Singapore is strengthening inclusive early childhood education with a “3 R’s” approach: revamp, ready, and reach out. This is to equip teachers and ensure children with diverse needs are supported in every classroom.
Rathi Devi Balachandran, Lead Curriculum Specialist at NIEC, said the institute is reshaping its approach so children with special or additional needs can fully participate in classrooms.
“We’re actually revamping our current curriculum, which equips teachers with strategies to support children with additional needs. It is infused in every single module that they are taking at the moment,” she explained.
The initiative reflects Singapore’s broader aim of creating meaningful learning experiences for all children, not just those without challenges.
Revamping curriculum for inclusivity
The first phase, called “revamped,” focuses on embedding practical strategies for inclusion within teacher training modules. This equips educators to handle diverse needs in real classroom settings.
Readiness to support educators
The second phase, “ready,” prepares NIEC to collaborate with external stakeholders and deliver just-in-time professional development courses. These targeted courses respond directly to the evolving challenges faced by educators.
Reaching out to the community
The third phase, “reaching out,” strengthens partnerships with agencies such as the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) and provides platforms like webinars and conferences to engage teachers directly.
Measuring success in inclusive education
Key performance indicators focus on ensuring every child, regardless of ability, has meaningful classroom experiences. NIEC stresses that inclusion means teachers must continue learning new strategies to meet children’s diverse needs.
Balachandran noted that NIEC’s role extends to advising on how to use existing resources effectively to make participation possible for all children.
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About the speaker:
Rathi Devi Balachandran
Lead Curriculum Specialist
National Institute of Early Childhood Development
Rathi Devi Balachandran, a Lead Curriculum Specialist and Lecturer at the National Institute of Early Childhood Development, is an accomplished professional with a focus on inclusion and early intervention. With 13 years of experience in Singapore’s social service agencies, she is a dedicated inclusion advocate. Her background includes roles as an Early Intervention Specialist at AWWA Ltd for over 10 years and at Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities Limited. Ms. Balachandran holds a Master’s in Education (Inclusion and Special Education) from Monash University and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Psychology from the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
5W1H summary:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who | 1. NIEC 2. Rathi Devi Balachandran 3. Early childhood teachers |
| What | 1. Strengthening inclusive practice 2. Revamp, ready, reach out 3. Support children with diverse needs |
| When | 1. Current ongoing initiative 2. No specific dates mentioned 3. Aligned with ECD agency goals |
| Where | 1. Singapore 2. Classrooms 3. Online webinars and conferences |
| Why | 1. Ensure meaningful classroom experiences 2. Include children with special needs 3. Align with developmental agency advocacy |
| How | 1. Revamped curriculum modules 2. Professional development courses 3. Webinars, conferences, outreach platforms |
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q1: What does inclusive practice mean in early childhood education?
A1: It means supporting children with diverse and additional needs.
Q2: How is NIEC implementing inclusive practice?
A2: Through a 3R approach: revamp, ready, and reach out.
Q3: What does “revamp” involve?
A3: Updating curriculum modules with strategies for diverse learners.
Q4: How does NIEC support teachers directly?
A4: Via professional development courses, webinars, and conferences.
Q5: What outcomes does NIEC aim for?
A5: Every child having meaningful classroom experiences and full participation.
Q6: Who does NIEC collaborate with?
A6: Early childhood agencies, operators, and external stakeholders.
Q7: Why is continuous teacher training important?
A7: To ensure strategies keep supporting all children effectively.
Transcript of the interview:
When we talk about inclusive practice, we are actually talking about inclusive practice specific to early childhood education and very often in Singapore when we talk about inclusive practice for early childhood education, we’re talking about children who have diverse needs and that includes children who have who are probably have special needs or additional needs and NIE is working very closely with all the early childhood agencies as well as the other operators on the ground to really see how we can support all these children who have diverse needs. And we are doing it in three different ways. And the first way is to the first we are we revamp, second we are ready and third we are reaching out. Let me go back to what I mean by being revamped. We’re actually revamping our current curriculum, which is actually putting into strategies and practices in place where our teachers on the ground are being equipped with strategies that they can actually implement to support these children with additional needs. And we give them very specific strategies within the curriculum itself. And it is infused in every single module that they are taking at the moment. This is one of the big things that we have been doing and looking into in NIC which is actually revamping our curriculum. Second as I mentioned is I said ready. When I say ready we are actually talking about we are ready to work with the external stakeholders and we are also ready to work with the educators on the ground and we are also ready to have just in time what we call continuing professional development causes to we are ready to actually produce causes that are required on the ground. The last one is reaching out. We work very closely to with our external agency which is ACDA Early Childhood Developmental Agency as well as we reach out to the teachers on the ground where in their free time we have webinars and we also try our best to work with them in a way that interact with them through conferences and other we create platforms for them to reach out to us.
Ultimately what does NIA bring to this conversation?
NIEC actually among the many things that we do, NIEC is able to advise is also able to provide input on how given our current resources, we are actually able to work with those resources and enable all children to actually participate actively and participate fully in their classroom environments.
How will you what are the outcomes or KPIs that you’re shooting for?
We’re looking at every child having a very meaningful experience within the classroom. And this is very in line with what our our early childhood developmental agency also advocates for. When we talk about having meaningful experiences in the class very often we might think that it is just about having good experience for those who are able. We want this experience to be really for all children and for that to happen our teachers and our educators need to keep up to learning new strategies and new ways to support children with diverse needs.