Press Releases

ECDA Awards 2018 Recipients Inspire Professional Excellence and Innovation in Early Childhood Sector​

18 Sep 2018

​1 Eighteen dedicated early childhood educators and preschools will receive the ECDA Awards for Excellence in Early Childhood Development from Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development on Friday, 5 October 2018 at the Early Childhood Conference. In line with this year’s conference theme “Nurturing Young Minds: Building Strong Foundations”, these educators and preschools have been chosen because of their commitment to holistic development of our children through exemplary practices in curriculum, pedagogy and innovation. This will give our children a good start in life.

2 The ECDA Awards, launched in 2013, recognises the critical role educators play in shaping the future of our nation. The Awards inspire early childhood educators to strive towards professional excellence in early childhood care and education, which has a lasting impact on children’s cognitive, language and socio-emotional outcomes.

3 Since 2017, the ECDA Awards has been extended to include the ‘Promising Awards’ to recognise and motivate educators with strong potential for professional excellence in the early stage of their early childhood career. This year, we have 6 ‘Promising Award’ winners, double last year’s number. These educators make every effort to develop the full potential of young children, implement innovative practices and believe in continuing professional development to assure a high level of professional expertise.

4 The 3 ‘Outstanding Award’ winners excel in their curriculum and pedagogical practices, learning environments, professional development, as well as partnerships with families and the community. These caring and nurturing educators have the best interests of young children in their hearts. As role models, they also exercise leadership at their level and are mentors to their peers.

5 The ECDA Awards will also honour 9 preschools for their innovative teaching and learning practices. They have nurtured an innovation culture that has improved the quality of preschool programmes and practices to enhance learning experience for children, as well as promote community engagement and home-centre partnerships. These interactive innovation projects, ranging from play, science and technology to character-building, will be showcased at the Awards Booth at the ECDA Early Childhood Exhibition on 5 & 6 October at the Suntec City Convention & Exhibition Centre.

6 The 18 ECDA Award winners and preschools were selected from over 300 nominations. Since introduction of the ECDA Awards in 2013, 49 educators and 85 preschools have clinched the awards. (Please refer to Annex for the list of individual and preschool award winners, and the supplementary information on the awards.)

LIST OF ECDA AWARDS WINNERS​

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

1. Who can apply for the ECDA Awards?

For individual awards, the nomination is open to all Singapore citizens or permanent residents who are in-service ECDA-certified educarers/teachers/centre leaders, who meet the specific training and experience stipulated in the ECDA Awards nomination forms for the respective Awards categories. Nominees for the ‘Promising’ award categories are required to have at least 3 years of trained experience. The ‘Outstanding’ awards categories are open to individuals who have at least 5 years of trained experience.

For centre awards, nominated centres must be ECDA-registered kindergartens or ECDA-licensed child care centres that fulfil the eligibility criteria in the respective nomination forms.

2. What are the Award categories?

3. What will the ECDA Award winners receive?

Outstanding individual winners will each receive $2,000 for professional development, $500 cash, a trophy and a certificate; Promising Individual winners will each receive $500 for professional development, $300 cash, a trophy and a certificate. For Outstanding Centre Award, winning centres will each receive $3,000 for professional development and $2,000 for teaching and learning resources, a trophy and a certificate.

For Early Childhood Innovation Awards: Distinction winners will each receive $2,000 for professional development, $1,000 for teaching and learning resources, a trophy and a certificate. Merit winners will each receive $1,000 for professional development, $500 for teaching and learning resources, a plaque and a certificate. Commendation winners will each receive $800 for professional development, a plaque and a certificate.

4. When will the ECDA Awards winners 2018 be appointed?

The ECDA Awards winners will be appointed at the Awards ceremony, which will be held on 5 October 2018, Friday at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (Hall 404) from 11.15am to 12pm at the ECDA Early Childhood Conference 2018. For more information on the ECDA Awards, please visit http://bit.ly/ECDA_Awards​.