By: Mr Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports
28 August 2006, 9.00 a.m. at Raffles City Convention Centre
Dr Christine Chen
President
Association for Early Childhood Educators
Dr Stephanie Feeney
Professor of Education
Department of Curriculum Studies
University of Hawaii
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
A very good morning to all of you
Introduction
It is indeed a pleasure to be here this morning to welcome all of you to the Child Care Seminar 2006 on ''Strengthening the Early Childhood Community''.
All of you here today play an important part in the Government's efforts to support families and strengthen family formation. Your professionalism gives families the much needed assurance that the early years of their children are in good hands.
Child Care Landscape
The child care landscape in Singapore has seen much transformation. It has been cultivated and shaped not just by the regulatory framework, training requirements, changing needs and expectations of our society but also by emerging global trends.
Many of us here would recall when child care was essentially a custodial entity nearly 20 years ago. In recent years, the focus has expanded. Now, child care teachers are designing developmentally appropriate programmes to address the physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs of young children. This, I believe, has brought greater integration of various key educational components in our child care programmes.
Role of Child Care Centres
Child care centres play an important role in the lives of busy young families. I am pleased to note that our centres have been responsive to the varying needs of families. This has enabled families to have access to a wide range of child care options to suit the needs of families. The services include family day care, infant care, flexi-care and drop-in services such as occasional and emergency care.
In recognition of the varying needs of families, MCYS promotes flexible care options to support young families in their child-rearing responsibilities particularly in the early years. One example for centres to consider is to extend or vary operating hours to meet the working hours of dual income families.
Some centres in countries such as Japan and some parts of the US provide such a service. In Singapore, I have been told that thus far 44 child care centres have responded to this request by varying their operating hours and some are open up to 8.30 pm. I would like to encourage more of you to explore the availability of such market opportunities.
Adjusting to the needs of the families is one way of forging a mutually beneficial partnership. The cornerstone of the consistency and quality of care received by our children lies in the quality of the partnership between centres and families. The impact is profoundly developmental.
In March 2006, my Ministry launched the ''Guide for Parents with Children in Child Care Centres''. This collaborative effort by centres, parents and their children was an excellent partnership effort.
I urge all of you to continually search for innovative ways to further this partnership, which is pivotal in the effort to enhance and maximise the developmental potential of our young children and support for their families. What more can you do to enhance the quality of your home-school partnership? To answer that question, you would need to know your families, their needs and expectations and their perception of how your centre's programmes and services impact on their young ones.
Parents' Perception of Child Care Centres' Services is overwhelmingly positive
In a profiling survey, commissioned by my Ministry, I am pleased to share that an overwhelming majority of parents perceived the services provided by your child care centres in a positive light.
The survey showed that 90% of parents are satisfied with the quality of your programmes, the attitude of your teachers, and the safety and hygiene environments in your centres. My colleagues will be sharing further details of this survey later as part of the seminar proceedings.
Professional Outreach Efforts
I would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you to think seriously about expanding your professional boundaries and going beyond your work with the families of children in your centres.
What do I mean by this? You will agree that the child care centres of the 21st century are repositories for intellectual and educational resources in early childhood education. With this professional infrastructure, I believe that centres are strategically poised to extend and broaden your ties with the wider community.
How can this be done? I suggest you can do this by sharing your resources with the various groups in the community. Enrichment
programmes and workshops are some of the strategies centres may consider over and above your core child care programmes.
Such professional outreach strategies empower the community and work in the interest and well-being of all children and their families. This brings to mind a famous quote, which I am sure all of you would have heard of, that ''it takes a village to raise a child.'' Indeed child care centres and relevant community groups are the key players in forming such a ''village''. Together they make a big difference in the child's early years.
Theme of the Seminar : Strengthening the Early Childhood Community
Today's seminar on 'Strengthening the Early Childhood Community' is an excellent opportunity for all of us to re-envision our philosophies, pedagogy and practices.
The title is also apt. All of us here are in some ways the trustees of the early childhood years. As trustees, we have responsibilities and obligations towards the children, their families, the community and our colleagues.
Every profession needs a compass. A compass that steers our responsibilities and obligations. Where, then, is the compass of the early childhood profession? The answer, I believe, lies in a set of ethical guidelines which was established under the leadership of AECES in 2004; the Code of Ethics for Early Childhood Educators.
The Code of Ethics is the hallmark of any profession. This morning's keynote speaker Dr Stephanie Feeney will share with us her wealth of experience and expertise surrounding professional ethics.
The challenge, presented during the course of today's seminar, is for all of us to be responsive, reflective and relevant. I urge you to bring to the early childhood profession a culture of openness. Of this, I am confident. You have, as professionals, consistently risen up to challenges where the training requirements are concerned.
Achievement of Training Targets on Course
In 2005, my predecessor announced 2 training targets for all child care centres. First, supervisors were to attain the Diploma in Pre-school Education Leadership by January 2006; or to have embarked on the leadership diploma by January 2006, and to attain this qualification by January 2007.
It was announced last year that 85% of our centre supervisors have already attained the leadership qualification. With another 4 months to go before 2007, I am indeed pleased to report that 95% of our centre supervisors are now holding the Diploma in Pre-school Leadership. Another 5% are currently undergoing training.
The second target was for each centre to have one in every four teachers trained at the Diploma in Pre-school Teaching by January 2008. In view of your commitment to professional development, even in 2005, we were already optimistic that all centres would be able to meet this requirement. Today, I am proud to announce that 88% of our centres have achieved this target. Well done!
On behalf of my Ministry, I congratulate all of you and hope you will continue to strengthen your professional community.
Training Providers
Our acknowledgment also goes to the efforts of our other partners; our training agencies. You have been responsive to the training needs of our child care personnel. Your support is also commendable.
Many of the training agencies are attuned to the ever-evolving dynamism of the early childhood field. This, I have been told, has prompted many of you to design and offer training programmes for capacity building, grounding expertise and acquiring competencies.
Let me take this opportunity to share with you some of the professional development programmes offered by some of our training agencies like AECES, AdventLinks, KLC School of Education, Learning Capital and RTRC Asia.
The professional repertoire is wide ranging and includes mentoring, mediated-learning, literacy, and parenting education. This is professional upgrading-in-progress. I am confident that our training agencies will continue to design and offer training programmes in response to the dynamism of the early childhood field.
Early Childhood Teacher Award
Providing young children with a sound foundation in early years' experience goes beyond the physical infrastructure of resources and the qualifications you have acquired. The software you bring as an early childhood educator is equally important.
A lot depends on your passion, creativity and motivation. These will make a difference in the way you design and deliver your early childhood programmes. The effort invested in the continual creation and re-creation of learning opportunities will enable the young children under your care to experience life in a refreshing way. I would like to encourage all childcare centre teachers to continue to focus on developing this important software.
This morning, we will be presenting the Early Childhood Teacher Award to outstanding teachers. They are persons who have developed outstanding software that has made a difference in the lives of many children.
It has now become an annual event to recognise and acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our child care teachers. This Award embodies professionalism and celebrates exemplary classroom practices, relationships with colleagues, children and families. We will celebrate with two outstanding teachers this morning, as they receive the Award.
Conclusion
Finally, I would like to thank the organisers of this seminar. The annual seminars are important in bringing about a cohesive and strengthened early childhood community. Quality in early childhood is ever-evolving and so must your knowledge and competencies.
On this note, I wish all of you an enriching and insightful professional experience. Thank you.
MCYS SPEECH NO: 26/2006
DATE OF ISSUE: 28/08/2006