Singapore’s Lien Foundation, which has a strong interest in education and the early childhood sector recently teamed up with one of the largest childcare providers, St. James’ Church Kindergarten to establish a Practicum Centre. That will allow trainee teachers a better experience as they learn to be teachers than they often currently receive.  With better mentoring and a sense of the profession they are entering, the hope is they will both be better teachers and make a career in a sector with a stubbornly high attrition rate.  Here is a piece on the importance of this I published in Today using data from a recent survey I conducted.

Practice Makes Professionals

by Trisha Craig

(op-ed published by Today, August 18, 2014)

Last week’s announcement by the Lien Foundation and St James’ Church Kindergarten that they would be launching a new Practicum Centre for pre-service pre-school teachers heralds a welcome addition to the early childhood education sector.

Designed to provide high-quality mentoring to student teachers during their mandatory classroom teaching, the new centre hopes to enhance the practical skill set of young teachers and help set the stage for a satisfying career as pre-school professionals.  Continue reading →