Introduction
1. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Early Childhood Celebrations 2024! Happy to be here today as all of you play a critical role to support the holistic development of our young children.
2. We have continued to improve access to affordable and quality preschools. Today, I will be sharing on two enhanced initiatives to further improve the quality of care and education.
Celebrating the Progress of the EC Sector
Enhancing Accessibility & Affordability for Parents
3. Over the last decade, we have made significant investments to enhance preschool accessibility and affordability. We see a growing demand for preschool places, as parents now recognise the importance of preschools in supporting their caregiving needs and more importantly, the child’s development. The Early Childhood Development Agency or ECDA has worked closely with our five Anchor Operators (AOPs) to develop new preschools, especially in new housing estates with more families with young children. Over the last decade, our AOPs have developed around 60,000 new full-day preschool places.
a. For the coming five years from 2025 to 2029, ECDA will work with AOPs to add almost 40,000 new preschool places. About 6,000 places will be for infant care to cater to the rising demand. This will ensure that government-supported preschools can cater to 80% of preschoolers in the medium term, up from over 65% enrolled today.
b. As announced earlier this year, childcare fee caps at Anchor and Partner Operators will be reduced by $40 come January 2025. We will make a further reduction in 2026.
c. For lower-income families, we recognise that concerns over ability to pay school fees could be one reason parents avoid sending their children to preschools. At Budget 2024, it was announced that we will qualify all children from lower-income families with a monthly household income of $6,000 for the maximum childcare subsidies for their income tier. This means that parents can expect to pay $3 to $115 or up to 2% of their income for childcare at AOPs, with further reductions in 2025. I am happy to announce that this move will take effect from December this year. More than 17,000 additional children can benefit from this move.
4. While subsidies have kept preschools affordable for parents, we have heard parents’ feedback that applying for subsidies today can be tedious. Parents need to apply via preschools, and fill out lengthy forms manually. Since the end of 2022, ECDA has been consulting with parents and operators and examining ways to improve the subsidy application process to make it more seamless and convenient. We are pleased to announce the product of this effort which will be rolled out in phases. From December 2024, parents can start applying for subsidies digitally and directly to ECDA via LifeSG. Parents will be able to complete the subsidy application process using data from Singpass, so form filling will be easy, intuitive and guided.
Developments in Quality
5. Beyond improving preschool accessibility and affordability, we must ensure that our preschools are of high quality. There are consistent findings from international research that high-quality childcare has sustained benefits on children’s development. We have therefore been working to improve preschool quality holistically, across three “Ps” – Provider, Programme and Professional Quality. Let me briefly take you through some of the progress we have made in each of the three “Ps”.
a. For the first P on Providers, the Singapore Preschool Accreditation Framework, or SPARK has been a key initiative to support preschools to improve their quality. SPARK was introduced in 2011 as a framework to raise the sector’s quality. Today, around 1,000, or 60% of preschools are SPARK-certified, up from fewer than 100 when it was first implemented.
b. On the second P on Programme, we have updated the national learning and development frameworks for children from birth to six. These refer to the Nurturing Early Learners Framework, and the Early Years Development Framework. We urge all preschools to refer to these frameworks to design learning experiences that build on children’s growing interests.
c. Finally, on Professionals. Our educators are the vital link in translating principles and strategies into meaningful day-to-day learning experiences for the children. We have introduced various initiatives over the years to improve educator quality. For example, I recently announced that ECDA will roll out a new Quality Teaching Tool (QTT), which educators can use to hone their teaching skills.
6. While we have made strides, quality improvement is a continuous journey. I am happy to share two initiatives today to further enhance the quality for Providers and Professionals.
SPARK 2.0
7. Today, we are proud to launch SPARK 2.0 to support all preschools in their quality journey. Three features define SPARK 2.0 – sharper focus on teaching and learning, more flexibility for preschools to develop their own programmes, and greater autonomy in their quality journey.
a. First, under SPARK 2.0, there will be sharper focus on teaching and learning. The SPARK criteria will be streamlined from eight to five, to focus on critical aspects such as quality preschool experiences and children’s holistic development.
b. Second, SPARK 2.0 provides preschools with the flexibility to develop their own differentiated quality programmes based on their strengths and needs of their children. Under SPARK 2.0, the quality of preschools will be evaluated based on their programmes instead of against standardised indicators, making the assessment less prescriptive. This will encourage preschools to reflect on the intent and design of their programmes, and be innovative to develop their own programmes tailored to meeting their own goals and the children they serve.
c. Finally, SPARK 2.0 aims to empower preschools to take charge of their own quality journey. Once preschools have been SPARK-certified, they can focus on areas for improvement by developing improvement plans, as well as submit self-appraisals annually to demonstrate continuous development. They will no longer have to wait for the next assessment and apply for renewal of their certification. When preschools are ready, they can then initiate application to the next higher SPARK tier.
8. One of the principals whom we have engaged on SPARK 2.0 is Ms Siti Daliana, Principal of a My First Skool centre in Bedok. She is looking forward to this new approach. It will empower preschools to tailor their programmes to meet the diverse needs of their children and allow her to work with her educators to review and ensure their programmes remain relevant and deliver the desired learning outcomes for the children.
9. We hope that the sector will leverage SPARK 2.0 to chart your own quality improvement journey, going beyond maintaining quality to improving quality continuously.
Revised Code of Ethics
10. Moving on to the second initiative, I am happy to introduce the revised Code of Ethics for EC Professionals. The Code was first launched by the Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore in 2004. It has helped to uplift the quality of our EC professionals by articulating the core values all EC educators must uphold, and providing the necessary knowledge for their day-to-day decision making.
11. As the demands and expectations on educators become more complex, it is important to update the Code and support educators in navigating situations in the preschool. That’s why AECES has collaborated with ECDA to refresh the Code. The updated version has been expanded to encompass practices for early intervention educators and focuses on providing guiding principles to be more relevant to educators. Let me explain.
a. First, in tandem with greater inclusivity in preschools, the revised Code has broadened its coverage beyond EC educators to also include professionals in EI settings. EI educators can now reference the Code as a guide and refer to case studies for examples on how to interact with children with developmental needs.
b. Second, the revised Code aims to be more accessible and relevant to educators. It provides a set of guiding principles for educators in their interactions with children and their families as well as fellow educators, other professionals and the community. Instead of just describing core values educators should uphold, the revised Code spells out guiding principles and commitments which are more actionable.
12. The revised Code will include a 5-step ethical decision-making process accompanied by case studies to help educators apply the Code to their daily practice. This 5-step process will guide our educators to think critically about scenarios and situations they might face. Over time, this will help improve their decision-making skills and enable them to respond appropriately.
13. We hope that all educators will embrace the revised Code as a compass, guiding you to become the EC professionals that you aspire to be, while uplifting the professionalism of the sector as a whole.
Conclusion
14. Ladies and gentlemen, all of us can be proud of the significant progress made by the EC sector over the last decade. As quality is a continuous journey, we need to keep pace with the emerging trends on early childhood care and education to better guide our strategies and actions as the EC sector evolves.
15. All of you here go a long way in supporting and nurturing our children. I commend the invaluable contributions of each and every one of you and thank you for all your hard work and dedication.
16. Thank you for being here today and I hope all of you have an enjoyable celebration.