I just spent the time to retrieve some NIE assignments from this godforsaken google email. Found this assignment written a lifetime ago in 2005. Thought it would make a nice contrast to the recently-penned performance review. well, at least, i can honestly say that i was naive but i am not cynical (yet).
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QED523 The Social Context of Teaching and Learning
Topic: What Does It Mean to be a Teacher in Singapore?
Individual Written Response on Thinking Point One
How do you feel after reading this mission statement? Is it compatible or contradictory to your original view to what teachers do? What attitudes, skills and knowledge do you think you will need in order to achieve what is specified in this statement?
Reading the Mission Statement has prompted me to decide if my personal objectives are aligned with the expectations mapped out by the Ministry of Education (MOE). I am heartened to find that MOE is a forward-looking organisation guided by the worthy principles of staff development and welfare. With regard to staff welfare, teachers typically lament their heavy workloads because this prevents them from getting to know their students and learning about their personalities. In fact, this issue has been expounded in the Forum letters to the Straits Times as ex-teachers acknowledge how this was a factor to compel them to quit teaching. MOE, recognising this stifling reality, has recently announced that two hours per week will be freed up for every teacher so that s/he can “focus on improving the quality of interaction with their students, both in the classroom and beyond” (Ministry of Education). This is one of many initiatives implemented by MOE to ensure that teachers will have the time and space to forge strong bonds with their students. Hence, I feel secure in my career as I have witnessed how MOE is consistently refining its policies and making substantial improvements so that it fulfils what it aims to achieve in its Mission Statement.
I have some reservations with regard to staff development. Specifically, the Enhanced Performance Management System (EPMS) was implemented in 2003 to allow teachers to have a clear idea of the expectations required of them and of the competencies they would need to develop to enjoy career advancement. However, this requires teachers to provide documentary evidence for “key result areas” such as curriculum and CCA contributions and fill in a work review form. It seems a pity that an initiative designed to give teachers more direction is ironically adding on to their workload. Therefore, some teachers are not appreciative and perceive it as something that needs to be done for mere cosmetic purposes.
Comparing my personal convictions with MOE’s vision
I believe that MOE is moving in the right direction by focusing on the imparting of learning, thinking and life skills. As an avid traveller, I am concerned about Singapore’s future when I take in the huge shopping centres, the thriving businesses and the picturesque natural attractions of other countries. As a nation with limited natural resources and a small population, I feel that we can ill afford to rest on our strength of producing an efficient and highly-skilled workforce because these countries can now offer investors much more on these terms. I think the onus is on Singaporeans to be assertive and set trails blazing by creating original products, like how Mr Henn Tan has taken the world by storm with his ThumbDrive invention (“The drive to succeed”, The Sunday Times, 8 January 2006). Nurturing Singaporeans who are articulate enough to conceptualise out-of-the-box ideas and are not adverse to take the road less taken is the way to ensure their survival and Singapore’s economic competitiveness. Therefore, I am gratified that I am entering teaching at this exciting transitional time as I can help to prepare our youth for the knowledge economy.
Attitudes, skills and knowledge required in my teaching
In order to make myself an effective teacher, I believe I will need to attain the following attitudes, skills and knowledge. With regard to attitudes, I will need to be gung-ho about trying out new teaching methods such as Problem-Based Learning instead of sticking to tried-and-tested didactic teacher talk. To encourage students to become active learners, I will have to be comfortable about relinquishing some control of my authority in the classroom. Secondly, instead of reading from the textbook, I will employ a multimodal style by incorporating tools like PowerPoint slides and video clips so that I can lead by example and show students how one should be confident about doing things differently from the norm.
One skill I hope to be adept at is the synthesising of knowledge from various disciplines and putting it together as an integrated whole. As real-world issues are often complex and multi-faceted, I wish to let students appreciate how they will need to see things from diverse angles in order to resolve them successfully. In addition, I will take the initiative to polish my facilitation skills so that my students can derive learning points optimally when I ask guiding questions to lead them to explore their thinking processes.
I am currently beefing up my knowledge about current affairs so that I may arouse students’ curiosity to find out more by demonstrating how my subjects are related to real-life application. Lastly, I will brush up my IT skills and learn programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash so that I can be open to alternatives and teach in a variety of dynamic and interesting ways.
References
Au, Y.J. (2006). The drive to succeed. The Sunday Times, 8 January.
Ministry of Education. (2005). Ministry of Education [Online]. Available: http://www.moe.gov.sg/press/2005/pr20050922b_print.htm [28 January 2006].
