\n<\/p>\n
The change comes after ECDA said earlier this year that it was reviewing educators\u2019 working environment, including how to strengthen the adoption of non-contact time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are currently about 28,000 educators across 1,800 preschools in the early childhood sector, ECDA said in response to CNA\u2019s queries about the impact of the new requirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Educators have said that they find it difficult completing both teaching and other professional responsibilities during the work day, due to the high demands of teaching.<\/p>\n
ECDA said setting aside dedicated time would help educators better manage their workload, and could raise teaching quality, support their well-being and boost staff retention over time.<\/p>\n
Centres will have flexibility in scheduling the time based on their operational needs, it added. They can provide it daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly, but it must be given in blocks of at least one hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of the arrangement, centres should provide non-contact time regularly and within educators\u2019 working hours, and this should not result in extending their working hours,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n
The two-hour minimum was developed following consultations with educators and preschool operators, and takes into account existing practices across the sector.<\/p>\n
But it is not a cap, and centres that already provide more non-contact time \u2013 or are able to do so \u2013 are encouraged to continue.<\/p>\n
Operators will have about a year to prepare, review their work arrangements and put the necessary support in place, said Mr Masagos. \u201cThose who are able to offer more than the minimum are encouraged to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
The requirement will be included in the Early Childhood Development Centre Code of Practice, and ECDA will work with preschool operators and sector stakeholders during this period to support its adoption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work of an early childhood educator, though, <\/strong>goes beyond the classroom,\u201d said Mr Masagos.<\/p>\n \u201cEducators plan learning experiences, document each child\u2019s development, and work alongside parents. And all this to support our children\u2019s learning and well-being. These responsibilities are integral to delivering quality preschool education.\u201d<\/p>\n The move is part of ECDA\u2019s broader efforts under its Quality Preschools 2030 plan to improve working conditions for early childhood educators.<\/p>\n Over the past five years, the government has invested more than S$75 million in the professional development of early childhood educators, building their skills and competencies at various stages of their careers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe needs of our educators, children and families will continue to evolve, and our approach to professional development <\/strong>therefore must evolve accordingly,\u201d Mr Masagos said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MORE TIME BEYOND THE CLASSROOM The change comes after ECDA said earlier this year that it was reviewing educators\u2019 working environment, including how to strengthen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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