Overview
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In Singapore and around the world, there has been increasing emphasis on providing quality care and education to children as governments recognise the importance of investing early in their well-being and development. High quality early childhood care and education services require well-trained and continuously improving educators. Therefore, there is a need to prepare more knowledgeable teacher educators and professional developers within education systems to support teachers’ continued growth and development.
Working with adults (i.e., teachers and leaders) in a childcare centres/kindergarten,
however, requires additional knowledge base and skillsets that are different from
working directly with young children.
Increasing with the need to raise the quality of the teachers in the early childhood sector, it is also essential for the curriculum developers, trainers in local preschool chains and standalone entities to have deeper expertise on the teaching of English Language which is the working language in many parts of the world.
The revised Master of Early Childhood Education Programme (MECED-SPE-SPE) has two tracks:
- Teacher Trainer
- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
The goal of the programme is to support existing professional developers, trainers and curriculum developers as well as enhance curriculum leadership and pedagogical knowledge amongst early childhood educators (teachers and leaders included). The programme has also broadened its admission criteria to support related educational professionals who need to design the curriculum, training and provide continuous learning and development opportunities for early childhood educators within ECCE organisations as well as the ECCE sector-at-large.
Unique Features of the Programme
- Contemporary findings in research on child development and quality ECCE.
- Adult-learning or TESOL theories/strategies that can be applied to ECCE teacher training and development contexts.
- Application of research-based practices into the design of workshops and courses for early childhood teachers.
- Courses are taught by academics and practitioners with a blend of local and global perspectives.
- Classes are scheduled to suit the needs of working adults, in short bursts of face-to-face seminars and plenty of self-directed learning materials
- Assignments revolve around real-world problems and contexts.
- Currently, none of the other autonomous universities are offering a Master degree for Early Childhood Education with either Teacher Trainer or TESOL specialisation.
Career Prospects
With a combination of two related sets of knowledge and practice in adult learning and early childhood education, graduates of the SUSS's Master of Early Childhood Education programme should be poised to take on critical roles in designing early childhood training and professional development opportunities for teachers in the sector as well as other professionals in related fields.
Programme Structure
To graduate with the Master of Early Childhood Education, students are required
to complete a total of 60 credit units (cu) and obtain a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.0.
The revised Master of Early Childhood Education Programme (MECED-SPE-SPE) has two tracks:
- Teacher Trainer
- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Teacher Trainer Track
This track has been designed to meet the needs of experienced educators who aspire to become trainers, mentors, coaches and professional developers within individual childcare centres/kindergartens or within larger organisations that provide early childhood care and education (ECCE) services. As such, the programme blends two distinct yet related bodies of knowledge:
- adult learning theories and pedagogical knowledge, and
- up-to-date child development knowledge to inform early childhood curricular design and pedagogical practices.
The goal of the programme is to support existing professional developers and trainers, as well as enhance curriculum leadership and pedagogical knowledge amongst early childhood educators (teachers and leaders included). The courses in the adult learning component will provide insights into contemporary approaches to engaging adult learners, including blended learning approaches. Additionally, course development and assessment for adult learners as well as emerging trends in adult learning will also be covered. The programme has also broadened its admission criteria to support related educational professionals who need to design training and continuous learning and development opportunities for early childhood educators within ECCE organisations as well as the ECCE sector-at-large.
The relevance of this programme is highly dependent on the real-world problems that you bring to the course instructors. Assignments for many of the ECE courses will allow you to delve into specific curricular topics of your choice, so that you can immediately apply what you have read, discussed, and learned in the courses to your workplace.
Language acquisition is one of the most important ‘tasks’ for children during the early childhood stage. Neuroscience research in the last twenty years has found that the first few years of life is the most sensitive period for language acquisition. When early childhood teachers are well-equipped to facilitate the children’s language acquisition, they can help the children to build a strong foundation for future learning. Students opting for the TESOL track will be awarded the Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics (GDTSL) upon completion of the TESOL track.
Curriculum
Admission Requirements
Refer to general admission criteria for graduate programmes.
In addition, applicants will need to meet these minimum requirements:
- A Bachelor's degree in Education or related fields including Early Childhood, English Studies, Linguistics, and/or strong professional record
- There will be language requirements for applicants whose Bachelor's degree is not in English Studies, Linguistics, Education or a related field, they are:
- A excellent score in the English Proficiency Assessment to be conducted by Singapore University of Social Sciences (or)
- IELTS (Academic) > 6.5, with no sub-score below 6 (or)
- TOEFL PBT > 580, with (preferably) a TWE of 5 (or)
- TOEFL iBT > 85, with a minimum of 22 in writing
- Relevant work experience
In the event of limited vacancy, priority will be given to eligible applicants who apply early. You are encouraged to submit your application early to avoid disappointment.
This programme is currently unable to take in international students, i.e., you must be a Singapore citizen, permanent resident or a resident in Singapore (e.g., Employment Pass holder) in order to apply for admission.
Financial Assistance
The University offers course fee concession for selected graduate programmes. Please click here for more details.
The ECDA Scholarship is offered to outstanding and deserving in-service early childhood educators who wish to pursue the MECED programme. Please click here for more details.