Infant-toddler care in Singapore
Journey towards quality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21728281 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sandra Wu (0000-0002-4267-3823, Nanyang Technological University, corresponding author), Ambika Perisamy (Nanyang Technological University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 175-196 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Futures in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-2103 • E-ISSN: 1478-2103 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478210320966503 |
| OpenAlex | W3093576762 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 24 |
In Singapore, early childhood care and education has evolved according to the nation’s needs since its independence in 1965. From a welfare scheme to custodial care, early childhood care and education is now recognised as a critical part of children’s learning and development. Over the years, the government has progressively implemented policies to raise the quality of early childhood care and education and while increased efforts have been effective, there is still a gap between policy and practice. This article reviews the policies and frameworks throughout the history of early childhood care and education, with a focus on infant toddler care and examines some of the alignment and gaps. It identifies two key areas for improvement – staff to child ratio and teacher quality for quality infant toddler care. In the current staff to child ratio, an ‘educarer’ oversees 5 children between 2 and 18 months. This indicates that the educarer needs to be well trained for this role to cater to a wide range of learning and developmental needs. However, the quality of teacher training has been disparate and was only harmonised in 2017. This suggests that the quality of educarers is still uneven in the sector. In terms of qualifications, educarers only need to fulfil the minimum level of teacher certification, which means that the youngest children in their most formative years are being taught and cared for by the least qualified educators ( Bull and Bautista, 2018 ). Cognisant of these issues, this article proposes recommendations to address issues of manpower allocation and teacher quality
Certification · Developmental psychology · Early childhood · Early childhood education · Formative assessment · Medical education · Pedagogy · Political science · Toddler · Children's Rights and Participation · Early Childhood Education and Development · Educational Systems and Policies · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology
Teachers' Education, Classroom Quality, and Young Children's Academic Skills
Measures of Classroom Quality in Prekindergarten and Children’s Development of Academic, Language, and Social Skills
Why Early Care and Education Deserves as Much Attention, or More, than Prekindergarten Alone
Thresholds in the association between quality of teacher–child interactions and preschool children’s school readiness skills
The (bio)politicization of neuroscience in Australian early years policies
The Postsecular Turn in Education
Flexible Grouping Strategies in the Multiage Classroom
| Citations per year | 0.4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |