The Early Childhood (EC) sector in Singapore is a work field that has been on the main headlines of local news in recent years. The government has been investing money into the sector to develop educators and even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has acknowledged the importance of the quality of teachers in the sector during the National Day Rally 2017. Hence, ‘professional development’ was a topic that I intended to pursue and inquire for my Capstone Project.  

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At the beginning of the process of gathering information revolving ‘Professional Development’ (PD) , I had a personal, yet inaccurate, definition on it. I thought that professional development is one-off workshops that teachers already in the field had to attend occasionally. However, I soon came to realise that any form of teacher training is considered as PD and this includes going through my own diploma. PD can be a 1-day workshop or it can be a 3-year undergraduate course. On the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) website, there is a Continuing PD Prospectus and reading that has allowed me to be more aware of the diverse range of course available to deepen an educator’s skills.

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Initially, I also had a misconception that the cost of PD courses is a huge factor that may hinder centres form sending out their teachers to such course. However, I discovered that the government and ECDA have been increasingly investing financially to ease the process of allowing educators to attend PD.  This is in the hopes of developing quality teachers in the sector and ultimately raising the standard of early education in Singapore.