Teachers In Singapore Research Articles

How Singapore teachers in a pioneer ‘School of the Future’ context ‘deal with’ the process of integrating information and communication technology into the school curriculum

The aim of this research was to understand and develop theory concerning how teachers in a pioneer ‘School of the Future’ in Singapore deal with information and communication technology (ICT) integration, utilising grounded theory methods, within the interpretivist paradigm. Findings revealed that teachers tended not to make radical changes to their teaching methods when responding to the challenges of integration. Instead, they went through a selective process of deliberative adaptation which involved the major categories of acknowledging, adapting, appraising and keeping pace. The study also centred on the main factors that shape teachers’ perspectives and experiences, as well as influence ICT integration. Three conceptual propositions were highlighted. These relate to how the categories and processes of ‘deliberative adaptation’ can be understood within the context of everyday classroom practices, as well as teachers’ encounters with the dominating forces of society. The theory developed offers insights into how teachers go about their work in an ICT- enabled classroom.

Singaporean teachers’ views of classroom assessment: Findings from using Q-methodology

Singaporean teachers’ views of classroom assessment: Findings from using Q-methodology

Teacher variables as predictors of Singaporean pre-service teachers attitudes toward inclusive education

This study investigated whether the attitudes of pre-service teachers in Singapore towards inclusive education were influenced by their background variables (i.e., gender, age, educational qualifications, programme of study, prior training in special needs and contact with people with disabilities) through the use of the Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale (Wilczenski, 1992). Analyses of the responses of 1538 mainstream pre-service teachers indicated that the best predictor variables of the pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education were their prior training in special needs and contact with people with disabilities. Pre-service teachers who had training in special needs and those with the most contact with people with disabilities displayed significantly more positive attitudes towards inclusive education. The variables of gender, educational qualifications and programme of study exerted no significant influence on their attitudes. While the variable of age had a statistically significant effect on the pre-service teachers’ attitude toward inclusive education, this was judged to be of little practical significance because of the small difference in the mean scores between groups. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to promoting more inclusive attitudes in Singaporean teachers.

Understanding teacher empowerment: Teachers' perceptions of principal's and immediate supervisor's empowering behaviours, psychological empowerment and work-related outcomes

This study examined the predictive relationships among teachers' perceptions of principal's and immediate supervisor's empowering behaviours, teachers' psychological empowerment and three teachers' work-related outcomes in terms of job satisfaction, organisational commitment and professional commitment. 304 teachers in Singapore participated in this study. Results from path analysis indicated that the four dimensions of psychological empowerment (i.e. ‘meaning’, ‘competence’, ‘autonomy’, and ‘impact’) mediated the relationships between teachers' perceptions of immediate supervisor's empowering behaviours and teachers' work-related outcomes. However, only ‘meaning’, ‘autonomy’ and ‘impact’ dimensions of psychological empowerment mediated the relationships between teachers' perceptions of principal's empowering behaviours and teachers' work-related outcomes.

Uncovering Singapore Teachers’ Motivation to Participate in Professional Development Activities

Set against the motivation to enhance Teacher Professional Development (TPD), the question was raised of what makes a teacher want to engage in TPD. While a literature scan has shown numerous studies on TPD that advocate different types of TPD that teachers consider effective, the Singapore literature suffers from a dearth of empirical study to show what motivates a teacher to engage in TPD. Adopting a social psychology framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study seeks to address the research problem through a baseline study and an extended exploration on the factors affecting a teacher's motivation to do TPD. A variety of data collection methods are described to study this. In-depth interview and questionnaire survey will be used to construct the baseline while observations and fieldwork will deepen the exploration and provide the triangulation to data collection, essentially improving the reliability of the study. This paper will report on the findings from the in-depth interviews and elucidate the reasons for teachers taking part in TPD in Singapore.

Enriching a collaborative teacher inquiry discourse: exploring teachers’ experiences of a theory-framed discourse in a Singapore case of lesson study

This paper explores how a learning theory enriched a collaborative teacher inquiry discourse where lesson study was adopted as the educational action research model to promote teacher professional development. Four Grade 9–10 biology teachers in Singapore drew from variation theory to collaboratively plan and teach new genetics content as part of teacher research. As a researcher-facilitator, I have drawn from the teachers’ experiences of infusing variation theory into their teaching practice, of developing their own theories of teaching and learning, and of developing student-focused pedagogies to highlight the roles variation theory played. These included providing concrete examples of patterns of variations teachers could use, increasing the teachers’ attention and sensitivity to students, and developing the teachers’ theoretical lens in their approach to teaching. Reflecting on the teachers’ experiences, I made an appeal for teachers’ development of theoretical lenses in teacher inquiry, and bridging of theory and research to teaching practice.

Academic quality management in teacher education: a Singapore perspective

Purpose – Quality assurance and management is vital for the continuous improvement of the content, delivery and development of teacher education programmes. This paper seeks to explore theoretical issues and ideas in assessing the quality preparation of teachers in the Singapore context. Design/methodology/approach – An academic quality framework provides an architectural approach to optimizing quality processes, transitioning from a disjointed set of quality processes to an integrated workflow based upon established best practices. Findings – The architectural framework provided a systematic focus to develop and sustain the academic quality of the teacher development programmes. Quality change and developments occur through collaboration and learning. The emphasis is on quality management as a process-oriented strategy. Originality/value – There is a shift in paradigm from traditional models of programme evaluation to a systems approach that incorporate multi-dimensional models to impact administration, teaching and research in a teacher education institution. Thus Singapore's teacher education quality management should be considered beyond a set of measurement tools towards a systematic, scheduled and focused examination as a whole, as a process-oriented strategy.

Understanding classroom assessment in dilemmatic spaces: case studies of Singaporean music teachers' conceptions of classroom assessment

With the articulation of new ‘Holistic and Balanced Assessment’ initiatives in Singaporean schools, a new standard of conceptualising and enacting classroom assessment is expected of Singaporean teachers. This paper draws on findings from a study of the diversity of classroom assessment ‘concourse’, representing the variations in conceptions among the case studies of Singaporean primary- and secondary-school Music teachers, higher-education Music teachers and policy-makers. As such, the emphasis is on unravelling the multiplicity of significant relationships of conceptions within the specific context of Music teachers' classroom decision-making environments. The different conceptions from the Q-factor analysis, in particular, have revealed underlying bases of common and different views of classroom assessment. This suggests that classroom assessment, like many aspects of classroom teaching and learning, is not a stable entity. Rather, it is highly variable, contested and irreducibly situated in a specific context. The imagination, conviction and commitment of Music teachers, can inspire the wider education fraternities to consider how assessment can be compatible and complementary to the creativities of learning and teaching in the classroom.

Knowing the intentions, meaning and context of classroom assessment: A case study of Singaporean teacher's conception and practice

With the articulation of new ‘Holistic and Balanced Assessment’ initiatives in Singaporean schools, a new standard of conceptualising and enacting classroom assessment is expected of Singaporean teachers. This paper draws on findings from a larger study of ‘high-achieving’ Singaporean teachers’ deliberations and transactions of assessment activities. The use of case studies as a central methodology to investigate a contemporary phenomenon of education assessment extends the studies of conceptions and implementation of new classroom assessment practices in Anglophone and Western European countries. The findings from one of the ‘high-achieving’ case-study Singaporean teachers reveal that any quality assurance framework or guideline for evaluating teachers’ assessment practices needs to be sensitive to their intentions, meaning and context of teaching.

Challenges in STEM Teaching: Implication for Preservice and Inservice Teacher Education Program

As former and current STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) school teachers in Singapore, we explore the challenges we both experienced while teaching at different STEM schools. Through this article, we make a case for the teacher preparation programs locally and around the world to give more attention to a changing education landscape with emerging specialized STEM schools. Nonetheless, even though specialized STEM teacher preparation is needed, we also caution that having such a specialized program may limit teachers' horizontal transition to mainstream schools and awareness of the contextualized needs of more diverse learners.

Chemistry teaching: Impact of educational research on the practices of chemistry teachers in Singapore

This paper reports the findings of a study which investigated the role that educational research plays in influencing 29 Singapore pre-university (Grades 11 and 12) and secondary (Grades 9 and 10) chemistry teachers' curricular and instructional decision making process. Twenty-five teachers were interviewed while four preferred to submit written responses to questions in the interview protocol. The findings indicated that factors which had an impact on the use of educational research by the teachers included those related to the teacher, school, research literature and time. This study can inform the chemistry educational research community of the issues that are important to teachers in their teaching of chemistry and use of educational research, and ways of working with teachers to address these issues.

Teachers' English communication skills: Using IELTS to measure competence of graduates from a Singaporean teacher education program

Possessing strong communication skills is essential in contributing to effective teaching. English language proficiency has become an important issue in teacher education in Singapore. This paper investigates graduating student teachers’ English language proficiency, as measured by IELTS tests scores, of graduating EL student teachers. The paper considers what teachers need to know about the English language given that English has been the medium of instruction (MoI) for Singapore schools since 1987. Given such a context, English language proficiency is an important consideration in the preparation of pre-service teachers in Singapore. Implications for additional training and preparation in language skills are also proposed.

Experience, recursive awareness and understanding in autism spectrum disorders: insights of parents and teachers in Singapore

Provision of an individually responsive education requires a comprehensive understanding of the inner worlds of learners, such as their feelings and thoughts. However, this is difficult to achieve when learners, such as those with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and cognitive difficulties, have problems with communication. To address this issue, the current exploratory descriptive study sought the views of 133 Singaporean parents and teachers of school-age learners with ASD and cognitive difficulties regarding the inner experience of their children and students. The findings highlight the variety of abilities and difficulties found in how these learners experience their own mental states and understand those of others. These abilities and difficulties are characterized according to type of mental state and analysed in line with three qualia, those of experience, recursive awareness and understanding. The findings indicate that learners show a greater awareness of their own mental states compared to their ability to understand these same mental states in others. Educational implications are discussed.

A Professional Learning Community for the New Teacher Professionalism: The Case of a State-Led Initiative in Singapore Schools

ABSTRACTThis paper seeks to explore the empirical fit of two PLC models, using Singapore as a case. Insights emerged from documentary analyses and interviews with state-affiliated agents from the Academy of Singapore Teachers. The proposed DuFour–Fullan model, despite policy aspirations, remains largely DuFour-predominant in practice. Aspirations for a Fullan-inspired approach are evident, but still rest in the stage of conceptualization.

The use of sensory integration therapy in Malaysia and Singapore by special education teachers in early intervention settings

Background Sensory integration (SI) therapy is an intervention widely used with children with disability despite the lack of evidence regarding its efficacy.Method A questionnaire was distributed to early intervention teachers in Malaysia and Singapore. Information was sought on how early intervention teachers learned about SI therapy, the forms of SI therapy they used, and the benefits they expected.Results Many activities reported as SI therapy were common early intervention activities. Teachers appeared to be particularly interested in SI therapy as an intervention for challenging behaviours related to sensory stimuli but had difficulty explaining how the therapy resulted in the benefits they perceived. Teachers also reported limited monitoring of student outcomes when using SI therapy.Conclusions In light of the very weak evidence for the efficacy of SI therapy, but noting that the intervention continues to be used, it is recommended that good monitoring practices are maintained by teachers. The intervention should be discontinued where clear progress is not evident. Teachers and therapists need additional training in evidence-based practices. Further, alternative intervention strategies should be considered for challenging behaviours related to sensory stimuli.

Questioning and oracy in a reading program

This paper is about the questioning patterns of teachers in an early intervention reading program and the exceptions to this typical interactional pattern. Literacy experts recommend a rich diet of oral language for young learners of English literacy. Teachers offer this rich diet by creating an appropriate learning environment in the classroom through well-planned questions which elicit talk for learning from students. Thus, the way teachers ask questions is important because this determines oracy in a classroom. Analysis of the discourse of five teachers in Singapore reveals that 94% of questions are asked by teachers and these tend to be of the factual and procedural type. This pattern of questioning is emulated by the students. Exceptional moments of student voices result from a teacher's dialogic stance and the opportunity for students to use a non-standard code in the English class. Data for these conclusions come from 19 hours of classroom observations in a reading program for young learners (ages 5–7) in Singapore.

Promoting Teacher Learning Through Learning Study Discourse: The Case of Science Teachers in Singapore

The potential of a theory of variation-framed learning study, a teacher professional development approach, to help teachers overcome curricular and pedagogical challenges associated with teaching new science curricula content was explored. With a group of Singapore teachers collaboratively planning and teaching new genetics content, phenomenographic analysis of data corpus from classroom observations, teacher meetings and interviews revealed teacher learning that manifested in the teachers’ experiences. These were captured as (1) increased degrees of student-centered pedagogy and challenges to teachers’ prior assumptions about science pedagogy, (2) increased awareness of possibilities and limitations of their beliefs about science pedagogy, and (3) emergence of new understandings about new curricular content and science pedagogy. The possibility of transformative and generative learning is also discussed.

Erratum to: School Leadership in ICT Implementation: Perspectives from Singapore

Singapore has implemented two Masterplans for Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education over the last decade. This article examines Singapore teachers’ perspectives of how leadership for ICT implementation in schools is distributed among leaders, by means of a survey conducted in 2007. The study found that transformational and instructional leadership are perceived to be distributed among multiple leaders including Principal, Heads of Technology, and Heads of Subject. Heads of Technology are viewed as performing both transformational and instructional leadership activities more frequently than the Principal or the Subject Heads. The transformational leadership and instructional leadership performed have a significant effect on the amount of extra effort teachers put into their use of ICT.

Identifying domains of ideas to influence early childhood teachers’ beliefs in globalisation: a mixed-method study

In the age of globalisation, it has been understood that teachers’ beliefs revolve between old–new and local–foreign ideas of teaching and learning. The purpose of this study is to identify the domains of the various ideas that influence teachers’ beliefs in globalisation, compare them to the strengths of influence, and explore the meanings of influence. A mixed-methods research methodology is adopted to use both quantitative and qualitative analysis to triangulate the findings. In total, 216 early childhood teachers in Singapore participated. The findings identify four domains of clustered ideas: pedagogy and advocacy, school, personal, and global. We discuss the findings and suggest an integrated teacher education programme to promote teachers’ recursive thinking between old–new and local–foreign ideas in globalisation.

School Leadership in ICT Implementation: Perspectives from Singapore

Singapore has implemented two Masterplans for Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education over the last decade. This article examines Singapore teachers’ perspectives of how leadership for ICT implementation in schools is distributed among leaders, by means of a survey conducted in 2007. The study found that transformational and instructional leadership are perceived to be distributed among multiple leaders including Principal, Heads of Technology, and Heads of Subject. Heads of Technology are viewed as performing both transformational and instructional leadership activities more frequently than the Principal or the Subject Heads. The transformational leadership and instructional leadership performed have a significant effect on the amount of extra effort teachers put into their use of ICT.