A first-of-its-kind Mentoring Starter Kit, initiated by the industry, has been launched for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) professionals to foster a mentoring culture in pre-schools.

The Starter Kit, which will be distributed to more than 16,000 registered pre-school teachers in conjunction with Teachers’ Day 2013, was supported by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) as a ground-up initiative to promote continuing professional development within the ECCE sector.

The development of the Mentoring Starter Kit was led by SEED Institute, the National Continuing Education and Training Institute (NCI) for the ECCE sector, together with Dr Linda Croglia¹ and inputs from industry partners².

The Starter Kit consists of two parts – the Mentor Handbook and the Mentee Journal, which contains information and templates which can be customised to meet the specific needs of individual mentors and mentees. More details can be found in Annex A.

Mr Azzli Jamain, Director, Creative and Professional Services Division, WDA said: “WDA is pleased to be part of this industry-led initiative which recognises the importance of mentoring to further enhance the quality of our pre-school teachers. The Mentoring Starter Kit will complement the existing ECCE Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) mentoring programmes available for the sector to encourage and create a mentoring culture within the pre-schools.”

Dr Kok Siat Yeow, Head, Continuing Professional Development & Office of Regional Partnerships, SEED Institute said: “Nurturing and educating young children is a noble and rewarding profession but it does come with great responsibilities. The ECCE community and WDA have come together on this project to assure our new counterparts that they will receive the necessary support throughout their careers. As teachers take charge of their own professional development, be it through practicum, mentoring or continuing professional development, such initiatives signal to passionate individuals that ECCE can be a viable profession of choice for them.”

Following the launch, Dr Linda Croglia will conduct two to three workshops on mentoring in the first quarter of 2014 to reach out to at least 100 ECCE professionals³.

The Mentoring Starter Kit was launched jointly by WDA and SEED Institute at Spring Brainy Kidz Childcare Centre on 3 September 2013, in conjunction with Teachers’ Day celebrations.

For more details, please refer to the attached factsheets:

Annex A Factsheet on the ECCE Mentoring Starter Kit
Annex B Factsheet on ECCE WSQ Framework

¹Dr Linda Croglia is an education consultant and specialist in Mentoring, Coaching and Strategic School Improvement Planning, based in the United States.

² Association of the Early Childhood and Training Services (ASSETS) and Dr Christine Chen, President, Association of Early Childhood Educators (Singapore) (AECES).

³ This is one of the upcoming workshops SEED has planned for in 2014. As part of encouraging continuing professional development, SEED will also be organising more workshops and seminars in 2014 covering areas such as leadership, supporting children with additional needs and development of infant and toddler. These will be supported by WDA as part of the ECCE Industry Practitioner Series which public can look out for.