Speeches
Speech by Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Education at the MOE-NCSS SPED Teacher Award Ceremony held on 7 Nov 08 at 2.30pm at the CHIJMES Hall
Members of SPED School Management Committees
Principals, Teachers, Parents
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good afternoon,
Introduction
I am pleased to be here this afternoon at the awards presentation ceremony of the MOE-NCSS Special Education Teacher Award. This annual award, is the highest given by MOE and NCSS in recognition of SPED teachers for their commitment to the education of children with special needs.
Today, we are here to honour three outstanding SPED teachers who have inspired us with their passion, innovation and dedication in teaching. They are teachers who are held in high regard by their school leaders, colleagues, parents and students.
In addition to the SPED Teacher Award, SPED schools are also acknowledged for their innovations in teaching and developing their students. Two SPED schools have been singled out for the Innovation Award in recognition of their excellent innovations in engaging and teaching their students.
I understand that the Selection Panels had a challenging time selecting the winners. Members of the Panels were very impressed by the quality of the finalists for both awards. I congratulate the winners and all the nominees. I believe that each of you is richer from the experience. You have much to be proud of for being held in high regard by the people who nominated you, your school leaders, colleagues or parents.
Professional Development
Our SPED teachers, just like their counterparts in the mainstream schools, are critical to the success of their schools. MOE believes that continual teacher training, including in-service courses, leadership and management programmes, and graduate and post-graduate degree programmes can enhance the professionalism of our school leaders and teachers.
It is MOE’s priority to ensure that training opportunities are made available for the professional development of our SPED teachers, be it pre-service or in-service. All untrained teachers who join the SPED schools undergo pre-service training leading to the Diploma in Special Education conducted by the National Institute of Education. Pre-service training provides the foundational knowledge and skills to prepare one to be a teacher and is thus just the beginning. Teachers should continue to attend upgrading courses to keep abreast of the latest knowledge and skills. In addition, MOE and NCSS have set up a Teaching and Learning Fund for SPED schools. Through this fund, we have engaged experts in the field to share their knowledge with our teachers. For example, we have Professor Gary Mesibov of University of North Carolina who provided consultancy on teaching children with autism, and Professor Mark Greenberg, the expert and researcher in Social and Emotional Learning from the Pennsylvania State University.
I am happy that NIE has been working with MOE to provide customized courses for the SPED schools. NIE has been conducting the Special Education Leadership Programme for SPED principals for 2 years now. From January 2009, NIE will be offering 2 new part-time diploma courses for SPED teachers preparing SPED students for national examinations. They are the Specialist Post-Graduate Diploma in Special Education for SPED teachers with degree qualifications and the Specialist Diploma in Special Education for SPED teachers with Diploma or A level qualifications. Some 74 SPED teachers have been accepted for the 2 courses, 36 for the post-graduate course and 38 for the diploma course.
As for the senior teachers and heads of programme in SPED schools, they study alongside the Heads of Department of mainstream schools in the NIE Management and Leadership in Schools (MLS) programme. The first batch of 12 SPED senior teachers completed their MLS course this year and another 8 will be attending the new course in 2009. Participants have reported that they benefited tremendously learning together with the mainstream school leaders and have formed useful networks for future collaboration. This is a good outcome and I would like to urge SPED schools to take advantage of the various platforms for learning and sharing with mainstream schools.
Collaboration with Mainstream Schools
An effective platform for SPED schools to engage with the mainstream schools is through the mainstream school cluster system. Since last year all SPED schools have been linked up with mainstream schools. I am heartened to know that there is a high level of collaboration between mainstream and SPED schools. Both have reflected that there have been mutual benefits arising from participation in the various activities of their respective cluster of school. For example, SPED principals attend cluster board meetings whenever the agenda is relevant, SPED teachers are involved in cluster-based training and SPED pupils join their mainstream peers in joint celebrations or cluster events, such as Children’s Day and Racial Harmony Day.
SPED principals and teachers have also gone on learning journeys to some Centres of Excellence - the Maris Stella High for ICT, Telok Kurau Primary for National Education, Huamin Primary for Visual Arts and GongShang Primary for Character and Staff Development. These visits resulted in further collaboration amongst the schools such as sharing of resources and facilities, and initiation of work attachment. On the other hand, mainstream schools benefit when SPED school staff conduct sharing with mainstream teachers on strategies for managing pupils with special needs and SPED schools provide opportunities for service learning projects of mainstream schools.
Teacher Work Attachment
To further broaden SPED teachers’ perspectives, MOE has partnered industries and organizations to provide Work Attachment for them. Industrial partners include Breadtalk, NTUC, Cisco Systems, the Law Society and the Singapore Art Museum. We understand from the SPED teachers who have gone for such attachments that they have found the experiences enriching and many have translated their learning experiences into innovative and interesting teaching strategies.
Besides the non-educational organizations, mainstream schools have also opened their doors for reciprocal work attachment for teachers. This year some 30 SPED and mainstream teachers have been on reciprocal work attachment and have learnt much from one and another. Mainstream school teachers reported that they developed deeper knowledge and experience to help their students who have special needs and have developed a better understanding of the SPED sector. As for the SPED teachers, the exposure to mainstream education contributed to the enhancement of their educational knowledge and professional development which in turn translated into enhanced education for their pupils.
We hope that more industries would come forward to partner the schools and the School Management is supportive of the teachers’ application for work attachment, be it at mainstream schools or non-educational organizations or the industries.
Conclusion
We have made good progress in special education, the progress would not have been possible without our valued partners. MOE and NCSS will continue to work with partners in the community on improving the quality of education for children with special needs.
To the award winners, your award is a testimony of the impact you have made to special needs education and those around you. It is something you can be proud of. I would also take this opportunity to acknowledge all the SPED principals and teachers for your commitment and dedication to special education. Because of your dedication, our special needs children will have a much better education and as a result a better future for themselves and their families. Thank you for your good work.