LIU Woon Chia is an Associate Professor with the Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. She is a co-founder of the NIE’s Motivation in Educational Research Laboratory (MERL), and the Immediate Past Dean of Teacher Education (2014 - 2018). During her deanship, she led and developed the NTU-NIE Teaching Scholars Programme, reviewed and enhanced the Bachelor of Arts (Education)/Science (Education) and the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programmes, and conceptualised and launched the IoT@NIE Learning Lab in collaboration with Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore. In addition, she was a key member of the steering committee and a co-chair of the working committee that shaped the Singapore Teaching Practice model that makes explicit how effective teaching and learning is achieved in Singapore schools.
She was previously the Associate Dean of Practicum and School Partnerships (2009 - 2014) and the Sub-Dean of Diploma Programmes (2008 - 2009). She served as a co-chair of the Theory-Practice Task Force in NIE’s Programme Review and Enhancement (PRE) initiative, which culminated in NIE’s Teacher Education Model for the 21st Century (TE21). Thereafter, she co-chaired the Theory-Practice Core Team for the TE21 implementation steering group. She led her team in conceptualising and implementing the enhanced practicum model, with its use of professional focused conversations to deepen inquiry and strengthen theory-practice nexus, and the use of purposeful mentoring to help pre-service teachers improve their teaching competencies whilst developing their sense of teacher personhood. Furthermore, she was instrumental in advocating and shaping the Professional Practice and Inquiry portfolio in all pre-service programmes that allows pre-service teachers to aggregate and integrate their learning.
She was the President of the Educational Research Association of Singapore (ERAS), and represented Singapore in the World Education Research Association (WERA) Council (2011-2015). She was also the co-convener of the WERA-IRN (International Research Network) titled “Teacher education for the 21st century: Developing teachers who are thoughtful, reflective, and inquiring.”
Her research interests include self-concept, motivation, teacher education, innovative pedagogy, e-portfolio and clinical practice.