National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore

The application period to the August 2011 intake Master of Education (Chinese Language), on the PDCM433 structure, has been extended to 23 March 2011. This is open only to MOE-sponsored graduate teachers who are teaching in Primary schools.

For more information, please visit www.nie.edu.sg/aug2011.

As part of the SAF-NTU Continuing Education Masters’ Programme, we are pleased to extend the January 2011 intake for Master of Arts (Instructional Design & Technology) from 8 to 24 October 2010.

To apply, please click here.

To find out more about the Master of Arts (Instructional Design & Technology), please click here.

The university recently reviewed tuition fees for all its higher degree programmes. The details of the increased fees for the subsidised higher degree programmes for AY2010 for new and existing students respectively can be found here.

For enquiries, please send your e-mail to nieadmpp@nie.edu.sg.

By Jolene Tan, Public, International & Alumni Relations

From left, Mdm Janis Lee Ling Poh, Mdm Thian Ai Ling Mrs Chaillan Mui Tuan

40 senior educators received their Leaders in Education Programme (LEP) certificates on 10 October 2008 for successfully completing the six-month full-time executive programme conducted by NIE/NTU, Singapore. Gracing the occasion was Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education & Second Minister for Defence.

Participants of the LEP were specially selected by the Ministry of Education (MOE) for principalship. Joining the cohort this year were also four overseas participants from Brunei nominated by the Ministry of Education, Brunei.

The programme focuses on innovation and the creation of new knowledge, including an industrial attachment, seminars with international experts and an overseas learning experience. Through these experiences, the participants are able to reflect and realise how to lead their schools and bring them to new heights, giving teaching, learning and leading a whole new realm!

The three award winners were:

• Mdm Thian Ai Ling
  Presented the Lee Kuan Yew Leaders in Education Programme Award for demonstrating the best overall performance in the LEP.
• Mdm Janis Lee Ling Poh
  Presented the Academy of Principals Prize for Leadership Learning (Journal) for exemplifying the highest level of learning across the Leaders in Education Programme.
• Mrs Chaillan Mui Tuan
  Presented the Dr Ruth Wong Gold Medal Award (Innovation) for exemplifying the highest performance in the innovation project in the LEP.

The valedictorian, Mdm Thian Ai Ling, shared that the LEP had been an enriching and memorable experience that allowed participants to engage in meaningful learning and reflections, expand their professional network and articulate, clarify their perspectives on various educational issues.

By Public, International & Alumni Relations

Mr Toh King Sing of Temasek Secondary School won the Dr Ruth Wong Medal for excelling in the MLS programme

On 27 July, 124 Heads of Departments received their certificates after completing four-months of fulltime collaborative learning in the Management and Leadership in Schools (MLS) programme at NIE.

Managed by NIE’s Graduate Programmes and Research Office, MLS is an innovative programme that focuses on team learning and curriculum innovation to prepare departmental heads and school leaders to be exemplary leaders, people managers, and experts in teaching and learning. Graduates of the programme will be ready to lead initiatives in curriculum advances and take their schools to new levels of achievement.

Guest of Honour and Director of the Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Planning and Development Division Mdm Low Khah Gek presented the Dr Ruth Wong Medal to Mr Toh King Sing of Temasek Secondary School for demonstrating the best overall performance in the programme.

By Public, International & Alumni Relations

NIE celebrated the graduation of 341 in-service teachers from the Professional Development Continuum Model (PDCM) – an innovative partnership between NIE and the Ministry of Education that subsidises course fees and provides serving teachers time off from work to pursue their master’s degrees.

Formally introduced in 2005, the programme offers inservice teacher the opportunity to earn a master’s degree by attending evening classes either at NIE or at designated external venues. By balancing work, professional and personal lives, teachers can obtain their masters degrees in three years through this programme.

The first PDCM cohort received their master’s degrees at the NTU Convocation held at Nanyang Auditorium on 29 July 2009.

The success of the PDCM marks yet another significant milestone in the successful partnership between NIE and the Ministry of Education.

By Mardiana Abu Bakar, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Academic Group

Mrs. Sng-Wong Ching Yee, Vice Principal of Boon Lay Garden Primary School (seated 3rd from right) with her group of innovation activists

Knowledge is a powerful enabler. This becomes hearteningly obvious speaking to graduates of NIE’s newest master’s programme, the Masters of Education (MEd) in Curriculum & Teaching. Beginning with 18 students in 2006, the MEd in Curriculum & Teaching programme graduated a bumper crop of 64 students last July.

Many graduates of the programme are taking on curriculum leadership roles in their schools and those we spoke to say they find themselves better equipped to make a difference in the lives of their teachers and students.

Here are insights from two recent graduates on how the MEd in Curriculum & Teaching programme is helping them marry their newly acquired knowledge of various theories in their practice.

Mrs. Sng-Wong Ching Yee, Vice Principal of Boon Lay Garden Primary School:

One of Mrs Sng-Wong’s main focus at the moment is working with her lower primary school teachers to look into what kind of learning experiences the school is providing the lower primary school students beyond the cognitive and the academic. Every Wednesday, she holds engaging conversations with 9 of her lower primary school teachers who have been given roles as “innovation activists”. They look into their assumptions of what school is and what it can better do and what curriculum and pedagogy they can plan and put into place, aligning the PERI objectives with their school’s planning ambitions for 2010.

She adds that one of the most profound insights the course has given her is that a curriculum leader’s main role is as a culture builder and that the school is responsible for both its hidden and official curriculum.

Ms Christina Michael, Vice Principal of CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh):

Ms Michael says that when she was posted to a school that has a long tradition of educational excellence, she asked herself what her contribution could possibly be. After the MEd course, she is now seeking solutions to the following questions which will help her in moving her school forward:

• How can we espouse a problem-solving stance and move towards transformative teaching so necessary for the 21st century classroom in a school that still embraces Freire’s “banking concept”?
• Bearing in mind both Marris’ contention that ambivalence is concomitant with change and Fullan’s point that “culture cannot be mandated”, how can change be implemented at a pace palatable enough for most, yet creating enough dissonance to catalyse the change process?
• In driving these curriculum design shifts which centre on the development of the individual, how can we engineer improvement in student outcomes such that they engender enduring change in teacher beliefs and attitudes?