Poon, Kenneth K.

There is increasing attention to, and acceptance of, that providing high quality early childhood intervention in a timely manner enhances the development and well-being of young children and their families. This paper covers the important topics in intervention and special education provided for young children from birth to six years old, as well as describes the local early childhood intervention system in Singapore. Based on a review of both local and international literature, this paper first provides an overview of the local early childhood education and early intervention landscape. After that, a brief summary is provided on the evidence-based practices in inclusion of children with developmental or special educational needs, identifying special needs in early childhood, personnel preparation and professional development, transitioning from early childhood to formal schooling, and family engagement and collaboration. Linking the findings from the literature to the local context, recommendations for advancing early childhood intervention services in Singapore are provided under each topic as well as summarised at the end of the paper.

The early childhood years are foundational to every child’s development and outcomes in life (Shonkoff et al., The developing brain. In: National Research Council, Shonkoff JP, Phillips DA (eds) From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2000). However, children with disabilities or at risk of developing disabilities may struggle to achieve the same levels of competencies in developmental domains as their typically developing counterparts. Research has established the importance and effectiveness of quality Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) for children with or at risk of developing disabilities. The early childhood window holds the most promise for effective intervention and development. This chapter examines the context of ECI within Singapore in three sections. The first section provides an overview of the formative years of ECI development in Singapore from 1950 to 2000 and describes the expansion of ECI services from 2001 to 2020, offering a brief description of the support programs offered in a range of inclusive to specialized settings. The second section presents key findings from the small but growing number of ECI studies conducted in Singapore. This section describes key findings in the areas of identification and assessment, child profile and needs, inclusive education models and programs, support practices and support needs, and family-centered service provision. The chapter concludes by offering recommendations for the road ahead for Singapore’s ECI field. Recommendations include improvements in universal developmental screening and monitoring, providing supports within preschool settings to facilitate the move toward inclusive early childhood education and enhancing the quality of current early childhood professionals through a tiered approach of training and ongoing professional development.

The number of low-income families in Singapore is increasing. Young children from impoverished backgrounds are at risk of development gaps and challenges. Research has shown that the accumulation of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences can lead to weaker outcomes later in life. The NTUC First Campus (NFC) launched the Child Support Model (CSM) to serve children and families from vulnerable, low-income backgrounds with a range of financial, social and learning support. A 3-year evaluation study using mixed-methods design was conducted to understand the effects of the CSM and the active ingredients in CSM. A cohort of 58 children from families making a monthly income of SGD$3,500 or less participated in the quantitative component where children’s language and cognitive outcomes and classroom engagement were measured at three time points in 2019 (Kindergarten 1) and 2020 (Kindergarten 2). Participating children’s parents and teachers were interviewed in the qualitative component and reported their perspectives and experiences in CSM.

This paper compares conceptions of teacher quality in two education systems – Singapore and Hong Kong – that consistently perform well in international assessments of student achievement. Both systems constantly refresh their expectations of teacher competencies, with recent iterations, which offer a just-in-time opportunity to learn from how they now conceptualise quality teaching. This paper will provide the context surrounding each jurisdiction’s education system, how each views teacher quality, and how each has rethought the concepts of teacher quality according to their unique contextual circumstance. The paper then compares these concepts articulated and enacted by each country, linking these to the wider international literature and scholarship in order to glean insights into what teacher quality is or how it might be reconceptualised to meet future needs.

Family quality of life (FQoL) constitutes an important aspect of early intervention. However, the culture bound nature of this construct necessitates validation of FQoL measures when being used in a culture different from the one in which they were developed. This study sought to understand the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Beach Center FQoL (BCFQoL) scale in Singapore. Data from 307 caregivers of children in an early intervention programme were used. These caregivers completed the BCFQoL scale and external validity measures of family outcomes, psychological distress and life situation. Confirmatory factor analysis and correlations were used to examine the factor structure and convergent and discriminant validity of the BCFQoL scale. Results indicated support for five FQoL dimensions and a higher-order FQoL factor. External convergent and discriminant validity, as well as internal statistical discriminant validity of the individual BCFQoL dimensions were supported. Despite evidence of internal statistical discriminant validity, there was little variation in the strength of the relationships between individual BCFQoL dimensions and the various external validity measures. Overall, the results of this study support the use of the BCFQoL scale as a valid measure of FQoL in Singapore.