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We do not always immediately find our calling. Sometimes it finds us and when we least expect it. This was certainly the case for Charlotte Knight-Benjafield, Huili Nursery Shanghai's Head of Early Years. Ms Knight-Benjafield's career path did not start with Early Years Education.
"I actually began my career teaching adults," she explains. After graduating from university she worked in the corporate sector training adults on how to use education software. Her clients were schools, so her job brought with it lots of opportunities to interface with educators.
Charlotte Knight-Benjafield
Head of Early Years
Much of the subject matter she trained in was closely related to early literacy, so she was already gaining valuable exposure in the field. "But then I became a mother," she says, "and I think my life focus changed.
I became much more aware of early child development and education. I then realised at that point in my journey that it was really children that I was more interested in." It was not long before she decided to retrain as a teacher of Early Years at Oxford University.
This career transition, it turns out, was not as difficult as one might think. "My previous job was to train the teachers and librarians to use our company's software," she explains. "Teaching adults ICT is very similar to teaching young children, the newness of a challenge brings out all of those old anxieties."
Thus, even before her teaching career had begun, Ms Knight-Benjafield had already learned how to encourage her pupils, helping them to find the confidence, courage and resilience to move forward and succeed.
The insights that Ms Knight-Benjafield gained from a career in the corporate sector also dovetail with the Huili concept of a holistic education. "We are educating whole humans, not just trying to give them abilities in maths, reading and writing," she explains. "If you look at what CEOs say they are looking for in an employee now, they are not saying 'I want someone who excels in everything'.
They are saying, 'I want a team player. I want a communicator. I want a negotiator. I want someone who is resilient.' And those really are the skills that we teach Huili Nursery. So it really comes full circle in the end."
Her role as a mother also deeply informs her approach to education. She says, "I have three girls and one boy, and they are all so different. Each one of them is keen to have that one-to-one time with me. I make sure to carve out enough time for each of them to do something special with them, and I feel it has a massively positive impact." It is an approach in alignment with the Huili ethos that each is an individual with their own needs.
Moreover, she understands that parenting is hard work, which is why she insists that a parent-teacher partnership is essential to a child's success. To this end, she has worked to provide a series of workshops and presentations that complement what goes on in the nursery. They are instructive offerings that help parents navigate the inevitable challenges they will encounter with their children from fostering independence to regulating bedtime.
"When I first joined Huili, I found that a lot of our parents were hungry for information," she says. "They did not just want to know about our curriculum or pastoral care. They wanted to know how to be a good parent, how to have a harmonious home — the things that, as a new parent, are not always obvious."
Ms Knight-Benjafield believes this partnership with Huili parents is foundational to the wider Huili Community. In her time here, she has seen this community at its best.
She recounts a particularly moving story about Friends of Huili: "The parents came to me and said they wanted to do something nice for the teachers who cannot return home for Christmas. They proposed secretly decorating the teachers' common room to surprise them on the last day of term. This show of gratitude was completely unprompted. It was very touching."
Nevertheless, she is quick to point out that all partnerships require work and full engagement. "For me, it is really about two things: listening and communication," she says.
This applies to the open door policy that Huili Nursery maintains for all parents. "We want our parents to feel comfortable communicating with us about their children, whether that is through an email or a face-to-face meeting," she adds.
This approach is equally important to Ms Knight-Benjafield in maintaining a positive and caring workplace, she argues. "My leadership style is quite collaborative.
I understand the buck stops with me, but ultimately I would like to get there as a collaborative effort. Creating that kind of culture starts with clarity, transparency and openness." She adds: "All adults and children in our nursery should be afforded the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe environment. We are in a culture of listening and also one of wonder and curiosity."
