Six employees of childcare centre Op Stoom from the Netherlands are working at the childcare centres on St. Eustatius, from December 6th till December 17th, 2021. Their visit is part of the ‘twinning program’. With this program the BES(t) 4 kids program offers the opportunity to learn from each other’s knowledge and experience. This contributes to realising the best quality of childcare on St. Eustatius.
The pedagogical employees of childcare Op Stoom visit the childcare centres, preschools and out-of-school programs during their visit. They will work in the childcare centres together with colleagues from St. Eustatius and will participate in pedagogical trainings and workshops organised by local experts.
Exchange program
In September 2021, 4 childcare directors from St. Eustatius visited childcare organisation Op Stoom in Haarlem. This is an organisation with 65 childcare centres and a lot of expertise within the organisation. A program of training sessions and visits to various locations had been put together especially for the directors from St. Eustatius. This provided a lot of knowledge and insights.
Leon is one of the employees of Op Stoom who is now also on the island. “I have met the directors in the Netherlands and they were very positive about men working in childcare. It is an important task to raise children and male support is needed. I have been working in childcare for almost 20 years now, with children aged 0 – 4 years.”
The director of the childcare organization in the Netherlands, Linda Blankhorst, used to work in childcare on St. Eustatius. Now she supports directors on the island in developing and implementing a pedagogical policy for the children’s centres. Linda Blankhorst: “After so many years I am back on the island and it feels like home. Everyone is so friendly. These 2 weeks I will work together with the directors and I will provide pedagogic employees with coaching on the job.”
BES(t) 4 kids
The BES(t) 4 kids program wants to offer all children in the Caribbean Netherlands good quality, safe and affordable childcare. This way every child has the opportunity to develop to its full potential. With the twinning program, BES(t) 4 kids aims to give an impulse to learning from each other about quality in childcare.
