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Professional Development Programme for Infant and Early Years Educators

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You are now reading:
Professional Development Programme for Infant and Early Years Educators
You are now reading: Professional Development Programme for Infant and Early Years Educators

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR
INFANT AND EARLY YEARS EDUCATORS

For infant/early years educators or preschool educators interested to be nominated, please refer to PDP(Educators) for the refreshed PDP content and nomination details!

About PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators

The PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators is a 3-year 180-hour structured professional development (PD) programme that prepares infant / early years educators to take on larger job roles by:


A strong partnership among operators, infant / early years educators and ECDA to support the professional development of the infant and early years educators is important for the success of PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators.

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Key Features

Choose from a variety of Professional Development activities and
complete them at your own comfortable pace and language

Take a step closer to attain one of the following
to work with children of wider age groups

Receive annual cash awards after completion 
of programme and service milestones


Eligibility Criteria

  • Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident;
  • Currently employed in a pre-school registered or licensed with ECDA;
  • ECDA-certified EY1/EY2/L1/L2;
  • Preferably 3 years of trained teaching experience in the early childhood sector;
  • Meet the relevant competencies and skills (Infant Educator/ Early Years Educator) as described in the Skills Framework for Early Childhood (SFw EC)

Overview of Programme Structure

What will I learn at the Compulsory Module?

This is a 2-full day course. At the course, you will:

  • Observe, understand and document the development, interests, needs and abilities of children from birth to 36 months.
  • Be equipped with skills to adapt and monitor the effectiveness of the intentional experiences to cater to the specific needs of the individual children.​
  • Effectively plan for purposeful experiences to support children’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development.
  • Effectively collaborate with parents to support the young child’s development and learning.​

What is the Communities of Practice (CoP) about?

At CoP sessions, you meet up with other infant / early years educators from other centres to share experiences and knowledge and learn from each other. You can also discuss issues you face at work, explore solutions and help one another other refine ideas. You can even join your peers based on a language you are more comfortable with.
You may form a CoP with infant / early years educators you are familiar with, or choose to participate in one based on your interests and preferred language.

What is the Showcase of Learning about?

At the Showcase of Learning, you present what you have learnt and the good practices that you have uncovered to other infant / early years educators and preschool educators. It is also a chance to hear what others have learnt.

What are Electives?

There are 3 types of electives to choose from, based on your own interests and needs. You can even take up as many electives as you want! Click on each type of elective to find out more.

Electives - CPD

Electives - TTPM

Electives - Projects


Examples of how to complete PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators

One of the features of PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators is that it is flexible. The examples below show how you can complete the programme milestones over the 3 years.​

Nomination

From PDP 2024 onwards, contents will be refreshed to better support infant/early years and preschool educators. Please visit the PDP(Educators) for more information on the revised programme and nomination details.

PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators in the Spotlight

News articles on PDP

More on-the-job coaching for infant-care trainees
First batch of pre-school staff begins training to boost skills
The PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators does not provide a certification at the end of the programme. It is designed to support skills deepening. 

However, if you complete the ACEY top-up modules, you will receive a statement of attainment (SOA), and be certified to teach children aged 2 months to 3 years old. 

If you complete the pre-requisite modules for ACEY, ACECCE, you will attain a statement of attainment (SOA), and be exempted from the module when you subsequently enrol in the full qualification.
This is calculated based on the infant / early years educator’s date of attainment of the HCIC/ACEY/Higher-Nitec/ACECCE, to the date of appointment onto the PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators. If the infant / early years educator has more than one of the above certifications, ECDA will calculate the years of trained experience based on the certification that was first attained.
Mother Tongue Language infant / early years educators who meet the eligibility criteria can apply for the PDP. The compulsory module is offered in both English and Chinese Language. Infant / early years educators who are more comfortable with their Mother Tongue Languages may form their own Community of Practice and conduct their discussions in their Mother Tongue Languages.
There is no limit to the number of nominations a centre or organisation can submit. Centres and organisations are encouraged to nominate as many infant / early years educators as they deem suitable for the programme, after taking into consideration manpower requirements.
No, participants will not be allowed to complete PDP within 2 years. It is important that participants complete the PDP over 3 years so that they have time and space to apply their learning. Participants are required to complete some Professional Development in every year of PDP.
Apart from the compulsory module that is held over 3 days, the remaining CPD hours can be clocked in by completing ECDA organised or in-house courses, while projects can be done either during or after working hours. More information on the ECDA CPD courses can be found in the ECDA CPD Prospectus.
The compulsory module is subsidised. The remaining course fees after subsidies will depend on the type of course the participant chooses to take up and the available subsidy schemes.
The annual cash award will be disbursed to participants if they successfully complete the stipulated programme milestones of the year, and if they remain employed with their nominating organisation for 6 months after the end of each PDP year.
To remain on the PDP, participants need to complete all the PDP for Infant and Early Years Educators programme milestones and ensure that they complete 180 CPD hours, inclusive of the programme milestone hours. In addition, participants have to remain with their nominating organisation throughout the programme and for at least six months after the end of each PDP year to qualify for the annual cash awards. Any requests for deferment will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and subjected to ECDA’s approval.