Five Roles of Graduands as Future-Ready Teachers

The five roles help teachers have clarity of the goals to achieve. These desired roles also help student teachers see the relevance of their learning to the broader national ecosystem. The five roles are:

 

SHAPERS OF
CHARACTER:

Teachers recognise that they have influence over their students, shaping not only minds but also the character. As custodians and role models of good character and societal values (Liu, 2022), teachers guide learners to developing good character. This is especially pertinent in today’s context, which is marked with times of uncertainties.  

CREATORS OF
KNOWLEDGE:

Teachers co-construct knowledge in content, pedagogy, practice and technology (Low, 2020), and collaborative with other teachers, policymakers and researchers. Teachers who are collaborative creators of knowledge create new value (Ng, Wong & Liu, 2020) for the benefit of their students and the fraternity.

FACILITATORS OF
LEARNING:

Teachers nurture and support the learning of students as much as their own (Liu, 2022). Facilitating learning is not limited to the academic aspect but also to how teachers facilitate difficult conversations with students and their parents to ensure students' well-being. In addition, topics of local and global importance such as societal, citizenry, and sustainability issues are also included in the students' learning. 

ARCHITECTS OF
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS:

Teachers design and customise the learning environment into one that is suitable for their respective groups of learners (Liu, 2022). This includes the physical space, the cognitive (use of teaching materials and tools to promote critical thinking skills), the affective (social and emotional well-being), and the digital aspects (Low, 2020) for a transformative learning experience for the students.

AGENTS OF
EDUCATIONAL CHANGE:

Teachers are change agents who think systemically and understand that they contribute to community-change and nation-building. Teachers need to lead in all areas of their influence, be it their classrooms, their collaborative teams, their schools, their community and ultimately, the education system.

 

References

Liu, W. C. (2022). Singapore's approach to developing teachers: Hindsight, insight, and foresight. London, UK: Routledge.

Low, E. L. (2020). English language teacher education in multilingual Singapore: Responding to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In Tao, W., & Liyanage, I. (Eds.), Multilingual education yearbook 2020 (pp. 129–148). Amsterdam: Springer.

Ng, D. F. S., Wong, C. P., & Liu, S. (2020). Future-ready Learners: Learning, Lifework, Living, and Habits of Practices. NIE Working Paper Series, 20. Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education.