A complete dynamo with an extraordinary passion for her job, Birgit is aiming high: she’s determined to reinvent the scope of Early Years education. “This is the 21st Century we’re living in, and we need a curriculum to match,” explains the woman behind TCG’s searingly fresh concept. “It’s no longer good enough to throw children into an existing programme and hope they do well with it. Children learn best when the curriculum is based on a real understanding of their specific developmental level, so what TCG offers is the ICLCA - a curriculum designed to suit the child, not vice versa.”
Birgit’s career has followed no ordinary path. She has lived in several countries and taught at some of the most progressive international schools around the world. At the Bavarian International School in Munich, Birgit successfully implemented a bilingual Early Childhood programme in German and English. She was a founding member of the United Nations International School of Bangkok where she led the Early Childhood Department. At the German Swiss International School of Hong Kong, Birgit was the driving force behind the creation of a strong relationship between the English and German/Swiss streams.
Birgit devised the TCG concept over many years, inspired by each of her experiences around the world. As she puts it: “I always left a place feeling how I’d do something different in my own school. I needed all these different experiences in order to understand what is really important for educating children that age – because it’s a magical age if you get it right.
“The 21st Century is a whole new world compared to the previous world order. Key qualities that we now need in order to succeed, both in a business sense and in the most important sense – in life – are creativity and communication skills. Today’s society has such an international flavour, so it’s essential that educators recognise the growing importance of engaging successfully with all sorts of different people. This is where Early Years Education can make a real difference. There are plenty of ways to go that extra mile and make that difference, and that’s why TCG is all about finding multiple ways to help prepare children’s brains to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.” Birgit joined Taaleem™ in 2004 as a founding member, to set up and run The Children's Garden in the Green Community, Dubai. Over the coming years, she will oversee the establishment of more TCGs throughout the UAE.
Austrian-born Birgit holds a PGC in International School Education from Oxford Brookes University as well as a Kindergartenpaedagogic diploma from Austria.
