MCYS MEDIA RELEASE NO: 28/2006

DATE OF ISSUE: 28/08/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA RELEASE

Parents’ Perception of Child Care Centres’ Services

Overwhelmingly Positive

A Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) survey

conducted from October 2004 to December 2005 with 1,226 parents with
children in child care centres found that 90% of them were satisfied with the
quality of their services.

2 The results of the parents’ perception survey will be shared with over 700
early childhood professionals and practitioners at the Ministry’s Annual Child
Care Seminar 2006, ‘Strengthening the Early Childhood Community’ held at the
Raffles City Convention Centre on 28 Aug 2006.

3 The survey revealed that parents gave top quality ratings to a number of
critical dimensions: safety and hygiene standards in the centres, the teacher’s
attitude and passion for children, the quality of the centre’s programme and
curriculum, and the convenient location of the centres.

4 One of the key findings relates to parents’ perception of the home-school

partnership programmes and activities provided by the child care centres. This
concerns building and strengthening the partnership between child care centres
and parents, which MCYS is encouraging.

5 According to the survey findings, 79% of parents were satisfied with the
range of partnership strategies provided by the centres. However, the findings
also suggest that centres could encourage more parental involvement as only
32% of parents participated in centre activities.

6 The importance of child care centres getting a better understanding of

parents’ perception of programmes and services was one of the key messages in
the speech by Mr Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary for Community
Development, Youth and Sports. He urged centres to continually search for
innovative ways to further enhance the home-school partnership. By getting to
know the parents better, the child care centres would be more in tune with their
needs and expectations.

7 Overall, the survey findings suggest that the efforts invested by child care
centres in professionalizing their services and programmes, and in strengthening
their relationship with parents have been beneficial. Parents’ perception of the
services provided by the centres is overwhelmingly positive, with 90% of parents
satisfied with the quality of services provided; 94% of parents felt that child care
centres helped to balance their work life and child care responsibilities; and 90%
of parents were satisfied with the way their children were being taught.

8 Moving forward, child care centres will need to work more closely with
parents to continue to provide quality services and programmes. The move
towards greater professionalism is in line with the theme of this year’s seminar on
‘Strengthening the Early Childhood Community’. The spectrum of professional
issues addressed at this seminar includes the Code of Ethics, Mentoring,
Research Practices, Effective Pedagogy, Community Resourcing and Awareness
of Children’s Rights.
9 The seminar also paid tribute to child care teachers to recognize their
dedication and commitment to children, families, colleagues and the community.
Mr Teo presented the Early Childhood Teacher Award to two outstanding child
care teachers. Details of the Early Childhood Teachers’ Award Winners are
attached in the Annex.
 Annex

The Early Childhood Teachers’ Award Winners for Year 2006

1. Babe Chen Yit Toun (Mrs Pak)

Kinder Corner II
21 Science Park Road
#02-05, The Aquarius
Singapore 117628

Babe made a career switch in 2002 from an executive position in an MNC,

sacrificing much, but she has not looked back because the teachers’ job is one
that she is passionate about and everyday is a joy for her.

Babe shows strong commitment in relating professionally to children, families,

community and colleagues as outlined in the Code of Ethics.

With children, over and above being an effective teacher, she is always mindful
that positive words produce powerful results and she also took up the challenge
to include children with challenging behaviour, needs and abilities in her class.
She reaches out to them even after they had left for formal schooling. She has a
deep concern for the moral values that children grow up with and this can be
seen in her role in the classroom, where she has a huge positive influence over
their affective development.

With families, she is always sincere and approachable, and establishes close
professional relationships. Babe has also often gone the extra miles to render
assistance to them. She empathises with them and readily lends a listening ear,
giving psychologicall support and sourcing out alternative care arrangements
when working parents had to travel abroad. Even at times when it
inconvenienced her, she was still quick to respond to help. Families were
touched by her initiative and sincere gestures such as staying up till the wee
hours to give support during times when they had to go through ordeals.
As a colleague, Babe is a valued team-player and role model. She guides and
helps colleagues in their work and studies, often beyond her working hours and
even when her hands are already so full. She is one teacher her colleagues wish
to emulate. A colleague wrote, “Even without the nomination, she is already an
award winner in everybody’s heart in the school”.

Her role goes beyond the boundaries of the school, into the community where
she extends her nurturing role to aspiring student-teachers. The nominations
that she received for this award, from children, parents and colleagues were
overwhelming.

2. Mrs Iswari Ferrier

Ang Mo Kio Social Service Child Development Centre
Blk 229, #01-1272, Ang Mo Kio Ave 3,
Singapore 560229

Iswari has come a long way. She started in 1990 as an assistant teacher. Her
heart has been with the VWO and children who have so little. She left for a
private school for 2 years but moved back to the same VWO in August 2003
because she knows where her heart belongs. She speaks with conviction and
passion.

She is an excellent model of good practice and she has effectively translated the
core values in the Code of Ethics into practice in the very diverse setting where
she works.

Iswari places children’s happiness and development first. She has set up an on-
going system to provide monthly evaluation of children’s progress so that their
needs could be identified and met.
With families she has been persuasive in reaching out to them, disseminating
information and support and bringing help to their doorsteps. A parent once said,
“What mothers cannot do, you and your teachers have done so”. She is glad to
see the difference made in the lives of parents and families and all these could
not have been achieved without the resources that the community has rendered.
She works hand-in –hand with several community agencies.

She supports her colleagues through guidance; working closely with them to
equip then with skills to cope with demands of meeting the needs of children who
may be physically, emotionally and behaviourally challenged.
 SUMMARY OF MCYS’ PARENTS’ SATISFACTION SURVEY
WITH CHILD CARE CENTRE’S SERVICES (2004/2005)

T he aim of the survey is to profile parents’ satisfaction with the services provided by child
care centres. Overall, 90% of parents were satisfied with the quality of child care services.
This survey was conducted between the years 2004 and 2005. A total of 1,226 parents were
randomly sampled and representative of the different types of child care centres. These child
care centres included workplace, private, and those run by voluntary welfare organisations.
Parents participated in a face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire.

Figure 1: Key drivers behind parents’ Figure 2: Six dimensions with top quality
selection of child care centres. ratings.

74
83
75
84
78
91
79
92
83

93 84

Safe Environment
safe environment safe environment
84%
clean & hygienic environment convenient location
teachers' attitude & passion for children teachers' attitude & passion for children
clean & hygienic environment
convenient location operating hours
teachers' experience quality of programme & curriculum

Figure 3: Parents’ preferences for

Preferred Pedagogy
enrichment programmes to be included in
the core child care programmes. • 90% of parents were satisfied
with the way their children were
79 being taught at the centres
• 79% of parents preferred an
79 integrated learning approach
where the learning was through
fun and play
87
• 17% of parents preferred a
79 structured learning approach
where the focus was on
worksheets
phonics
speech & drama
computer-based learning
music enrichment

Family Services Division 1

 SUMMARY OF MCYS’ PARENTS’ SATISFACTION SURVEY
WITH CHILD CARE CENTRE’S SERVICES (2004/2005)

Home-School Partnership Parents’ Suggestions for Home-School

Partnership Activities
• 79% of parents expressed satisfaction
with the range of partnership activities • Have more weekend activities
• Give advance notice
• However participation ratings for these • Have regular communication
activities were relatively low • Have a suggestion box
• Only 32% of parents indicated that • Provide home-based activities
they were involved in these activities
Parents’ Awareness on Care Options
apart from Child Care Centres
Figure 4: Parents’ Preferences for Home-
• Grandparents (49%)
School Partnership Activities
• Family Day Care (33%)
• Maids (26%)
80

Parents’ Most Preferred Care Options

90
• Centres (74%)
• Grandparents (14%)
96 • Family Day Care (4%)

99
sharing information on children
participating in parent-teacher conferences
engaging in take-home activity kits with children
participating in workshops/talks/seminars
Perceptions on Work-Life, Child-Rearing
Roles & Responsibilities
• 94% of parents agreed that centres
balance work & child care responsibilities
• 87% of parents see themselves as major
role players in their children’s development

Parents’ Overall Perception of Child Care Centre Services

KEEP UP THE
GOOD WORK AREA FOR
• Safe environment IMPROVEMENT
• Clean and hygienic environment
• Good ventilation
Healthy and nutritious food/meals
• Quality of programme
• Teacher’s attitude and passion for children
• Teacher’s experience
• Teacher’s training
• Operating hours
• Convenient location

Family Services Division 2