Capacity Building of School Leaders and Teachers

Abstract

Chapter 5 provides insights into the capacity building of human resources that support the ICT in Education Masterplans. The translation of ICT policies into school practices is dependent on ‘human infrastructure’; in particular, the two fundamental pillars consist of school leaders and teachers. It is critical that there are capable leaders and educators to interpret the policies for implementation at the school level and, subsequently, to actualize the plans in concrete and practical ways in respective school’s context. Singapore takes a multipronged approach to building the capacity of school leaders and teachers. The NIE, the official teacher education institution, plays an integral role in preparing and developing leaders’ and teachers’ capacity in the use of ICT in T&L. Several programmes and avenues for PD of teachers and leaders were provided, including courses provided to all student teachers during teacher education programmes, the PD courses for practising teachers, the school-based workshops customized for schools, the leaders’ development programmes, and a variety of graduate studies to further develop and deepen the teachers’ academic knowledge and skills. The schools, together with the AST that was set up by the MOE, play the complementary role of facilitating learning communities among the teachers. The building of teachers’ and school leaders’ capacity started from a more transmission-oriented PD model and gradually developed into a more transitional, transformative model.