Qualification vs experience: Early childhood educators

The first five years of a child’s life are crucial for their formative years, and early childhood educators are ‘the building blocks’ during this stage. Teacher quality has recently become a hot debate among scholars and policymakers. In particular, what makes a good educator – qualifications, teaching methods, or both?

The topic was also heavily discussed during the “The Finland Story: Exporting the Secret of Happiness and Academic Success via a Dynamic Early Childhood Education Model”, a session led by His Excellency Sami Leino, Finland’s Ambassador to Malaysia and Brunei, at his residence in Kuala Lumpur on 20 September 2022.

SEGi University & College Managing Director Stella Lau had the honour of joining the distinguished panel of speakers, which includes HEI Schools Co-Founder and Professor of ECE at the University of Helsinki, Dr. Lasse Lipponen.

“Early childhood educators should have the necessary qualification. As ‘frontliners’ in child development, these educators must have all the critical tools to support children in the most important phase of their lives,” said Lau.

Lau explained the rising trend of parents expecting their children to excel academically and in other activities like art, music, ballet, religious studies, etc. “With the preschool institutions having to enhance their curriculum, the call for qualified early childhood educators is louder than ever today,” she added.

SEGi is a long-time advocate of early childhood education, renowned for being a pioneer and trusted provider of Early Childhood Education & Care (ECCE) programmes since 1999. A hybrid group of higher education institutions with over 45 years of excellence, SEGi constantly expands its network of established university partners and field experts to inject new perspectives into its academic offerings.

Lau then elaborated that since 2021, SEGi’s partnership with HEI Schools has added new strength to its portfolio of programmes. Bringing the world’s best ECCE system to Malaysian educators, HEI Schools’ Teacher Diploma is incorporated into SEGi’s Diploma in Early Childhood Education (DECE) programme, enhancing it into a dual diploma in ECCE. Upon completion, students will receive the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate on progressive Finnish ECE.

On a side note, SEGi’s collaboration with the Whytehouse Education Group produced 12 free virtual lectures last year, the SEGi-Whytehouse Early Years Lecture Series. Following its successful running with over 300,000 online views, a new season of the lecture series kicked off on 19 September 2022 with Dr. Lasse as one of the esteemed guest speakers.

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