ST66 Guest Editor’s Note

Guest Editor Prof Low Ee Ling

Every year, we celebrate Teachers’ Day as a way of expressing our gratitude to our nation’s educators. The celebration honours them and recognizes the positive impact they make—not only in the classroom, but also in their students’ lives.

As a teacher educator, I believe we need to prepare future-ready teachers for future-ready learners. But what, exactly, does it mean to be “future-ready”? The term in itself poses a contradiction—how can you be future-ready when the future is so uncertain?

In an unpredictable world, teachers should be equipped with problem-solving skills that will enable them to come up with innovative solutions. More than that, teachers should also have the ability to anticipate possible new problems that are likely to confront us in the future.

To be an effective educator, we must constantly ask: How can we improve our quality of teaching? Why is it important to continuously develop ourselves professionally as we teach? What are some of the ways in which we can help students be motivated to learn?

On a positive note, we have just graduated our inaugural batch of teaching scholars from the Teaching Scholars Programme, with the pioneer batch of 33 students being called to the profession at the recent NIE Teachers’ Investiture Ceremony in July this year.

Having completed this 4-year programme by NTU and NIE that grooms aspiring teachers to become “future leaders” of education, they exemplify our mission to groom “Future-Ready Teachers for Future-Ready Learners”. You can read a few of these teachers’ motivations and hopes for the future in the In Their Own Words article.

The feature article in Classroom Perspectives will also shed some light on the importance of teacher mentoring in every educator’s early years of teaching.

Beyond just delivering content, an effective teacher also guides young people to be useful and responsible citizens of the country. One cannot over-emphasize the role of teachers in Singapore: nation-builders who shape the future of our nation, one student at time.

– Prof Low Ee Ling