Teacher Professional Learning

This book provides an insider’s perspective of the Singapore education system that views teacher capacity building as a key lever for quality educational experiences. It describes experiences from policy conceptualisation to practice implementations of teacher learning. This book includes international perspectives in the form of expert commentaries and critique where comparisons are made between Singapore’s experiences and those of other education systems. It also describes the complexities of teacher professional learning within and across three levels: policies, partnerships, and schools, that shape policy to practice implementations of teacher professional learning from pre-service to in-service teachers.

Together with the international scholars, this book shares the lessons learnt in Singapore to encourage policy makers, scholars, and schools to continue thinking about how teacher professional learning can be enhanced, caution against the direct transfer of practices, and describe how teacher capacity building lays the foundation for the education system to stay relevant, address challenges, and meet students’ needs.

Dr Shu-Shing Lee is Education Research Scientist at the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education, Singapore. Her research interests are in teacher learning, particularly on aspects related to the structure, process, and contextual factors for sustaining teacher learning, growth, and reflexivity. Shu-Shing has published book chapters, journal papers, and served as a reviewer for Social Sciences Citation Indexed journals. She is co-editor of two books: Adaptivity as a Transformative Disposition for Learning in the 21st century, and Innovations in Educational Change: Cultivating Ecologies for Schools.

Dr Bee Leng Chua is the Chief Learning and Innovations Officer at Director’s Office at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. She is also an Associate Professor (Teaching) with the Psychology and Child & Human Development Department at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. She has conducted research in the areas of mediated learning, problem-based learning (PBL), e-PBL, and motivation and cognition. In addition to her work at the National Institute of Education, she also shares her expertise in subject disciplines such as educational studies and instructional pedagogies with schools and educators from other organizations and countries regularly.

Dr Alexius Chia is currently a Senior Lecturer of English Language and Literature at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. He holds a concurrent appointment as Associate Dean and General Manager at NIE International. Alexius’s research interests include curriculum implementation, school reform, multiliteracies, multimodality, and teacher professional learning. He has articles published in peer-reviewed journals and is the co-author of two books – Reading in the 21st Century: Understanding Multimodal Texts & Developing Multiliteracy Skills and Teaching English Grammar in Asian Contexts: Making Meaning with Grammar. Alexius serves on the editorial board of several journals.

Ms Monica Ong was a Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education, Singapore. She was also a secondary school history and geography teacher, and a Head of Department with the Ministry of Education. Her research interests include teacher learning, learning communities and pedagogy. She has conducted research in the areas of teacher learning and inquiry, networked learning communities, professional learning communities, research utilisation and research translation. 

Dr Pamela Costes-Onishi is Education Research Scientist at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. Pamela's research interests include teacher learning and professional development, arts in education, aesthetically-infused inquiry-based learning, Southeast Asian music & cultures, and diversity in education.