10-30% pay raise for preschool teachers over next 2 years, 3,500 more educators to be hired by 2025

SINGAPORE — Educators and leaders working in government-supported preschools can expect a pay raise of between 10 and 30 per cent over the next two years, as part of the authorities' move to reflect the “greater and more complex” job scopes of early childhood educators and to attract and retain talent.

New hires at anchor operators — namely PCF Sparkletots Preschool, My First Skool, M.Y World Preschool, Skool4Kidz and E-Bridge Pre-school — can also expect a starting pay of at least S$2,800 a month in 2023, up from about S$2,600 this year. This is for those armed with early childhood diplomas approved by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).

These are some of the announcements made by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli during the Early Childhood Celebrations 2022 at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday (Oct 29).

He also announced plans to increase the number of places in government-supported preschools by 22,000 in the next two years and to reduce the fee caps of anchor-operator and partner-operator centres.

With more places for preschool children, Mr Masagos added that there are plans to hire about 3,500 more educators by 2025 and new initiatives to improve work conditions.

INCREASED PAY TO REFLECT CHANGING JOB SCOPE

“The demands on early childhood educators have become greater and more complex, requiring a wider range of competencies and deeper skills,” said Mr Masagos.

“For instance, as we enhance inclusion in preschools, our educators need to acquire new skillsets to manage a classroom of diverse learners, including those with additional needs.

"Besides teaching and caring for children in their classroom, educators also need to work more closely with parents and community partners to foster children’s growth and learning at home and in the community."

He added that more needs to be done for salaries to match the increasing skills and job scopes.

“As such, we will work closely with government-supported preschools to raise (early childhood) educators’ salaries over the next two years.”

These salary increases will be between 10 per cent to 30 per cent across the next two years, with better performers receiving higher increases.

ECDA said an educator in an anchor-operator preschool can receive a gross monthly salary ranging from S$2,900 to S$6,600 by 2024, depending on experience, skills and work performance.

In response to queries from TODAY, an ECDA spokesperson said the current early childhood certified workforce is about 23,000 strong, with the industry attrition rate at around 10 to 15 per cent “over the last few years”.

The spokesperson added that about three quarters of these new hires will be mid-career, but did not elaborate further.

Meanwhile, ECDA on Saturday launched an “HR Good Practices Guide”, which allows operators and preschool leaders to provide tips on how to improve work conditions and create a positive work culture.

In the coming months, ECDA will also be engaging operators, educators and parents to “co-develop solutions to improve educators’ well-being and working conditions”, said Mr Masagos.

Some ideas proposed thus far include “reviewing the requirement for centres to operate on Saturdays for better work-life balance, and increasing non-contact time to allow for personal respite and professional reflection”.

“We will also explore growing a pool of relief staff to better enable you to take leave to attend to your family and personal needs,” said Mr Masagos while addressing preschool educators at the event.

Currently, centres typically source for relief staff through their own networks such as former employees, or tap manpower recruitment agencies, said the ECDA spokesperson. Hence, some face difficulties in recruiting relief staff, especially on short notice.

"The upcoming enhancements will help to ensure that early childhood remains an attractive career for our current and prospective educators, amid strong competition for manpower across sectors in Singapore," said the spokesperson.

"We encourage more Singaporeans, especially those who are considering a career switch, to join the early childhood sector."