Preschool advisory committee: what CNA reported, and the ECDA screen use rules now

You may have seen the headline: Singapore has set up an International Advisory Committee to help raise the quality of preschool education, including the professional development of local teachers. The short answer for a parent is that this panel advises. It does not set the rules your child's centre works under today. CNA's 23 September 2026 report describes a body drawing on experts from several countries to advise on Singapore's preschool plans, chaired by Senior Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming. ^[1]

What you can act on this week has not moved. ECDA's Code of Practice for Early Childhood Development Centres, its two published curriculum frameworks, the educator certification levels that determine which age group an educator may be deployed to teach, and ECDA's own checklist for choosing a preschool all predate the panel. Those are the things your centre is accountable to now. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

What the advisory committee has been asked to do

As described in the report, the panel's focus is what Singapore can learn from other education systems, how those ideas could translate into better classroom experiences for children, and what educators need in order to keep pace with changes such as AI and digital technology. The story's headline counts five international experts, and the report says the interviews were with Goh Pei Ming and with committee member Sue Robb. ^[1]

What that description leaves out matters just as much. The report publishes no terms of reference, no full membership list and no timeline for when the committee might report or what it might recommend. There is therefore nothing yet to wait for, and nothing a centre could be said to have broken. An advisory panel advises; the Code of Practice is what stipulates obligations on a preschool today. ^{[1] [2]}

The screen rule your centre already works under

ECDA's educators' portal states that the Ministry of Health revised its screen time recommendations for children in January 2025, within the Grow Well SG national strategy, and that these revised guidelines are incorporated into ECDA's Code of Practice for Early Childhood Development Centres, Fourth Edition. Published in February 2025, it stipulates that preschools must limit screen use to teaching and learning purposes for children aged 18 months to six years. Ms Stacey Toh, an ECDA Fellow, told that same portal that young children learn best through active play, hands-on activities and face-to-face interactions — her view, presented as expert commentary rather than as an agency ruling. ^[2]

The AI theme also shows up in ECDA's Early Childhood Industry Digital Plan, but on the operator side. ECDA says the refreshed plan, IDP 2.0, was announced at the Committee of Supply in March 2026 after a review undertaken in light of emerging technologies like AI. Under it, ECDA and IMDA jointly curate pre-approved digital solutions, with funding support covering up to 50% of implementation costs, and new AI-enabled solutions will be progressively pre-approved. That is procurement money for operators; it does not loosen what happens in a classroom with your child. ^[6]

The published frameworks, by age band

The two frameworks split cleanly by age. The Early Years Development Framework 2023 guides educators working with children from birth to three years in centre-based childcare, giving greater prominence to four areas: cognitive, communication and language, physical, and social and emotional. The Nurturing Early Learners Framework and its educators' guides cover children from four to six years in preschools, including learning areas, learning goals and the iTeach Principles. Alongside both sits the Quality Teaching Tool, jointly developed by ECDA and NIE for children aged two to six, structured as three domains, eight subdomains and 46 indicators aligned to the Skills Framework for Early Childhood and to both curricula. ^{[3] [4] [7]}

A hypothetical example makes the bands concrete. A two-year-old in centre-based childcare sits under the EYDF, and also within the Quality Teaching Tool's two-to-six range. A five-year-old sits under the Nurturing Early Learners Framework, and inside that same Quality Teaching Tool range. One family, two children, two different published reference points — a useful distinction when a centre describes 'our curriculum'. ECDA's SPARK 2.0 quality assurance tool, which covers Leadership, Staff, Partnerships, Quality Preschool Experience and Holistic Development, is built on indicators aligned to the same frameworks. ^{[3] [4] [7] [8]}

Questions worth asking your centre this week

ECDA states that educator certification levels indicate the age group of children an educator can be deployed to teach, and its Continuing Professional Development Roadmap was updated in 2023 to cover all 15 early childhood job roles under the Skills Framework for Early Childhood. So 'what training have the educators caring for my child had' has a published answer rather than a vague one. On its own choosing-a-preschool guidance, ECDA advises families to find out about the key staff caring for their child, ask about the staff-child ratio and whether staff have the requisite training and experience, and to observe how teachers interact with the children. ^{[5] [9] [10]}

As our suggested preparation, not an official ECDA sequence: note your child's age, then ask which published framework the centre uses for that band, which certification level the educators caring for your child hold, and how screens are used across a normal week under the Fourth Edition Code of Practice. Specific answers give you something to hold on to. The advisory committee will, on the evidence published so far, tell Singapore what to learn from other systems; the Code of Practice and the frameworks describe how your child's day is already run. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [10]}

Sources

EduNanny Editorial · AI-assisted research and writing, reviewed by our automated editorial team. Sources checked 2026-10-10. Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration.