SINGAPORE: Bill Gates once said that the leading indicator of where a nation is going to be in 20 years’ time is reflected in how well its education system is doing.
It is not made up of an association of childminders with qualifications, nor is it an industry providing pseudo-parenting services to cute young human beings.ENSURING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION In most European and OECD member states, ECCE forms part of a mixed economy in which public programmes co-exist with private-for-profit and private-not-for-profit providers. Globally, the growth of the private-for-profit sector within such mixed markets has been rapid, becoming the default option in most low-and middle-income countries.
Social stratification could be created when there is a plethora of corporatised childcare services and niche-programmes charging exorbitant fees. A similar trend has not been reported in Singapore. Families here still have the option of home-schooling their pre-schoolers and sending their children to faith-based settings, which are usually more affordable.Many OECD governments typically intervene given concerns in two areas: First, when levels of inequality among citizens become a threat to social cohesion and the nation’s equity goals.
schemes are all examples of how Singapore’s ECCE market is being steered to ensure greater accessibility and affordability of services.Up until 2014, the ECCE industry has been entirely private-for-profit or not-for-profit. To date, there are now 24 MOE kindergartens in a landscape of 1,800 plus childcare centres and kindergartens.
But this aim is less of a priority compared to other national objectives, including providing access. The UK’s large scale, longitudinal Effective Provision of Pre-school Education study has shown that children who attend low-quality pre-schools receive little to no added benefit in terms of socio-emotional and cognitive development and may be less resilient in the face of negative encounters in primary and secondary school.
The last time that Singapore’s ECCE was compared with other nations was in the EIU’s Starting Well report in 2012, in which Singapore ranked 29 overall out of 45 countries .
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Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »