1. Early Childhood Care and Education in Singapore
International Seminar on Early Childhood Care Education and Parenting: "Children's Well-being and Effective Parenting in the Digital Era.“
14-17 Nov 2017

2. Our Purpose
ECDA was set up in 2013 as regulatory and development authority for early childhood (EC) sector.
“A Good Start for Every Child...”
We believe that all children in Singapore, regardless of background, deserve a positive early childhood experience through quality care and education which nurtures holistic development and builds a strong foundation by instilling a love for learning.  
ECDA was formed in April 2013 as a regulatory and developmental authority for the EC sector.
It integrates functions previously in MSF and MOE for a more coherent approach in developing the sector.
ECDA is jointly overseen by MOE and MSF, and works with various stakeholders as you can see here.
ECDA performs a range of roles and functions. They include setting policies, manpower and infrastructure planning, to regulating centres and administrating subsidies. More recently, as you already know, we took on the role of coordinating support for low income and vulnerable children under the KidSTART pilot.

3. Early Childhood Landscape
Mainly children 3yrs to below 7yrs
2-4hrs of education per session
5 days a week, excluding school holidays
KINDERGARTENS
Children 2mths to below 7yrs
Mainly full-day programmes for working parents
5.5 days a week, open year-round
CHILD CARE CENTRES
AOP/POP
So an overview of early childhood landscape: There are two main types of early childhood service provision:
1. Kindergartens
Cater to children from 3 to 6 years of age, and is usually a half day programme, opened 5 days a week, excluding school holidays.
2. Childcare centres
Cater to children from 2 months to 6 years of age, and can offer a range of full-day, half-day and flexible programs that includes care services, to cater to the various needs of working parents. CCC open 5.5 days a week, all year round.
We have about 1,300 CCC and 500 KNs today.
Range of operators:
There is a range of operators providing EC services.
This includes govt-support operators, called anchor operators (5) and partner operators (23), who are funded to provide good quality and affordable services (difference between the two – former are for large scale operators; latter for mid-sized operators to encourage EOS and career progressions for teachers, smaller operators may partner others to submit proposals as a group), voluntary welfare organizations and commercial operators.
The govt also started 15 MOE KNs in 2014 as a pilot to catalyse improvements within the sector.
Market share:
For KNs, the govt has a larger combined market share of 45%
For CCC, the govt’s market share is about 46%
Note:
- Enrolment different from capacity / places, as operators usually
typically most centres operate at about 70-90% of their capacity only
to leave buffer for any sudden changes
- Update numbers every quarter (June numbers enrolment)
Total Enrolment: 60,000
Total Enrolment: 108,000
Anchor Operators (AOPs) and Partner Operators (POPs) who are funded to provide good quality and affordable services; close to half of sector (~45%) are Govt-funded operators
Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) with a social mission
Private Commercial Operators (PTE) who cater to middle to higher income families
MOE Kindergartens (MKs) which stated operations in Jan 2014 3
* Enrolment as at 2016

4. Challenges Diverse range of operators Uneven quality
2. Rising demand for full day- quality services
Growing recognition of importance of early years
Policy to expand full-day services to support changing needs of families
74,000
There are 3 main challenges in the operating landscape:
Fragmented market, with a diverse range of operators, uneven quality and some affordability and social mixing issues
Chart shows the market share by operator type, based on total 2016 enrolment
Rising demand for full-day quality services to meet the growing needs of dual-income families. There is also a growing recognition of the importance of early years, especially for disadvantaged families, and of providing infant care to support parenthood
2016 child care capacity (June, CC & IC) : 131,000 [Private: 66,000; AOP: 40,000; POP: 17,000; VWO: 8,000]
Strong manpower demand but challenges in attraction and retention
Limited career development and low salaries (e.g. compared to general market and related sectors like nursing)
Teachers face challenging working environment
3. Strong manpower demand, but some challenges in attraction and attrition
Career development, working environment, retention in the sector

5. Key Strategies Quality Accessibility Affordability
through regulations, teacher training and quality assurance frameworks
Accessibility
by master-planning infrastructure and manpower needs
Affordability
through providing subsidies and grants, and measures to keep costs down
Provision through sector partners, MOE Kindergartens
Public education and outreach
to EC professionals, parents and other key stakeholders
Raising sector productivity and capabilities
To address the challenges, we are investing in strategies to improve quality, accessibility and affordability of EC care and education. At the same time we are engaging our parents and industry partners through outreach efforts which I’ll talk a bit more about later. Also, we seek to uplift the overall productivity and capabilities of the sector.

6. Anchor Operator (AOP) and Partner Operator (POP) Schemes
Increasing access to quality and affordable early childhood care and education through AOP and POP Schemes:
Operators receive government funding to:
Keep to monthly fee caps and fee increase limits
Invest in improving quality of early childhood care and education (e.g. through Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework and strengthening headquarter capabilities)
Support continuing professional development for EC professionals
5 AOPs, large operators
Started in 2009 with 2 operators; 3 added in 2014
Evaluated based on financial/governance processes, programme quality and affordability, ability to increase capacity
23 POPs, mid-sized operators
Started in 2016 with 23 operators, more centres being added
Evaluated based on strength of proposal and track record
AOP
5 AOPs today
Started in 2009 with 2 operators (PCF, NFC); 3 added in (MY World, S4K, E-Bridge);
POP
encourage economies of scale and career progression for teachers; smaller operators may partner others to submit proposals as a group
Fee caps
AOP [FD CC: $720; FD IC: $1,275; KN: $160)]
POP [FD CC:$800; FD IC:$1,400]

7. Quality
Centre Quality: Frameworks to ensure accountability and quality improvement
Programme and Curriculum Quality: Emphasis on holistic development
Teacher Quality: Competent and responsive early childhood professionals
In terms of quality, there are three aspects which I will explain more about. Quality of the centres, the programme and curriculum, and teachers.

8. Centre Quality
Current licensing & registration regime ensures centres meet baseline requirements for quality of care and education
Previously :
Child care centres are licensed under the Child Care Centres Act
Kindergartens are registered under the Education Act
New Early Childhood Development Centres Act provides a harmonised legislative framework; to be implemented in 2018
Dimensions of Assessment
Statutory Approval
School Experience
Safety, Health & Hygiene
Staff Provision & Quality
Space, Facilities & Resources
To ensure quality of centres, we have a licensing & registration regime so that they meet baseline standards. Currently, CCs are licensed and KNs are registered under different legislations, but we are working to harmonise both Acts hopefully by this year.

9. Centre Quality Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework
Voluntary quality assurance framework to uplift the quality of child development offered by kindergartens and child care centres
Encourage self-monitoring and evaluation through Quality Rating Scale, and distinguish centres with strong teaching and learning practices through SPARK (Commendation) category
Provide parents with informed choices
As at October 2017, 40% of the pre-schools (about 770) are SPARK-certified, up from 30% last year
Beyond the basic licensing and registration frameworks, we have the Singapore Pre-school Accred Framework, or SPARK, which certifies and recognises centres for efforts in improving their teaching and learning and admin processes, hence providing a quality benchmark for preschs.
Mentioned the AOPs and POPs earlier, which govt funds to help scale up quality and affordable services. We currently have 5 AOPs and 23 POPs.

10. Programme Quality Curriculum Frameworks
Birth-3 year olds: Early Years Development Framework (EYDF)
Focuses on child development, intentional programme, professionalism, building partnerships with families and the community
Describes key principles, suggested practices & desired outcomes
4-6 year olds: Nurturing Early Learners Framework (NEL)
Elaborates on the process of planning and facilitating learning experiences, observing and assessing children’s learning, engaging in reflective practices as well as collaborating with families and the community to enhance children’s learning
In terms of programme and curriculum quality, we provide centres with the NEL curriculum framework, educator’s guide and teaching resources for the kindergarten years. And we have a parallel set of resources for mother tongue languages.
For younger children in CCC, we provide the Early Years Development Framework which is for children aged 2 months to 3 years old.

11. Programme Quality Examples Of Other Available Resources
Nurturing Early Learners: A Curriculum Framework – Educators’ Guide
Nurturing Early Learners Framework and Educators’ Guide for Mother Tongue Languages
Nurturing Early Learners: A Curriculum Framework – Educators’ Guide
Translates the framework into quality learning experiences for children
Provides examples and suggestions for learning activities and strategies to plan experiences in 6 learning areas
Nurturing Early Learners Framework and Educators’ Guide for Mother Tongue Languages
Serves as a guide to the teaching and learning of the three official MTLs (Chinese, Malay and Tamil) in Singapore preschools
Training workshops are available
Learning Stories: Making Visible Children’s Learning and Development
Introduces practitioners to the story approach as a pedagogical tool to describe, document and assess children’s learning and development
An Educarer’s Guide to Developing Respectful, Responsive and Reciprocal (3Rs) Interactions with Infants and Toddlers
Designed to help educarers to understand the 3Rs, apply the 3Rs in their daily interactions with children and develop strategies for teamwork and centre-family partnerships
Training workshops are available for both centre leaders and educarers
An Educarer’s Guide to Developing Respectful, Responsive and Reciprocal (3Rs) Interactions with Infants and Toddlers
Learning Stories: Making Visible Children’s Learning and Development

12. Attracting, retaining and developing quality manpower
Development and Retention of manpower through
Professional Development Programme
Three-year structured programme for in-service educators
Gain competencies and skills for larger job roles
Skills Framework
Career pathways, specific skills and competencies for various job roles where educators can take ownership of their professional growth
ECDA Fellows Scheme
Tap on exemplary leaders to drive quality. improvements & develop fraternity of EC professionals
More entry/upgrading pathways
Pre-Service (Training Awards, increased intake)
Mid-Career (Scholarships, Place and Train Schemes)
In-service (SkillsFuture)
Improve sector and teacher image
Teachers’ Day for EC professionals
Outreach efforts
National EC Campaign
As we ramp up preschool places, we also need to attract, develop and retain more teachers to ensure that centres are adequately staffed.
We hope to help teachers grow and develop professionally through a few ways.
PDP to encourage teachers to take on larger job roles – 3 year structured programme, 180 hours. Fufil milestones like compulsory module, project and so forth. Get cash awards upon each milestone.
Skills Framework which spells out enhanced career progression pathways in the EC sector, as well as specific skills and competencies required for different job roles, in line with Skills Future
ECDA Fellows to develop pinnacle leaders – leadership pipeline.
We also have training awards for pre-service educators (those still in Polytechnics/ITE), scholarships and work-and-study arrangements for mid-career entrants, as well as study awards for in-service teachers.
At the same time we want to improve the overall image of the EC profession through campaigns and outreach efforts. We also recently provided an additional half a day of closure for child care centres, to encourage them to have a Teachers Day off for all educators.

13. Plans to transform the EC career proposition
Establish National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC)
It will bring together existing capabilities and expertise to become a major player in the EC training landscape
Funded and overseen by MOE under the ambit of the National Institute of Education which oversees training for national school teachers
All NIEC pre-employment students will be offered Training Awards
ECDA will work with AOPs and MKs to develop even more attractive career and professional development pathways
E.g. more senior specialist or leadership positions and diverse job opportunities over the next five years, with commensurate competitive salaries
3-year national EC campaign
To raise the profile of the profession and attract more individuals to join the sector
Supported by sector productivity and capability-building measures
E.g. Smart solutions for more productive processes and conducive work places

14. Accessibility
Infrastructure Master Plan to meet demand especially in public housing estates
Larger child care centres developed by Anchor Operators
Capital grants for Anchor Operators & Voluntary Welfare Organisations
Incentives for setting up workplace child care centres
We are also making EC services more accessible in the public housing estates. For example to meet higher demand, we are developing larger child centres (these are 3-5 times bigger than typical child care centres). We have been providing development grants for AOPs and VWO operators, as well as grants to support the setting up of child care centres within workplaces which can be more convenient for working parents.

15. Plans to further expand provision and raise preschool quality
Over 40,000 more full-day preschool places will be developed by 2022, mostly provided by Anchor Operators (AOPs)
AOPs will also set up dedicated Early Years Centres (ages 0-4), partnering with MOE Kindergartens (ages 5-6) to provide smooth service continuum
MOE Kindergartens will expand to about 50 from the current 15 in the next five years
Expansion of AOPs and MOE Kindergartens to meet demand for affordable and quality preschool services

16. Affordability
Child and Infant Subsidies for Singaporean citizen children
Basic Subsidy with working mothers receiving more
Additional Subsidy for working mothers in lower- and middle-income families
Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme
Assistance for lower- and middle-income families
Families could pay as little as $1 per month
Baby Bonus cash gift
Child Development Account - Government matches dollar-for-dollar and can be used to offset fees
To ensure that preschool remains affordable especially for the lower and middle income families, we have subsidies for parents who enrol their children in either KNs or CCs. We recently enhanced both sets of subsidies. For child care, basic sub of up to $600 for infant care and $300, and also means-tested additional subsidies tiered based on income. What this means is that a low income family earning less than $2.5k/month could be paying as little as $3/month, after taking into account all the subsidies.
We also have subsidies for those in KNs – and a low-income family could pay as little as $1/month.
Aside from centre-based subsidies, as part of our marriage and parenthood efforts, parents can also receive cash grants and matched savings for their children in the CDA.

17. Public Education and Outreach
Professionals
Uplift & Enhance image of EC profession & professionals
Build & Strengthen EC professionals’ partnerships with parents
Communicate ECDA policies and programmes
Parents
Raise awareness of early years development
Support parents in their children’s holistic development through resources and seminars
Magazine
Website
As mentioned earlier we also have public education and outreach efforts to enhance parents’ awareness of the importance of early years and support them through programmes and resources. We also reach out to professionals through online platforms and conferences. All these help to raise the profile of EC educators and strengthen partnerships between parents, teachers and centres.
Social Media

18. Collaboration with stakeholders on outreach programmes
ECDA collaborates with various community partners to organise workshops and seminars to strengthen home-preschool partnership & develop resources
ECDA works with training institutes, preschool operators and early childhood professionals on the appropriate use of technology to enhance teaching and learning practices in preschools

19. Target 1,000 children in 3 pilot areas over 3 years
More upstream and systematic support for disadvantaged children – KidSTART
Children from disadvantaged backgrounds especially benefit from quality ECCE/early intervention
Progressively implemented KidSTART pilot in July 2016 to enable children from low-income families to have a good start in life
Learning points:
Start small and adopt evidence-based approach to ensure sustained and positive impact
Be child-focused and conduct the programmes in a child’s most familiar settings
Establish strong partnership with parents and community partners to provide an ecosystem of support
July this year, ECDA piloted a new programme, called KidSTART, to enable children from low-income families to have a good start in life Under KidSTART, which is overseen by the Child Development Department, it will coordinate and strengthen support across agencies, extend new forms of support, and monitor the progress of these children from birth to 6yo.
Target 1,000 children in 3 pilot areas over 3 years
Three key programme components: Home Visitation, Supported Playgroups, Enhanced Support to Preschool
Learning from other similar programmes overseas, we have opted to start small and take an evidence-based approach, be child-focused and conduct the programmes in a child’s most familiar settings, and to partner parents as well as the wider community to provide an ecosystem of support.

20. Pilot Parenting Programme, Triple P
An evidence-based programme that equips parents with techniques to deal with behavioural problems in their children and reduce parenting stress.
In 2014, MSF piloted the Triple P to parents of Primary 3 and 4, and Secondary 1 and 2 cohorts in 20 schools and subsequently expanded to 50 schools in 2015.
MSF also carried out an evaluation study on the Triple P Level 2 and 3 programmes with over 500 parents. Overall, the results showed that Triple P has positive effects on parenting and child outcomes in the Singapore context.
There were four key areas of improvements:
Greater parenting competence
Lower parenting stress
Improved emotional states
Reduced behavioural problems in children

21. Thank you