Press Release Date: 14 Dec 09
 Heeding PM Lee Hsien Loong’s promise to raise the quality of preschool education in Singapore and with the setting up of 200 new childcare centres between 2008 and 2013, Temasek Polytechnic (TP) will offer a Diploma in Early Childhood Studies (ECS) which will help meet Singapore’s urgent demand for more and better qualified pre-school teachers. The course aims to provide future early childhood professionals with a strong foundation in child and educational psychology to effectively facilitate playful learning environments where Learning is Play and Play is Learning.
To further enhance students’ learning experience, the polytechnic has also set up the Temasek Centre for Child Study. The Centre will conduct research in promoting the development of children in their early years and communicate these research findings to help raise the quality of early education in Singapore. The Centre will also train early childhood professionals who will make a positive impact on the quality of early childhood education in Singapore and beyond.
Research studies have shown that quality preschool education lays the foundation for life success. According to Mr Ang Teck Hua, Director of the Centre for Child Study at TP, and Course Manager for the Diploma in Early Childhood Studies, “Many studies have shown that well designed play activities can help equip preschoolers with vital tools of the mind that help them succeed both in school and in life. In other words, preschoolers should be given many opportunities to play, for in play, children can acquire vital skills to help them succeed in life.”
The team of lecturers teaching the new Diploma in Early Childhood Studies comprises staff with strong background and years of experience in both preschool teaching and teacher training. The team also comprises child and educational psychologists.Many of the lecturers have overseas work experience in countries such as Australia, Hong Kong and USA.Their combined strengths and expertise will ensure that students taking the Early Childhood Studies course are provided with an excellent understanding of children’s development and learning, as well as exposure to both local and global early childhood best practices and research.
Apart from a strong foundation in psychology through core psychology subjects and an emphasis on ethics and character education, the Diploma in Early Childhood Studies also promises new learning experiences through overseas field trips and studies of best international practices in early childhood settings. The poly will also be launching a Student Chapter of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) in TP to facilitate networking and collaboration on research and community projects with overseas countries. This OMEP Student Chapterwill be the first in Singapore and Asia.
Scholarship opportunities are also available for students with good ‘O’-level results. These may cover full tuition fees for the 3-year full-time diploma, book/learning resource allowance and monthly training allowance.
While graduates from this course can work as early childhood educators or work in children-related industries, with further studies and training, they will have career opportunities in the following areas:
- Child support and family services
- Child psychology
- Child enrichment and development industries
- Play therapy
- Training of early childhood professionals
Delivering a New Generation of Green Professionals
Early this year, Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) launched a second green building master plan which aims for 80 per cent of Singapore's buildings to achieve a "green mark" standard by 2030. Last week, BCA announced at the launch of the Green Building Exhibition that Singapore must train up to 20,000 more green building professionals over the next 10 years to help introduce innovations for carbon emission reduction in buildings.
Greening existing buildings in Singapore is therefore our most immediate challenge. This move is expected to generate $1.5 billion in energy cost savings annually.
At the Opening of the recent International Green Building Conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean said: “We are faced with a policy imperative... that of ensuring sustainable development for our current generation, so that our future generations will have a future”.
Understanding the pressing need, TP has re-designed its Diploma in Intelligent Building Technology to introduce the Diploma in Green Building & Sustainability. The course will train a new breed of specialists to make Singapore’s buildings – both existing and future ones, green. The course which is fully supported by the Building & Construction Authority will equip students with the knowledge on green building practices to reduce environment impact of buildings as well as focus on increasing the efficiency of resource use while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment.
Green building technologies include the efficient use of energy, water and other resources, good indoor air quality, and lastly minimizing negative impact on the environment. Subjects such as Total Building Performance and Energy Audit taught in the course will provide students with the fundamentals in good green building practices and designs.
The TP campus will be an exciting living lab for the students who join this course as a number of new buildings within the campus are designed to be Green Buildings while efforts are underway to retrofit existing buildings. One of the new buildings will house a state-of-the-art laboratory where students will be able to monitor, measure and manage energy consumption for the entire campus.
Graduates of the Diploma in Green Building & Sustainability can look forward to an exciting career as a:
- Green Building Consultant
- Energy Consultant/ Engineer
- Eco City Planner/ Designer
- Sustainability Planner
- Green Marketing Executive
- Sustainable Architect
- Environmental Engineer
- Green IT Professional
- Carbon Trader
- Clean Energy Researcher
TP now offers 51 full-time Diploma courses.
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