SINGAPORE: A new specialised certificate in preschool mother tongue language teaching will be rolled out from next year, to better equip educators with oral skills and knowledge about related culture and heritage.
This was announced by Social and Family Development Minister Desmond Lee at the Early Childhood Conference on Friday (Oct 5).
AdvertisementMr Lee added that a training bonus of S$2,000 will also be given to in-service teachers who take up mother tongue language teaching and complete the course, over the next two years.
For a start, the non-compulsory course will be available in Malay and Tamil, as the sector faces a “greater need for Malay and Tamil language preschool teachers”, according to a statement by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).
"We hope to encourage more early childhood educators who are interested to explore mother tongue language teaching to take up the training and become mother tongue teachers," said Mr Lee, who was speaking to an audience of about 1,500 educators.
He added: "It is encouraging to see the passion and dedication of our mother tongue language teachers and we want to continue to support the important work that you do.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"We have set aside up to S$3 million over the next two years to support the mother tongue language training bonus and the development of the Early Years Mother Tongue resources."
Currently, there are existing pre-service courses to train Chinese language preschool teachers, such as the Continuing Education and Training and Pre-Employment Training courses.
According to ECDA, a similar certificate course to support Chinese language teaching, as well as eligibility for the training bonus, will be considered.
[h=3]READ: Scaling up supply of Mother Tongue pre-school teachers[/h][h=3]READ: Pre-schoolers at My First Skool at Jurong West to be part of bilingualism study[/h]MOTHER TONGUE LANGUAGE RESOURCES FOR NURSERIES TO BE DEVELOPED
Mother tongue language resources - such as books, games and teaching guides - will also be developed for three- to four-year-old children in nursery.
The resources, which will be made available in Chinese, Malay and Tamil, will be piloted at selected preschools in 2019 and extended to other preschools in 2020.
The initiative follows focus group discussions in August with about 40 early childhood professionals, many of whom welcomed the move, said Mr Lee.
A three-year national campaign was also launched, as part of efforts to raise public awareness of the early childhood profession.
"Strengthening mother tongue language teaching is only the beginning," said Mr Lee.
"Going forward, we want to build a community of early childhood leaders of varied expertise, and broaden the leadership pathways to include specialists who aspire to contribute in a particular area of expertise."
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