Science Teacher Education in Singapore: Developing Twenty-First-Century Readiness

Abstract

To ensure the quality of pre-service science teacher education, the National Institute of Education in Singapore continuously review the programmes offered to students who aspire to become a teacher. There are two key teacher education programmes to cater to interested students with different backgrounds – the 16-month Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and the 4-year Bachelor of Science (Education) programme. Both programmes are built on the key principles of Teacher Education for twenty-first-century framework of V3SK (values, skills, and knowledge). The three values fundamental to pre-service teacher education in general are (1) learner-centred values, (2) teacher identity, and (3) service to the profession and community. These values are deliberately worked into all programmes to enable the development of pre-service teachers into teachers who are ready for twenty-first-century classrooms. This chapter delves into the details of how the PGDE and the undergraduate programme prepare future-ready science teachers to teach science in schools. Besides presenting the structure of the teacher preparation programmes, we use personal narratives to present the lived experiences of pre-service teachers enrolled in the programmes to bring to life the programmes. We end the chapter with four recommendations for pre-service science teacher education in the years ahead.