Detail

Bai Jiawen, a senior English teacher at MindChamps PreSchool @ Paragon, discovered his passion for early childhood education during an overseas immersion programme in Vietnam while studying product design at SP. Inspired by his positive interactions with children, he decided to switch career paths after graduating, pursuing a diploma in early childhood education. Despite initial challenges in securing a position due to gender bias in the industry, Bai persevered and is now the only male teacher at his preschool, contributing meaningfully to the field for over eight years. In Singapore, male teachers in early childhood education are extremely rare. According to media reports, there were fewer than 10 male educators in the 1990s. By 2019, there were 21,400 certified early childhood educators in Singapore, with only 150 of them being male. This number increased to 245 in 2023, as the total number of early childhood educators rose to 25,700. However, men still make up less than 1% of the workforce, significantly lower than the male early childhood teacher ratios in some European countries with the highest representation.

[Lianhe Zaobao]