Educator Certification
Educator Certification
To be certified as an educator in kindergartens and childcare centres in Singapore, you must meet the professional, academic and language requirements1 of the respective certification category.
The educator certification levels indicate the age group of children you can be deployed to teach. For more information on the different categories, please refer to the Requirements for Educator Certification.
Selected applicants who have yet to apply for educator certification as of 1 Jan 2025 will need to complete a Mandatory Course. Please refer to details in the Important Notes section below.
1Other factors such as recency of qualifications, etc. may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Educator Certification Application
Application can be submitted by a childcare centre or a kindergarten. If you currently own an ONE@ECDA account, you can also submit the application on your own. Upon ECDA’s approval, you will be issued with a Letter of Notification
that states your certification level(s).
If you possess local Early Childhood Qualification, please refer to Educator certification for Applicants with Local Early Childhood Qualification.
If you possess foreign Early Childhood Qualification, please refer to Educator certification for Applicants with Foreign Early Childhood Qualification.
Important Notes
1. To support foreigners and those with foreign qualifications to onboard their roles in our pre-schools smoothly, ECDA has partnered the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC) to roll out a new course titled ‘Cultural Compass: Guiding EC Educators Through Singapore’s Diversity’, as they may be less familiar with Singapore’s culture and customs, as well as with the standard of care and education expected of EC educators in Singapore.
2. This course is slated to commence in January 2025, and is mandatory for the following groups who have yet to apply for educator certification from ECDA as of 1 January 20251:
(i) Foreigners and possess local2 or foreign EC qualifications; or
(ii) Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents and possess foreign EC qualifications with no local EC qualifications3.
1This does not apply to those with existing certification levels, who are applying for another certification level.
2Trainees who have completed a local ECDA-accredited pre-service qualification before 1 Jan 2025 are not required to take the Mandatory Course.
3Local EC qualifications refer to ECDA-recognised or accredited pre-service training programmes.
3. Applicants in the two categories above who meet our educator certification requirements will be given conditional certification level for 6 months and are required to complete the Mandatory Course during this period. Educators who do so will receive re-certification.
4. Educators who do not complete the Mandatory Course within the stipulated timeframe will have their conditional certification level withdrawn. Subsequently, upon completing the course, they will receive re-certification.
5. ECDA will share more details about the course at a later date. In the meantime, you may refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) below for more information.
Applying for Educator Certification
Applications for educator certification can be submitted to the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) through the childcare centre/
kindergarten at which you are currently employed.
If a complete set of documents has been uploaded and everything is in order, it will generally take up to 14 working days for applications with Foreign Early Childhood qualification to be processed. For applications with Local Early Childhood qualification, it will generally take up to 7 working days. Centres and educators will be notified of the outcome via email.
Once the application is approved, a Letter of Notification will be uploaded in the educator’s ONE@ECDA account.
The following two groups who do not possess any ECDA certification as at 1 Jan 2025 are required to take the Course:
(i) Foreigners who possess local* or foreign early childhood (EC) qualifications and applying for a certification level from 1 Jan 2025.
(ii) Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents who possess only foreign EC qualifications (without local EC qualifications**) and apply for a certification level from 1 Jan 2025.
*Foreigners who complete local ECDA-accredited pre-service training programmes with course end date before 1 Jan 2025 are not required to take the Mandatory Course.
** Local EC qualifications refer to ECDA-recognised or accredited pre-service training programmes.
The applicant will not be required to complete the Mandatory Course if:
(i) The application is approved; or
(ii) The application is rejected due to the applicant needing to provide additional information, and the application is subsequently resubmitted by 31 Mar 2025 and approved.
The applicant will be required to complete the Mandatory Course if:
(i) The application is rejected due to the EC qualification not meeting our certification requirements, and re-application is submitted from 1 Jan 2025.
Yes, Foreigners/ Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents applying for certification with foreign EC qualification (regardless the course completion date) from 1 Jan 2025, will need to complete the Mandatory Course.
There will be no impact to the educator’s conditional certification level if he/she re-takes and completes the Mandatory Course within the 6-month period. Otherwise, the conditional certification will be withdrawn, and he/she will be considered as an uncertified educator. However, if the educator proceeds to complete the Mandatory Course, he/she will receive re-certification. There is no need to re-apply.