Assessment is a central feature of teaching and learning. It is both complex and challenging in ordinary times, and these aspects are magnified in an online learning environment. Given its central role, it is crucial that its design and purpose is rigorous and robust. This paper presents justification for using interactive oral assessment as an…

This article presents findings from a representative case study of a typical childcare centre in Singapore that achieved an emerging level of quality certification despite being under-resourced as a non-profit centre. Like other centres, it was navigating a climate of early childhood care and education (ECCE) policy reforms and teacher shortage.…

Leadership in early childhood education has been promoted as a collaborative process in which all teachers, rather than just the positional leader, are involved. Collaborative leadership practices are not well understood within the marketised Singapore early childhood education context. Beyond mandatory leadership training, little is known about…

Teacher learning is key for quality teaching and learning. Schools leverage situated teacher learning to develop teachers' capacities. However, situated teacher learning is ambiguous. How teachers learn is shaped by socio-cultural factors. This paper elaborates upon a case study of situated teacher learning in Singapore in which teachers learn in…

This study investigates how sustained professional learning for teachers within a centralised system was cultivated. Specifically, the sustained professional learning was initiated by officers from the headquarters (HQ) and involved interested teachers across schools in Singapore. Qualitative instruments were used to collect and analyse the data…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have gained considerable attention in education. However, PLCs are dependent on how group members collectively work and learn towards shared goals on improving teaching and learning. This would require leadership to support meaningful and productive interactions within PLC contexts, and hence, the…

This paper argues for innovation diffusion as a "becoming" process in the context of lateral and vertical moves. The context of these innovations involves technology-mediated innovations and their diffusion trajectories in the Singapore education system. Embedded in a centralized-decentralized dialectics, this paper traces particular…

Since the 1990s, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have encountered political, social, economic and cultural challenges. During this period, their community theatres have played distinctive roles in activating their public space to reimagine their communities, form dialogues with their governments and construct learning experiences amongst various…

Professional Learning Community (PLC) has steadily grown in importance over the last decade. The growing importance of PLCs lies in its potential to act as a lever for school-based curriculum development and innovation so as to provide diverse learning experiences to satisfy broader learning outcomes beyond academic achievements (e.g., the…

This study marries collaborative problem solving and learning study in understanding the onset of a cycle of teacher professional development process within school-based professional learning communities (PLCs). It aimed to explore how a PLC carried out collaborative problem finding--a key process involved in collaborative problem solving--that…

Despite developments in information and communications technology (ICT), current research on the use of ICT in physical education (PE) is limited; research has been confined to investigating the use of visual technology, particularly digital cameras. Student teachers (participants) often use each other as learning resources and the purpose of this…

One of the key factors that contribute to effective management of schools is the professional development of principals. The role of the principal has become more complex with the dynamic and constant reforms in the educational environment. The present study focuses on the professional development of principals in New Zealand and Singapore. The…

With advancements made in mobile technology, increasing emphasis has been paid to how to leverage the affordances of mobile technology to improve science learning and instruction. This paper reports on a science curriculum supported by an inquiry-based framework and mobile technologies. It was developed by teachers and researchers in a multiyear…

This 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…

Background/Context: Research indicates that across democratic societies, teachers face numerous intellectual and emotional challenges when handling controversial topics in the classroom. Less attention, however, has been paid to how teachers' willingness to teach controversial topics intersects with political and other societal factors in…