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Salaries for early childhood educators can go up more: Tan Chuan-Jin

SINGAPORE — There is room for wages in the pre-school sector to grow further, the Minister for Social and Family Development said on Tuesday (Aug 29).

SINGAPORE — There is room for wages in the pre-school sector to grow further, the Minister for Social and Family Development said on Tuesday (Aug 29).

This, coupled with the structured training that will be available once the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC) comes up, will help open up more opportunities for early childhood educators in their career development.

Speaking to reporters at an event held at a private childcare centre, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin said that the response to announcements to bolster the sector — made during the National Day Rally — has been “very positive” so far.

Pre-school teachers have told him that the setting up of the new NIEC was something that they had been looking forward to “for many years”, he said.

“As we develop the ecosystem, there will be a lot more different roles and responsibilities that (pre-school teachers) can take up. That allows us to begin to structure career prospects as well, which also means — importantly — that pay also increases,” he added.

Last week, Mr Tan had announced that by 2023, around two-thirds of the early childhood education industry will be controlled by the Government.

When asked about plans to increase the salaries of pre-school teachers, Mr Tan said on Tuesday that the Government would work closely with anchor and partner operators, as well as MOE Kindergartens on this.

While salaries have been rising over the past few years, there is a need for them to “move up” further. “I think we have some degree of ability to influence some of that development. And clearly, if you want to attract talent, you do need to structure that,” he said.

Monthly salaries typically start from S$1,300 for an assistant teacher at a pre-school, while principals can earn more than S$6,000.

Ms Caroline Anthony, 49, an early childhood educator of nearly 18 years, said that she would like entry-level pre-school teachers to get a higher monthly pay of at least S$3,000, as opposed to the S$2,200 to S$2,500 that diploma-holders usually get.

“The teachers’ work (goes beyond) teaching per se,” she said. “They have to write lesson plans, evaluate the lessons, update parents on an almost daily basis regarding their children’s progress, prepare teaching aids, (and organise) events.

“Salary increments are rather slow and new teachers don’t get motivated, and therefore, (they) tend to leave the industry... We are losing a lot of teachers because there’s so much to do and so little to take home.”

Pre-school teacher Nurul Farah, 25, said that an ideal salary for someone who has been teaching for about three to five years is about S$2,500 to S$3,000. She added that the monthly starting salary of S$1,800 she received when she began working four years ago was “not really justified” given the work they had to do.

“We also had to prepare lesson plans, and organise events and field trips for the children. It was a bit low,” she said.

Fellow teacher Tan Hui Ling, 26, agreed. Ms Tan, who switched from teaching at public pre-school to a private one early this year, earns about S$2,800 a month now.

If she had not changed employers, she would still be earning just S$2,350 even after six years, she said, adding that those with three to five years of experience should be earning more than S$2,500 at least. “They’re expecting us to do much more now, but salaries have remained the same.”

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