EAE at HMS
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HMS) interviewed a total of 689 secondary school and ITE students for the three early childhood education diplomas in HMS (Diploma in Early Childhood Education, Diploma in Child Psychology & Early Education, and Diploma in Tamil Studies & Early Education) during the 2017 EAE/EAE-I exercise.
For the first time, HMS introduced an online aptitude test component in the selection process. All students sat for the Cambridge Personal Styles Questionnaire (CPSQ) before their interviews. The aptitude test provided insight into how students approach tasks and relate to others (‘personal styles’), which offered a standardized, objective way for the interviewers to assess applicants’ personal qualities.
Along with the students’ personal portfolios, group activity participation and competency test, the CPSQ improved the quality and fairness of selection decision-making, supplementing and confirming the subjective assessment by the interview panel. The ‘personal styles’ components were matched against typical characteristics required of an early childhood educator mapped out in the Skills Framework (SSG) and Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) attributes.
There are plans to use the questionnaire reports for mentoring of students in the future.
