Teacher ‘training’ or ‘education’: case of Singapore

Singaporean student has repeatedly demonstrated excellent results in the international comparative surveys. There is increasing support from an extensive body of research that quality of teaching has an impact on students’ achievement (Hanushek, 2011; Aaronson et al., 2007). Various teacher credentials exhibit different effects on student achievement. The following blog will explore how teachers are being prepared in Singapore.

Teacher education in Singapore is centralized and there is a justification for such organization. Singaporean teachers traditionally played an important role in translating culture and tradition.  Thus, the need for streamlining teacher  education  and shifting role of a teacher from the one who translate static knowledge to teacher who inspires students lead to the creation of a sole National Institute of Education. The establishment of this institute heralded a new era in Singaporean education and allowed to embark on implementation of various initiatives and innovations (Chan et al., 2007). The creation of NIE helped to organize teacher education institutions around one vision.

The next aspect of teacher education that is inextricably connected with the form of governance is the process of admission.  Interesting feature of Singaporean system is that MOE controls the supply of teachers to schools by recruiting new teachers and only then sending for teacher education program in NIE (Lim-Teo, 2002). MOE develops their own criteria and typically selects young people from the top one-third of the secondary school (OECD, 2011). Selected candidates have to pass English Language Proficiency Test and interview (MOE, n.d.). As a result MOE and NIE also collaborate closely on the number of  other issues. The aspects of collaboration include organization of practicum by MOE, involvement of NIE in policy creation; cooperation between schools, MOE and NIE in research – related activities (Lim-Teo, 2002).  Such cooperation facilitates the flow of information and ideas and helps to align different parts of the system around one vision.

In Singapore all content falls under the category of evidence-based professional knowledge that mainly comes from research and experimental work.  The main focus is issues that directly related to teaching process such as lesson planning, assessment and classroom management. This means that topics on philosophical foundations of educational theory are not covered at all.  Other researchers also commented on the technical nature of Singaporean Teacher Education.  For instance, Deng (2006) noticed that the word ‘train’ is used ubiquitously to refer to teacher education, as the result it replaced ‘education’. For instance, teacher educators are referred as ‘teacher trainers’, pre-services teachers- ‘teacher trainees’ or untrained teachers.

One of the possible reasons that explain highly instructional and directional approach to the content seems to be connected with the fact that Singapore has the youngest teaching force across the world.  According to Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) countries’  average age of teachers is thirty six years old (OECD, 2013), when in Finland  it is eight years more (44). The report also confirms the universality of the teacher training program for all new teachers admitted to the course (99%), compared with 44% on average across TALIS countries and economies. Teacher education in Singapore emphasizes the importance of applying theory in practice, so the significant part of teacher education consists of practicum.

Teacher education in Singapore is highly instructional and aims to provide future teachers with knowledge that can be directly applied in the practice. However teachers are not expected to know different educational theories and paradigms, they are encouraged to follow goals and vision, which already have been decided on.

Reference

Aaronson, D., Barrow, L., & Sander, W. (2007). Teachers and student achievement in the Chicago public high schools. Journal of Labor Economics,25(1), 95-135.

 Chan, K. W., Tan, J., & Khoo, A. (2007). Pre‐service Teachers' Conceptions about Teaching and Learning: A closer look at Singapore cultural context. Asia‐Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(2), 181-195.

Goh, K. C., & Lourdusamy, A. (2001). Teacher education in Singapore: What motivates students to choose teaching as a career?.

Hanushek, E. A. (2011). The economic value of higher teacher quality. Economics of Education Review, 30(3), 466-479.

Lim-Teo, S. K. (2002). Pre-service preparation of mathematics teachers in the Singapore education system. International Journal of Educational Research,37(2), 131-143.

Low, E. L., Lim, S. K., Ch'ng, A., & Goh, K. C. (2011). Pre-service teachers' reasons for choosing teaching as a career in Singapore. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 31(2), 195-210.

OECD (2013), Results from TALIS 2013: Singapore(website), OECD publishing, Paris, OECD (2013), Education policy outlook: Finland (website), OECD publishing, Paris, http://www.oecd.org/edu/EDUCATION%20POLICY%20OUTLOOK%20FINLAND_EN.pdf, accessed 28 April 2015.

National Institute of education (NIE), http://www.nie.edu.sg/office-teacher-education