Building on and extending the team’s earlier work on ITE and early career teacher learning, this project intends to characterise the impact of experience–both cumulative and episodic–on career-long development and sustainability of Singaporean teachers. Understanding teacher career development and sustainability beyond the early career phase will become more important as the age of Singapore’s teaching force increases, in line with the nation’s demographic trends. This project aims to contribute to the chain of evidence linking Initial Teacher Education (ITE) with subsequent within career experience to understand whether and why teachers’ professional identity, competence, and commitment change over time.
Principal Investigator
Prof. LOW Ee Ling
Co-Principal Investigators
Assoc. Prof. NG Pak Tee, Dr. GOH Sao-Ee, Prof. GOODWIN A. Lin
Collaborators
Mrs. CHUA-LIM Yen Chin, Dr. TAY May Yin, Miss SYED MAHMOOD Sarifah Noor Aini, Prof. YEUNG Alexander Seeshing
Objectives
- To investigate whether teachers’ professional identity, competence, and commitment change over time
- To identify factors that lead to changes, if any, in teachers’ professional identity, competence, and commitment
- To understand what keeps teachers committed to their careers
- To investigate factors that will develop and retain teachers career-long
Findings
- Participants across six career stages reported two of the most important intrinsic and fulfilling elements:
- Positive relationships included (1) engagements with students and (2) supportive colleagues
- Professional growth included teachers
(1) knowing their teaching repertoire had developed, (2) knowing they had contributed to the growth of students, and (3) possessing a sense of competence - SLs could show teachers care and understand their interests and strengths to develop and empower them
- MOE could put in place systems and measures to take care of teachers’ well-being, to develop them continually and to uphold their dignity
- Top-five demotivating aspects: high workload, sense of injustice, challenging parents, difficult colleagues and feeling incompetent
- Coping strategies: talking to a trusted person, practising self-care, adopting a positive mindset and learning how to manage time
Insights and Implications
Teacher commitment
- Personal Dimension: Teachers’ commitment evolve with career and life stages
- Positive work relationships, professional dignity and opportunities for growth keep teachers committed
- Balanced workload, sense of safety and the sense of competence keeps teachers motivated
- Career Progression keeps teachers intrinsically motivated, learning and committed
Professional Development Opportunities
- Early Career: Experience-based Learning
- Varied opportunities within and outside of the school environment are important for exposure and quality learning experience
- These teachers require close career guidance and PD planning
- Mid-career: Certification or Additional Education Qualifications
- Qualifications become increasingly important for these teachers who wish to gain recognition for the additional knowledge, skills and capability acquired
- More intentional PD programmes customised to these teachers would be helpful
- Late-Career: Specific Skills Acquisition and Development
- ICT skills demanded of teachers in late career stage need to be introduced at a slower pace to cater to their learning needs
- Provision of PD opportunities will help this group mentor others to create a more positive working environment
Citation
Low, E. L., & Tan, J. S. Y. (2020). Building an evidence-based to support teacher growth: A career-long perspective (Phase I).