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Speech by Minister of State Goh Pei Ming at the Early Childhood Learning Communities Appointment Ceremony

Type: Official Speeches (All), Official Speeches: Goh Pei Ming,

Topic(s): Children & Families,

Published on 22 April 2026

Educators,

Resource Persons,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,  

 

 Introduction

  1. I am happy to join you this morning to welcome our newly appointed and renewed Pedagogists And Specialists in TEaching and Learning or PASTELs in short, as we begin the third cycle of the Early Childhood Learning Communities or ECLC.
  2. Today, we celebrate 110 appointed PASTELs in cycle 3, including 27 of you who are continuing your ECLC journey with us. Each of you play a very important role in strengthening professional practice – supporting your fellow educators, deepening expertise and uplifting the quality of our sector. Let me thank all of you for stepping forward in leading this effort.
  3. A big thank you to all past PASTELs, employers and Resource Persons for your support in nurturing pedagogical leaders and advancing our curriculum work.

  4. Just as children thrive in a nurturing environment, all our PASTELs will also need the right conditions to flourish. Because when our educators grow, our children and our future grow together with you.
    1. In the next few years, we will place a stronger emphasis on quality enhancement across our preschool landscape. In MSF’s Committee of Supply speech last month, I had shared how we have achieved our preschool accessibility and affordability commitments. We will continue to improve as we seek to better support our Singaporeans’ parenthood aspirations. But in this next bound, we will focus on enhancing the quality of preschool education, through our Quality Preschools 2030 vision.
    2. In line with today’s event theme “Illuminating the Path of Pedagogical Excellence”, I will share how we are supporting educators like you, to glow, or “G-L-O-W”, in your professional journeys, as we progress towards our Quality Preschools vision.

      3. Growing Professional Quality

    3. Firstly, “G” stands for ‘growing’ the professional quality. Quality preschools must start with a continuous endeavour to raise our educators’ capabilities, which are already at a very high level, to deliver even better holistic child outcomes.

    4. We know that children learn best through play. Research consistently shows that play is crucial for our children’s holistic development – helping them to communicate, problem-solve and adapt to new situations. Play is also a child’s natural language.
    5. Building on more than a decade of play-based curriculum, we are deepening how play is intentionally applied in everyday learning, how our educators draw out lessons for our children through carefully designed play. Play as a pedagogical approach supports our children’s holistic development, including their social and emotional development. Through play, children develop empathy and learn to regulate their emotions.
    6.  As such, we will strengthen this approach and our educators’ competencies via the ECLC. As a programme designed for educators by educators, experienced educators will share practical insights with their peers and grow alongside one another in a dynamic learning community. 
    7. For the third cycle of ECLC, ECDA has included 2 additional domains – “Play-based Learning” as well as “Numeracy”. They are not new approaches or learning areas for teaching and learning, but we want to mention them explicitly to emphasise the importance of pushing our pedagogical practices further, to help children learn and develop holistically.

    8. We will also enhance two existing domains – “Social & Emotional Development”, or SED, and “Inclusive Practice”.

    9. Research has shown the importance of inculcating values and fostering positive learning dispositions from a young age. In addition, executive function is a key foundational skill for children’s well-being, learning and later success in life. Therefore, in this 3rd cycle of ECLC, SED will be refreshed to incorporate Values, Learning Dispositions & Executive Function on top of social and emotional development.
    10. “Inclusive Practice” will also be expanded to become “Inclusive Practice and Early Intervention”. The Inclusive Practice Learning Community will strengthen educators' competency in providing universal support to children in early childhood settings, while the Early Intervention, or EI, Learning Community will deepen intervention practices tailored to children with different developmental needs. This enhancement serves to better support the diverse profiles of PASTELs and educators in both our EC and EI classrooms.

    11. ECDA will also work closely with the Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore, or AECES, as a strategic partner, to strengthen professional learning of our educators across the sector through organising the Communities of Practice which will be led by PASTELs.
    12. Together, these enhancements will strengthen your practice and raise the overall quality of our sector for better child outcomes.

       

      Looking after Educators’ Well-being

    13. Second, for “L”, we are looking after you – our educators.  

    14. Because at the heart of quality preschool education, is you!  You are not just educators, you are key enablers of our children’s growth, shaping how they learn, play and relate to others.
    15. We are encouraged that more passionate individuals are joining our sector. Today, we have 28,000 educators across the sector, a 20% increase since 2021.
    16. We are also aware of the realities on the ground – the demands, the workload, and the challenges you face on a daily basis.  That is why we are taking steps to better support you.  
    17. Since the start of this month, ECDA has started a sector-wide job redesign project to look at how we can strengthen work processes and support structures in preschools.   
    18. We are also working closely with the sector to strengthen the adoption of non-contact time, so that educators have dedicated time within working hours to focus on the important non-teaching tasks such as lesson planning and preparations.  These efforts are about supporting educators in your daily work, and ensuring that you can continue to grow and thrive under the right conditions within the profession. As we develop these initiatives with operators,  educators, and all the centres, we welcome feedback and ideas, and we will try our best to support you and your development.

       

      Offering Practical Resources

      1. Thirdly, for “O”, we are offering educators practical resources.  
      2. In collaboration with partners, we have developed resources to provide educators with practical ideas and strategies to enhance children’s social and emotional learning.
      3. This includes ECDA’s SED resources which offer a collection of over 100 story books organised by age and by social and emotional competencies. Activity ideas on using these storybooks have also been created to help educators provide children with meaningful learning experiences.
      4.  In addition, the Grow Well SG Toolkit, developed by the Health Promotion Board, will be distributed to preschools from end April onwards. This toolkit contains activities that can be integrated into your existing curriculum to support children’s healthy development. It is also a wonderful resource to help you partner our families to reinforce children’s healthy habits at home.
      5. Beyond these resources, I also encourage you to embrace digital tools and AI to enhance your teaching practices and streamline your work processes. The solutions under the Early Childhood Industry Digital Plan or IDP is a great way to start adopting pre-approved, market-proven solutions in your centres and preschools. ECDA will also be launching a new innovation fund. This fund will allow you and your centres to develop and pilot innovative projects that address your teaching needs.


        6. W        orking with Families

      6. The ‘glow’ is not complete without working with families.

      7. Because your impact as educators is strongest when we have our families as our partners. Parents play an important role in supporting children’s development across preschool and home. Parents want to be involved – they have told us – but sometimes they are unsure how best to partner educators and preschools.  We will work with preschools to strengthen educator-parent partnerships through clearer role definitions and shared best practices.  
      8. We will also continue to create opportunities for educators and families to come together – including through platforms such as the Start Small Dream Big initiative and the SSDB Walkathon happening next month.
      9. I encourage all of you to continue building strong, trusting relationships with our parents and families. When educators and families work together, we create stronger foundations for our children to flourish.

        Closing

      10. As leaders in early childhood education, your role goes beyond the classroom – you shape practices, support fellow educators, and contribute to raising the quality of the entire preschool sector. Together with the educators and families you work with, we can build a strong foundation for every child and realise our Quality Preschools 2030 vision. To all our PASTELs, congratulations and thank you for your commitment to the sector.
      11. I look forward to shaping the future of our preschools, our children and our country together with you. Thank you.