Debated in Parliament on 14 Mar 2016.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the current status of the shortage of preschool teachers; (b) what efforts are being taken to attract more applicants to join the profession; and (c) how has the shortage affected the operations of childcare centres.
Mdm Speaker, there are around 15,000 early childhood educators today. Besides teachers, they include centre supervisors and infant educarers. The number has increased by over 1,000 in the past two years.
At the national level, most operators have sufficient manpower to run their centres. However, with the rapid expansion of preschool capacity and the tight labour market, more employers have told Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) that they have found it more challenging to fill staff vacancies. Hence, over the next two to three years, ECDA projects the sector manpower to have to grow by another 1,500 in order to meet the needs for childcare.
ECDA has, therefore, implemented various initiatives to attract and retain early childhood educators. First, it has expanded intakes for pre-service training courses, such as those at our Polytechnics. It is also providing more support to students through training awards and enhanced internships.
Second, ECDA has many more opportunities, through professional conversion programmes for mid-career entrants to join the sector. Mid-career entrants can work, receive a salary and also attain their professional qualifications at the same time. The response on this front has been encouraging.
Third, ECDA is doing more to retain in-service educators through better skills and career development opportunities. Last year, for example, ECDA launched the Professional Development Programme to equip educators with competencies needed for larger job roles. More recently, ECDA launched the SkillsFuture Study Awards for the early childhood sector to support aspiring centre leaders.
While we have made some progress with these initiatives, the manpower situation for this sector will remain tight. ECDA will continue to work closely with employers in the sector to attract and retain early childhood educators.
Mdm Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister how did the projection of another 1,500 teachers come about, in terms of what is the projection of the number of children that we are going to serve.
The second thing I want to ask the Minister is: how many of the childcare centres or early childhood education centres are currently operating below capacity because of manpower shortage? Which means that, physically, they have the infrastructure, but because they do not have enough teachers, therefore, they cannot bring in the students.
Lastly, I do have many, many childcare centres in my area with a long waiting list. Unfortunately, due to the physical structure, they cannot take in anymore. I do have childcare centres whereby there are physical structures but there are not enough teachers at all. I am just wondering how will the Ministry help to solve this problem.
Mdm Speaker, with regard to the first question, the projection is in terms of looking at the number of students that are going to come online in the next couple of years. We also have a certain student-teacher ratio. That is the basis for the projection.
In terms of enrolment rate, so far, what we find from the childcare centres, the number of childcare places, when you aggregate them as a whole, the enrolment rate is not at maximum. We actually do have some spare capacity. But what you find is that there are localised shortages. There are particular areas where you do have very high demand and where we may not have enough places.
Overall, the numbers may look fine but that is scant consolation to parents because they are looking for places that are nearer their homes. This is where we are continuing to work with the various operators to make sure that the supply of teachers, educarers and so on are coming online. As for physical capacity, by and large, that is on track, but in some of the areas where there is high demand, we are also endeavouring to look at where we can set up, physically, new centres as well. This is something that we are working closely with the sector. By and large, I would say that, at the moment, the plans that we have in place, they do look encouraging but we need to constantly track that.
Madam, let me declare that I am the Executive Secretary of the Education Services' Union. My question relates to what the Minister commented about efforts to attract and retain people in the industry. I wonder if the Ministry would consider elevating the awards or the recognition to preschool teachers, similar to that of a Teachers' Day nationwide effort, so that members of the public, parents and everybody will recognise preschool educators as important in the education services and the delivery of the character development of our children.
Mdm Speaker, we would be happy to take on board suggestions of how we could improve the image as well as the standing of the educators in this area. We will take on board some of these suggestions and we will see how we can implement some of them.
I would like to build on what my hon parliamentary colleague Dr Lim Wee Kiak had said. For centres that are currently facing a shortage and possibly cannot even open, cannot even start operating, despite everything already being in place, what will the Ministry be doing, so that it can start operating and help parents who are in desperate need of childcare currently?
Mdm Speaker, I am fully aware of the Member's particular concern and we are working with her on a particular childcare centre in her area. We acknowledge that there are some areas where there are shortages simply because of demand in those particular areas. So, what we try to do is to work with the centres themselves to see whether we can accelerate the process of setting them up. In terms of recruitment and for the parents themselves, we will help them source for the next available centres that are as near as possible to their homes.
I thank the Minister for answering all the questions. I have a question pertaining to how we can address a potential shortage in this area, that is, from people with foreign qualifications in this childcare or child education sector. I have come across a couple of Singaporeans, for example, who have studied overseas, they have the relevant qualifications. I am wondering what paths are there for such Singaporeans, or even PRs with these qualifications. Does ECDA recognise them and, if not, are they obliged to go through an ECDA-certified process before they are allowed to work in the child education industry?
I fully acknowledge the suggestions put forth by the Member. While we recognise that we need to increase the number of teachers to meet demand, I think it is important for us to maintain standards. I also recognise that there will be those who are educated abroad, trained abroad. I think ECDA will be quite happy to review the various considerations in taking them on board. Should they meet the requirements, we would be happy to take them in.
I thank the Minister. He had mentioned the Professional Conversion Programmes. May I know what is the length of time needed to complete these Professional Conversion Programmes? Secondly, where the community actually requires a lower standard of care, say, a child minder instead of a pre-school teacher, would the Ministry consider having lower standards of qualifications, so that the community will at least have a choice of having their children still cared for in a centre?
Mdm Speaker, the Professional Conversion Programme is essentially for mid-career switches. Those who possess tertiary qualifications, they can enrol in the PCP for childcare teachers or kindergarten teachers. It is an accelerated programme delivered over 12 to 15 months and the range of different support that is available. The salary support is at about 90% of the basic monthly salary, capped at $4,000.
Like I have said, the response has been encouraging. We do encourage individuals who are looking at mid-career switches to consider this as a viable profession. With regard to lowering the requirements for educarers, we constantly monitor that. We are mindful that it is really about the kind of thresholds that we want to set for the different educators and educarers. If, indeed, by adjusting some of the requirements, we could expand the numbers that can come on board, that is something that we would want to consider.
It is always a balance. It is a balance between needing to meet the numbers but, at the same time, making sure that there is a list of basic level requirements to ensure certain standards are met. This is something that we are constantly reviewing, given the different dynamics at play.
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