Welcome Address by Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing at the International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP)

1. Good morning and welcome.

2. Education is at an inflexion point. Let me share some fundamental shifts that will shape education in the coming years:

1. First, knowledge is increasingly commoditised.
   1. Correspondingly, teaching cannot be a didactic process premised on superior knowledge.
   2. There is little or no premium for answering yesterday's questions with yesterday's solutions.
   3. Instead, the premium is on the ability to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow and create solutions ahead of time.
2. Second, technology, including Generative AI, allows mass customisation and scaling of quality learning resources at speed.
   1. When well harnessed, these technologies enable us to scale new and diverse pedagogies to meet the diverse needs of our learners.
3. Third, lifelong learning is essential for lifelong success.
   1. Strong academic foundations are necessary but not sufficient.
   2. Our current conception of "foundations", focusing on literacy, numeracy and logic, must now be coupled with individual dispositions and skills.
   3. These include having the curiosity to learn for life; the ability to learn across physical and virtual learning environments; and to learn both on our own and in teams.
4. Fourth, our societies are becoming more fractious internally, even as our global environment is fragmenting.
   1. Our students' ability to contribute to the larger good will matter even more.
   2. We must nurture their humanity, as well as their ability to connect and bridge differences.
   3. They must learn to create new value propositions, so that their company or country can continue to be competitive, as well as to shape a better world.

3. Given these fundamental shifts, Singapore sees the need for us to go beyond conventional benchmarks of success for education. We encourage our students to embrace the challenges of being:

1. A creator – to value add to the world by building or discovering something new;
2. A connector – to bring together people, ideas and resources by building a safe, trusted and principled environment for new ideas to flourish in a fractious and fragmented world;
3. A lifelong learner and contributor – where success is defined not by personal accomplishments alone but by their contributions to the collective; where respect for diverse strengths engender a meritocracy that encourages all to pay it forward; and where every generation can aspire to be better than the one before.

4. To achieve these, we must embrace three key approaches:

1. First, to embrace the science of learning, and the practical implications for teaching, learning and assessment.
   1. We must deepen our understanding of how learners learn, across abilities and across ages. This will allow us to design learning experiences catering to different groups – from students with special education needs to high ability learners; from pre-schoolers to adult learners.
   2. We must leverage the best educational technology to complement the capabilities of our teachers, informed by evidence and data. This includes using adaptive learning systems to uplift low progress students and stretch high ability students.
   3. We should use assessment mindfully to help our students discover their strengths and interests, and to identify the most appropriate setting for their next lap of education.
   4. And empower students to constantly surpass themselves throughout life, rather than strive to surpass others in a test. It is about doing our best, rather than beating the rest.
   5. In an information-overloaded world, we must equip our learners with the skills and values to distil, discern and discover.
   6. In a technology-enabled world, we must enable our learners to use technology ethically, responsibly and with discipline.
2. Second, we believe a strong socio-emotional foundation and stable family environment are critical enablers for learning.
   1. These will allow educators to focus on equipping our students with the knowledge and skills to learn for life.
   2. We need to guide our young to navigate both the physical and cyber worlds. Not by over-protecting them or over-structuring their environments, lest we deprive them of opportunities to grow and confront challenges in an uncertain and perhaps untidy world.
3. Third, we must build a lifelong learning ecosystem which goes beyond activating an individual's desire to learn for life. We must also identify the future skills needed, to ensure that the supply of skills will match demand.
   1. To do so, we need to develop systems that help our industries to articulate their demand for future skills, and help them aggregate these demands, especially for the smaller enterprises.
   2. We must then activate the supply through skills development of students at our institutions of higher or continuous learning.
   3. This summarises our aspirations for success.

5. While there will be many changes, some at great speed, we also believe certain fundamentals do not and should not change:

1. Critically, the quality of the teaching force is the most important determinant of the outcomes of our education system. If we do not treasure and respect our teachers as a society, we will not be able to attract, retain or grow the teaching profession.
2. This respect for our teachers is even more important than monetary and hygiene factors such as the work environment. We must continue to value our teachers, and look after them well, so that in turn, they will look after our students well.
3. Next, literacy, numeracy and logic remain critical and vital. With these, our students will be able to excel and pursue a lifetime of learning.
4. Beyond these academic foundations, our learners should develop character, values, and purpose. They must be individually resilient, while their diversity of strengths will contribute to our collective resilience.

6. We look forward to the professional exchanges in the coming days of the Summit.

1. On Day 1, we consider the future of teaching and learning, how we must evolve our pedagogies to better meet the diverse needs of our students.
2. On Day 2, we discuss how technology can be a capacity multiplier, not just for the foundational years of learning but also for lifelong learning.
3. On Day 3, we share how we can leverage capacities and capabilities beyond our schools, to partner industries, communities, unions and families to take education to the next level, again not just for the foundational years but also throughout life.

7. We look forward to the sharing of ideas and best practices.

8. We also look forward to hearing your feedback as we welcome you to our schools and institutions, to help us become better and more effective in what we do.

9. Thank you, and wishing all a fruitful and rewarding Summit ahead.