Situation & Challenge
In the annual National Day Rally in 2017, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced an ambition of "giving every child a good start in life". This began the Early Childhood Development Agency's (ECDA) efforts to ramp up the number of early childhood educators by 25% (16,000 to 20,000) in four years. It is a mammoth task that is easier said than done.
Early childhood educators are often seen as glorified nannies who simply "play with children all day" and change nappies. They also face low pay, a lack of respect and stress from demanding parents. We...