Pre-school educators can soon look forward to getting training right at their childcare centres' doorstep with NTUC SEED Institute's first onsite, bite-sized training scheme for continuing professional development (CPD) of the early childhood care and education (ecce) sector.
Some 20 pre-school operators inked their pledge to support their staff for continuing professional development on 16 March 2012 at Jurong Spring Community Club.
The pledge was taken together with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the Education Services Union (ESU) and NTUC's SEED Institute.
The event, which was graced by Guest-of-Honour NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Ong Ye Kung, commemorated the launch of the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) Teacher-Child Interaction and Classroom Management course.
SEED Institute will be the first to bring CPD programmes to the ground, organised by geographical zones.
Twelve pre-school operators from the Jurong cluster have already enrolled their teaching staff for the training.
"As the only Continuing Education and Training (CET) Institute for the ecce sector, we take it as our responsibility to help pre-school teachers upgrade their skills and enhance their teaching capabilities," said SEED Institute Academic Director Ho Yin Fong.
With lessons conducted in the vicinity of their centres on weekdays, teaching staff do not have to sacrifice personal and family time to attend these development courses.
A total of 89 pre-school operators, with about 300 pre-school centres, have committed to support the continuing professional development of their staff.
SEED Institute plans to roll out at least two more of such training courses this year to train some 100 to 120 more pre-school educators.
