Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Leon Perera, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament
Question
To ask the Minister for Education whether changes are being planned with respect to the current numbers of allied educators in schools for both learning support and classroom support.
Response
1. MOE currently employs around 2,000 Allied Educators (AEDs) in our mainstream schools. They comprise School Counsellors, Student Welfare Officers, AEDs in Learning and Behavioural Support (AEDs(LBS)), and AEDs in Teaching and Learning (AEDs(T&L)).
2. Each school is typically resourced with one to two School Counsellors to support the social-emotional and mental health needs of our students, and one to two AEDs(LBS) to provide structured intervention support to students with Special Educational Needs. Some schools will also have a Student Welfare Officer to support our students who struggle with attendance issues.
3. Over the last five years, we have grown the number of School Counsellors, Student Welfare Officers, and AEDs(LBS) by over 30%, and we intend to expand this further to meet the growing needs of our students.
4. For our existing AEDs(T&L), we have encouraged and facilitated them to still remain as allied educators, but in other specialised roles. For example, over the last two years, we have sponsored around 100 AEDs(T&L) to a 10-month full-time Diploma in Special Education (DISE) at the National Institute of Education, and plan to train another 100 this year.
5. MOE will continue to review our AED numbers and workforce profile to ensure that we respond effectively to students’ needs.