Literature review on educators’ perceptions and reasoning on the good quality kindergarten program and discrepancy between the curriculum and practice

Abstract

Singapore has intensively focused on the quality of early childhood education programs to guarantee the development of the Singaporean society and wealth (Lim-Ratnam, 2013). Internationally, within the past decade, countries with well-developed or developing Early Childhood Education (ECE) systems have witnessed a range of reviews, public policies, inquiries, and research into what constitutes quality in ECE curriculum and curriculum implementation (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, 2006). The Singapore Kindergarten Impact Project (SKIP; OER09/14RB) has conducted longitudinal and in depth research on the child development and over all the implementation of the curriculum. This proposed SUG study utilized the research results from the SKIP. Teachers' pedagogical choices and reasoning have been identified to be influenced by values in education nationally and internationally (Bautista et al. 2016). Despite the push of current ECE curricula towards child-centered approach in Singapore, the research has indicated that preschool teachers tend to prioritize certain learning areas over others, especially under the pressure from the parents (Bautista et al., 2016; Lim-Ratnam, 2013).