Supporting Mental Well-being of Preschool Educators
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the mental well-being of preschool educators and measures to mitigate heavy workloads, administrative demands, and leave constraints. MP Edward Chia Bing Hui raised concerns about work-life balance, to which Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli B M M highlighted the Early Childhood Development Agency’s relief staff pool for manpower needs and the Early Childhood Industry Digital Plan for streamlining administrative tasks. Minister Masagos Zulkifli B M M also noted that funding for digital solutions and Continuing Professional Development courses are available to equip educators with resilience-building competencies and self-care practices to support their overall wellness and professional effectiveness.
Transcript
99 Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what programmes and measures are in place to support the mental well-being of pre-school educators given concerns that heavy workloads, administrative demands, and limited ability to take leave affect their work-life balance and overall wellness.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) recognises that supporting educators' well-being is crucial in enabling them to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
To ease short-term manpower needs, such as when educators go on leave, ECDA has set up a relief staff pool that preschools can tap on through appointed service providers. To help streamline educators' workload, ease administrative load and enhance productivity, the Early Childhood Industry Digital Plan provides a structured framework and funding support to preschool operators to implement proven digital solutions. More information on ongoing initiatives to improve educators' well-being can be found in our reply to an earlier Parliamentary Question on 2 July 2024. [Please refer to "Child Abuse Cases in Preschools and Teacher Support Measures Identified", Official Report, 2 July 2024, Vol 95, Issue 137, Written Answers to Questions section.]
ECDA will continue to work with training providers to offer Continuing Professional Development courses to equip educators with the relevant competencies and strategies for building resilience as well as developing self-care practices.