This story was brought to you in collaboration with NTUC First Campus.
All images by Isaiah Chua for RICE Media.
Long before she ever thought about being a teacher, Flora Jau faced a different kind of test in the classroom: calming an infant who wouldn’t stop crying.
Flora had come across the boy in tears while tidying a classroom, and she felt a tug to intervene. She wasn’t trained in infant care, but something in her—perhaps her instinctive calm and empathy for kids—compelled her to try. As she began to hum a lullaby, the cries subsided, and the room fell silent.
The 33-year-old had never imagined herself in that position in the classroom, hundreds of kilometres away from where she grew up.
After high school, Flora left her modest longhouse community just outside Miri, Sarawak, for Kuala Lumpur with a suitcase and little else. In the city, and later in Johor Bahru, she worked as a hotel service staff member for nearly a decade, moving through each day diligently without complaint.
“I just wanted to do a good job,” she recalls.
It was only in 2019 that a friend told her that Little Skool-House, a preschool under NTUC First Campus, was looking to hire a centre attendant. Her friend vouched for the organisation, and the opportunity seemed promising, so she took the job and moved to Singapore.
As a centre attendant, her role involved tidying up the preschool—and she did it well. But it was here that she would find the courage to take a leap and become a full-fledged preschool teacher.
Care in a Different Form
Gone were the stiff lobbies and monochrome corridors of hotels. In their place: tiny shoes lining doorways, art projects drying on windowsills, and hallways teeming with children’s laughter.
Flora moved through classrooms with a quiet smile, cloth in hand, wiping down surfaces with diligence and precision. She found comfort in working in an environment with kids, where unfiltered joy surrounded her.
Guided by a deep care for the children’s well-being, she simply focused on doing her job well. But in time, the children were drawn to her gentle presence.
They called her “Miss Flora” with the same affection they gave their teachers, and asked where she was whenever they didn’t see her around.
Her presence began to matter to the preschoolers—so much so that her then-principal, Elizabeth Chua, took notice. One afternoon, she pulled Flora aside.
“I think you’d make a wonderful teacher.”
Flora laughs now, recalling how she was caught off guard in that moment.
“Me? A teacher?”
The role was so different from anything Flora had ever held. For so long, she had been content in getting things done invisibly in the background. Being a teacher would put her front and centre.
But Elizabeth saw something Flora hadn’t yet dared to: her capacity to care, connect, and teach.
Tentatively, Flora allowed herself to believe. Could she, too, be a teacher and play a part in nurturing bright futures for these precious children?
A New Path Opens
Buoyed by her principal’s belief in her—and the bonds she had unknowingly nurtured with the kids—Flora took the initiative to enrol in an early childhood course that deepened her understanding of child development, communication, and caregiving.
In 2020, she began working towards her Fundamentals Certificate in Early Childhood Care and Education.
Her coursework wasn’t easy, but as she tackled her assignments, her mentor, Adilah Busairi, stayed up to help her. Her colleagues told her, “Call me anytime if you’re stuck”.
As the deluge of encouragement and support unlocked her self-confidence, Flora excelled. With the support of NTUC First Campus, she later enrolled in the Higher Certificate in Infant Care (HCIC) at Asian International College.
In her training to become an assistant teacher, Flora learned how to support children emotionally and foster confidence through play. Even now, NTUC First Campus continues to send Flora and her colleagues on external courses and quarterly in-house training to deepen their skills, with the potential to grow into broader roles.
By September 2021, she was a full-fledged Infant Care Teacher. The gentle instinct her principal once noticed in her has blossomed into something deeper.
There are still tough days, but also moments of grace: Infants light up and amble toward Flora when they spot her. The older tots string together newly learned words to say they missed her.
In those moments, it dawns on her: even before entering the childcare industry, she had been caring for people all along. The audience may have changed, but the tenderness and focus it required had always been the same.
Big Lessons from Little People
There are still mornings when Flora takes a deep breath before stepping into her classroom.
After all, infants can be unpredictable—tiny whirlwinds with different temperaments. Parents, too, come with their own sets of hopes and expectations for teachers.
With her new role comes new challenges: assessments, lesson planning, and even conversations in the staff room.
But slowly, apprehension gave way to confidence. Flora has learned that it all begins with genuine connection. When a parent confided that their child spoke about her frequently, she began to understand the power of being consistent, calm, and kind.
“Now, I know how to show parents that their child is safe,” she says. She’s learned how to speak up, not perfectly, but with heart.
One of the blessings of working at this preschool is the emotional scaffolding that holds her up. When her colleagues sense that she’s overwhelmed, they step in, sit with her, and share the load.
And it’s through that web of care woven between children, co-teachers, and mentors at NTUC First Campus that Flora has come to understand what it means to truly show up every single day.
“Children don’t always know how to say what they feel,” she says.
“But they teach you, if you listen closely. I’ve learned that sometimes the kindest thing you can do is just sit beside them in silence. Let them feel, and know they’re not alone.”
When challenges arise, the new Flora leans in and applies her nascent gifts confidently. The turning point came not in a single triumphant moment, but in the accumulation of small wins: the trust of parents, compliments from peers, and the way children beam when she enters a room.
Flora in Full Bloom
Flora finds it hard to put into words just how much she’s changed since taking the leap. She doesn’t talk about herself much, perhaps because she doesn’t quite see what others so clearly do.
“She chairs parent-teacher conferences now, on her own,” her current principal, Yvonne Lin, exclaims.
“She’s become a leader in her own way.”
Her friends say she carries herself differently—more grounded, more radiant. She’s still shy, but there’s a sureness in her step now.
The woman who once doubted whether she belonged in front of a classroom now gently steers discussions with parents, encourages her fellow teachers, and instinctively knows how to lift a child’s spirit.
And when a small voice calls out, “Miss Flora, I missed you,” she remembers why she stayed and fought past doubt.
“You’ll never know until you try,” she offers to anyone who, like she once was, stands on the edge of change.
“You might be surprised by how many people are ready to support you, even before you believe in yourself.”
In a preschool where both children and staff are nurtured for who they are and who they could become, Flora found a future of her own.
Baby Steps
Flora’s journey isn’t about swapping one job title for another. It’s about claiming a space she didn’t know she could enter, and realising she belonged there all along.
She hasn’t returned to Miri in several years, but she hopes to go back soon.
“My parents just know that I am now a teacher,” she says, laughing softly.
But if they knew the full story—that when life offered her a springboard, she didn’t hesitate and took a huge leap—they would surely be proud.
In a world fixated on quick wins and glamorous career pivots, Flora’s story is something rarer: a reminder that self-confidence isn’t always sparked by ambition.
It can be kindled by encouragement, community, and the powerful act of believing you are enough.
