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Building the Foundation
Envisioning the Future
Dr. Christine Chen
President, Association for Early
Childhood Educators, Singapore
Moscow, Oct, 2014
Singapore the Little Red Dot
The Three Pronged Approach
Access
• The building blocks
of centre based
childcare
Availability
Affordability
Ensure
Convenience
Build
Centres
Give
Subsidies
*Island nation of
304.8 sq. meters
*Population of 5.08
million
*Assess, Availability
and Affordability the
drive in the early 80’
Pre-school in the 1960s
In the 80s…
 Economy was booming and women were
encouraged to join the workforce
 The first workplace childcare centre opened in a
factory
 By late 80’s one childcare centre opened every week
Impact of the Rapid Growth
• Child Care Accreditation Committee to accredit
courses for teacher training (1990 – 2000)
• Child care teachers with 6 and 7 years of formal
education was offered the Bridging Programme
• Formulating the Basic course, Intermediate course
and Advanced course
Teacher Education the Corner Stone
• Ramping up of in-service training
• Initiating the pre-service training in 1999
• Forming the Pre-school Qualification Accreditation
Committee (PQAC) setting standards for entry
qualification, developing the framework for teacher
preparation and setting standards for the Training
Agencies
In the New Millennium
2001 - Pre-school Qualification
Accreditation Committee (PQAC) a joint
committee of the Ministry of Education and
Ministry of Community Development which
looks into teacher qualifications of childcare
and kindergarten teachers.
2003 – Kindergarten Curriculum
Framework: Nurturing Early Learners for 46 years old refreshed in 2012
The PQAC heralds the coming
together of two Ministries
Good things happen…
In the New Millennium
Early Intervention programs
• 2006 – FLAiR (Focused Language Assistance in Reading) an
early literacy intervention programme
• 2011 – Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework
(SPARK for 4-6 years old) a quality assurance system
• 2011 – Early Years Development Framework (0-3 years
old)
•
Work Samples
of Children
from the FLAiR
Programme
The Next Building Block
• We have discussed, Access, Availability,
Affordability, Teacher Education, PQAC and
early intervention program.
• The next building block is Quality- the
Quality Assurance System
The Quality Assurance System
• The Quality Assurance System is referred to as
SPARK which stands for the Singapore Pre-school
Accreditation Framework.
• It was developed in 2008 and rolled out in 2011.
• On 12th September 2011, 52 pre-schools received
the SPARK Certificate and the number growing to
380 in 2014.
The Quality Assurance System
Quality through SPARK
Pre-school in the 1960s
A SPARK Accredited Centre
At the Baker’s Shop
Bakers at Work
Theme for the Term
Role Play
At the Hair Salon
A Renewed Focus
• Accessibility
• 200 more centres will be opened in the next five years
• Affordability
• New Subsidy scheme
• Not only Availability but also Quality
• Achieving SPARK
The building blocks today are …
• Accessibility
• Availability
• Affordability
• Quality
The building blocks, are like
roots of a tree that support and
anchor it firmly to the ground.
From such a foundation, the
future is built.
The establishment of the
Early Childhood Development
Agency (ECDA)
A New Era Full of Promises
The Early Childhood Development Agency
• This Agency was formed in April, 2013 and it
regulates both childcare centers and kindergartens
• Prior to this, the Ministry of Education registers
kindergartens and the Ministry of Community
Development licenses childcare centers. Today, there
are about 1,700 early childhood settings with a
workforce of 14,000.
An Era of Promises: Envisioning the Future
• Services moving beyond centre based care
• Services that are integrated and well coordinated
by EDCA
• Services rendered must take an interdisciplinary
approach where different professionals come
together for the best interest of the child
Interdisciplinary Approach requires…
• Professionals to re-construct their role from one of specialist
to one of a collaborative practitioner.
• Professionals need a new lingo in communicating
collaboratively for the best interest of the child
• Preparation programs for the various professions need to
include all the above mentioned skills
• Such an approach is also necessary for successful inclusion of
children with special education needs in the general
classroom
Envisioning Inclusive Education…
• Begins with building a culture of valuing differences –
valuing diversity, celebrating differences, with values of
respect, openness and acceptance.
• MOE Curriculum Framework 2012
• “Our society is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan and more
Singaporeans live and work abroad. Our young will therefore
need a broader worldview, and the ability to work with
people from diverse cultural backgrounds with different ideas
and perspectives”
• Developing a broader worldview and living in harmony in a
diverse world.
Envisioning harmony among people…
• Disharmony occurs when young children transit from
home to school…
• When children transit from pre-school to primary
school…
• For children with special educational needs they would
have another additional transition that is from the
special schools to the general education classroom.
• Children with the help of caring adults will be in
harmony with their new environment
Envisioning harmony among people…
• Working with diverse family units
• Engaging the community
• Having the whole village engaged in the well
being of children
I envision a quilt that will act as a blanket that
enwraps children and keep them safe and secure
Concluding Thoughts
• The village today is one where diversity is the norm.
• This diversity arises from different family forms, learning
differences, ethnicity, different social economic status and
immigrant status.
• In Singapore , 1.85 million (36.4 %) are non Singaporean as such
social integration is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
• The next lap then will be in building “social capital” (Putnam and
Feldstein, 2003)
• And character skills such as motivation and self control and
sociality that turn knowledge into know-how and people into
productive citizens
The road maybe long but ECDA
has just created a Programs and
Partners Division
And I am hopeful that partnerships will
be developed for the wellbeing of
children and families in Singapore
Thank you !
My best wishes
to all
children and families in Russia