The emergence of a modern teacher education system in Singapore can be traced to 1950 when the Teachers Training College (TTC) was established. The TTC was a separate entity from the School of Education at the University of Singapore. Rapid economic growth in the 1970s and 80s necessitated changes to upgrade the education system, such that school…

The uncertain future that the world faces has forced us to rethink our fundamental paradigms of teaching and learning. To meet new demands, students need to possess adaptability and resilience to thrive lifelong. In tandem, teacher educators need new dispositions, competencies, skills and knowledge to prepare pre-service teachers for such demands.…

Teacher education (TE) in Singapore has undergone regular reviews and reforms over the years within the National Institute of Education (NIE). The main impetus tended to be to ensure continual relevance of TE to the educational landscape in Singapore, as well as to incorporate new evidences in pedagogical and assessment practices. The 2004-2005 TE…

In this work, we report the emergence of the Hands, Head and Heart framework that arose within the curriculum review for subject knowledge courses for primary school pre-service teachers in the National Institute of Education, Singapore. Through an initial grounded analysis of a survey of pre-service teachers and faculty focus group meeting data,…

Information and communications technology (ICT) is rapidly changing how we teach and how we learn. ICT can not only act as a teaching and learning aid but also reshape the delivery of instruction and bring about changes in education. Research has largely examined the effects of teacher education programs on their knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs…

With disruptions such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changing our lives and challenging all nations to rethink our current paradigms of teaching and learning and paradigms of living and working, the world needs to educate our young to be future-ready in more deliberate ways.…

Path analysis is used to provide estimates of the magnitude and significance of hypothesized causal connections among sets of variables displayed using path diagrams. It is an extension of multiple regression analysis and holds strength as a methodology as it allows researchers to assess both direct and indirect effects of multiple independent…

The Professional Practice and Inquiry (PPI) course was introduced to equip pre-service teachers with the knowledge, skills, and values required to develop them into reflective practitioners with a strong teacher identity. This study looks into the efficacy of the course in the preparation of thoughtful and reflective teachers. Self-reported…

Teacher preparation programs aim to provide pedagogical skills for knowledge development and critical thinking. Yet teacher candidates themselves have views and understandings of the very nature of knowledge, or epistemology, which might inhibit or advance their development as teachers. This paper begins with an overview of Kitchener's (1983)…

I conducted a case study to explore preservice music teachers' behaviors, thoughts, and feelings when engaged in collective free music improvisation. Nine preservice music teachers were taught how to freely improvise within groups as part of a teacher education course and participated in interviews and focus group discussions. Major themes…

While teacher retention is a pressing issue for many jurisdictions, Singapore has a relatively low teacher attrition rate. Drawing on the experiences of student teachers from the sole institute for pre-service teacher education in Singapore, this article argues that it is important to expose teacher candidates to a substantial period of school…

Collective free music improvisation (CFMI) develops musicians' relationships, identity, and communication skills and engages musicians from different cultures by tapping into their diversities in the music-making process. It also develops an open attitude toward working with children's creative potential--by paving the way for open, egalitarian…

Notions of professionalism are central to how EC teachers enact practice. We explore how a group of Singaporean early childhood education and care (ECEC) pre-service teachers (PSTs) understand the notion of professionalism in this paper, drawing on their identity text work. The analysis is grounded by de Certeau's thinking on the practice of…

This qualitative study seeks to establish a deeper understanding of how and what teachers and teacher educators learn collaboratively during the lesson study process in a Singapore primary school. We used the boundary theories to conceptualize this learning process and delineate the learning mechanisms to foster mutual learning between the teacher…

This article explores pre-service music teachers' professional identities during pre-service training. Its focus is a student cohort whose studies are funded by the Singaporean Ministry of Education in return for a commitment--a teaching bond or contract--to work as teachers in schools. An overview of pre-service teacher education and the…