Preschools in Malaysia recently participated in the SKPK 2015 exercise which ended in August. SKPK refers to the Standard Kualiti Prasekolah Kebangsaan or National Preschool Quality Standard. This exercise required the preschools (MoE, KEMAS, JPNIN and private) to complete an online self-assessment that covered five dimensions of quality – management & governance; staffing; curriculum; home-school interaction; and health, nutrition & safety. The instrument was first used in 2013, and subsequently revised in 2014.
The self-assessment of the public preschools was verified by the School Inspectorate and Quality Assurance while that of the preschools in the private sector was verified by the Private Education Division, State Education Departments and the ECCE Council.
This year, the verification of the 210 randomly selected private preschools took place between 7 to 18 September. SEGi SJ fielded a strong team of 6 EC lecturers who covered the Klang Valley, Melaka, Johor, Pahang and Tawau. The lecturers valued the verification experience as it gave them a good insight into the local early childhood industry, bringing them into rural and urban settings of diverse quality. When SKPK was first implemented in 2013, SEGi SJ sent only two EC lecturers as part of the verification team.
SEGi lecturers at the SKPK training at Eastin Hotel on 19 August, organised by the ECCE Council
20 Aug, Jemaah Nazir officer briefs the verifiers on the revised SKPK instrument
26 August, verifiers attending the SKPK briefing at the Ministry of Education.
FoED lecturer, Chai Geok Kim, with the Officers and Preschool teachers in Melaka
FoED lecturer, Michelle Huan, discussing the self assessment scores at one of the preschools in the Klang Valley
Carolyn M Choo 