Teachers Don’t Just Teach, They Learn Too!

This might not sound intuitive, but a teacher is one who is constantly learning.

For 329 new teachers who graduated from the National Institute of Education (NIE) on 14 January 2014, their learning journey has only just begun – to prepare Singapore students for the challenges of the 21st century, and to uphold the high standards of Singapore’s education system.

According to the 2012 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a triennial international benchmarking study organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), more than 90 per cent of students say that most teachers are interested in their well-being, and that they would receive extra help from their teachers if there is such a need.

Besides the academic portion of the curriculum, an integral part of the teacher education programme is teachers’ participation in Group Endeavours in Service Learning (GESL) projects, through which they develop essential skills and perspectives to lead, care and inspire.

“The teacher trainees had an invaluable opportunity to mentor and engage through hands-on strategies and constructive activities to bring out the civic potential of at-risk youths,” said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Hawazi Daipi, at the Teachers’ Investiture Ceremony.

For Mr Guo Hefang, one of the graduating teachers, learning to communicate with and engage the youths was one big lesson he took away from his GESL project. He learnt to see the potential in youths and tap on their strengths.

“Through this, I realised that every child can learn,” said Mr Guo, who is currently the form teacher of a Normal (Technical) class, and is teaching geography and social studies at Northland Secondary School.

Mr Guo and his team taught juvenile probationers about social entrepreneurship and guided them through the process of setting up a flea market. Also, using the funds raised, they organised and facilitated an outing for intellectually-challenged youths.

“They are not the least fortunate. We wanted them to know that they are actually capable of helping others, to engender positive change,” said Mr Guo, the team leader of the project.

During his teenage years, Mr Guo’s parents sold their restaurant in China to finance his education in Singapore. Mr Guo is grateful for the education here that has shaped his life and remembers his secondary school teachers for the impact they had made on him. Joining the teaching profession is his way of giving back.

“I want to and am happy to stay here. Teaching is for the long haul. I’m now a Singaporean and I’ll probably live the rest of my life here!” said Mr Guo, who received his citizenship last year.

Through GESL, Mr Ng Hong Kin, a graduating teacher who is currently at Yuying Secondary School, learnt that all students have different inclinations and difficulties. But he hopes to inspire them to develop and excel in whichever area they are interested in.
“Teaching is all about understanding the student,” said Mr Ng.

In Mr Ng’s GESL project, the team sought to understand the challenges of hearing-impaired youths and adults, and empower them.

To help these youths and adults work around their disability, the team taught them e-commerce skills to enable them to communicate with mainstream society and support themselves financially. For example, they learnt about the process of setting up a shop on popular online sites. It gave the youths and adults a different perspective of how they could excel.

The journey of learning to be a better teacher is a lifelong one. With the insights and experiences gained from the teacher education programme, these new teachers are ready, not just to impart their knowledge to students, but also to learn from them.