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https://www.jokebuddha.com/joke/One_Of_A_Kind

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Mahathir was so disappointed with his cabinet for being inefficient and corrupt that he decided to call on Goh Chok Tong and ask him how he managed to have such an efficient and incorruptible cabinet. On hearing Mahathir's woes, PM Goh said,' Simple, Mahathir, I choose able men for my cabinet.' Mahathir asked,' Yes, but how do you know that they are able?' PM Goh replied,' Just ask them simple questions to test their intelligence. They don't need to be too difficult. Let me illustrate to you.' Just then, Tony Tan was walking by, PM Goh called out to him,' Hey Tony, come over here.' Tony obediently walked briskly over. PM Goh asked,' Tell me, Tony, who is your father's son? ' Tony Tan immediately replied,' Me! Of course.' PM Goh turned to Mahathir and said,' See, all my ministers can answer this question. Why don't you go back and try.' Mahathir thank PM Goh and left. Once he was back, he immediately summoned Anwar, his deputy, and shot the question at him,' Tell me, Anwar, who is your father's son? ' Anwar was shocked beyond words and did not know the answer. After a while, he recovered and said,' Boss, let me find out and I'll tell you tomorrow.' Mahathir, a bit disappointed, agreed, hoping that Anwar will give a good answer tomorrow. Meanwhile, Anwar was panicking that his boss was testing him. He tried desperately to find out the answer from his staff, but none of them knew the answer. The next morning, he decided to call Bill Clinton for help. Surely the most powerful person in the world must know the answer. When Bill picked up the phone, Anwar said,' Hello, Bill, can I ask you a question?' Clinton, very busy, replied,' Alright, but it better be good!' Anwar quickly asked,' Tell me, who is your father's son? ' Clinton was fuming,' Of course its me, you stupid!' and he slammed the phone down. Satisfied that he got the answer, he confidently walked into Mahathir's office and said,' Boss, I've got the answer to your question.' Mahathir, happy that his deputy wasn't that dumb, said,' So tell me quick, who is your father's son, Anwar?' Anwar confidently replied,' It's BILL CLINTON!' Mahathir slapped his own forehead in disgust and said,' No you stupid! It's TONY TAN!'

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One Of A Kind Joke: Mahathir was so disappointed with his cabinet for being inefficient and corrupt that he decided to call on Goh Chok Tong and ask him how he managed... the joke is just one of many funny jokes on Joke Buddha!

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Start with teachers - seek first to understand

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Start with teachers - seek first to understand

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If teachers are somewhat similar to parents, and also the people closest to parents, then our teachers could be the best influencers of parents. Which means it's best to start with teachers by finding out what do they know and what do they not know. Will suggest doing a one-question survey with teachers like "In your own understanding, what is ECG all about?"

With the understanding, discuss with the school how best to convey the desired consistent ECG messages to teachers

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Equip ourselves to understand deep seated motivation that leads to changes. E.g. position of fear vs position of freedom, position of prestige vs position of sharing empowerment/privilege. Knowing and hearing from practitioners who have understood and initiated initiatives that moved the needle i.e. parents changing their internal dispositions to support their child, would help us then understand the underlying issues better before we brainstorm the solutions. This is on top of the usual provide parents information, PTM talk to educate pathways etc.

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Request to be part of the teachers' weekly PD in school. Actively volunteer your ECG experience in working with parents during the PD session.

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There may be teachers who are not confident to have ECG conversations with parents with a traditional mindset.

A suggestion is to consider incorporating parents' engagement surveys in existing school/ECGB workshop surveys.

With the data collected, we can be more targeted in our sharing with the teachers.

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It would be great to know what are some of their fears.

Is it a fear of their child not being able to find a (well-paying) job? Or child not getting into uni / poly / a piece of paper? Or what else?

Sometimes it is their fears which are being projected onto their children and hence the parents "forcing" their child to make certain higher education decisions (e.g. "poly no good, must go JC coz JC can get into uni", "JC is faster route", "Arts cannot find jobs, do IT / STEM" etc.).

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It was great that the facilitator gave us ample time to share but at the same time, provided directions and support.

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It was a good exercise in identifying what is the underlying "problem". The time taken to determine what the real issue was helps to provide clarity and direction for the next steps

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To add on to what has been mentioned above:

- consider identifying targetted groups of educators to engage (e.g. student development team 1 group, graduating cohort FTs another gp) to share ECG resources / Q&A session

- just to make parents engagement more fun (esp if you get the airtime & opportunity), can get them to play like a kahoot quiz at the start (questions could be common myths or perceptions about the education/work landscape/education pathways etc, & then the rest of the session can be used to share what's the present and expected future reality

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I like that we took more time to really think through and identify what is the actual issue or "problem statement", rather than jump into solutions.

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hahaha...thanks for the bonus! Luckily I am a true blue Singaporean!

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Despite the short time we had, it was a good discussion because we took time to think through, to listen to one another's perspective, to respectfully agree and/or disagree....all these actions form the foundation to a healthy discussion. Taking time to think through and not rushed towards a deliverable made the discussion so much more enjoyable.

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Can adopt/adapt some communication strategies mentioned in the below article

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Can adopt/adapt some communication strategies mentioned in the below article

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/teacher-parent-communication-strategies-start-year-right

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Offer your ECG support to any PTM with the support from KP.

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Let the teachers know how ECG components can be infused into their daily tasks (teaching delivery, curriculum/activities planning, mentoring students); make ourselves present during their VIA/LJ activities with students

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Let the teachers know how ECG components can be infused into their daily tasks (teaching delivery, curriculum/activities planning, mentoring students); make ourselves present during their VIA/LJ activities with students

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Equip Teachers with Updated Education Landscape

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Equip Teachers with Updated Education Landscape

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Just like how we provide talks to students and parents, we can also have a set of communication slides to update teachers of the different pathways and any updates to education landscape.

It can be shared at the start of each year as a refresher for teachers.

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Inputs from ECGCs during training on 23 Sep 2022 about "Difficulties faced when engaging parents"

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Inputs from same training "Parents' motivation"

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Sometimes parents find it hard to understand why their children have stopped behaving/listening to them now (compared to primary school time)

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Sometimes parents find it hard to understand why their children have stopped behaving/listening to them now (compared to primary school time)

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Let the parents be aware of the ECG programmes/support offered to their children 

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Let the parents be aware of the ECG programmes/support offered to their children 

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Through the discussion, we  arrived at the idea of creating a SURVEY to parents that would ascertain what the issues were with regard to parents, so that we could better address them. 

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Through the discussion, we  arrived at the idea of creating a SURVEY to parents that would ascertain what the issues were with regard to parents, so that we could better address them. 

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Some of the main concerns parents could face are: 1. Living out their own desires through their children/attempting to mold their children towards careers of their own choices. 2. Lack of awareness about the importance of children as individuals with their own personalities and character 3. Lack of awareness about the importance of ECG concerns in today's world 4. Providing too much influence, or too little influence/guidance with regard to pathway decisions. 5. Not understanding their children well in terms of their motivations or abilities, providing too much pressure/too little guidance

Some questions we could ask in the survey:

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Facilitator guided the discussion into more insightful territory, ensured everyone spoke and allowed the conversation to flow to an unexpected and effective resolution

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Facilitator guided the discussion into more insightful territory, ensured everyone spoke and allowed the conversation to flow to an unexpected and effective resolution

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Suggested content to share with teachers
-'Common ECG conversation starters for educators'
-Sharing of available ECG resources for educators and parents
i. For educators: ECG advising factsheet for educators, etc.
ii. For parents: Journeying with our children from education to aspirations booklet, etc.
-Q&A session

Such sharing can be done over forums like their monthly staff briefing or ECG Team meetings.

By enhancing the capacity of teachers (who has a wider reach to parents), parents will be able to facilitate ECG conversations with students at home

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Follow up from above possible parental attitudes, SOME QUESTIONS WE COULD ASK IN THE SURVEY:

AGREE/DISAGREE
1. My child must read subjects/be in a course/school that ensures he enters into university courses offering courses that lead to lucrative careers.
2. My child should not dream of entering professions that cannot ensure a stable income
3. Professions other than those which are 'stable" are not desirable: Doctor, lawyer, engineer etc.
4. I know about lesser known fulfilling professions that may suit my child eg. allied health professionals, museum curator etc.
5. It is important to me that my child learns what his strengths are, educates herself in pathway concerns, and makes an informed decision herself about her future.
6. I have taken time to really understand what my child wants out of life.
7. I have given my child free reign to discover herself in terms of her interests, passions and strengths.

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AGREE/DISAGREE?
1. Students should not be praised too much or they will start to slack in their work
2. Students must realise the importance of doing well in their work and be told that if they do not do well, their future will be bleak.
3. We can leave students alone to figure out their subject, IHL and career choices
4. Working hard is the way to go for a student to succeed in life

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User - ECGC
Objective(s):
1. Offering teachers/parents the "correct" info and messages
2. In turn helping students make more informed decisions

Analogy: adults offering directions to students to get from point A to point B.

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Mich - 5
Chia Boon - 3-5
Benj - agrees with above
Steph - 3-5

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a. what do they already know? as for "basic / foundational" knowledge (for example, what are the possible educational pathways after sec sch / jc), how much of it do they know?
b. what do they not know (hence want to find out)
c. what are their concerns for their kids?
d. What are the usual sources which parents access for information (e.g. university admission website, etc.)?
e. What is the extent in which they have such discussion (e.g. subject choices, career goals) with their kids?

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Educate parents indirectly through teachers 

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Educate parents indirectly through teachers 

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Teachers may be reluctant to give ECGCs access to parents and their students as they prefer to be the ones to provide information due to various reasons:

1. They do not want to be seen to be ignorant of education landscape.
2. Some teachers have dual role as teacher counsellors and have KPIs to meet.

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Wati: I may have completely missed the point of what's been said in the chat group (I believe I used to be smarter, can catch ball faster, but unfortunately, brain processes have slowed down significantly in recent decade years). But anyway, here's my 2 cents' worth:

- If there is this reluctance from teachers about ECGCs engaging parents directly, then I am thinking of the following:

1. As (form) teachers, what are some of your concerns in engaging your students' parents (with regard to ECG matters)? (elicit areas where they encounter difficulty, could be helpful to inform what kind of teachers' training to conduct)

2. What would be helpful for you to engage more effectively with your students' parents with regard to ECG matters? (can inform the kind of resources that would be most helpful, the amount & even timeliness of resources)

3. When engaging your students' parents, what ECG-related information would you prefer to share with them? (actually this is kind of connected/similar to point 2?)

4. What are some important messages that you would want to bring across to your students' parents when you talk to them? (sorry, at this point I can't think of a better way to phrase it..it's basically to "check" on intent, like what is the key message they want to send across..this would inform the "readiness" of teachers to be aligned to the key messages of ECG...as in if they don't quite believe in the key messages of ECG, then doesn't matter what resources or training we provide, it won't stick..we'd need to address the mindset or school culture? first...

- to get concrete information on what they know or don't know, I think a bit harder, cos I was thinking of listing a few things & getting them to rate on their confidence to share about certain areas e.g. post-sec pathways, admission exercises, progression pathways from ITE or poly to higher education, info about industries..but this won't be a true indicator cos no way to know for sure if their knowledge is accurate in the first place