FLJM.

I've been a form teacher for 3 years and an assistant for 1. I've worked/am working in the more high-end private childcare in landed property and the ones found just under your HDB block. I still consider myself a pretty new teacher and my experience are not as much as compared to those I've met. So I'm going to share based on my experience till now and who knows? Maybe 5 or 10 years down the road I might look back at this post and cringe at how naive and stupid I am.

No particular incident 'inspired' me to write this post, it is just a hanging topic I struggle with myself. I feel like me being a young teacher (in age and in experiences) I tend to do things a little bit more different than the older generation teachers, like those that have been working in this industry for 10 years plus. There are a few pointers here that I shall show you:

1. Music / Songs

This to me definitely is important, that's why it is the first thing that comes to mind. In a classroom setting, would it be appropriate to play pop music? Disney music? Movie soundtracks? I try to keep my working style more casual (probably it is an age thing) and I do enjoy working when there's music in the background. I do realize that children love them too. But would it be appropriate to play these songs? Example, How Far I'll Go from the movie Moana, or Beauty And The Beast from Beauty And The Beast, or Try Everything from Zootopia, or Can't Help Falling In Love from Lilo And Stitch?

As much as I understand that it is an educational institution, I still feel these are okay. To me, even pop songs are okay as long as there are no vulgarities; example Shake It Off, Thinking Out Loud, Fight Song.. This got me thinking, is it an age thing? What if I am teacher the children about ROCK music, is it okay for me to play a Green Day song, or Coldplay song? (Without vulgarities, of course)

Some parents might be open to it, some might not be. If you can't imagine, just picture walking past a classroom of 4 year olds and hearing the song Shake It Off while children are dancing or playing toys.

Ah, here's another hot topic among so many people. Is it okay for school to show videos to the children? To me, again, I will say YES. But I think it boils down to the purpose of the video. I feel that if the video is educational, or it is showing a certain dance move or somewhere along that line, it is fine. I even feel that occassional as a treat to the children on days like Children's Day, even a movie night for them is pretty cool too.

I'm not quite sure about the older generation teachers and what they might think of it. Or even so, PARENTS, what they might think of it. Again, this rule about video depends on the institution; Some might agree and some not.

I admit, I have had my hair in pretty.. odd colours before. Like right now, my hair is slightly pink at the bottom. Here another one for you - should there be rules to dictate what colour a teacher's hair should be. I am a pretty young person and hence I really love outrageous hair colour.. dark blue, rose gold, lavander, pastel. But most, if not all, institutions forbid teachers to have these coloured hair. My only question is why?

If I want to teach my children to accept people that are different, has tattoo or coloured hair and they should not judge them, then why are the teachers being judged for it anyway?

As much as professionalism goes, hair colour does not affect the quality of my work. So guess who's the one judging here? ADULTS. I feel that this is one of the rules that I hope can be altered after there's a change in mindset among the adults. This topic, however, applies less to the older generation teacher as they probably aren't that much interested in dying their hair these colours.

I think sometimes people are too anal about it.. I mean look at these pictures, I feel that they are actually perfectly fine for teachers. They are coloured unnaturally but they look very decent.

These hair are very decent to me and I totally won't judge a professional for having it. Then again boils down to the question of how open are the parents?

This part is pretty personal as I really enjoy coloured hair and I used the phrase "if only I'm not a teacher" too many times. This also leads me to the next point..

From the institution I'm working under, teachers are SUPPOSED to be in blouse, no jeans and no skirt above knee... etc. So, in that point of view, teachers are suppose to look like THIS:

But OBVIOUSLY, who would really obey that rule, right? Especially in Singapore and in my current work place, it is extremely warm and we do not have any form of air coolers. All we have is a FAN in this extremely warm 32 degree celsius sunny Singapore. I mean if all you want is teachers to look PRESENTABLE AND PROFESSIONAL, I do feel that these few outfit breaks the rule and are still professional-looking.

I mean, you do get my point here. If I were to open a daycare, I would totally allow my teachers to be in berms or shorts (not short shorts). TELL ME SKORTS ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL AGAIN??

At the end of the day, it still boils down to the question, are parents okay with it? Will teachers wearing shorts affect their child or their trust on their kids? I need a good reason why

As much as all these goes, and as much as I hate some of the rules, these are things I feel like there's a gap between the generations and the perspective of people. People can be just generally SO NARROW MINDED about these kind of things that really... what's the point? But with all these being said, I am constantly trying to bend the rules (like my pink hair now) and test the waters because I believe that I should be free to wear comfortable clothes and feel comfortable at work, I should also be able to express myself freely and children should be exposed to so much more different type of music and art forms.

I would really like to hear your comments about this topic, especially you - parents! What is professional, and what is not? Where do you draw the line? Would you judge your child's teacher based on their hair colour or ink?

New Generation Teachers (Expectations of an Early Childhood Educator, or not?)