Since 2000, Learning Horizon has been a leader in the enrichment space, providing an encouraging, creative, and interactive environment for young minds, parents and corporates. Their suite of programmes include Speech & Drama, Science, Coding, Robotics, Parenting Workshops and Customised Camps.
Read on to learn more about Learning Horizon and how they have evolved during this pandemic.
Qn 1: Let us meet the team; could you introduce yourselves and your roles?
- Gary – Head
- Cassandra – Singapore Operations Manager
- Hasmidah – Singapore Operations
- Trang – Vietnam Operations Manager
- Sendy, Alif, Ezra, Sharon – Curriculum Head
- Ming Jiek – Business Developer
- Afdzan, Syihin – Programme Designer
Qn 2 : Tell us about the concept/philosophy behind Learning Horizon?
Qn 3 : Tell us a little about the core initiatives and programmes that you have? How do the programmes benefit children?
Ming Jiek: The core initiatives of Learning Horizon focus on equipping our young learners with 21st-century skills through hands-on and engaging activities in our curriculum. The evolving world requires a set of skills to create success for our children and students. To this end, Learning Horizon’s programmes are geared towards 21st-century outcomes which include collaboration, knowledge construction, skilled communication, real-world problem solving and innovation, use of technology for learning, as well as self-regulation.
Cassandra + Hasmidah: With our suite of enrichment offerings, children can explore the various options available to them. Besides providing the head start and knowledge that enrichment has to offer, it also serves as a platform for them to pursue their passions. Our programmes strive to cater to a child’s holistic development where learning is made enjoyable and beneficial through the various hands-on activities and experiments.
Qn 4: What excites the team most about working with Learning Horizon?
Sharon: I would say it’s the working environment, where everyone works together to overcome the challenges that come our way. Everyone is given the opportunity to best showcase what we are good at in our respective fields.
Syihin: To me, it is the sharing of our experiences, learning from different subject matter experts to gather fresh ideas that we can build into our programmes.
Qn 5: How do you think enrichment plays a critical role in a student’s journey?
Ezra: Enrichment is a vital part of well-rounded student life. As adults, we require skills and competencies that may not be taught in school. The strength of enrichment comes from the development of soft skills. From communication to collaboration, these social skills are crucial to one’s holistic development. One has to learn how to be adaptable and flexible in all sorts of situations, especially in the modern world.
Alif: Enrichment also provides an avenue to develop the child’s interest from a young age. Many enrichment programmes are designed to complement the school’s core curriculum. This includes character building, values-based learning and problem-solving skills, amongst others.
Sendy: Lastly, enrichment provides a context to build up 21st-century skills which help students to be more prepared for their future. These skills will aid in their learning, as they think logically and solve problems more readily.
Qn 6 : What are some of the greatest lessons you have learned being a part of the team at Learning Horizon?
Hasmidah: Learning Horizon has taught me great lessons about teamwork and communication. Colleagues from the same team and those from other departments have all played a part in achieving our goals. There is never a dull moment at Learning Horizon.
Sharon: The most important lesson learnt being a part of Learning Horizon is that ‘Change is the only constant’. The enrichment market is ever-changing, and we need to improve and innovate for our programmes to remain relevant. Parents are always on the lookout for new and interesting programmes for their children, therefore we need to come up with new, innovative, and interesting programmes, activities and even teaching methods to engage our students best.
Afdzan: Another great lesson learnt thus far is understanding the minds of our young children and how a young child can understand information.
Qn 7: What are some of the challenges faced by parents today, particularly during COVID-19, that Learning Horizon hopes to address?
Sendy, Alif, Ezra & Trang:
One of the challenges faced by parents is the constant need for new ideas to occupy their children’s time. Educational play is vital to their development. Unfortunately, the busy schedules resulting from work-from-home arrangements can mean that it can be difficult to find engaging activities for children.
Too often we hear about tired parents opting to hand over their iPads or smartphones to have their child fully occupied with videos or games, making children consumers of entertainment, but not producers of their learning.
Our enrichment programmes at Learning Horizon aim to fulfil that need. To adapt to the ever-changing needs of our clients while providing a platform to address these challenges, we have crafted Stay Home Kits and E-lessons. They have helped engage our children to inquire more about the world around them, to wonder about problems faced by people in their interaction sphere, and to innovate solutions to these problems. Through such design thinking approaches, we transform students into producers of their learning; to think, to wonder and to problem solve.
Qn 8: What is the teams’ favourite aspect of working in the education space?
Syihin: Interpersonal communication. We get the opportunity to interact with children from various backgrounds, different age groups and interests. This provides us with the opportunity to understand the latest interests among children better. We can then weave in the ideas from the children to package them into the curriculum. In return, we achieve intrinsic satisfaction by crafting a valuable curriculum for the right target audience.
Afdzan: To be able to mould the minds of our future generation and as an advocate of STEM Education for young children, I continue to aspire to be the engaging force to motivate young people to pursue STEM fields.
Qn 9 : What has changed in the enrichment landscape, and how has that influenced Learning Horizon’s approach?
Two aspects have changed in the enrichment landscape – parents’ expectations and learners’ expectations. Parents have come to see enrichment go beyond the traditional tuition or the classic classes for ballet, piano or violin. Many parents today share more about their children’s interest in hip-hop, fencing, or robotics instead and encourage their children to pursue those interests. Learners’ expectations have also changed. They are no longer so interested in just the content, but the learner’s experience and the relevance of the learning with the real world. Learners themselves too have changed. What used to be seen as enrichment activities for children have morphed into continual professional education for adult learners.
Learning Horizon has embarked on finding future relevance for learners through its Future Skills approach. We are curating our in-house programmes to impart 6 future skills and to always ensure the relevance of learning with the learner’s interests, and retaining connections with the real world. We have further shifted into working with adult learners by helping them improve in their professional competencies through an enrichment learning context.
Qn 10 : What is in store for Learning Horizon?
We will be expanding our repertoire of programs, catering to both children and adults. We will also be looking beyond Singapore to work with partners in the region.
Qn 11 : Why would the programmes with Learning Horizon be a great opportunity for parents and children?
Ming Jiek: Since our inception, Learning Horizon has grown to offer a full suite of programmes. We believe in going beyond academics and have collaborated with industry leaders from various fields over the last two decades, to create and edit programs that are relevant to children’s futures.
Sharon: Supporting our belief in lifelong learning, our wide programme selection undergoes a stringent annual review process, to ensure the learning continues to prepare our children with the literacy, competencies and character qualities required for higher educational fulfillment, and in the evolving digital economy.
Trang: What makes us unique is that we house a wide range of programmes (Sports, Performing Arts, Science and Technology) as well as client-specific needs (school camps, corporate retreats, curriculum design, educator training) that are developed by our in-house team of specialists, making us the one-stop hub for enrichment.
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