Teacher Education

Responsive Classroom (RC), developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children, emphasizes the importance of respectful social interaction that will enhance teachers’ and students’ social and relational skills, and improve students’ social and academic outcomes. A research study was conducted to evaluate the effects of Positive Teacher Language (PTL), a key component in the RC approach, to improve teacher-student relationships and to engage students in Singapore. The objective of this presentation is to share the lessons learned in conducting a single-case design research study to evaluate the effectiveness of PTL in mainstream primary school settings.
Two primary schools participated in this research study. A multiple probe design across three teachers/classrooms replicated across two schools were used to examine teachers’ use of PTL and its impact on student’s engagement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 teachers to explore the journey that they took to change their teacher talk and incorporate PTL.The teachers were of the opinion that PTL was a good intervention that would positively impact their students.  However, the findings revealed that the task of unlearning formed teacher talk habits and learning the new PTL presented a steep learning curve for the teachers. Teachers in Singapore are often responsible for teaching large classes and there is a strong emphasis on the competitive academic gains in the schools. These presented additional challenges to teachers as they attempted to use PTL in their classrooms. Researchers will provide recommendations to support teachers in their use of PTL in school. Additionally, the researchers will share the challenges encountered when using a single-case design to evaluate intervention effectiveness in mainstream school settings in Singapore.

Given increasing student diversity in Singapore, the Ministry of Education has introduced Differentiated Instruction (DI), an approach popular in the U.S. (MOE, 2008). DI places students at the core of learning and asks educators to attend to different student readiness, interest, motivations and learning profiles by changing instructional content, process, product and environment (Tomlinson, 2001). However, the transfer of educational ideas from abroad is never straightforward given differences in sociocultural and material contexts across countries (Vavrus & Bartlett, 2012). Thus, this research examines teachers’ perceptions of challenges in the implementation of DI in Singapore and interrogates what influences their perceptions.
This study draws on Pajares’ (1992) ideas of beliefs and Hargreaves, Earl, Moore and Manning’s (2002) perspective of educational change challenges to understand the influence of beliefs on pedagogy and practice, and to explore teachers’ perceptions of challenges in curricular and pedagogical changes. Pajares (1992) asserted that one’s beliefs or perceptions predispose us to action. Thus, beliefs are central to teachers’ work, as the extreme complexity and immediacy of responses required of their work often fosters a retreat into their beliefs rather than engagement with cognitive knowledge. Hargreaves et al. (2002) observed that challenges arising from educational change can be categorized into technical, cultural, and political issues. Combining these theories, this research explores teachers’ beliefs of challenges along these lines.
Using data collected from a survey, reflection journals, group discussions and interviews, this qualitative study examines the challenges teachers perceive in implementing DI. For the purpose of this proposal, data were preliminary analysed according to Hargreaves et al.’s (2002) categories with plans to conduct more detailed inductive analysis on data that did not fit into the categories in the final paper. Preliminary findings indicate that Singapore teachers face three types of challenges. One is technical—teachers perceived DI as complex and demanding, unsuited to the larger classroom size and non-homeroom system in Singapore. Another is cultural—teachers struggled with DI as it calls for more individualistic and less hierarchical teacher-student relationship. The final is political—teachers were concerned with a lack of school leadership support and grappled with how to implement DI in a high-stakes standardized test context. These findings spell implications for policy makers and change managers who may be inclined to examine and address teachers’ perceived challenges of new educational ideas before implementation. Further, teacher educators could create space to dialogue about teachers’ perceived challenges to help them overcome their mental barriers in implementation.

Student teachers enter teacher preparation programme having already developed a set of beliefs and assumptions regarding teaching and learning through their experiences as students. This set of beliefs and assumptions tends to have a strong influence on them during teacher preparation programmes.  One of such experiences would be the education they received when they were in secondary schools or junior colleges, in which there was a strong emphasis on student-centred learning (SCL) as the Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) initiative had been introduced in 2006 in all Singapore schools.
The effort to bring the Joy of Learning into our schools is supported by how teachers are trained during their initial teaching education programme as well. This study, therefore, aims to provide insights into student teachers’ beliefs and perceptions regarding SCL before and after their practicum stint in schools to guide such efforts at teacher education level.  A qualitative approach was used in this study to explore and illuminate how 15 primary school student teachers perceived the benefits as well as their fears in implementing SCL during their practicum and after they graduate from their teacher preparation programme.
Through the use of semi-structured interviews, the study found that there were diverse views on this topic, but some common themes surfaced.  Firstly, when describing what they could consider when planning for SCL, the needs, interests, learning profiles and readiness of the pupils featured strongly. Secondly, while there were a variety of definitions for SCL, student teachers’ understanding of learning process revolved around seeing pupils as autonomous in which the provision of choices and peer interactions were critical elements in successful SCL. Thirdly, student teachers saw their role in SCL as facilitators, where the ability to facilitate group discussions and providing feedback were perceived as important.  Lastly, while most student teachers perceived SCL approaches as being beneficial to the learning process in class, most conveyed reservations about trying SCL during their practicum. Implications of the findings for pre-service teacher education will be discussed.