From IT to Teaching: Making a mid-career switch to preschool sector

The Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for Pre-School Teachers in Singapore has seen a 40% increase in mid-career entrants, reaching almost 400 trainees last year. This comes amid growing manpower needs in the pre-school sector, which currently has about 16,000 educators and needs 4,000 more by 2020 to meet the rising demand for childcare services. The annual training capacity for the PCP is 450, and it lasts eight to 18 months and operates on a place-and-train basis.

Singapore's Second Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo revealed that enrolment in the programme has been steadily rising, likely due to greater awareness of career opportunities and improved career prospects in the pre-school sector. The government's funding support is also quite generous, with participants' employers receiving funding to cover 70% of their monthly pay, capped at $4,000.

The funding support increases to 90% of the pay, capped at $6,000, for Singaporean participants aged 40 and above, or who have been jobless for six months or more. Grants to cover course fees are also available.

In recent years, the PCP has helped meet about 20% of the growing manpower needs in early childhood education and can meet up to 25% of the training capacity. Most participants are in their 20s to 40s, with close to three-quarters having a diploma as their highest qualification and close to a quarter having a bachelor's or master's degree.

Ms Karina Anne Lee, 38, an assistant teacher at My First Skool @ Toa Payoh, will complete the PCP in March next year. She joined the program in February after a 17-year career in information technology and was inspired by pre-school teachers who nurtured her three children.