Foreigners still needed for growth A29A30

By SUDHIR THOMAS VADAKETHFOR THE STRAITS TIMES

IMPROVING Singapore’spreschool environment can,over time, help to boostbirth rates, reduce social ine-qualities and better prepare

people for work in a knowledgeeconomy.

These are some of the findingsfrom a new report, Starting Well,published by the Economist Intelli-gence Unit and commissioned bythe Lien Foundation. The researchranks the preschool environmentsin 45 countries. Singapore ranks29th, below countries such asChile (20th) and Greece (27th).The Nordic countries – Finland(1st), Sweden (2nd) and Norway(3rd) – are rated as having theworld’s most inclusive and highquality preschool environments.

Singapore’s poor showing inthe report has provoked debate. Acloser look at the findings sug-gests areas for improvement.

The index scores countriesacross four categories: “Availabili-ty” (25 per cent of total), “Afforda-bility” (25 per cent), “Quality” (45per cent) and “Social Context” (5per cent). Singapore performswell only in the social context,which looks at the broader so-cio-economic environment foryoung children, including theirhealth and nutrition levels.

Singapore ranks 25th for availa-bility, largely because there is nolegal right to preschool educationhere. A legal right does not implythat it is mandatory, but simplythat a government has an obliga-tion to provide it to those whowant it. The research argues thatsuch a right is an important signof a long-term, stable commit-ment to preschool. Indeed, thereis a strong correlation betweenthe presence of a legal right andoverall index performance.

For instance, South Korea(ranked 10th) enacted its EarlyChildhood Education Act in 2004.Among other things, it stipulatesthat the government “offers oneyear free early child education im-mediately before entering an ele-mentary school, and requires thecentral and local governments tobear the cost for the free educa-tion”. By contrast, Singapore hasno similar Act supporting the pre-school sector.

Singapore ranks 21st in termsof affordability, pulled down byrelatively low government pre-school spending and insufficientsubsidies for preschool providers.

Higher quality for all

FINALLY, Singapore ranks 30thin terms of quality, with lowscores for, among other things,student-teacher ratios and pre-school teacher wages.

While Singapore has some ex-cellent preschools, they tend to beexpensive. More affordable pro-grammes, including those run bythe National Trades Union Con-gress (NTUC) and the PAP Com-munity Foundation (PCF), are ofvarying quality. As a result, chil-dren of richer parents typically re-ceive a much better preschool edu-cation and are subsequently more

prepared for primary school, withgreater social awareness, confi-dence and group interactionskills.

“From neuro-scientific re-search, we understand the critical-ity of early brain development,”Professor Sharon Kagan, whoteaches early childhood and fami-ly policy at Teachers College, Co-lumbia University in the UnitedStates, explains in the report.“Early childhood education con-tributes to creating the kinds ofworkforces that are going to beneeded in the 21st century.” Goog-le founders Sergey Brin and LarryPage, among others, have attribut-ed their achievements partly totheir good preschool education.

So, what can be done to im-prove the preschool environmenthere?

Raise teacher qualifications

FIRST, the research suggests thatSingapore must raise minimumteacher qualifications. Expertsagree that a well-trained work-force is the most important deter-minant of quality. Singapore lastrevamped its preschool teacher re-quirements in 2008, stipulatingthat from 2009, new preschoolteachers must have five O-levelcredits and a two-year diploma inpreschool education. (Before that,only three O-level credits and ateaching certificate were re-quired.)

Though a good step, this pro-gression is well behind the require-ments of other countries. In Fin-land, for instance, all preschoolteachers have a three- orfour-year bachelor’s degree in ed-ucation. Greece, similarly, madethe decision to turn kindergartentraining into a graduate profes-sion in the 1990s. Singapore mustraise the bar aggressively whileproviding financial assistance tohelp current teachers retrain tomeet the new requirements.

This adjustment has to bealigned with primary and second-ary school requirements, and willhave to be part of a broader pushto raise the status and wages of allteachers in society. At the topend, preschool teachers in Den-mark earn an average of nearlyUS$50,000 (S$62,800) a year inpurchasing power parity (PPP)terms – compared with less thanUS$19,000 in Singapore.

According to the Ministry ofManpower, preschool teachers arethe lowest paid profession withinthe “Associate professionals andtechnicians” category, which in-cludes, among others, social work-ers, display artists and dental nurs-es. The median gross monthly pre-school teacher wage ($1,840) was

just 63 per cent of Singapore’soverall median gross wage($2,925) last year.

Teacher shortage

SECOND, the research indicates apreschool teacher shortage in Sin-g a p o r e . T h e c u r r e n t s t u -dent-teacher ratio here is 20 to 1,well above places such as Den-mark (5.5), Canada (12) and Tai-wan (12.6). Although there issome disagreement about whatclass size is optimal for better de-velopmental outcomes, smallerclasses are certainly more manage-able for teachers.

While higher salaries shouldnaturally attract more people toteaching, Singapore can also makestrong efforts to attract qualifiedworking professionals from othercareers to transition into the pro-fession, as Britain has done.

Greater parental awareness

THIRD, there is a need to bolsterparental awareness and involve-ment in early childhood educa-tion. The top performing coun-tries have extensive parental edu-cation programmes to ensure thatparents understand the impor-tance and role of preschool, andcan provide a supportive home en-vironment, including adequate so-cial, emotional and motor-skillstraining that is “age-appropriate”– matching the developmental lev-el of children as they grow.

Other ways to improve qualityinclude creating better links be-tween preschool and prima-ry school, and putting ro-bust data collectionm e c h a n i s m s i nplace to enablemore accuratepreschool pro-gramme quali-t y a s s e s s -ments.

Increasestatespending

F I N A L L Y , a sthese measures willresult in higher costs,more public money willhave to be spent. Interms of government spend-ing per year on each rele-vant-age child, exact figuresfor Singapore are not availa-ble, but it is understood tospend less than Norway does(US$7,620 in PPP terms), andless also than countries such asNew Zealand (US$4,329), Japan( U S $ 4 , 0 2 9 ) a n d P o l a n d(US$2,635).

Singapore’s privatised pre-

school education sector is current-ly funded through subsidies givendirectly to families, who can thensecure preschool places for theirchildren – or a “demand-side” ap-proach. In some countries, subsi-dies are given directly to provid-ers, with specific mandates aboutthe need to accept all children –or a “supply-side” strategy.

Singapore’s limited sup-ply-side support is highly target-ed. It is offered only to non-profitproviders with no ethnic or reli-gious affiliations which have the

ability and reach to provideservices to all children, in-cluding those from low- tomiddle-income families.Currently, only the NTUCand PCF groups qualify forsupport, which is calibrated

to help them keep their feesaffordable.

While the Nordic countrieshave a nationalised, sup-

ply-side approach, the researchshows that there are other coun-

tries, such as New Zealand(ranked 9th), that have achievedsuccess with a private sector, mar-ket-led strategy, through subsi-dies both to providers and disad-vantaged families.

A common assumption is thathigher public spending on pre-school will necessarily mean high-er taxes and/or a diversion of pub-lic money from elsewhere. But athird way could be for preschoolinvestment to come under deficitspending, with any possible taxhikes left for future generations,who are in any case the main bene-ficiaries. In other words, perhapslittle children can pay for theirown quality preschool when theygrow up and start earning.

And yet they may not have to.According to the research, somestudies suggest that preschool in-vestment can yield annual returnsranging from 8 per cent to 17 percent. These accrue partly to thechildren themselves – largely inthe form of higher lifetime earn-ings – but more significantly tothe wider community, in terms ofa reduced need for later remedialeducation and spending, and low-er crime and less welfare reliancein later life, among other things.

In many countries, preschoolinvestment often forms part of abroader package of family supportto increase female participation inthe workforce and maintain birthrates.

The research also indicatesthat greater preschool availability,affordability and quality can helpreduce social inequality. This isnot only because parents canwork more, but also because quali-ty preschool better prepares chil-dren for primary school, improv-ing educational and professionaloutcomes later on in life, therebyenhancing their future earning po-tential.

There is currently much debatein Singapore about how best to ad-dress social inequalities. One pos-sible way is by giving all children,regardless of background, theirbest shot at life – starting frompreschool education.The writer, a Singaporean, is a senioreditor with the Economist IntelligenceUnit. He was the editor of the StartingWell report.

EARLY PREPARATION

Early childhood education contributes tocreating the kinds of workforces that are goingto be needed in the 21st century.– Professor Sharon Kagan, who teaches early childhood and family policyat Teachers College, Columbia University in the United States

IT IS to Singapore’s credit that its lead-ers have consistently exhorted citizensto welcome immigrants even when thatcall has incensed those opposed to thepresence of more foreigners. Such politi-cal steadfastness has been invaluable inassuring immigrants that they are want-ed, that their contributions are recog-nised, and that they will not be left tofend for themselves if the social environ-ment sours. The last risk is a very realone in other countries where immi-grants are welcomed for their economiccontributions but are essentially forgot-ten otherwise by the authorities. There,the second or third generation of immi-grants bear the brunt of resentment andrejection although they know no other

country and culture except the one oftheir birth. These are dangers that Singa-pore must avoid both to be fair to immi-grants and to uphold its character as anopen society.

The quid pro quo, however, is that im-migrants who seek to make Singaporetheir permanent home should look on itas a common space to be respected andshared with existing Singaporeans. Onecritical advantage new citizens possessis, of course, that they are not foreign-ers any more but have decided to throwin their lot with other Singaporeans. Lo-cals should welcome their life-changingdecision as ultimately a sign of confi-dence in the country, particularly sincethe ex-foreigners have had to give up

their old passports. However, there ismuch more to integration than the pos-session of a red Singapore passport. Inrecently encouraging new citizens to in-tegrate themselves into society, PrimeMinister Lee Hsien Loong served a re-minder that acceptance is a two-waystreet.

Certainly, there is nothing likeone-on-one, face-to-face contacts tocreate trust. This trust lays the basis foraccepting distinctively Singaporean life-styles, norms and values. This processtakes time because old values retain apowerful hold on the immigrant mind.There is thus a natural temptation tostay close to other immigrants whoshare those values. But the transition to

a Singaporean way of life must occur.One practical way in which integra-

tion can take place is through communi-ty work. Singapore offers a range of op-portunities, from social and grassrootsactivities to volunteering with schools,welfare and self-help groups. Greatervisibility of new citizens in the commu-nity will help to assuage concerns thatthey do not want to relate to Singapore-ans, having been drawn here by littlemore than material interest. Anotherway to reach out to fellow Singaporeansis to use basic English as it helps new im-migrants to understand, appreciate andrelate to all cultures here. When itcomes to integration, there’s no betterway than to jump in and just do it.

Tackling preschool challenges in S’pore

The Long Interview: Liak Teng Lit

All together now

F R I D A Y , J U L Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 2

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Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.