17 March 1999

Dr Wong’s Speech on Teacher Training at Committee of Supply, MOE, 17 March 1999

Introduction

I would like to thank Members for pointing out the importance of teachers and teacher training to the success of changes in the education system. I fully agree with you. Indeed, the teacher is key to everything we do in Education. Whether we are able to achieve our Desired Outcomes of Education depends critically on teachers in schools. To meet this challenge, the Education Service needs to recruit its fair share of good people, and train them to do their job well.
Teacher Recruitment
Currently, the Education Service has nearly 24,000 teachers. To maintain the current staffing position, it is estimated that MOE will need to recruit an average of 2000 teachers annually over the next 10 years, to compensate for retirement and attrition. The more teachers we can recruit, the more resources we can give to our schools, who can make use of these additional resources to meet the needs of their students better.
The Ministry has stepped up its recruitment efforts over the past two years. For both the 1997 recruitment cycle spanning from Aug 96 to Jul 97, and the 1998 recruitment cycle, we recruited an average of about 2,000 teachers. These are significantly higher than the 1,000 we were averaging from 1994-1996. After accounting for retirements and resignations, the net increase in teacher strength in the last two years averaged 650 per year. We have plans to recruit 3,000 teachers over the next two years (1999 and 2000). This represents a stepping up of recruitment by 1,000 teachers or 50% over the regular annual intakes.
We are making good progress. We have had lawyers, accountants and engineers joining the teaching profession. Many of those who have joined the Education Service, and started teaching in schools, have fedback to us that they have found the job immensely challenging and satisfying. We hope that as many of them as possible will continue to stay with us, even when the economy recovers.
Quality of Teachers
The demands on our teachers today are very great. In recruiting new teachers into the Education Service, we not only have to look at their academic credentials but also have to assess their aptitude and interest for teaching, and other factors like character, personality and values.
Academic Credentials
It would not be realistic for MOE to aim to recruit only from the graduate pool. NUS and NTU currently produce about 9000 graduates each year. As it is, MOE is already recruiting about 1,000 graduates each year. This is about 1 out of every 9 graduates. If we recruit only from the graduate pool, it would mean 2000 out of 9000 graduates, or 1 out of every 4.5 graduates. This would drain other sectors of the economy of graduate manpower. On the other hand, we must have teachers of sufficiently high academic qualifications so as to uphold the high professional standard of our teachers as well as their standing in the eyes of parents and the community.
MOE’s target is to recruit teachers from the top one-third of each cohort. We need to set a target so that our teachers have standing with their students, and with parents and the wider community. This means recruiting from the University and ‘A’ level graduate pool, and the academically stronger Polytechnic graduates. This will enable us to strike the right balance between minimum quality and what is realistically achievable.
Other Attributes
On top of academic credentials, MOE looks at applicants’ aptitude and interest in teaching, communication skills and values. These are important attributes as teachers are role models for their students. We have maintained stringent selection criteria in spite of the larger intake these few years. In 1998, out of 4,026 graduates who applied, only 1,572 were selected, of which 1,086 eventually took up our offer of appointment.
Recruiting good people is only the first step to building a quality Education Service. We have to equip them with the right skills, values and attitudes required of teachers in Thinking Schools. Teacher training is therefore a very critical node in our entire education system and crucial in realising our vision of a Learning Nation also.
Review of Teacher Training System
In March last year, I chaired a Committee, comprising senior MOE and NIE officials to carry out a fundamental review of the teacher training system. The objective of this review was to better prepare teachers to meet future challenges, in the light of changes taking place in our education system. The Committee has now completed its work. Its recommendations have been accepted by the Ministry, and will be gradually introduced from this year.
I do not intend to go into the detailed recommendations, but will instead outline the broad directions proposed by the Committee. But I would first like to highlight two key challenges that our teachers face given the changes taking place in our education system.
Challenges Facing Our Teachers
First, our teachers need to cope with a new type of learning environment where the teacher may not always know more than their students. Our students today have access to a tremendous amount of information through the Internet and other sources. Their learning is no longer confined to the classroom. Teachers must be prepared to explore, experiment and learn together with their students. This is a departure from the old paradigm where teachers were dispensers of knowledge. Now, they must facilitate students’ learning process, teach them how to access and critically evaluate information, and how to arrive at solutions to problems.
Second, teachers are role models for their students. They need to exemplify the values and attributes we desire in our students. And these are not just about fundamental moral values as such. Our teachers must strive to be role models in thinking, learning and innovating. If we desire our students to be inquisitive, to think for themselves, then teachers must encourage the spirit of questioning and experimentation, even if they may not always have all the answers. To help students develop their different abilities to the fullest, teachers must know, almost instinctively, how to recognise those abilities in their students in the first place, and be knowledgeable about how to help students with special talents or needs.
The teacher must therefore have a different set of teaching skills, and a different mindset towards teaching altogether.
Key Recommendations
To help teachers meet these challenges, my Committee has reviewed the current teacher training system and come up with broad recommendations, which can be categorised into three main areas:
1. Improving Initial Teacher Training;
2. Encouraging Teachers to Continually Upgrade themselves; and
3. Strengthening the Partnership Between MOE, NIE and Schools.
Improving Initial Teacher Training
Initial Teacher Training covers two stages - the foundation training that newly-recruited teachers undergo at NIE, and the induction and on-the-job training that they receive, up to the end of their first year in school after graduation from NIE.
Foundation Training
The majority of our teacher trainees spend only one year undergoing Foundation Training in NIE. In this one year, we not only have to provide them with pedagogical and content training, but also imbue in them the values and mindsets required of teachers in the new teaching environment. Given the limited time available, it is not possible for us to try to achieve everything. We have to prioritise and decide what components of teacher training are most critical at the Foundation Training stage.
If developing the character and motivation of our students is of utmost importance, then it must be so for our teachers also. Our primary emphasis at the Foundation Training stage should thus be on values education for teachers, followed by knowledge and some core skills and competencies. By values education, we mean a commitment to the mission of the Education Service, an understanding and appreciation of the philosophy and evolution of our education policies, knowledge of national and regional issues that affect Singapore, and commitment to the maximal development of every student and to their own continual professional and personal development. Towards this end, my Committee has drawn up a set of Desired Outcomes of Initial Teacher Training which will henceforth guide the design of the teacher training curriculum.
Changing Profile of Teacher Intake
Other changes are also having an impact on some programmes of Foundation Training. The profile of the intake into the Education Service is changing. The majority of our trainee teachers (1000-1100 out of 2000 per year) are graduates from NUS/NTU, who do a Postgraduate Diploma in Education. These form the backbone of our graduate teaching force in the secondary and primary schools. Together with those ‘A’ level recruits who take the BA/BSC cum DipEd programme at NIE (who number 100-150 per year), graduate teachers constitute roughly 60-62% of our trained teacher output each year. However, the Diploma in Education course, which takes in both ‘A’ level and Polytechnic Diploma holders , is recruiting fewer ‘A’ level entrants over the years. This is mainly because ‘A’ level holders now have much more opportunities to pursue either a university or polytechnic education, as compared to before. As a result, more of our new non-graduate teachers are Polytechnic Diploma holders. In 1996, we recruited 226 Polytechnic Diploma holders and 293 ‘A’ level holders for the Diploma in Education course. Last year, the number of Polytechnic Diploma holders recruited was 436, almost double the figure two years ago, while the number of ‘A’ level holders has declined by 15%, to about 250. We can expect this trend to continue. These Polytechnic Diploma holders will bring with them different strengths and weaknesses from their ‘A’ level counterparts. The teacher training curriculum must be flexible enough to cater to the needs of teacher trainees with different academic backgrounds. At the same time, we will ensure that the training is rigorous and that there is no compromise in standards expected of trainee teachers.
Besides reviewing the curriculum, my Committee has recommended that the NIE BA/BSc cum DipEd degree programme be re-positioned to attract academically stronger Polytechnic Diploma holders. Currently, direct entry into this programme is restricted only to ‘A’ level holders. There are good Polytechnic Diploma holders who may be interested in teaching. We want to open up the degree programme to those Polytechnic Diploma holders who have gone through the NIE DipEd programme and have taught in the schools for a certain period, particularly those who have demonstrated good performance in the Education Service. For some Polytechnic Diploma holders who are able to meet NIE’s pre-requisite requirements, we can even consider them for direct entry into NIE’s degree programme. With more Polytechnic Diploma holders upgrading through degree programmes, the proportion of our graduate teachers will rise further in future.
Induction and Basic Training
Foundation Training alone will not bring teachers fully up to the basic level of competency needed for them to function effectively in schools. MOE and Schools themselves have an important role to play in providing induction and basic training during the teacher’s first year in school. The Ministry has started centralised induction training for all newly-trained teachers. In addition, guidelines are being drawn up to help schools conduct their own school-based induction training to attune new teachers to their particular school culture and ethos.
My Committee has recommended that all new teachers be given four-fifths of the normal responsibility load in their first year. This offloading of new teachers is in recognition of the fact that new teachers in their first year have special needs of adjustment and training and will need time for this. They will only be given the normal load upon confirmation at the end of their first year in school. The new teachers will spend the released time on classroom observations of experienced teachers and undergo on-the-job training, including co-teaching with more experienced teachers. The Ministry will implement this with effect from 1 Jan 2000, and will factor this into consideration when allocating resources to schools. The final decision on how new teachers are to be off-loaded will rest with Principals. They are the people on the ground, and they are in a better position to decide how best to allocate resources to meet the needs of their teachers.
The above initiatives on Initial Teacher Training are aimed at providing teachers with a strong foundation of skills, knowledge and values, and helping them comfortably settle into the multi-faceted demands of the teaching profession. In this respect, our senior teachers who have accumulated years of teaching experience can make a valuable contribution by hand-holding and guiding these new teachers.
Encouraging Teachers to Continually Upgrade Themselves
(I come now to the second major broad recommendation of my Committee.) However, the skills and knowledge our teachers acquire at the Initial Teacher Training stage will not be enough to see them through their entire career. Our teachers will need to constantly refresh their skills and knowledge to keep up with the latest developments in education. They should see Initial Teacher Training and Continual Teacher Training as a continuum.
We are opening up more opportunities for teachers to pursue further studies. With the liberalisation of the Study Leave Scheme in 1998, 384 non-graduate teachers were granted in-principle approval to pursue full-time undergraduate studies last year. This represents a nearly 5 fold increase in the numbers granted approval, compared to the previous years. But for the majority of classroom teachers, upgrading will be in the form of training conducted either by the school, the cluster, Teachers’ Network or NIE. Our teachers are entitled to 100 hours of training each year. We recognise that there are many demands placed on the teacher’s time today, so we are always looking at various ways to give teachers more time for their professional development. We are already stepping up recruitment as much as possible, so that we can allocate more teaching and non-teaching resources to schools, which will give Principals more flexibility to meet the training needs of their teachers.
My Committee has also come up with a number of proposals to make continual training more "teacher-friendly", and to encourage teachers to continually upgrade themselves:
1. First, courses will, in future, be structured in a more modular form. This will enable teachers to offer courses in smaller "bites". They can progress at a pace that they are comfortable with;
2. Second, continual training will, as far as possible, be delivered through distance learning or by having NIE lecturers travel down to schools and cluster centres to facilitate training sessions. This is to minimise inconvenience to teachers. Continual training will become very much a part of a teacher’s school life.
At present, most continual training courses are offered as standalone courses, which do not lead to any form of certification or significant milestones. My Committee has recommended that an accreditation system be developed to enable teachers to gain credits for relevant modules attended, so that they can eventually chalk up enough credits for professional certification or higher qualifications. This is to give due recognition to efforts put in by teachers to upgrade themselves.
Over a period of time, we hope to see more of our non-graduate teachers upgrading to degree status, and more graduate teachers going on to obtain higher qualifications. This is in line with our vision of a Learning Nation, and a positive development for the Education Service. Not only will it enhance the professionalism of our teachers, it will also boost the standing and morale of the entire Education Service.
Strengthening The Partnership Between MOE, NIE and Schools
Finally, my Committee also studied how we can strengthen the partnership between MOE, NIE and Schools.
Just as teachers are role models for their students, NIE lecturers are role models for their teacher trainees. Foundation Training in NIE must therefore be a model of the very same effective practices expected of teachers in Thinking Schools. In this way, trainee teachers will have personal experience of desired values and attitudes, creative teaching methods, use of educational technology and so on, and will be fully equipped to practise the same when they are posted to schools. At the same time, the many new teachers we are recruiting into the Education Service today bring with them fresh ideas. We must be open to these ideas both within NIE as well as the school system. Through Suggestion Schemes, WITs culture, and greater sharing opportunities, we hope to create a receptiveness to new ideas and an attitude of continuous improvement amongst our teachers.
Furthermore, to help NIE stay closely attuned to the actual classroom situation in schools, my Committee has recommended that MOE and NIE should systematically plan for the cross-posting of NIE lecturers and teachers as part of their career development, to give them wider exposure to different aspects of the education system. Experienced teachers will be posted to NIE as adjunct lecturers or full-time staff. NIE lecturers will also be posted for short stints in MOE HQ or schools. (To date, 28 Education Officers have been seconded full-time to NIE to help train new teachers, and 11 have assumed adjunct lectureship. Two NIE lecturers have also spent their sabbatical leave teaching in schools.)
At the end of the day, it is important for newly-trained teachers to feel confident that the training that they have received in NIE is practical, realistic, and prepares them well for the situations they are likely to face in school. NIE has done a good job thus far, but increasingly as our schools evolve, we will need a closer partnership between NIE, MOE and schools to ensure that teacher training keeps in step with the rest of the education system. A joint Committee has already been formed between MOE and NIE, and various working committees have started deliberating on the implementation details that will bring NIE’s curriculum, teaching methods, as well as its organisational systems and processes to be in line with our changing emphases in teacher training.
Conclusion
Singapore’s success in the 21st century depends on the ability of the education system to equip our young with the skills, values and mindsets to cope with an uncertain future. Our teachers, who have been entrusted with this responsibility, must exemplify these same attributes. A strong, nimble and responsive teacher training system will be critical in developing these attributes in our teachers. I am confident that the changes to the teacher training system that I have outlined, will bring us closer towards realising our vision of Thinking Schools, Learning Nation.