Singapore’s Approach to Developing Teachers

Woon Chia Liu is the Dean of Teacher Education at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. She is also an Associate Professor with the Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group and a co-founder of the NIE’s Motivation in Educational Research Laboratory. During her Deanship, she led her team to develop and implement the NTU-NIE Teaching Scholars Programme and the 16-month extended Postgraduate Diploma in Education programmes. She co-chaired the committee that developed the NIE Teaching and Learning Framework, and led a team to champion the use of IoT in Education, which eventually culminated in the opening of the IoT@NIE learning lab, a world first in an education institute of higher learning. In addition, she works very closely with schools and the Ministry of Education, Singapore. For example, she was in the Steering Committee and co-chaired the Working Committee for the development of the Singapore Teaching Practice (STP), which articulates Singapore’s vision of learning in the classroom, our beliefs about students as learners, and the teaching practices that support the realisation of this vision. As part of the NIE Senior Leadership team, she represented Singapore and/or NIE on international platforms such as the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Centre specialising in Higher Education Development (SEAMEO RIHED) Governing Board and the Asian Roundtable of Presidents of Universities of Education. Prior to her appointment as Dean, she was the Associate Dean, Practicum and School Partnerships (2009–2014). She was instrumental in the conceptualisation of the enhanced practicum model. From 2008 to 2009, she served as a co-chair of the Theory-Practice task force in the NIE’s Programme Review and Enhancement (PRE) initiative, which culminated in the NIE’s Teacher Education Model for the 21st Century (TE21). She is a trained teacher and taught Chemistry and Mathematics at the secondary level before joining NIE.

Part I The teaching profession 1. A national priority and a profession 2. Teacher status and symbol 3. Learning as part of the DNA 4. Optimise strengths and support growth 5. The Tripartite partnership Part II Preparing the teachers 6. Rooted in values 7. Significance of ownership 8. Clinical practice and teacher personhood 9. Cutting-edge technology and innovative pedagogy 10. Multiple perspectives and future-orientation