Enhancing the quality of kindergarten education in Singapore: policies and strategies in the 21st century

Abstract

BackgroundThe value of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) in establishing a strong foundation for lifelong learning and reaping social and economic benefits is well supported by a wealth of multidisciplinary research. These long-term benefits have prompted many countries throughout the world to prioritize ECEC on their national agenda, putting in focused efforts in their pursuit of quality ECEC in the recent years. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, the Singapore government has invested substantial resources in formulating and executing policies and strategies to raise the quality of preschool education (PSE) in several high-leverage areas (Tan 2007). In 2012, the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, announced that government efforts to uplift the overall quality of PSE would be amplified by strengthening teacher training and curriculum leadership, establishing government kindergartens to catalyze quality improvements, enhancing affordability for financially disadvantaged families, and improving policy coordination and regulation of the early childhood sector by forming a new agency (MOE 2012a). Furthermore, the first government-funded large-scale longitudinal study of the impact of PSE on children's cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes commenced in 2015 (Goy 2015). Another large-scale nation-wide birth cohort study was also funded to Abstract Almost all children in Singapore complete 1 year of preschool before entering primary school. However, preschool education (PSE) is not compulsory and is provided primarily by the private sector. Taking the national agenda for reforming PSE at the start of the twenty-first century as the point of departure, this paper describes and discusses the policies and strategies that have been introduced and implemented for preschool quality enhancement in the past 15 years. Three major waves of preschool policy reviews were undertaken in 2000, 2008, and 2012 attesting to the seriousness the government attaches to improving PSE for encouraging a strong start for every child. The key recommendations of these reviews were related to uplifting teacher, center, and program quality, and enhancing the affordability and accessibility of PSE. Opportunities and challenges associated with implementing recommendations for quality enhancement are discussed and suggestions to further enhance PSE in Singapore are explored.

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Holistic-Integrative Eduaction System in an Islamic Kindergarten

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