Conceptualising Teacher Preparation for Educational Innovation: Singapore’s Approach

Abstract

As the global landscape evolves, there is a strong push for educators to examine and incorporate within the education system the competencies paramount for survival in the twenty-first century. There is a need to prepare students to face the ever-changing demands and challenges of the twenty-first century global workplace and society. In 2009, the National Institute of Education, Singapore undertook a systematic review of its teacher education programmes in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the schools, using the revised National Curriculum and 21st century competencies (21CC) as a key guide. This collective and systemic effort led to the articulation of a set of Graduand Teacher Competencies outlining the professional standards, benchmarks and goals for graduands of the initial teacher preparation programmes. This chapter focuses on the outcome of the review -- Teacher Education Model for the 21st century (TE21) and the key changes which help to translate the theoretical recommendations of TE21 into actual implementation.