The inaugural Leaders and Educators in Asia Programme (LEAP)Educators' Conference 2011 was a two-day conference held in Manila from 11 to 12 February 2011. The conference was co-organised by the National Institute of Education, Singapore (NIE) and Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), and sponsored by Temasek Foundation.
NIE's Associate Professor Lawrence Zhang of the English Language and Literature Academic Group spoke to over 100 doctoral students from around the world at the 45th International Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
It was a privilege for me to be part of the Singapore delegation led by Mr S. Iswaran, Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, for the International Summit on the Teaching Profession held in New York from 16 to 17 March 2011.
Korea and Hong Kong were listed in recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reports as top performing countries in various educational areas, such as in reading, mathematics and science. To better understand their education system and teacher preparation models, a study trip was made to the two cities.
In a study visit to Hong Kong from 28 to 30 March 2011, the Office of Academic Quality Management (OAQM), comprising Professor Goh Kim Chuan, Associate Professor Sylvia Chong and Ms Loh Wai Mun, visited several leading institutions that have vast experience in developing or evaluating academic quality practices.
From 24 to 29 April 2011, NIE Director, Professor Lee Sing Kong led a delegation comprising Associate Professor Quek Jin Jong, Principal Officer, Associate Professor Low Ee Ling, Associate Dean, Office of Teacher Education, and Associate Professor Sylvia Chong, Deputy Head, Office of Academic Quality Management, to visit Teachers College (TC) and Boston College (BC) at the invitation of the President of TC, Professor Susan Fuhrman and the BC Provost, Professor Cutberto Garza, respectively.
On 1 April 2011, NIE hosted the Educational Reform of Greater China Symposium, which was jointly organised by the Office of Education Research (OER) and the Centre for International Comparative Studies (CICS).
An advocate of lifelong participation in healthy physical activity through the development of expertise in physical activity among our youth is Professor Paul Schempp. The Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) Academic Group hosted Prof Schempp from the University of Georgia, USA, from 7 February to 4 March 2011 as PESS's Fifth EW Barker Professor.
This year the Barker's Challenge 2011 was organised by NIE at its triangle grounds on Friday, 18 February 2011. The annual run is held in memory of the late Mr Edmund William (EW) Barker: A Statesman, Scholar and Sportsman, often fondly remembered as "Mr Singapore Sport" because he represents the average sportsman, individual athlete, and dedicated official.
"Exercise Personal Training 101" provides a message of empowerment for personal trainers who believe in the holistic development of their clients. The key philosophy of the book is to help personal trainers of exercise to empower their clients with good problem-solving and decision-making skills concerning their health and well-being.
Teaching and Learning in the Arab World is a collection of studies on the state of education in Arab countries with a special focus on the Arabian Gulf, where currently there is increased activity and investment in education.
NIE's Asian Languages and Cultures (ALC) Academic Group's Associate Professor Seetha Lakshmi and Dr Vanithamani Saravanan, who was formerly from NIE's English Language and Literature Academic Group and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, have received the prestigious Karigaalan Award for authoring the research book entitled, "Standard Spoken Tamil and Pedagogy" on 1 January, 2011.