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SEED and the Caterpillar’s Cove to provide better research and training

SINGAPORE – Located side by side, NTUC’s new campuses for their training arm SEED Institute and pre-school The Caterpillar’s Cove will provide better research and training for even more pre-school teachers in the early childhood sector.

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SINGAPORE – Located side by side, NTUC’s new campuses for their training arm SEED Institute and pre-school The Caterpillar’s Cove will provide better research and training for even more pre-school teachers in the early childhood sector.

Costing a total of S$1.85 million, both campuses are located at the new Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability in Jurong East.

For one, the opening of its second campus, SEED Institute will be able to train about 7,200 existing and new pre-school teachers every year, up from the present 5,600.

The co-location of both campuses will allow trainee teachers at the new SEED Institute to observe classroom practices at The Caterpillar’s Cove, as part of efforts to bridge their theory lessons with practice.

Speaking at a press conference today (15 Oct), Deputy Director of Professional Practices at SEED Institute Geraldine Teo-Zuzarte noted the lack of localised research in the early childhood sector.

“A lot of the research cited is always from somewhere else. So I think this closer collaboration with SEED, now that we’re just next door, we are neighbours, will strengthen the kind of research we can do and also the research we have already done,” she added.

To that end, there will also be more collaboration between faculty members at SEED Institute and the teaching staff at The Caterpillar’s Cove. For example, research publications can be used as reference texts in diploma courses while experienced teachers can share their insights and skills through professional development workshops at SEED Institute.

The Lien Foundation has also commissioned SEED Institute to conduct three research studies, costing $1 million in all, over three years.

Working with Lekker Architects, the new Caterpillar’s Cove @ Jurong East also adopted innovative designs in their classroom designs. For instance, a periscope was built to provide young children with view of outdoors despite adult-height windows.

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