The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) will spend $15 million over the next three years to boost the supply and quality of manpower for the child care sector. New measures will be introduced to promote the attraction, retention and professional development of child care teachers. These initiatives aim to ensure an adequate supply of qualified teachers and enhance the quality of child care in Singapore.
Measure to attract talent into the child care sector
To attract fresh talent into the sector, MCYS will work with industry stakeholders to enhance efforts to raise public awareness of
career opportunities in child care.
MCYS will enhance existing scholarship schemes for students and in-service professionals to pursue advanced courses in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). The Ministry will introduce 65 more scholarships per year for diploma, degree and Masters courses in ECCE, in addition to the 175 existing scholarships available per year.
These scholarships will be given for the following courses, which cater to both new entrants and existing child care educators:
- Full time and part-time Diploma in ECCE offered at the local polytechnics1 and SEED Institute2;
- Bachelor of Early Childhood Education with Management and Bachelor of Early Childhood and Chinese Language Education offered by SIM University;
- Bachelor of Science in Early childhood offered by Wheelock College -SEED Institute;
- Master of Education (Early Childhood) offered by NIE and Master of Science in Early Childhood Education by Wheelock College-SEED Institute.
MCYS will also introduce a new teaching award scheme for teachers who may not meet the strict eligibility requirement for a full scholarship, but wish to upgrade themselves to attain a degree in ECCE. The award will be tenable at eligible local institutes of higher learning, with 40 of these awards to be offered each year. In total, MCYS will spend $13 million on 840 scholarships and teaching awards over the next three years.
Applicants interested to pursue a career in early childhood can apply with the support of their child care centres. More information on the MCYS Scholarships and Teaching Awards for the child care sector and application information can be found at
www.childcarelink.gov.sg.
Measures to retain existing teachers in the sector
To recognise and retain existing teachers, MCYS will work with industry stakeholders to promote good employment practices amongst child care operators.
These efforts will include the development and dissemination of a ‘Good Employer’s Toolkit’ to assist operators in building their staff management capabilities, and the introduction of a new award scheme to recognise child care operators with exemplary HR and staff management practices.
Measures to promote professional development for teachers
To promote professional development for teachers, MCYS will also launch the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework for child care teachers later this year. MCYS will co-fund a range of approved CPD courses over a broad spectrum of training areas under the framework, and provide training and technical assistance for operators to be able to implement the framework for the benefit of their teachers.
These initiatives are part of MCYS’ continuing efforts to raise the quality, accessibility and affordability of child care. Since the launch of the Child Care Masterplan in August 2008, 171 new child care centres were established, catering to 38% of the cohort of children aged 18 months to six years old, up from 30% in 2008.
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1The three year full-time programmes offered by Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) are the Diplomas in Early Childhood Education (ECH) and Child Psychology and Early Education; and Diploma in Early Childhood Studies by Temasek Polytechnic (TP).
2MCYS will review and extend the scholarships awards for diploma and degree programmes offered by other selected training providers.