The Government is to be lauded for making pre-school education more affordable and accessible via the "anchor operator" and partner operator schemes, and for instituting the Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework (Spark) as a tool to measure quality (What the new playing field for pre-school offers; March 19).
Centres awarded Spark certification should qualify for grants too.
After all, the grants are meant to benefit pre-schoolers, in terms of ensuring quality teaching and learning resources, and also ensuring that the teachers and leaders are reasonably remunerated and rentals are affordable.
The next area the Government should look into is sustainability. Teachers and principals need strong leaders with deep knowledge and insights into early childhood education to sustain good practices.
There is a need to build a culture of quality-consciousness in early childhood educators with or without the Spark quality mark.
How can we measure and sustain quality during day-to-day operations?
How can we ensure that pre-schoolers are benefiting from the grants given?
Rebecca Chan (Dr)