A Teacher Education Model for the 21 Century - National Institute of ...

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TE 21
FOREWORD
I
am delighted to be asked to pen this foreword
for the National Institute of Education,
Singapore’s Teacher Education for the
21st Century (TE21 ) report, the culmination of
an institute-wide programme review and
enhancement (PRE) process that began in
November 2008. I was privileged to have been
given a preview of the main recommendations
when I recently visited Singapore in late July
2009 to receive the honorary Doctor of Education
degree awarded by the Nanyang Technological
University (NTU). What struck me most
poignantly was the immense amount of work and
thinking that has taken place within a relatively
short space of time and the coherent manner in
which such an ambitious endeavour has been
undertaken.
My relationship with NIE, an autonomous institute
within NTU, began when I was an appointed
member of the International Advisory Panel (IAP)
in 2007. At that stage, NIE was in the process
of articulating their key strategic directions
from 2007-2012 (known as the 3:3:3 Roadmap)
guided by their strong vision of becoming an
institute of distinction, excelling in teacher
education and educational research. TE21 is
NIE’s transformative endeavour to prepare its
student teachers to become 21 st century teaching
professionals ready to meet the challenges
awaiting them in the 21 st century classroom.
Singapore represents a nation that sees its
future in the knowledge and expertise of its
people, taking up the challenge of creating a 21 st
century education system in a unique tripartite
partnership between the Ministry of Education,
the country’s national institute of education and
the schools. Such a tight and strong partnership
is the envy of other nations, as it allows research
to inform policy and policy, in turn to be
translated seamlessly into schools. Teachers’
work, while always complicated, is becoming
ever more important as the challenges for which
they must prepare their students are becoming
more complex. This is in large part because
the nature of work and the society we live in
are changing constantly, and at an increasingly
breakneck speed.
Research shows us that exemplary teacher