Learn for Life – Equipping Ourselves for a Changing World: Enhancing Teaching and Learning for Future-Ready Learners

To prepare our students to thrive in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will continue to strengthen support for students' mental well-being across the education system. To better equip our teachers in this effort to guide, inspire and bring out the best in every child, MOE will also strengthen professional development (PD) for teachers, including in Character and Citizenship Education (CCE).

Strengthening Student Mental Well-Being

Strengthening mental well-being efforts in schools

2. The revised CCE 2021 curriculum will be progressively implemented in all schools from this year, starting with the secondary level.

3. All schools are on track to have a peer support structure and culture in place by end-2021, where students look out for one another and encourage those in distress to seek help from trusted adults, such as their parents, teachers or school counsellors. Schools will also train up to five per cent of students as Peer Support Leaders (PSLs) to promote positive mindsets, prosocial behaviours both online and offline, and role model good character.

4. From 2021, schools will also appoint dedicated Key Personnel – experienced teachers in the Student Development Teams in schools – to oversee and implement prevention and intervention measures to create a peer support culture in students' learning, social, and cyber spaces. By the end of 2021, all schools will have appointed these Key Personnel.

Strengthening mental well-being efforts in IHLs

5. The IHLs are also strengthening their ongoing efforts to support students' mental well-being.

• Polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will introduce a Mental Wellness Literacy Curriculum for all Year 1 students from AY2020 and AY2021 respectively. Designed in collaboration with the Health Promotion Board (HPB), the curriculum will raise awareness and understanding of mental health, such as identifying risk factors and stress, understanding signs of anxiety and depression, as well as encouraging early help-seeking behaviour in students.
• Peer support training and structures at the polytechnics and ITE will be reinforced. Building on existing peer support programmes, a common training programme for peer supporters, supported by HPB, will be rolled out from AY2021 to AY2023. Peer supporters will be trained on a range of key skillsets such as active listening, how to recognise signs of distress, and having a deeper appreciation of the importance of self-care. Peer support structures will also be enhanced, including through regular supervision of and greater recognition for peer supporters.

6. The IHLs will also continue to build community partnerships to further raise awareness on the support available to students and youths in the community.

Supporting Teachers' Professional Development

Strengthening Professional Development in CCE

7. Every teacher is a CCE Teacher under CCE 2021. A PD roadmap, which is aligned with the MOE SkillsFuture for Educators (SFEd) initiative, has been developed to provide a learning path for teachers to deepen their competencies for CCE, from pre-service to in-service training. This year, MOE and the National Institute of Education (NIE) have also developed a new pre-service CCE course, 'CCE in the Singapore Context', to equip all student-teachers with the fundamental content and skills to teach CCE.

8. Almost all secondary schools now have four Specialised CCE Teachers to role model and mentor other teachers in facilitating challenging discussions in CCE lessons. By early 2022, all pre-universities will also have a group of Specialised CCE Teachers to facilitate learning in CCE, including topics that may be complex and/or sensitive.

9. To develop adequate depth of knowledge and to support research in CCE, particularly in the Singapore context, a Centre for CCE will be established in NIE by end-2022. The Centre will provide thought leadership in CCE, and conduct related research to inform policy, practice and pedagogy in our local context. It will also collaborate with schools to enhance learning of CCE, and provide the framework for the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for the PD courses offered by NIE with various forms of certifications. More information can be found in Annex A.

Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence at New Town Primary School (CTLE@NTPS)

10. As part of our continued efforts to raise the level of professionalism of teachers through PD, MOE will set up a new Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence at New Town Primary School (CTLE@NTPS). Teachers from primary schools across Singapore as well as pre-service teachers from NIE will be able to benefit from the PD opportunities provided by the Centre, supported by a network of Master Teachers (MTTs) from the Academy of Singapore Teachers (AST) and experts from NIE. More information can be found in Annex B.

11. CTLE@NTPS builds on the successful implementation of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Yusof Ishak Secondary School (CTLE@YISS). Since its establishment in 2015, secondary school teachers have benefited from CTLE@YISS's offerings. In particular, the distinctive in-situ PD model, where MTTs, NIE lecturers and teachers from YISS explore and apply progressive teaching methods in classroom settings, has helped teacher participants better understand the theoretical underpinnings of strategies adopted and how to effectively apply these in their own classrooms to enhance student learning.

12. The benefits of the CTLE@NTPS will also extend to students and teachers from primary schools across Singapore, as teacher participants bring the insights gleaned and strategies learnt from the PD offered at the Centre to enhance classroom practice in their respective schools, clusters, and zones. These complement existing efforts by AST and NIE in raising the professional competencies of teachers.