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SINGAPORE: Early childhood educators will receive more support to develop their skills and advance their careers, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said on Saturday (October 10).
The agency said it would do this by reviewing an existing skills framework and developing a roadmap for educator professional development.
Together with SkillsFuture Singapore, ECDA will review job roles and career paths in early childhood care and education to better guide educators on skill enhancement and professional development opportunities.
The revised framework will also guide preschools in their human resource management and talent development initiatives, and allow training providers to tailor their training programs to meet the needs of the early childhood sector.
In addition, ECDA will also establish career skills and pathways for learning support educators and early intervention teachers in the revised framework.
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It will help guide a “further harmonization” of training programs to facilitate the movement of early childhood educators and early intervention educators across different career paths.
“This addition underscores the importance of a stronger partnership between early childhood educators and early intervention as we strive to make our preschools more inclusive,” said ECDA.
More details on the revised framework are scheduled to be announced in the second half of 2021.
A Continuing Professional Development (CPD) roadmap will also be developed to help guide the professional development of educators. Early childhood educators can refer to the roadmap to guide them in planning their professional development.
More details on the roadmap are expected for the second half of 2021, the ECDA said.
The agency is also working with the National Institute for Early Childhood Development to deepen the focus on inclusive practices in pre-service and in-service training courses.
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“This will help strengthen the capacities of early childhood educators to care for children with diverse learning needs in their classrooms,” the agency said.
OUTDOOR LEARNING
ECDA announced initiatives last year to build more outdoor learning spaces on HDB properties and parks, and to provide educators with resources and training to carry out outdoor learning for preschool children.
This year, EDCA, with the support of the Temasek Foundation, will present an outdoor learning training program to further support preschoolers and educators in outdoor learning.
This includes organizing peer exchange sessions for educators to share experiences in conducting outdoor learning, as well as advanced training courses for educators and trainers who attended outdoor learning training sessions in 2019.
The program will also provide a fund of outdoor learning resources to support selected centers in implementing outdoor learning, and will conduct a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the program at these centers.
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MORE HELP FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES
ECDA will also expand a program that supports children ages zero to six from low-income families.
The KidSTART program currently serves more than 1,000 children from low-income families in some regions of Singapore. It expanded to Woodlands and Bedok earlier this year, the agency said.
In 2021, ECDA will expand KidSTART to reach eligible families in Yishun, Sembawang, and Ang Mo Kio. The program will eventually expand to help another 5,000 children over the next three years.
The maximum monthly family income limit for KidSTART eligibility is now S $ 2,500, up from S $ 1,900.
