educators

Local Early Childhood Qualifications

Educator Certification
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Local Early Childhood Qualifications
You are now reading: Local Early Childhood Qualifications

Educator Certification Application (for Applicants with Local Early ​Childhood Qualifications)

Applicants may refer to the List of Early Childhood Qualifications Recognised for Educator Certification.

Documents Required for Educator Certification

Centres are to submit the application with necessary supporting documents in ONE@ECDA. Please refer to the list of documents in the table below and the list of local qualifications that needs to be submitted in OpenCerts format in the Important Notes section below.

List of Documents Required for Educator Certification

S/NQualificationDocuments Required
1.Early Childhood1
(NIEC/Local Polytechnics/ ITE/ ECDA-approved private training agencies)

1.1 Early Childhood Graduation Certificate and transcripts (issued by the institution)​
or
Course Completion Letter/Course Certificate2 from Training Agency/Academic Institution that clearly states that applicant has 'COMPLETED and PASSED' the Early Childhood programme (if not in time to receive Graduation Certificate and official transcripts)

1Please refer to the List of Early Childhood Qualifications Recognised for Educator Certification

2Only letters/Course Certificates that are issued up to six months from the date of the letters/Course Certificates are accepted for educator certification.

2.Academic

Submit the following documents where applicable
2.1 School Leaving Certificate
(e.g. those who did not complete Secondary school education)
2.2 GCE ‘O’ Level / GCE ‘N’ Level
2.3 GCE ‘A’ Level / NITEC/ Higher NITEC
2.4 Polytechnic Diploma/ Degree
(graduation certificate and transcripts)

3.Additional documents to show language proficiency

Submit the following documents where applicable
English Language Educator
3.1 Any of the English Language Acceptable Alternatives

3.2 Workplace Literacy (WPL) (To submit Statement of Attainment for Reading, Speaking, Listening and Writing components)

Chinese Language Educator
3.3 Any of the Chinese Language Acceptable Alternatives

Malay Language Educator
3.4 Any of the Malay Language Acceptable Alternatives

Tamil Language Educator
3.5 Any of the Tamil Language Acceptable Alternatives

4Letter of Notification (LON)Submit the following documents where applicable
4.1 Copy of LON from MCYS/MSF/MOE/ECDA
4.2 MCYS/MSF/MOE/ECDA Recognition Letter​

Please click here for the Chinese version of the above listing.

Important Notes

  1. Only documents (including letters/emails) from official source are accepted for Educator Registration.
  2. All official documents should be accompanied with issuing body’s school seal /school stamp/ letterhead/ signatory(e.g. Registrar of the University, Dean of the University and Lecturer of the course)
  3. From 4 Jul 2022, applicants who possess the local qualifications listed in the table below are required to submit their documents (where applicable) in OpenCerts* format in ONE@ECDA.
    4. QualificationExamination / Graduation Year
    • GCE N(T)- Level

    From 1984 onwards

    • GCE N(A)- Level

    From 1984 onwards

    • GCE O- Level

    From 1975 onwards

    • GCE A- LevelFrom 1975 onwards​
    • ITE qualifications
    Diploma and degree from:
    - Polytechnics
    - LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE)
    - Nanyang Academy of the Fine Arts (NAFA)
    - Autonomous Universities
    - National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC)     		From 2019 onwards​
    • Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications
    Examples:
    - WSQ Statement of Attainment for Workplace Literacy
    - WSQ Professional Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education - Teaching     		From Nov 2019 onwards​

    *OpenCerts was launched by our Government in the year 2019. It is a platform that allows local schools to issue tamper-resistant digital academic certificates to students, and for verifying the authenticity of those certificates. Please refer to more information on OpenCerts here.

  4. ECDA reserves the right to clarify and verify information furnished by the applicant for the application. If the applicant is found to have deliberately provides false information to ECDA, he/she may be liable to prosecution.

List of Acceptable Alternatives in place of GCE "O" level English language and Second Language

English Language Acceptable Alternatives ​​​​ Chinese Language Acceptable Alternatives Malay Language Acceptable Alternatives Tamil Language Acceptable Alternatives

Documents Required for Educator Certification

The documents required includes your Early Childhood, Academic and Language qualifications needed for ECDA to assess whether you meet the requirements for educator certification. Please refer to the full list of documents required in the table “Documents Required for Educator Certification” above.
For ECDA to do a complete assessment of your qualifications, you are advised to submit all your Early Childhood, Academic and Language qualifications.
The submission of digital certificates will ensure that the qualifications submitted for the applications are in order. Each digital certificate will have a unique cryptographic proof embedded within, which allows for secure verification of the certificate. Requiring applicants to submit digital certificates helps to ensure that qualifications submitted to ECDA are authentic (i.e. not tampered with).​
You may submit your graduation certificate and/or transcript in OpenCerts format (if available). Otherwise, please obtain the documents from the Academic institution or approach the Singapore Examination and Assessment Board (SEAB) for assistance
For applications submitted by the centre administrator on behalf of a staff, the centre administrator is required to verify and declare online in ONE@ECDA that the documents submitted are true and correct. Therefore, for self-submission of application, we would need a third neutral party to verify the authenticity of the documents to be submitted (exce​pt for documents in OpenCerts format)​. 
A letter from the academic institution or ECDA-approved private training agency stating that you have completed and passed the programme is acceptable for educator certification, for up to six months from the date of the letter. The Letter of Completion should be accompanied with the full transcript for ECDA’s assessment.

You are certified at L2 Conditional (L2C) level as you have yet to attain a B4 in GCE ‘O’ Level language (or any of the Language Acceptable Alternatives). For a list of English or Second language (Chinese, Malay or Tamil) Acceptable Alternatives, please click on the relevant hyperlink below:

English Language Acceptable Alternatives ​​​​​ Chinese Language Acceptable Alternatives  Malay Language Acceptable Alternatives  Tamil Language Acceptable Alternatives

The L2C certification level is valid for 2 years from the date it is given, and you have up to 2 years from the date of L2C certification level to obtain a B4 in GCE ‘O’ Level Language (or any of the Language Acceptable Alternatives) to meet the L2 educator certification requirement. If you are unable to attain a B4 in the respective language within 2 years from obtaining your L2C certification, your certification level will be adjusted to L1 level. If you have attained a B4 in the respective language within 2 years from the date of your L2C certification, please submit an application to us through ONE@ECDA, for re-certification to L2 level. The certification level and the respective deployment level are summarized in the table below:

Certification Level Deployment Level
L2 Kindergarten, Nursery, Pre-Nursey and Playgroup 18 mths - 6YO
L2 Conditional (L2C) Kindergarten, Nursery, Pre-Nursey and Playgroup 18 mths - 6YO
L1 Nursery, Pre-Nursery and Playgroup 18 mths - 4YO

If you are only able to attain a B4 in the respective language after 2 years from the date of L2C certification, an application for re-certification can still be submitted. However, the application will be subjected to the prevailing educator certification requirements at the point of application.​

There is no need to retake the IELTS once you have obtained the required grade.