Starting Well Index & Vital Voices for Vital Years

Governments that place a premium on preschool education practise smart economics. Research shows that preschool education is one of the most effective development tools that deliver substantial social and economic ROI (return on investment) for countries. Children are our most precious assets and we must not squander their most formative years on mediocre preschool programmes.

As part of our Early Childhood advocacy, we had back-to-back launches: the Starting Well Index reveals how our preschools stack up on the world stage; Vital Voices for Vital Years culls leading voices from Singapore’s early childhood sector; Parents’ Survey throws up some surprising facts.

WHAT IS THE STARTING WELL INDEX?

The Starting Well Index assesses the extent to which governments provide a good, inclusive early childhood educational environment for children between the ages of three and six. In particular, it considers the relative availability, affordability and quality of such preschool environments. We commissioned The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to rank preschool provision across 45 countries, encompassing the OECD and major emerging markets. Singapore came in 29th of 45 countries. Nordic countries emerge top, with New Zealand (9th) and South Korea (10th) leading in the Asia Pacific. To accompany this data-driven research, the EIU interviewed experts around the world and reviewed existing research to assess major developments, obtain guidance on good practices, and highlight key issues to address.

HOW DID SINGAPORE FARE?

Singapore’s performance for the categories of ‘affordability’ (21st) and ‘availability’ (25th) was average. It scored lowest in terms of ‘quality’ (30th) which includes factors like ‘student-teacher ratio’, ‘average preschool teacher wages’, ‘preschool teacher training’ and ‘linkages between preschool and primary school’. Singapore did well in providing curriculum guidelines and targeted subsidies for underprivileged families. Singapore also has high levels of preschool enrolment.

WHAT DO PRESCHOOL STAKEHOLDERS AND PRACTITIONERS THINK?

To examine what it takes to advance Singapore’s preschool education, a qualitative study entitled Vital Voices for Vital Years drew upon the views of 27 leaders from a range of disciplines in early childhood services. It examined the key challenges facing the preschool sector and provides a ground‐up perspective of solutions for improvements.

Some challenges highlighted by the study include: uneven quality, equity and affordability currently present in the sector; difficulties faced by the preschool profession—high turnover, low status and low pay; need for increased efforts for greater parental awareness and education.

The study raised some possible areas for improvements: 1) Leveling the gaps in quality, affordability and accessibility for better equity, 2) Elevating the early education workforce to revitalise the profession, 3) Drawing greater community and parental involvement for a holistic preschool education and 4) Advocating the formation of a new distinct lead ministry for greater efficiencies and coherence of policies and implementation.

AND WHAT DO THE PARENTS HAVE TO SAY?

An online parents’ survey followed the recent release of these two studies. It garnered the insights of parents’ views on preschool education, the factors that influence their choice of preschool, satisfaction level of their child’s current preschool and ideas improving the preschool sector in Singapore in terms of affordability, accessibility and quality. In all, close to 1,400 parents with preschoolers responded. A majority (72%) of parents felt that preschool should be made part of Singapore’s public education. Most parents (73%) are satisfied with their children’s preschool education but more than half (73%) are ambivalent or dissatisfied with the accessibility, affordability and quality of the Singapore’s preschool sector.

Early Childhood Assessments

As part of our Early Childhood advocacy in 2012, Starting Well Index ranks preschool provision across 45 countries, while Vital Voices for Vital Years examines Singapore’s early childhood sector. Seven years later, Vital Voices for Vital Years 2, found the quality of preschool services to be highly variable and called for more cohesive governance in the sector.