workshop in India, for its center directors to serve the purpose of training the teachers. The 3-week long workshop, held in New Delhi saw participation from 25 center directors from across three key markets, where Footprints has presence. Led by esteemed educationalist Debbie Handler of HighScope Educational Research Foundation, Michigan, US, the workshop was designed to provide a deeper dive into the HighScope curriculum for the participants, in order to become actively involved in the education and care of young children through a multi-disciplinary and holistic approach to their developmental needs. Debbie Handler has worked with the HighScope for over 30 years, training teachers from various countries across the world.
On Teachers’ Day 2018 Footprints had announced Rs.5 crore funding for teacher training & development, and this workshop is a major step by the organization to fulfil this commitment. Commenting on this development, Mr. Raj Singhal, C.E.O, Footprints Childcare, said, “Footprints is dedicated to providing high-quality early childhood education, as we believe that has the power to change the world, and to ascertain this we have brought HighScope to India. To deliver on our promise, to parents and children, we ensure to recruit the most capable candidates through a rigorous recruitment process and provide training & development programs for our teachers to ensure their professional and personal growth receives constant attention. To train the teachers, we are seeding it by training the center directors and team that allows us to take HighScope to maximum region.”
A robust body of research shows that 90% of the human brain develops before the age of 5 years, therefore Footprints has adopted the scientifically researched HighScope curriculum as their preschool curriculum. Based on 70 years of research, HighScope early childhood curriculum emphasizes on adult-child interaction and is carefully designed to provide a learning environment that strengthens initiative and self-reliance in children and young people. Footprints Childcare is the only preschool chain in India that runs on this highly scientific U.S. based early childhood curriculum.
As a part of this workshop, all the participants were delivered intensive and comprehensive HighScope training, in order to effectively implement the HighScope approach to the early year’s education of children. Research shows that this approach helps to improve children’s thinking skills as they start school and these skills last into adulthood. It’s a way of working with young children devised from a theory of child development. HighScope gives a framework, a routine that allows teachers to work with children whilst letting the children do the discovering. This training program would help Footprints Childcare realize its vision to create critical mass of teachers, with a shared outlook and who would support each other in enhancing the quality of early education in India.