Editorial
The landscape of education and…
How may educators enjoy learning again to reclaim the joy of teaching?
“What keeps us going?” Does this question ring a bell? It is a constant question I pose to my educator colleagues and myself during professional discussions, especially when things get tough. Some topics of discussion include senior key personnel rotation, difficult conversations, work review sessions, policy changes, changes in students’ learning behaviours and changing demands of various stakeholders among others. How may educators enjoy learning again to reclaim the joy of teaching?
Learning from fellow passionate educators keeps me going. I would like to start by honouring an inspirational teacher of mine – the late Professor Thomas Corcoran – a former Co-Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, who had invested almost two decades of his life in transforming STEM education in Thailand. He impacted many educators and students. I received the news of his demise on the first day I reported to my new school as head of the English department. I visited him a year ago and witnessed how he spoke to the Thai school leaders who attended his training. He stood up from his wheelchair and used a walking stick to support himself while addressing the crowd. His grit stirred up a new educational mission in my heart. Besides him, I am heartened to have fellow passionate educator friends share their insights about their passion areas in this bulletin.
In our conversations with some teachers, they expressed their frustration with students ignoring the feedback that they had spent a lot of time on and felt that their good intentions were not met. This process can be exhausting and mentally challenging. Mr Alan Yang, an English Language senior teacher at Chua Chu Kang Primary School, explores this issue in his article “Feedback Blackhole: When Students Ignore Teacher Feedback”. He highlights the importance empathy and for us to consider how students view our feedback. In his article, he also shares certain conditions needed for effective dialogic feedback.
While Alan explores how students can gain joy in learning from teacher feedback, Mr Tan Ching, a Vice Principal from Juying Secondary School, explores how we may revitalise file checks as a transformative practice that fosters meaningful feedback, inspire teacher growth, and ultimately, support the enhancement of student learning outcomes. This reflection piece revolves around an endeavour to redesign file checks in order to drive teaching excellence in a rapidly changing educational landscape. The transformative impact unfolds in the dynamics between the teachers and the IP leaders, with the experience reimagined to embody the spirit of F.I.L.E (Function, Interaction, Learning, Emotions).
Associate Professor Kelvin Tan’s article “Four Vital Questions Concerning Assessment Feedback” stresses the importance for educators to reflect on why they give, and should continue to give assessment feedback, as well as offers handles on how to go about doing this. The four fundamental questions he proposes are as follows:
Exploring new ways of teaching and learning excites many educators when we collaborate and actively involve students in this process. Mr Lu Jian Hao, Head of the Humanities Department, at Northland Secondary School, shares how he explored ChatGPT as a feedback tool in his task design and examines how students respond to feedback given by ChatGPT, guided by teachers. In the article, he explores how we can ride on the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) more ethically and constructively.
Dr Teo Juin Ee and Associate Professor Kelvin Tan offer thought-provoking perspectives on the importance of “Tech Less to Learn More”. They caution the need to be wary when we find ourselves thinking less and not questioning at all. During the last open classroom I was involved in, I was guilty of focusing on the ‘How’ and not much of the ‘Why’. This article provides deeper food for thought for both instructional leaders, ED-tech leaders as well as teachers executing lessons with ed-tech tools in the classrooms on the importance of asking what it means for our students to learn more and learn well first, and then utilise the nature and extent of any pedagogy or technology for our students.
A group of school leaders in the Leadership in Education program (LEP) offers “food for thought” as they share about the Transition Year offered in the Irish Education System. The content of this sharing is organised into six sections, starting with the introduction of the Irish Education System. This is followed by the objectives and key features of the Transition Year. The sharing also visits the issues, tensions and assessment involved in the Transition Year. Finally, this sharing will end off with suggestions on how aspects of the transition year could be adapted for Singapore’s educational context.
One common trait of our contributors for this bulletin is their innovative and lifelong learning attitude. They enjoy learning continuously and celebrate the joy of teaching, not alone but with colleagues in the fraternity. On behalf of the editorial team, I would like to encourage all our readers to reexamine what spurs us on in our work and re-examine the ‘WHYs’ as we continue to lead, care and inspire many more generations of youths and educators. May we stay true to our mission as well as pursue continual personal growth as we encourage one another!