Practitioner Inquiry Grant

ECDA Practitioner Inquiry (PI) Grant

The ECDA Practitioner Inquiry (PI) Grant is a professional development initiative that seeks to engage practitioners in conducting inquiry. Necessary support and an inquiry framework are available to guide practitioners in reflecting, conceptualizing, implementing and evaluating action plans for issues they have identified in their classroom/centre teaching-learning practices.​

Guidance will be provided to support practitioners with the necessary knowledge and skills in carrying out an inquiry in the classroom/centre. Prior to applying for the PI Grant, the main applicant and/or the team member(s) will have to ensure that they have attended either the PI Sharing Session or Practitioner Inquiry in Early Childhood Education (PIECE) Workshop or other previous ECDA-organised PI-related workshops (e.g. Action Research in the Early Childhood Classroom workshop, An Overview of PI for EC Educators (formerly known as PI Grant Sharing), Practitioner Inquiry: Thinking Deeper into Classroom Practices).

Funding support from ECDA will be provided for successful applicants of the PI Grant. For classroom-based PI project, ECDA subsidises up to 90% of the total cost of the approved project, subject to a maximum of S$1,000 per project and grant recipients are required to co-pay 10% of the cost of the approved project. For centre-wide PI project, ECDA subsidises up to 90% or 95% of the total cost of the approved project, subject to a maximum of S$4,000 per project and grant recipients are required to co-pay 10% of the cost of the approved project (5% co-payment for SPARK-certified centres).

Upon completion of the project, practitioners will submit the following Project Deliverables:

1. Final report using the guidelines provided
2. Final expenditure form with supporting documents (e.g. certified true copies of receipts, payment vouchers)
3. Any other forms of documentation (e.g. video clips, photos, lesson plans)

Selected participating pre-schools may be invited to share their inquiry process, action plans and learning points with other pre-schools at Professional Development sessions organised by ECDA (e.g. Peer Sharing, ECDA Early Childhood Conference).