Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

Image: NIE, SingaporeImage: NIE, SingaporeThe collaborative classrooms provide an environment that allows student-centredand collaborative learning with the support of one-to-one computing facilitiesNIE promotes the professional development of in-service teachersthrough continuing education as part of lifelong learningby the government as public servants. The pre-service programmecurrently graduates approximately 2,300 students per year. Inaddition, NIE, working with the Ministry of Education, providesextensive graduate education and professional development opportunitiesto approximately 18,000 teachers every year in bothspecialist content and pedagogical fields. Teachers are allocated avery generous 100 hours of professional development time per year.Recently, the Ministry announced the establishment of a dedicatedAcademy of Singapore Teachers to coordinate professional developmentpolicy and programmes across the 360 schools in the system.School leaders: Over the past decade, NIE has developed a rangeof specialized and locally and internationally esteemed leadershipcourses for outstanding teachers who have been carefully selectedfor positions in school government as senior teachers, masterteachers, heads of department, vice-principals, principals andsuperintendents. All leadership programmes are developed in partnershipwith the Ministry and are closely aligned to governmentpolicy and priorities. Beyond this, as the Graduate ProgrammeOffice announces, “NIE consistently scans the horizon to monitordeveloping trends locally and globally and anticipate their impacton educational leadership development. NIE is open to newresponses in the face of constant change and is willing to adoptnovel strategies in the design of leadership programmes whenmerited. However, we recognize that change must not be at theexpense of stability and suitability to the local context. The needto work with all stakeholders, conduct self evaluation, have highexpectations and believe in the importance of balancing competinginterests is paramount for the leadership development relevanceand success.” At a programmatic level, “receptivity to innovationand change requires challenging conventional thinking andmoving away from a single discipline-based approach to leadershipdevelopment, to a multi-disciplinary approach.”The flagship leadership programme is the Leaders in EducationProgramme for school principals, which has gained wide internationalrecognition for excellence and innovation. Thefull-time, state-of-the-art programme is strongly futureorientated and has a clear emphasis on leadership capabilityin a dynamic and complex context. Specifically,through a process of learning in diverse contexts,including the authentic workplace of the school andinternational locations, the learning platform addressesa range of issues that are seen as critical to the successof future leadership, including:• Designing and managing learning schoolorganizations that can sustain a competitiveadvantage in a fast-changing and turbulentenvironment• Strategic choice and marketing• Innovative communication and informationtechnology• Designing an integrative and innovative curriculum inorder to achieve excellence in teaching and learning• Building human and intellectual capital.Organizational capacity-buildingThe Singapore educational system also invests stronglyin organizational capacity-building. This is especiallyobvious in the care and attention it gives to the selectionand training of school leaders, but it is also evident ina range of other indicators: the commitment of schoolleaders to providing a high quality education for allchildren in their schools, strong support for continuouspedagogical and technological innovation by both teachersand school leaders, collegial decision making withinschools, a strong ethic of responsibility and accountabilityat all levels of schools and, above all, a commitmentto continuous professional dialogue and reflection andto development of professional learning communities[ 104 ]