NYGH GCP Pre-, During, Post-Trip Matters

Department/Committee/Team: GCP Committee

Leader(s): Xue Lanfang, Mark Shone, Yeo Peck Hong
Member(s): Aloysius Foo, Cai Yifei, Zhou Jingwen, Thomas Law1. What was the current need/gap that you were addressing?

1.  What was the current need/gap that you were addressing?
As GCP resumes after Covid, there are many areas we need to review and to refresh memory for the staff and students, so as to ensure meaningful and safe cross-cultural learning from all the trips. The Sec 2 and Sec 3 cohort trips were massive and involved a large number of staff, including EAS colleagues. Safety SOPs have been revised by MOE as well, to take into consideration new developments and trends all over the world, and to focus on developing students and teachers e21CC. Hence, there were needs for pre-trip briefings, talks, PD sessions, preparations for both staff and students. In addition, the resumption of such large skills also required the team to reestablish partnerships with our overseas partners and various agencies to design enriching itineraries for the students.

2. How had it been experimented and enacted?
A revised framework was crafted to outline the 4 year Cross Cultural learning experience for the students, including the key elements of the GCP trips, with clear objectives of developing students' 21CC. Emergency SOPs were refined and briefed to all staff, including the use of ISOS and Whatsapp Community communication channels for emergency cases. During the trip, the whatsapp community was very useful in all the check in and managing all emergency cases for all trips. PD sessions were organised for staff at crucial junctures, to remind teachers of the guidelines to adhere to. Travel related case studies were shared with staff. During the Staff Learning Festival, external organisation that worked on deepening youths' understanding of China and SEA, was invited to share with staff. Teacher chaperones for 8 different GCP trips also conducted concurrent sharing with staff on their best practices and how they overcame the challenges. As for students, pre-trip talks were planned intentionally to broaden and deepen their understanding of the places they will be visiting, including talks by China Embassy on China-SG relations and NUS professor on Vietnam. Students were also engaged in activities to better prepare them for the trip. During the trip, teachers facilitated daily reflections with the students to consolidate their learnings. The itinerary include school exchange, industry visit and cultural experiences, and they also had interactions with overseas Singaporeans and Alumni. After the trip, the students showcased their learning in different platforms.

3. Which group(s) had benefited?
Students (Selected Groups), Students (Entire Cohort), Teaching Staff (Selected Groups), All Teaching Staff, Non-Teaching Staff (Selected Groups)

4. What was the positive impact?
Students and staff provided positive feedback on the various GCP trips. The GCP trips enabled them to develop their 21CC, in particular their adaptive thinking skills, cross cultural and global literacy. As the cohort trips were class-based, students were able to forge stronger bonds with their classmates and teachers also built stronger TSR with the students. The school exchanges and industry visits were meaningful and helped them to gain a better understanding of the education, economical developments in the different cities.

5. What is a future need that this IdEas@work could meet?
Students and staff will be equipped with 21CC skills which are essential for the future of learning. Competencies, including adaptive thinking, cross-cultural and global literacy, can best be developed from an overseas immersion experience. Students are exposed to the contemporary developments of China and ASEAN, which are up and rising, GCP is definitely an essential platform to broaden student's horizon and prepare them for the dynamic future.