Making Every Preschool Inclusive MEPI

We learnt that a strong co-teaching practice where mainstream and special educators share a unified philosophy and undergo pre-service training together enables children with moderate to severe disabilities to be included in varying degrees and attend school alongside typically developing peers from early childhood till they graduate from the formal education system. On the other hand, such opportunities in Singapore are far and few between. A key barrier is the lack of training early childhood (EC) educators receive in working with children with special needs and the absence of early intervention (EI) professionals in a preschool setting. This has inevitably led to low acceptance and poor attitudes among educators towards these children.

MEPI’s key features are collaborative teams of early childhood educators from SJCK (and PCF in 2021) and early interventionists from RC who will employ a co-teaching model to support children with disabilities in an inclusive setting. The programme will culminate in the development of a service manual and training framework that will guide similar partnerships between early intervention centres and preschools.