Professional Learning That Matters

Associate Professor Chang Chew Hung, Associate Dean for Professional Development at NIE, was invited to deliver a keynote address at an international conference organised by the Hanoi University of Education on 20 December 2017. The conference was a platform for the sharing of experiences on pre-service and in-service training for teachers, lecturers and educational managers in Singapore and Malaysia.

The topic of Associate Professor Chang’s lecture was “Teacher Professional Learning That Matters – A Singapore Perspective”. He argued that purpose, processes and outcomes were normally considered when deciding if something mattered. In considering how teacher professional learning matters, he discussed why it is important, for whom it is important, and how it is conducted so that it matters. The imperative of education is to make sure that children can have meaningful and successful lives when they grow up. As teachers play an important role in this endeavour, the talk also explored the relationship between teachers, students and the curriculum through literature reviews and public-domain documents.

Given the unprecedented changes in today’s environment, economy and society, it has become increasingly vital for teachers to manage the learning needs of students. Teacher education as part of the teacher professional development continuum was examined using the case of Singapore for its value proposition to education. In particular, Associate Professor Chang presented the principles of pre-service and in-service education in Singapore, with a focus on how teacher professional learning matters.