‘Most preschool teachersdon’t even have a diploma’

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SOME parents take it for granted while some ask preschools if their teachers are qualified; others don’t even know that preschool teachers should have at least a diploma in early childhood care and education (ECCE) to teach.

The Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) (2013-2025) states that the minimum qualification for preschool teachers is a diploma in ECCE by 2020, but according to a recent World Bank report, the majority, mostly in the private sector, do not possess such a qualification.

The “Shaping First Steps: A Comprehensive Review of Preschool Education in Malaysia” report, published last month, estimated that there were 22,500 preschool teachers who needed to complete their diploma in ECCE as of 2022.

About half (51%) of the preschool teachers had not obtained a diploma in ECCE, and of this, nearly three-quarters (73%) were from the private sector, said the report.

One reason, said World Bank senior education specialist Dr Aija Maarit Rinkinen, is that the government actively hires only those with a diploma in ECCE and funds in-service teachers to go and obtain it.

“Teachers who do not possess the ECCE diploma are being hired by the private sector. It’s a problem in many countries.

“You need teachers but there are none available with the required qualification. So you have to hire someone without the required training,” she told StarEdu.

Quoting former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching (who is currently the Deputy Communications and Digital Minister), the report said there would be no punitive actions against anxious private preschool operators whose teachers did not meet the requirement outlined in the MEB.

The government would instead focus on encouraging compliance instead, which led to the deadline being moved to 2025. Its Curriculum Development Division deputy director Sarina Salim said the Education Ministry is constantly and continuously working towards raising teacher qualifications and standards.

“Among the challenges our preschool teachers face is that they cannot afford to study for a diploma.

“One of the ways the ministry is trying to help the private sector in particular is by working with Teacher Education Institutes (IPGs) to offer diplomas in ECCE courses at a reduced price,” she said during a forum held in conjunction with the launch of the World Bank report on May 30.

Private preschool teachers tend to have lower academic or professional qualifications compared to the ministry’s preschool teachers, as well as limited opportunities to participate in professional development activities, according to the World Bank report.

“Operators were reminded to hire preschool teachers with a minimum diploma in ECCE qualification in new hiring decisions starting 2017, and in-service preschool teachers were asked to pursue further education to acquire the qualification.“

Operators were also reminded to look into teachers’ welfare so they could pursue their further education,” the report read.

To address the issue as a short-term plan, the report recommended that the government make ECCE diploma programmes more accessible by:

> collaborating with higher learning providers to offer seats in suitable modalities in high-need areas;

> ramping up part-time courses;

> expanding the availability of the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (Apel) pathways;

> exploring the Malaysian Skills Diploma pathway for in-service teachers to become qualified;

> ensuring that the ECCE diploma programmes are more affordable through the review of restrictions like age limit, eligibility of second-time borrowers, and eligibility of part-time programmes offered by private higher learning institutions for the national study loan scheme for these programmes, and introducing means-tested tuition fee assistance for teachers; and

> staggering the minimum qualification targets to help operators and teachers facing constraints to fulfil this requirement.