Neo Liberalism In Early Childhood Education

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Education is one of the oldest and most diverse disciplines that continuously engages other societal and government sectors and is a mirror of socio-cultural change. It is a systematic process, starting from birth and extending to death and can be learned through formal and informal means. When exploring neoliberalism as a philosophy in early childhood education, it gives an insight into thinking about quality as one of the mechanisms, which neo-liberalism used to display and evaluate the processes and products of education. In this journey of exploration, neoliberalism also offers the learner an opportunity to scrutinize the issues affecting education and professionalism, especially government and organizational pressure within a philosophical framework.

In a neo-liberal society, there are many challenges from organizational pressures to act in a specific manner, which is a process that can interfere with professional decision-making and action (Lee, 2012). Looking into the relationships between neoliberalism and education, this paper will explore on the marketing, consumerist and product-oriented aspects of neoliberalism and expand on it to broader issues of organizational pressures affecting professionalism. Similarly, the paper will analyze early education challenges in Singapore and their influence on education standards and professionalism. In addition, the study will identify solutions to these challenges and ways of maintaining professionalism.

Neo-liberalism in Early Childhood Education

The neo-liberal approach to education is founded on the assumption that knowledge cannot be confined in absolute terms. Rather, knowledge is defined as a progressive, dynamic and multifaceted program, which ought to be driven by social expectations and needs. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is emerging as the new dimension in education development, social, cultural, and economic growth. One of the fundamental elements of ECCE is its emphasis on molding a child’s academic platform. However, establishing an effective and reliable childcare programme is marred by challenges in its affordability, accessibility, and quality in the programmes offered (Harvey, 2005). If children cannot afford and access early childhood education, it becomes harder to advance in primary and secondary levels.

There is a higher economic value in promoting early childhood education and investing in quality and equitable distribution of academic knowhow. Since early childhood care is one of the issues that defines a child’s future education capacities, it is considered as one of the major contributors to a nation’s national development and expansion of the global economy (Straits Times, 2013). If emphasis is put on early childhood development, there are possibilities of having a brighter future not only for the students, but for the nation as a whole (Straits Times, 2013).

This forms the basis of a neoliberal economic-based argument that relates early childhood development with economic expansion. Recognizing the value of early education, the Singapore government is accelerating its efforts to create a better environment for couples to raise their children. This includes creating 20,000 childcare places over the next five years and allocating funds into new initiatives (Straits Times, 2013).

As noted by Apple (2012), "for neoliberals, one form of rationality is more powerful than any other – economic rationality" (p. 38). This approach is essential in advancing common knowledge about investing in a fundamental concept for the growth of a major issue in future. By promoting professional investment opportunities among children, a future is established for the country’s economy. One of the unique characteristic of the neoliberal philosophy is the ability to contemplate rational arguments and derive economic value from social, educational and political challenges (Saltmarsh, 2009). This form of reasoning constitutes logical and defined arguments that seek to define every discipline in an economic framework. Framed in neoliberal terms, the various activities and expectations associated with education can be categorized in the same manner as any common market.

Marketization of Early Childhood Care and Education

Under marketization programs, educational programmes are commodities and the children are taken as the consumers. In the Singapore context, some schools operate in a free market environment and others in semi or quasi-market. Since there are varying degrees of external control and regulation in any ECE environment, professionalism is paramount in order to ensure that the different stakeholders are fully engaged in active decision-making exercises. Professionalism is not only realized through competence, but through the ability to scrutinize situations, reflect upon decisions and make informed choices on how to incorporate certain information within one’s corporate and individual responsibilities. Professionalism becomes critical when combined with ethical frameworks and expectations, since it narrows down the expectations from corporations and makes it easier to focus on personal and corporate goals (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). This statement sounds contradictory to me. If it narrows down expectations from corporations, why does it make it easier to focus on corporate goals?

The following section will analyze professionalism in the context of personal and corporate responsibilities, and define ways through which individuals can change their personal and professional expectations in order to become competent professionals. One of the existing pre-conceived notions in the teaching profession appears to be the ability of teachers to be masters of their teaching content while expecting the students to be respectful, conscious and responsible.

When defining professionalism among teachers, there is also the need to consider the objectivity of the teacher. Of importance is the teachers’ ability to deliver the expected contents without being ethnically biased and considering academic performance and students’ personalities. In order to become professional in their teaching career, teachers must establish an equitable classroom and ensure safety for the students. These goals cannot be attained without considering the ethical dimensions in teaching.

In the market place, it is crucial to look at the dynamics of the relationships among all the groups involved. Since in this case the consumers are the children, the purchasers are the parents and commercial entities, in companies and other corporations. Early childhood institutions engage in total investment opportunities by maximizing all the resources from the purchasers, who are in this case parents and children (Morgan, 2005). Similarly, parents expect equal benefits with their investment - the nurturing of the children into learned individuals. Unlike other common markets however, the childcare programmes are self-regulatory.

The services offered the price and quality outcomes are influenced by, among other issues, the demand for the services and the competition among other service providers. Framing early childhood in purely economic terms makes it easier to evaluate the ethical and professional standards expected of teachers, children and the purchasers of the services (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). It also follows that subjecting a child to childcare providers should be followed by a cost-benefit analysis of the expected outcomes and the investments into the childcare programme. In order to fully understand the implications of professionalism on the education sector, it is essential to deviate from the perception of education as a socio- cultural exercise and, instead, view it as an economic venture with all the characteristics of a free or a quasi market.

In order to remain competitive, one of the fundamental issues that service providers face is how to enhance the quality of early childhood education. For the neo-liberal model to work there must be a high degree of diversity in the service of work in order to remain competitive and to offer the best services to the children and their parents as purchasers. There must be an array of options for them to select from. Although consumer choice in these instances is purely based on parental decisions, childcare providers can assure consumers that their education policies and frameworks are beneficial. In fact, it is the responsibility of childcare providers to offer flexible services that comply with the preferences of the parents and with the existing market demands in order to promote increased quality and efficiency (Morgan, 2005).

Market efficiency in classical neoliberalism dictates that providers have to meet the market’s needs. In addition, the responsiveness and dedication towards making academic and economic transformation are influenced by efficiency and the professionalism of teachers and the childcare providers. As the parents are the main purchasers and consumers of early childhood programs they make all decisions on behalf of their children. This means that their resources and economic capacities influence the type of care provided to their children. However, in spite of the fact that they make decisions for their children, they rely on their capacity to pay the price of quality education. Urban and rural areas, typically, cause significant differences in the quality of early childhood services and may vary widely in prices. Similarly, the provider provides the differences in order to satisfy the demand. Access to early childhood care is therefore directly influenced by affordability with respect to prices offered.

The issue of demand and cost of enrollment to early childhood institutions adds to the challenge of ensuring that parents have access to quality and preferred childhood care centres as parents may opt for affordability rather than quality of childcare services offered. Parents may feel further disadvantaged because scarce service providers in far-flung locations may increase the demand the providers do not increase the demand. The demand comes from the users for the service thus lowering their chance of gaining entry into one particular service of their choice (Held, 2002).

According to Ball (2012), the idea of neo-liberalism is to transform working policies to accommodate individual competitiveness that allows the market to have unregulated policies and principles, thereby affecting any possible support from the state (Grieshaber, 2000). In Singapore, the child care sector has been operating childcare in a private manner. The ECCE sector is a perfect example of the changes that have currently been experienced in childcare as more children are being subjected to privately run institutions, which eventually change the overall objectives of learning to profit making. The Ministry of Education will set up 15 pilot kindergarten and 5 will be operating in January 2014 (MOE, Press Release, 2013).

Due to the privatization of early childhood programs, there has been a gradual increase of funds and other associated support from the government. In addition, the rules governing enrollment and management of children and their needs have been gradually transformed to fit within the current system. Lipman (2004) also concurs on the changes in terms of increased competitiveness and change of policies to fit individual needs in neo-liberalism as compared to the traditional settings.

Over recent years, there has been a significant spurt in the number of early childhood programs, due to an increase in the number of private institutions. One of the implications of neo-liberalism, as illustrated by Bonnor and Caro (2007), is creating disparities and inequalities between advantaged parents and the disadvantaged. Parents who cannot afford private early childhood education are left out at the expense of the well-off groups, who are in a position of enrolling their children to private schools irrespective of the cost. Affordability of early childhood programs are directly related to the prices offered by each private institution and enrollment therefore depends upon financial capabilities of the parents (Giroux, 2009).

Early childhood education is one of the fundamental social capitals that influence academic and social development among all children. When access to such fundamental social capital is restricted because of financial potential of the parents, the country’s education sector is at risk of adverse consequences. The disadvantage of restricted access due to financial constraint notwithstanding, privatization and increased use of advanced technology is seen as a potential drive for increased quality. Similarly, competition among all early childhood institutions and the consistency in the policy frameworks across all education levels make it possible to streamline quality guidelines.

In 2011, Singapore introduced the SPARK accreditation (Singapore Pre-School Accreditation Framework), introduced by the Ministry of Education (MOE). With this introduction, quality being the core value used to evaluate the status of an institution, this accreditation process, the early childhood programs in the country are set to improve in terms of quality based on the policies being introduced under SPARK.

Professionalism in Early Childhood Care and Education

The economization of early childhood care and education has affected equitability due to issues of quality and accessibility. Similarly, since the childhood services are perceived as commodities and products, producers have to ensure uniqueness in order to influence choices. In neo-liberal societies, children are expected to have individualized choice made with parental guidance. This situation poses the greatest challenge when establishing personal and professional goals aimed at increasing professionalism, affordability and accessibility without compromising on the quality of early childhood education.

According to Siraj-Blatchford and Manni (2008), professionalism in the early childhood sector requires education leaders to have insight and significant judgment in order to improve service delivery process. There is, however, a noteworthy challenge among early childhood professionals, since they rarely regard themselves as leaders. In most cases, early childhood professionals take subordinate positions, a move that jeopardizes professionalism in the sector. According to Ang (2012), the contribution of pre-school professionals in establishing academic and social platform is mostly undermined through poor pays and contempt from other professionals. Despite dealing with the most fragile level in human development, early childhood professionals are not given the recognition they deserve. Early childhood professionals ought to realize the responsibilities bestowed upon them by the society of shaping children to the social and academic expectations.

According to findings from the Lien Foundation (2012), the early childhood sector in Singapore has many challenges. One of the challenges identified include understaffing. The issue of privatizing the early childhood sector has led to opening of many new services, and as there are insufficient qualified teachers, these new services have been forced to work understaffed or, at the most staffed with untrained or poorly trained personnel. Understaffing affects not only the quality of education provided, but also weakens the teachers’ morale due to overworking and physical stress. Early childhood professionals cannot work under duress and at the same time perform as expected. As noted by Vital Voices (2012), the country has to deal with the problems of remuneration and training of teachers. Underpaid teachers cannot be expected to perform with maximum efficiency and, in order to enhance professionalism, the financial remuneration should be re-evaluated to reach the accepted standards.

The pay awarded to early childhood professionals cannot be compared to that awarded other employees, since the early childhood workforce has been seen as sub-professional. Due to the ever increasing number of private early childhood centers and the paucity of trained and qualified staff, employers are employing non-qualified personnel in order to deal with the problem of understaffing, which is also due to the misconception that early childhood education can be taught by any individual regardless of training. Failure to understand the importance and the significance of early childhood education and the fragile nature of the child in terms of knowledge acquisition and social stability jeopardizes professionalism in the sector.

Carr (2003) argues that contrary to longstanding misconceptions, early childhood teachers are public servants, who should be accorded the right attention just like any other public servant. This means that the reputation hitherto accorded all early childhood educators should be enhanced in order to position early childhood professionals in the category along with other public servants. Training facilities and institutions for the early childhood professionals should also be considered so as to increase the competence and efficiency among the professionals and hence increase the quality of education to the expected standards.

In addition, Evette (2009) also claims that early childhood educators should embrace a technical approach to teaching in pre-school level in order to enhance efficiency. The early childhood teaching profession incorporates the findings of research as well as dedication in order to transform the knowledge levels of children. By respecting the services of the early childhood professionals, it will be possible to increase the quality in their teaching and caring responsibilities. Similarly, the longstanding separation of education and care should be restricted to include all the education policies and frameworks and recognize the educational features in the pre-school arena.

In order to enhance professionalism in the preschool sector, there needs to be a heightened awareness among early childhood professionals on the importance of early childhood education. Rather than just treating preschool as an optional way of preparing children to start schooling, it should be taken as a fundamental part of Singapore education. Similarly, professionalism has to be improved among preschool teachers by according them the respect as early childcare educators.

Early childhood teachers are perceived as second class teachers and this affects their morale and dedication to their professional work. Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Mr. Chan Chun Sing, in his parliament debate, said that it is critical to increase the manpower capacity of early childhood and raise the professional image of the sector. He also addressed how parents can do their part in lifting the professionalism of early childhood educators by simply expressing their gratitude and acknowledging their work instead "parents ask whether there are mosquito bites, whether the child has fallen and then walk off" (Straits Times, 2013).

One of the best ways of enhancing professionalism is to understand the current perspectives of education. From these perspectives, encouraging self-reflection and encouraging schools to take up initiatives of improving quality can cultivate professionalism. The fact that SPARK is not compulsory, serves as an initiative to all early childhood institutions to set up internal policies to enhance professionalism and excellence.

If there are concerted efforts in recognizing the contribution made by these professionals and in establishing a strong foundation that is conducive for further professional development in this sector, people might be more forthcoming in joining the sector, which would ultimately spur on progress. Since early childhood programmes cut across different professional sectors like care and education, changes should be holistic, aligned and multilayered.

A country that recognizes early childhood education as an essential part of human development is Finland (OECD, 2012). Although early childhood programs are not mandatory, it is free, and hence affordable and accessible by all citizens. The government funds all daycare programs in the country including one year in the preschool. This shows the significant participation of the government in streamlining early childhood education in the country. Elimination of fees in these levels of learning makes it possible for all parents to enroll their children in daycare programs and kindergartens, thereby ensuring accessibility and higher intake across the country. If such ideas implemented in other countries were to be modified to fit within the Singaporean situation, there might be better chances of elevating our standards across the country. Besides learning from the best, it cannot be stressed enough that appropriate adaptation of best practices in other countries must be accompanied by the need to in invest in research and the evaluation of both professionals and programme effectiveness.

Research and evaluation are vital as they help to uncover the underlying challenges and explore ways through which the programmes can be improved. Through research, early childhood professionals increase their knowledge and generate new ideas that are pertinent to Singapore’s unique situation. Similarly, evaluation of performance of childcare professionals and the quality offered by either the public sector or the private sector is crucial in improving quality and assuring all that different programmes are equal in quality and presentation. Early education should also be made mandatory so as to lay the foundation as a child transits into the formalized and fully academic primary school. By making this early education mandatory, children will get an opportunity of accessing the basic academic platform that will be essential in other academic ventures (Lee, 2012).

Whilst challenges and recommendations have been identified, effective leadership is necessary to steer the sector out of its current malaise (Bauman, 2008). Competent leaders, equipped with knowledge of the current challenges and knowhow, are critical to giving a lift that the sector badly needs. Good leadership would encourage parental and community involvement in finding a solution to the problems. By involving parents, leaders will get an intimate sense of on-ground sentiment, which can be invaluable in policy formulation. In addition, good leadership would ensure that professionalism is upheld without any personal biases.

Another way through which the early childhood education can be improved in a neo-liberal society would be to establish inter-ministry collaboration in order to facilitate exchange of data, funds and facilities needed to increase affordability and accessibility. One of the most important aspects is collaboration across different leadership agencies. Many sectors should be incorporated into enhancing quality of education by providing the relevant information, data and resources. The establishment of an independent board to deal with early childhood education does not prevent collaboration among other agencies. In fact, the board should serve as a central hub for connecting the health agency, social services, the community, parents, children and family agencies. By working together, these agencies and ministries have a better chance of improving quality of care across the sector.

Current early childhood teachers and childcare professionals have to follow a number of specific guidelines in order to maintain their professional mandates and to deliver quality services within the changing culture. However, Inter-ministry collaboration will provide information on the current activities occurring on the ground, and illustrate any impact at a practitioner level. It will work to appeal to policymakers newly formed partnerships geared toward development of educational services to children. Within the professional childcare setting, understanding individual child characteristics and family dimensions are essential in the effective and quality delivery of services. To remain professionally responsible and accountable, teachers and professional childcare providers must consistently demonstrate and model new standards to improve social, moral and academic capacities. Equally important, teachers and professional childcare providers must be well-versed in existing legal and professional standards, policies and regulations.

Knowledge of legal boundaries help in differentiating between expected service delivery and those purely driven by market forces. Differences between stipulated childcare programmes and those driven by market changes due to commercialization should not affect service delivery process (Centre for Public Services, 2003). Under these federal and local standards, professional caregivers have a yardstick where they can exercise their professional judgment and not be unduly swayed by excesses that are imposed upon the system by the force of market demands. There is also a need for integration among different professionals to ensure that these proposed solutions are adhered to effectively. Every early education professional must look within themselves and adopt a hard-nosed approach in questioning whether commercialization of early childhood education has truly brought about beneficial changes in the service delivery process.

Professionalism should be guided by ideals and principles under the code of ethics, government and federal regulations regarding dissemination of childcare services. In this scenario, professionalism is mainly influenced by an individual’s integrity, responsibility and ability to demonstrate insightful understanding and respect for children and their families. These key traits have a positive influence on professionalism in a sector under pressure from external forces. Professionalism is best demonstrated by having a diverse and multidimensional understanding of early childhood theories, federal and institutional policies and expectations, differences and expectations among children and parents and the ability to conduct a self-analysis of one’s professional and academic qualities. In order to provide guiding principles for early childhood educators, the Association for Early Childhood Educators (Singapore) - AECES has established a Code of Ethics. The professions have ownership of this Code as it developed through dialogue with those in the field. Within this set of principles the need for positive relationships in the ethical practice and professional growth of early educators is acknowledged.

According to arguments raised by Dahlberg and Moss (2005), liberalism mainly focuses on teaching the self to govern itself. According to Lee (2012), in a neo-liberal society, consumerism advocates for accountability, self-regulation, and efficiency, and training children to be reliable citizens in future. However, in reality, consumerism in early childhood development makes it hard for parents and childcare givers to come to a consensus on issues pertaining to quality, accessibility and affordability as their end goals are fundamentally at odds – providers looking at making money without necessarily considering what’s best for their students and, on the other hand parents strive to nurture their offspring. The current climate of marketizing and converting childcare centres as products rather than academic centres of excellence has brought the conflict to the fore.

One of the theoretical frameworks that guide professional child caregivers is the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. The NAEYC or National Association for the Education of Young Children was founded with the aim of ensuring that caregivers provide moral and ethical support when dealing with young children (National Association for the Education of Young, 2005). Under this legal framework, caregivers are expected to not only offer academic support, but also make informed decisions on their charges’ wellbeing, while being guided by professional, academic, moral and ethical standards. NAEYC codes of ethical conduct are based on expanding the knowledge base of young children and remaining focused in the early stages, intermediary and advanced levels of early education training.

In the neo-liberal society, childcare centres are ranked according to their facilities and standards - a move that establishes the institutions as market products and deviating from their longstanding objective of offering equitable and quality services. Under the NAEYC codes of ethical conduct, professionalism should be governed by the existing moral and ethical standards, rather than on the differences caused by consumerism. Based on the ideals and the principles under NAEYC, the neo-liberalism approach to education can offer challenges on choice and contents due to the economization of the sector (National Association for the Education of Young, 2005).

In conclusion, professionalism based on ethical standards, self-reflection and adherence to academic, social and moral standards should be given premium attention in the education sector. If we are steadfast in our approach, there will be improvement in the services in an economized early childhood sector. Personal beliefs and biases have to be set aside for professionalism to truly flourish. With sincere reflection and an open mindset to reforms can we then look forward to a complete transformation of a sector that is so crucial to the country’s well-being.

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PART B

Reflection and Conclusion

Early childhood policy is a complex field. It is concerned with providing education and care to the young children. There is a misconception that ECCE refers to pre-school or pre-primary education. As noted, ECCE covers and should address the whole period from birth up to 8 years of age. Pre-school or pre-primary education can be a major portion of ECCE, but concept of ECCE is broader than that and also addresses the issue specific to younger than 3 years as well as the transitional period into a formal primary school system. Thus, in a quality ECCE programme ‘care’ encapsulates health, nutrition, hygiene, affection, protection, safety and psychosocial support and ‘education’ goes beyond being just ‘downward extensions of a formal school system (UNESCO, 2000) to the provision of opportunities to facilitate learning and to guide the process of acquiring new skills, knowledge and values.

In Singapore, kindergarten is part of Early Childhood Care and Education (there are mainly two sectors of Early Childhood Care and Education for young children, i.e. the childcare sector and the kindergarten sector. Child care centres provide care and education for children aged 2 years to 6 years which are licensed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). Kindergartens provide pre-school education for children aged 4 to 6 and are private education institutions that have to be registered with the Ministry of Education (MOE). There will be government run-kindergarten education and it was announced that it will set up fifteen pilot kindergartens over the next few years. Of these, five will start operating and enrol Kindergarten 1 children in January 2014.

Why did the government took the move only to set up Kindergarten under its purview, there are more childcare centres in Singapore compared to Kindergartens and the information from - Vital voices for vital years: a study of leaders’ perspectives on improving the early childhood sector in Singapore and Starting Well: Benchmarking early education across the world, commissioned by Lien Foundation, informs many issues faced in the early childhood sector too e.g. teacher qualification, salary, quality of programme etc. The government is addressing the kindergarten sector whereby the children who are in a short hour programme, 4 hours, the children in childcare in the centre for more than 10 hours. The issues in the childcare are more critical and needs to be addressed as well and there were no mention of this from the ECDA or the Ministries (MOE and MSF).

This division between ‘care’ and ‘education’ in childcare and kindergarten should be a focus of attention for the newly established Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) that oversees the childcare centres and kindergartens in Singapore as of 1st April 2013. ECDA need to clarify its policy in how these two components will be integrated and how the transitions between the two environments are inclusive of child care and education programs, but inclusive of supports to parents (Unesco & Unicef, 2012)

A good early childhood programme should ensure opportunities for children to develop to their fullest potential by working hand in hand with their families. Early childhood educator’s role is not to help lighten the parenting load of working parents (OECD, 2013). Politicians campaigning for more childcare centres have missed this important point. Instead, they are reinforcing the wrong message that more childcare centres will be made available for parents. However, government should respond to care and educational issues that are high both in childcares and kindergartens on national policy agendas, and where the international comparative perspective can offer important added value to what can be accomplished through national analysis and evaluation (OECD, 2012). This will include addressing major issues that were identified from the findings commissioned by Lien Foundation, quality of programme, staff training that tie in to their professional recognition, high attrition rate, and low salary etc.

Curriculum refers to the contents and methods that substantiate children’s learning and development. It answers the questions "what to teach?" and "how to teach it?"

(NIEER, 2007). It is a complex concept especially in ECCE, containing multiple components, such as ECCE goals, content and pedagogical practices (Litjens and Taguma, 2010). Setting a standardized curriculum is an area that needs looking into. The OECD (2006) report, Starting Strong II, notes that pedagogical and curriculum philosophies influence the nature of provisions: an early education tradition is associated with a more centralised and pre-academic approach and a social pedagogical tradition with a more local, child-centred and holistic approach (OECD, 2006). In our context, a refreshed Curriculum Framework Development will enable the staff to cover important learning areas, adopt a common pedagogical approach and achieve quality across age groups through guidance (EIU, 2012).

Gaining wide support for curriculum framework and implementation is a challenge faced by educators. Without buy-in from those who are to implement a change or a new idea, any reform may fail. And the buy-in or consensus cannot be built – without sufficient and strategic consultation – at the implementation stage. It is also a challenge to implement the change or new idea without support. The kind of support required for effective implementation depends on various characteristics of the staff as well as contexts. Furthermore, preparing conditions for staff to effectively implement the curriculum is another challenge. Insufficient guidelines and resources are likely to enhance difficulties, especially for inexperienced, new staff or staff with lower qualifications. Certain working environments, such as having too many children to look after, may hinder practising the pedagogy guided in the curriculum.

An emphasis on economic and market driven policies, that is economic rationalism, has resulted shift of early childhood profession. The debate also rages on whether early childhood care and education should be recognized as profession or a vocation. As mentioned by Carr (2003), teaching is seen as a public service. Professional teachers possess expertise, autonomy, and commitment to students’ learning and address issues such as quality of education and high quality teaching (Ambrosie & Haley, 1988; Boyer, 2004). Early et al. (2007) emphasise that teacher quality is a very complex issue.

Increasing staff education will not suffice for improving classroom quality or maximising children’s academic gains. Instead, raising the effectiveness of early childhood education will likely require a broad range of professional development activities and support for staff’s interactions with children. An area that can improve pedagogical practices of ECCE staff includes supporting staff’s competence to communicate and interact with children in a shared and sustainable manner (Sheridan et al., 2009).

Another challenge impeding the raising of professionalism is the quality of preschool teacher training programmes. The importance of seeking qualifications is not only to equip practitioners with the necessary competency skills to work with young children, but to understand the theory and analytical thinking skills that underlie their practice. Preschool teachers may have a diploma in teaching certificate but they may not have specialized training that is critical to being knowledgeable early childhood professionals (Saluja, Early, & Clifford, 2002). Quality pre-service training for early childhood educators is vital and necessary to advancing the workforce in Singapore.

In Singapore, the early childhood training programmes are provided by diverse providers, from the local polytechnics, private agencies, those that are affiliated with overseas universities to private preschools.

This has inadvertently resulted in difference in training experiences and training routes. There are also differences in the rigor and quality of the training in terms of the content, what is being taught (pedagogy), how it is being taught, and the philosophy (whose ideas are being taught). Some training programmes rely mainly on placement or workplace experience, while others offer a more research-based theoretical type of learning experience. Another critical issue is the quality of the lecturers. Some lecturers do not even have experience in the field they are teaching; some come with only two or three years of experience, the minimum requirement for being a lecturer set by the Pre-school Qualification Accreditation Committee (PQAC).

The Pre-school Qualification Accreditation Committee (PQAC) oversees the standards and quality of pre-school teacher training for both kindergarten and child care sectors in Singapore. One possibility of addressing the issue of inconsistencies in training outcomes is to carry out an independent review of current training programmes and to have one government body overseeing the training of the workforce - the way that MOE is the lead ministry which oversees the training of primary school teachers.

The shortage of teachers may be structural and due to outdated centre operations or ineffective human resource practices. If childcare centres re-design their approach, teachers will focus on developing children’s intellectual, social and emotional development. While less qualified child minders take care of the rest. When childcare teachers are more involved in designing pedagogy, planning the curriculum and assessing learning, the likelihood of them seeking professional development is higher. These are the kind of early childhood educators we need, however the lack in the pedagogy knowledge and lack in specialized training and teachers bogged with administrative work during teaching time widens the gaps in providing quality programme.

The consequences for a child who fails to cope during the first year in primary education are at stake. By the time he/she reaches Primary 2, the gap widens and his/her performance spirals downwards. There are enough children in primary schools who need learning intervention who would attest to the fact that the foundation of learning was not built adequately when they entered Primary 1. Why is this so?

Frequent turnover among early childhood teachers prevent children from developing a secure attachment with teachers. In addition, teachers' high turnover negatively affects children's social, emotional, and language development and long term positive learning outcomes (Korjenevitch & Dunifon, 2010). The most common issue is the lack of qualified staff early childhood care and education teachers. With the raise of preschool teacher’s entry qualification which is necessary and welcome step forward to early childhood sector, it has however, exacerbated the issue of attrition in the workforce. Preschool teachers take advantage of the expanding private sector to move from one centre to another for slightly more pay and thus this has created a volatile employment market. Another major contributing factor to this issue is the rapid expansion of childcare centres.

There are more teaching vacancies than there are teachers. Teachers end up going to the highest bidder, moving around different centres with an adverse impact on children’s learning. This is evident in the organization that I work for, one of the biggest childcare chains, NTUC First Campus. Currently we have 111 childcare centres island-wide with very high attrition rate of centre principals and teachers. It is trying to meet its target of recruiting 350 new preschool teachers and 100 infant care teacher positions needed for its new centres. NTUC First Campus had an attrition rate of 20% attrition rate in 2009 (Media Release, 2010).

In the face of increased attention on early education, there is a concomitant need for empirical efforts to examine what works for whom, within which contexts, and within specific cost structure?(Welch-Ross, Wolf, Moorehouse, & Rathgeb, 2006). Any form of study must exceed the normal issues dealing with early childhood caregiver behavior for example, the credentials and experiences of the caregivers. Rather, establishing the scientific endeavor of early childhood professional development requires building a body of theories and evidence about not only its forms i.e., methods, structures, or delivery approaches but also its processes i.e., underlying mechanisms responsible for or influencing change, and proximal and distal outcomes i.e., effects on the practitioners themselves and the children/families they serve (Ang, 2012).

The early childhood field is at a crossroad where theoretical and empirical expertise is needed to guide reforms in a sector facing rapid expansion. Indeed, the field is acquiring a body of findings about the effects of various forms, levels, and organizations of professional development on early childhood educators’ knowledge base and skill sets e.g., findings about the outcomes of different trainings, coaching, consultation, and other models of staff support (Saluja, Early, & Clifford, 2002).

Much work is needed in this area but we are comforted that the government and the sector has demonstrated the commitment to take up the call for sweeping changes, with the myriad of constructive policy announcements made recently. Early childhood education is finally getting the recognition that it rightfully deserves.

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