For the first time since its inception in 2001, the recent Teachers’ Conference and ExCEL Fest 2023 (TCEF2023) organized by the Academy of Singapore Teachers in collaboration with the other divisions of Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore, adopted a blended conference format with both onsite and online conference features. This format allowed the biennial conference to see a record of 17,000 participants this year that include our local educators, international delegates and even parents. SingTeach speaks to the MOE Deputy Director-General of Education (Professional Development) Mrs Chua-Lim Yen Ching about the inspiration behind the theme of the conference and why it is crucial for teachers to come together to share and deepen their knowledge on teaching and learning.

Enhancing Professional Practice to Impact Student Learning 

“The theme ‘Ignite Imagination. Empower Communities. Transform Practice.’ succinctly reinforces our teaching fraternity’s emphasis on innovation, lifelong learning and supporting one another to nurture future-ready learners,” Mrs Chua shares.

This year’s TCEF retained the same theme from the 2021 edition as part of the ministry’s efforts to provide a consistent anchor for the branding of the conference. Retaining the theme also strengthens the fraternity’s association of these concepts with the key objectives of the conference: to spark new ideas, to bring people together for collaboration, and to support teachers in strengthening their practices for the benefit of their students.

At the opening address of the three-day conference, Guest-of-Honour Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing shares, “I have never come across teachers who are afraid of hard work. Our teachers are only afraid of work that is not meaningful.”

The minister’s statement is indeed a reflection of the 17,000 teacher participants who spared the time to attend the conference despite the school holidays. For teaching to be meaningful, it has to be relevant and there is a need to constantly evolve existing pedagogies and use of technology to further enhance one’s practice to impact the students’ learning.

However, Minister Chan also reminds the teachers against focusing too much on “overly sophisticated” pedagogies. “We just focus on the simple things – do it well, do it consistently and do it together. That is important.”

Leveraging International Perspectives 

As part of the education ministry’s 10-year Educational Technology (EdTech) Plan which aims to guide the development of the technological ecosystem and key platforms for learning in primary schools to pre-university institutions, TCEF2023 features international keynoters who are experts in technological advancements.

“We want to learn about the future of learning, especially with technological advancement, and how other systems are adjusting to the new normal after the pandemic. Hence, our choice of speakers should inform us of the developments in other countries, the thinking behind some of the policy decisions, and the impact of those decisions,” Mrs Chua shares.

Exposure to international perspectives can help expand teachers’ horizon beyond their local context, and also encourage them to challenge assumptions and consider alternative viewpoints. This diversity of thoughts can also help foster innovation and creativity among our Singapore practitioners – an essential part of the conference in igniting imagination.

“More importantly, we want to refocus on our educational values as a fraternity and be inspired to take on the challenges facing the world,” Mrs Chua affirms.

Consistency is the Key to Educational Achievement 

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international assessment conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) that is designed to measure reading achievements at Grade 4 (equivalent to Primary 4 in Singapore). Administered every 5 years, the recent PIRLS in 2021 showed that Singapore students have been constantly performing well in reading literacy by international standards.

“What drew me (to the results) most was not the fact that we top the charts across the world,” Minister Chan shares in his address. “But it is the fact that we are one of the three countries that managed to continue to make progress, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We are the country that has made consistent progress over the last 20 years.”

“Just as we teach our students, our job is not to surpass someone else in an exam; our job is to keep surpassing ourselves throughout life. And there’s no better example of how we exemplify this by our children surpassing themselves in PIRLS.”

Educational success is often a result of sustained effort and consistent engagement. Consistency allows students to make incremental progress over time, leading to long-term success. It also helps them build a solid academic foundation, develop critical thinking skills and acquire a deep understanding of concepts; all of which contribute to their overall educational achievement.

Embracing the 4Cs in Education 

Due to an avalanche of demands for teachers to do more in today’s technological era, the need for teachers to manage their workload and set clear priorities on what needs to be done is becoming more crucial than ever. “Our students and teachers have finite bandwidth, and we need to judiciously guard this bandwidth,” Minister Chan affirms.

Ultimately, in a fast-changing world, Minister Chan shares that there is only one skill that students should all be equipped with – the ability to learn; to learn fast and to learn on their own. And for that to happen, the quality of teachers is the most important determiner.

“Having quality teachers and establishing quality teacher-student relationships are the hallmarks of an effective education system. The enablers are pedagogies, technologies, and system design. We must, then, embrace the 4Cs,” Mrs Chua explains.

The 4Cs, which Minister Chan shares in his address, are:

• • • Consistency of commitment to produce meaningful resources that preserve the respect for the teaching profession;

• • • Coherence of policies/designs with clear priorities that target the nurturing of self-confident contributors and motivated lifelong learners;

• • • Conviction of teaching profession and policymakers to not over-structure nor over-protect because it will help our young to grow and learn resilience, and be comfortable in dealing with uncertainties and untidiness; and

• • • Collaboration among the policymakers, teachers, community, parents, and industry to work toward a common goal – in the best interests of every child.

Through the in-person sessions and online conference features, it is hoped that TCEF2023 provides teachers the opportunities and spaces to share and discuss ideas. On this note, Mrs Chua concludes: “To this end, teachers are key drivers and by participating in TCEF2023, we want to strengthen the spirit of ‘Teacher Ownership, Teacher Leadership’ amongst our educators as the fraternity came together to learn and share readily with the common goal of moulding the future of the nation.”