Doctor in Education (Ed.D.)

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A study on parenting styles, parental involvement, children's well-being and resilience in view of PSLE preparation in Singapore
(National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NIE NTU), Singapore, 2024)
Marhaini Abdul Hamid
This mixed methods study sought to understand how different parenting styles affect the levels of well-being and resilience of children who were taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and how parental involvements enhanced the children’s ability to take the PSLE. Results from the online survey of a sample of 74 mother-child dyads suggested that the authoritative parenting style was the most prominent parenting style. Children whose mothers had the authoritative parenting style displayed the highest mean well-being score of 4.20 (SD = 0.59) and had a significant and positive correlation of well-being with authoritative parenting scores (r = 0.41**, p < 0.01), while children whose mothers had authoritarian parenting style reported a mean well-being score of 3.73 (SD = 0.59) and exhibited a significant and negative correlation of well-being with parenting style (r = -0.25*, p < 0.05). Permissive parenting was significantly and negatively correlated with well-being of the children (M=3.71, SD=0.65; r = -0.32**, p < 0.01). Interestingly, permissive parenting was found to be significantly correlated with resilience of the children. Resilience was also found to partially mediate the impact of permissive parenting, but it did not significantly mediate authoritative, authoritarian, or helicopter parenting styles.
To delve further into mothers’ involvement during their children’s PSLE years, interviews with ten mother-child dyads were conducted. Findings revealed that mothers were involved in both academic and non-academic activities of their children, with themes such as stresses felt by both mother and child, the provision of tuition for the children and the children’s gratitude for their mothers’ involvement. Mothers started their intervention with the children at an early age by enrolling them in extra classes as well as private pre-schools. Children had timetables and schedules set out for them to ensure they stayed on track with their educational journey. Despite having to adhere to rules and timetables set by their mothers, children indicated that they appreciated their mothers’ enhanced involvement especially during the PSLE year.
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Case studies of primary level students' activities using multimodal resources in narrative writing
(2018)
Teo, Bee Lin
This study draws on the theoretical frameworks of sociocultural and New Literacies theories to investigate students' literacy practices as they participate in an online Multimodal Learning Environment (MLE). The study seeks to find out if an alternative way of promoting students’ literacy practices might be more relevant for today’s students. The study investigated how students responded to the MLE’s resources to support their narrative writing. The significance and relevance of the broader implications of literacy are also discussed in the process of learning about the students’ experiences of using MLE support to construct meaning as they enhance their story content creation.

Building on the idea that writing should be linked to a broader view of education and not constrained to practical terms (Vygotsky, 1978), this study draws on the seminal work of Langer and Applebee (1987), which emphasises the active role of the writer on naturally generating deeper thinking and learning. Linking the research to more recent developments in literacy, this study also applies multimodal literacy theory and practice to cultivate active and dynamic learning processes (New London Group, 2000).

The study examines two main areas: (i) Singapore primary students' literacy practices, and (ii) the roles played by MLE supports and resources. The study was carried out over approximately one semester. In my roles as a researcher and a teacherparticipant, I conducted the study in a Singapore primary school with 12 student participants during their curriculum time. Findings from the study indicate that the MLE benefited the primary students. Details of the findings will inform researchers and educational practitioners interested in subjects related to writing and learning.

Information was analysed primarily from the student participants’ perspectives using case studies. Data collection included the students' writing artefacts, student data in the MLE, lesson observations, discussions, and the researcher’s field notes. Grounded coding revealed a pattern that emerged from the student participants’ experiences and attitudes to learning. Specifically, when the students were given opportunities to work in a constructivist learning environment that allowed for new technologies, they attuned socially and culturally. Interestingly, the students’ collective heightened awareness enriched each other’s development of more informed story content.

This study reconceptualises literacy learning and re-presents writing as “assembling according to designs” (Kress, 2003, p. 5) – texts constructed in new forms and meaning. The findings call for rethinking the design and use of teaching and learning resources and for addressing teaching and learning differently in this new media age.
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A case study approach to exploring the influence of context on professional learning communities in Singapore
(2022)
Tan, Benjamin Aik Ti
The concept of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) originated in the Anglo-American context more than two decades ago, and researchers have embraced it as a means to raise teacher competencies and classroom practices. In Singapore, PLC was implemented as a state-led initiative in 2010. Globalization has resulted in the global trend of transnational borrowing and lending in education, and although the implementation of PLC has been extensively borrowed and implemented in many countries, practices and how the concepts are defined, understood and implemented can vary differently across cultural context, and are mediated by other contextual needs and demands of each school. The purpose of this research is to understand school practitioners’ perspectives on PLC as a professional development model, as well as to explore and discuss the extent of how Singapore’s school context and the broader Asian cultural context characterized by large power distance (hierarchical structures and authoritarian leadership) and collectivism may have shaped the way PLC practices are enacted in the Singapore context. Adopting Hipp and Huffman’s five PLC dimensions (Hipp & Huffman, 2010) and Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions, this study employs an exploratory case study approach to explain how contextual factors can influence the way PLCs are enacted and the experiences of educational practitioners.

The findings revealed that the concentration of authority and centralized decision-making structures typical of societies with large power distance, served as a leverage in enabling schools to set up effective structures and norms for PLC collaboration. In addition, the paternalistic form of leadership appears to have developed teachers’ trust and respect for their school leaders. This may have led to teachers feeling a strong sense of autonomy and shared leadership, although empowerment in decision-making was generally constrained to their core work of teaching and lesson planning. In the area of Collective Learning and Application, teachers felt that PLC provided rich learning experiences through various collaborative platforms of sharing, discussion and classroom implementation, although the use of inquiry tools such as Lesson Study and Action Research was simplified. This study identifies the collectivistic culture of Asian societies as a key enabler to develop strong collegial and interdependent relationships, which encouraged openness and objectivity in PLC discourse. The dimension of Shared Personal Practices through lesson observations is still at an infant stage of development due to issues such as time constraint, timetable clashes, and more significantly, the fear of judgment and evaluation. There were differences with the Western-conceived model of PLC.
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Children’s perceptions of parental involvement and their academic motivation and well-being : a Singapore study
(2017)
Bendjenni Udiana Jamalludin
Trends in parenting research in Singapore (e.g., Ong & Cheung, 2016; Cheo & Quah, 2005) have focused on parental involvement in their children’s schooling and academic achievement. This is especially the case because academic achievement is highly prized and, as such, there is an increasing pressure on Singapore children to perform well in school. However, it is sensible to believe that the children’s psychological well-being and academic motivation might negatively compromised by this academic pressure. Although past researchers (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Henderson & Mapp, 2002) found that greater parental involvement resulted in better children’s academic achievement, there is a lack of research looking into the role of parental involvement in the children’s psychological well-being and academic motivation. Further, while parenting practices have been widely researched on, there is not much research on parental aspirations and parenting motivational beliefs on how these two sets of parental-related factors are related to the children’s psychological well-being and academic motivation. As such, there is a need to investigate the links between parental aspirations, parenting motivational beliefs, and children’s psychological well-being and academic motivation. In view of these gaps in the literature, the present study sought to examine Singapore children’s perceptions of their parental aspirations and parenting-related motivational beliefs, and investigate these factors’ relationships with the children’s psychological well-being and academic motivation. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler Parental Involvement Framework and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) were used as the two main underpinning theories. Specifically, a total of 300 Primary 5, Primary 6, Secondary 1 and Secondary 2 children in Singapore were asked to report on their perceptions of their parents’ parental intrinsic aspiration, extrinsic aspiration, parenting efficacy, parenting task value, parental role construction, parenting enjoyment, parenting time, parenting effort, satisfaction of needs and academic motivation. Methodologically, this is a quantitative study in which the participants were asked to complete a set of questionnaire cross-sectionally. The Basic Psychological Needs Scale was used to measure the participants’ perceived satisfaction of their needs of autonomy, competency, and relatedness. The Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire was used to measure the children’s intrinsic, identified, introjected, and extrinsic motivation in their schoolwork. The Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler Parental Involvement Scales, the Self-Determination Theory-derived Aspiration Index and Intrinsic Motivation Scale were used to measure the participants’ perceptions of the different aspects of parental involvement in children’s schooling lives. Findings showed that children’s perceptions of their parents’ parental aspirations and parenting motivational beliefs (parenting task value, parental role construction, and parenting efficacy) predicted parenting enjoyment, parenting time and parenting effort. Children’s perceptions of their parents’ parental aspirations and parenting motivational beliefs also predicted the children’s perceived satisfaction of needs and the intrinsic, identified and introjected types of academic motivation. Further, mediation tests showed that children’s perceptions of their parents’ parenting enjoyment, parenting time, and parenting effort mediated the relationships between their perceptions of their parents’ parental aspirations and parenting motivational beliefs and their perceived satisfaction of needs and intrinsic, identified, and introjected motivation. In conclusion, the study provided evidence that parental aspirations and motivational beliefs, as perceived by children, have a role in the children’s psychological well-being and academic motivation. The applied implications and recommendations of the findings for school-parent partnership are discussed.
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The co-creation and facilitation of learning between external workplace learning facilitators and project champions in workplace learning projects
(2022)
Lee, Kang Yam
Research on the facilitation of workplace learning has focused mainly on internal employees, such as managers as facilitators of learning. This research examines how external Workplace Learning Facilitators co-created and facilitated the learning of Project Champions and team members in workplace learning projects. Co-creation is believed to increase participation, confidence, and commitment from project stakeholders. A phenomenological research approach was used via structured interviews, conducted with 6 participants in three organisations with different workplace learning projects. This study identified how the Workplace Learning Facilitators co-created the learning through scoping, designing, and implementing the workplace learning projects with the Project Champions. This study also identified the specific facilitation practices such as coaching, demonstration, train-the-trainer, providing feedback and Structured On-the-Job Training, used by the Workplace Learning Facilitators to facilitate the learning of the Project Champions and the project team members.

The benefits of co-creation in learning are well-documented in the research literature, and this study has examined how confidence in workplace learning can be fostered by the Workplace Learning Facilitators, through the co-creation process. The use of Train-the-Trainer model to empower Project Champions and team members, to co-create and implement workplace learning, was also identified as an example of the transference of capabilities and learning from the Workplace Learning Facilitators to the Project Champions and team members. This study recommends the development of co-creation eco-systems at the national and organisational level to train and support the co-creation process, between different stakeholders, in workplace learning projects and facilitate the transference of capabilities and learning, from the Learning Facilitators to non-learning professionals in the organisations.

As established in this study, learning can be facilitated by both internal and external Workplace Learning Facilitators, and the various facilitation practices and techniques identified in this study can form the foundation competencies of Workplace Learning Facilitators. This study recommends a formal, structured training, development, and certification pathway for Workplace Learning Facilitators to increase the professionalism, co-creation and facilitation competence in workplace learning practice.

With the setting up of National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning (NACE), research on workplace learning is set to receive strong academic and practical support from SkillsFuture Singapore, academic institutions, organisations and workplace learning practitioners. While the majority of workplace learning literature has come mainly from researchers based in Western countries, this research study has made a small contribution to the growing workplace learning research in Singapore, pointing out possible paths for further research, in co-creation and facilitation of learning in organisations that contribute towards the overall improvement of knowledge, skills, and capabilities of local companies and workers.
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Complexity leadership theory in implementing information & communications technology (ICT) in vocational education
(2022)
Ho, Benny Wye Kei
The Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Singapore, had invested millions of dollars to integrate Info & Communication Technology (ICT) into the training curriculum over the years. In spite of the investment and its (ICT’s) promise to innovate pedagogy, some lecturers are still not harnessing ICT to realise pedagogical innovations.

This qualitative case study examined a vocational institution, ITE, in the process of implementing a new ICT-Virtual Reality (VR), focusing on the interaction patterns and relationships among leaders and followers within the formal and informal hierarchical levels within the school system during the ICT implementation process. The literature suggests that understanding how the heterogenous agents interact, adapt, and self-organise in the process of implementing ICT can explain how the interactive dynamics can combine to the bureaucratic hierarchies in schools to better influence organisation behaviour or create organisational structure and/or the working conditions that nurture ICT-related pedagogical innovation.

The integration of a new ICT into lesson was an interplay between the agents in ITE and ICT. I used Complexity Leadership Theory as the main theoretical framework to elucidate how the agents interacted, adapted and self-organised during the ICT implementation process. The case study methodology adopted for this study included observations of classroom teaching, interviews of the academic staff members and documentary analysis. The data collected was organised and interpreted using Activity Theory.

The findings from the study suggested that the ICT implementation was too complex and difficult to be led by formally appointed leaders in ITE alone. In fact, it was a complex interplay between leaders and non-leaders (or lecturers) and the interaction of forces (i.e., emergence, non-linearity and self-organisation) that led to a successful ICT implementation. Further, the findings suggested that the leadership was not necessarily enacted by formally appointed leaders.

In this ICT implementation, the lecturers were also observed to demonstrate leadership behaviour by influencing the ICT integration dynamics and the eventual outcome. It was therefore pertinent for academic leaders to tap on these interactive dynamics to influence behaviour or create structure. Besides, the working conditions that nurtured pedagogical innovation within the organisation played a part in influencing behaviour too.
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Content knowledge, pedagogy and technology in Singapore classrooms : an approach to integration and development
(2014)
Tay, Lai Cheng
This study draws attention to the wide gap that exists between policy articulation and the reality of technology integration in the classroom. It focuses on three case studies situated in a technology-rich environment in a Singapore school and uses the technological pedagogical content knowledge (or TPACK) framework as an analytic lens to explore how three teachers worked with technology specialists to effect change in their pedagogy and enhance their capacity for learning. The extent of pedagogical innovation was found to be dependent upon how open the teachers were to professional development, the time they spent on lesson preparation, their ability to design lessons to address their instructional problem, their content knowledge and reflexivity. A grounded theory approach was used to uncover teacher perceptions of knowledge construction and the pedagogical value that technology brings to the classroom. A holistic approach to integrating content knowledge, pedagogy and technology is presented as a means to further develop teachers’ capabilities and engender sustained technology use among practising teachers.
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A critical realist epistemology and the Catholic notion of ‘sensus fidei’ as key to critical thinking in confessional Catholic religious education in the Philippines
(2016)
Go, Johnny Chupeco
The research question is: ‘Is critical thinking compatible with confessional Catholic religious education as practiced in the Philippines? If so, in what way can it be taught to students and promoted in the classroom?’ Adopting an epistemological approach to critical thinking, I conducted a survey among 1,068 teachers in our network of fifteen Catholic schools in the Philippines and found that a significant percentage of our teachers — specially those teaching religious education—exhibited a level of epistemic cognition considered incompatible with critical thinking. Drawing from critical realism and the Catholic notion of the believer’s ‘sense of the faith’ (sensus fidei), I proposed that critical thinking be understood not only as (a) the expression of one’s commitment to judgemental rationality to serve as the basis for one’s motivation for critical thinking, but also as (b) the exercise of one’s sensus fidei to guide the actual practice of Catholic religious critical thinking in particular. Based on these two conceptions, corresponding to the disposition and competence components of critical thinking, respectively, I recommend two initial concrete steps to promote the practice of Catholic religious critical thinking in our confessional religious education classrooms in the Philippines: (a) the inclusion of a staff development programme that promotes epistemic self-awareness especially vis-à-vis a Catholic religious epistemology; and (b) the identification of the development and exercise of sensus fidei as an explicit learning objective and its implications on curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.
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A critical study of academic acceleration in the early years in Singapore
(2016)
Chua, Denise Mei Ling
In Singapore, there is an extensive shadow system of commercial enrichment schools and tuition centres that provide extracurricular lessons to young children. Unfortunately, acceleration has often been associated with negative perceptions. It has been described as stressful or developmentally inappropriate. There have been concerns that it contributes to intergenerational social immobility too. In this dissertation, I undertook a qualitative study to examine and analyse academic acceleration in the preschool years in Singapore. 12 sets of parents and children across three socioeconomic groups were interviewed, as well as 10 of the kindergarten teachers who taught these children in their regular preschool settings. Lessons in 5 out of 7 of the enrichment centres attended by the children were observed as well. Using Foucault’s notion of “governmentality” and Bourdieu’s conceptions of “habitus” and “capital”, the study found that meritocracy and pragmatism are widely referenced in Singapore. However, socioeconomic class mediates the extent and manner of ideological uptake across individual families and children. At the same time, the neoliberal ethos that has given rise to the free market of enrichment schools in Singapore has contributed to a perpetuation of socioeconomic inequalities. Enrichment centres have themselves become geospatial sites for the performance and reproduction of “habitus” and various kinds of symbolic “capital”. Although alternate possibilities exist, especially in the light of human agency, reforms to resolve these issues are constrained by the deeply embedded assumptions and political “technologies” that have led to the present socio-cultural and educational context for parents, young children and kindergarten teachers in Singapore. Whilst parents resisted ideological tenets occasionally, their resistance was primarily verbal and not enacted. Kindergarten teachers tended to maintain a silence about acceleration practices, even though they disapproved of them in private.
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Department heads' perceptions of their role in their leadership journey
(2021)
Leong, Qinghua
This study addresses a critical and under-researched area of middle leaders like department heads in Singapore; specifically, how they negotiate their roles as distributed leaders. This is a qualitative, phenomenological study, where semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were used to generate useful data for the study. This phenomenological study provides insights into the experiences and beliefs about department head leadership and what they consider important about their roles to support school improvement. The line of inquiry focuses on (a) the leadership activities, (b) the parties involved in leadership activities to understand the “leader-plus” aspect of distributed leadership, (c) the trigger of sense-making, and (d) the sense-making process that the department heads go through. This study used both the distributed and sense-making perspective as the theoretical framework to analyse, discuss, and share the implications. Findings from this study show how the “leader-plus” and “practice” aspects of distributed leadership are played out in the Asian-influenced socio-cultural setting of Singapore’s primary schools. Distributed leadership is not about flattening the Asian hierarchical structure. Instead, it places a greater demand on those in leadership appointments to coordinate performance, build capacity across the organisation, and monitor and provide feedback on leadership tasks. Thus, this study contributes to the existing literature on contextual and cultural influences on distributed leadership in Singapore’s primary schools and other similar Asian education systems. This study suggests a coordinated “divide and conquer” mode of operation to allow leadership to be more widely distributed to meet the standards of efficiency and effectiveness in Singapore’s public service. The implications for practice from this study show how Singapore’s schools can better reap the benefits of the leader-plus and practice aspects of distributed leadership.
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Designing and improving instructional strategies for promoting cognitive engagement in a collaborative learning environment
(2019)
The, Benedict Shao Yann
The purpose of this study is to design instructional strategies that will contribute towards promoting cognitive engagement in a collaborative learning environment, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional strategies through analysis of the cognitive engagement of the students.

Academic modules are attended by a wide diversity of students, who are enrolled into various academic programmes of different disciplines and academic fields, and are supported by the predominant modular systems which are adopted by internationally renowned universities. Some critical concerns with the rising number of diverse students are that these students would have varied educational foundations and prior experiences, and their enrolment into common modules would result to a congregation of diverse students with wide knowledge gaps and different learning approaches. There are challenges when teaching a classroom of students with an assortment of skills, different learning styles and approaches, and varied attitudes toward learning. Such challenges can lead to low cognitive engagement of the students, and can become apparent in collaborative learning where vast amounts of information and experience are shared during group discussions in assignments or tasks using case scenarios, which are prevalent approaches to learning commonly used in higher education.

Cognitive engagement is the extent to which a student engages with the learning materials. It can be observed from the student’s overt behaviour, while undertaking a learning activity in the context of an instructional strategy or learning task, as a reliable proxy to reflect a difference in knowledge-change or learning process. For this study, the students’ modes of cognitive engagement are based on fine grained overt behaviour, and are subsequently categorised as one of four ordinal modes, namely interactive, constructive, active and passive.

This study used the design-based research approach, which required multiple iterative cycles, so as to develop a more comprehensive account and a deeper understanding of the study with respect to iterative educational interventions. The study was thus conducted in four cycles, across two academic years (AY 2015/16 and AY 2016/17), where two cycles were conducted in the second semester of each academic year. A total of 56 local and international students, who were enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, were involved in the study.

Altogether, 17 instructional strategies were designed and introduced across the four cycles in order to evaluate their effectiveness in promoting cognitive engagement among the students working together in a collaborative learning environment. Some of the instructional strategies were identified to have issues, and had to be addressed and improved in the subsequent cycle. The findings concluded that the instructional strategies were able to promote cognitive engagement among the students with varied effectiveness, and possible reasons for the results were provided. It was also found that the instructional strategies were progressively improving the cognitive engagement of the students, gradually shifting the levels of cognitive engagement of the students towards higher modes for every successive cycle. The findings also led to the development of a set of design principles, as a reference for educators and practitioners in education, for designing and implementing instructional strategies for promoting cognitive engagement in other comparable collaborative learning environments.
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Developing servant leadership of junior college student leaders through a school leadership programme
(2018)
Phua, Nehemiah Wei Sen
Against the neoliberal backdrop that Singapore is situated in, there has always been concern that Singapore could become subject to the ills of individualism, and be unable to preserve its identity in the age of globalisation. The emergence of communitarian values (Chua, 1996), introduction of quality learning premised on communitarian principles (Shanmugaratnam, 2005) and emphasis on a values-driven education (Heng, 2011) were efforts made to calibrate neoliberalism with communitarianism. Notwithstanding, there is a worrying perception among Singaporeans and foreigners alike that Singaporeans have become more self-serving (Sim, 2015; Goy, 2015; Ee, 2014). This could be possibly due to the intensification of credentialism (Brown & Tannock, 2009) in a meritocratic Singapore, the influence of mass media and influx of foreigners resulting in exposure to a potpourri of cultures and diversity of value systems, and the long-term effects of character education which could be sidelined by short-term academic results. These factors have resulted in a need for a stable and self-sustaining values-based leadership philosophy in training our youths who will be future leaders helping Singapore to uphold its sovereignty. This thesis aimed to explore, by examining a current leadership training programme in a particular junior college, how effective servant leadership is in fulfilling this need, and what approaches can be adopted to engender specific servant leadership characteristics.

To this end, a 24-item servant leadership instrument was designed based on existing survey instruments, measuring servant leadership in the Singapore junior college context in the intrapersonal, interpersonal and organisational dimensions. This instrument was then used as a pre- and posttest in the first of a two-phase explanatory mixed-method design study to evaluate how student leaders in a junior college have grown in servant leadership characteristics after undergoing a student leadership training programme. The results suggested that job assignments, coupled with informal on-the-job mentoring, were necessary to help student leaders to improve in their intrapersonal and organisational dimensions of servant leadership.

In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 student leaders to obtain their perceptions on the characteristics of a good servant leader, and the components of the leadership training programme that helped them to attain specific characteristics. A conceptual framework of servant leadership attributes from the perspective of student leaders was obtained, together with specific pedagogical and assessment approaches that helped develop the respective attributes. The findings suggested that besides job assignments and informal on-the-job mentoring, action learning and formal mentoring, complemented with 360-degree feedback were also important in helping student leaders to enhance their understanding of servant leadership.

Combining both studies, the findings suggested that although other aspects such as action learning and formal mentoring, complemented with journaling, personality questionnaires and 360-degree feedback, were important in helping student leaders enhance their conceptual understanding of servant leadership, job assignments together with informal on-the-job mentoring were necessary to make changes in servant leadership characteristics, especially in the intrapersonal and organisational aspects. Hence, an integrated approach incorporating action learning, job assignments and modelling relationships as pedagogical means, complemented by student leader journals, personality questionnaires and 360-degree feedback as assessment means, is key to developing servant leaders in the junior college context.
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Developing students' understanding of integer addition and subtraction
(2023)
Puspita Sari
This study aimed to investigate how the NNL (Neutralization on an Empty Number Line) model can foster students’ learning processes in developing their understanding of integer addition and subtraction concepts. We defined students’ understanding of integer addition and subtraction concepts as having the ability to apply procedures and to justify solutions in solving integer addition and subtraction problems. This study addressed three main research questions: (1) how students develop their understanding of positive and negative integer concepts and the additive inverse property, (2) how the NNL model support students’ abstraction processes in understanding integer addition and subtraction concepts, and (3) to what extent does the NNL model help students overcome their difficulties in solving integer addition and subtraction problems. A design-based research (DBR) methodology which consists of three phases – a design and preparation, a teaching experiment, and a retrospective analysis - was chosen to address these research questions.
Two consecutive macro-cycles (MC I and MC II), each consisting of the three phases, were carried out with a six-week interval between the two teaching experiments of MC I and MC II. Prior to MC I, a preliminary study consisting of teachers’ interviews and a small-scale teaching experiment was also conducted. Findings from the preliminary study helped improve our instructional design in the form of a conjectured local instruction theory (LIT) which consists of conjectures about a possible learning process and possible means of supporting that learning process. The conjectured LIT was then elaborated in the form of a hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) where instructions and conjectures of students’ responses were made more explicit. There was a sequence of five lessons in the HLT which was structured based on our identification of integer addition and subtraction problem types, that is, four types of integer addition problems, and six types of integer subtraction problems.
The teaching experiments of MC I and MC II were conducted in a classroom of sixth graders (11 to 12 years old students), each in School A and B, respectively. Both schools implemented the revised edition of the 2013 national curriculum, where concepts of negative integers and the four basic arithmetic operations involving negative integers are first introduced in grade six. In each macro-cycle, a written pre- and post-test were administered to all students in the classroom before and after the intervention in the teaching experiment phase. Following the pre- and post-test, individual interviews were conducted only with the selected nine students for the purpose of further analysis regarding their reasoning and how the NNL model have benefited them in solving difficult addition and subtraction problems. The participation in this study was voluntary, and all participant identifiers were removed in this report.
Findings reported in Chapter 5 and 6 were derived from the retrospective analysis by combining the task-oriented analysis and the constant comparative method, where conjectures about students’ learning in the HLT were constantly compared with the actual (observed) learning trajectory throughout the study. Similarities and differences across macro-cycles were identified to provide confirmation or counter examples regarding the generated conjectures. This study demonstrates how the NNL model gradually developed as a ‘model for’ students’ reasoning in solving integer addition and subtraction problems. Students who have built the conceptual system of the NNL model are able to solve any types of integer addition and subtraction problems, able to communicate and justify their solutions, and able to deduce abstract relationships between addition and subtraction.
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Development of professional identity : Singapore counsellors in tertiary educational institutions
(2017)
Hsi, Timothy Kay Tee
Though Counselling as a field has been in existence in Singapore for the last 30 years, many individuals (both public and members of other professions) still do not have a clear idea of the roles played by counsellors. Even though attempts have been made towards becoming a fully professionalised practice, counsellors’ professional identity is still fairly weak. The purpose of this study was to identify elements of practice which influence the development of professional identity amongst counsellors working in tertiary educational institutions in Singapore. The findings from this study seek to fill a gap in the limited literature on professional development of counsellors in Singapore as well as to potentially be used as the foundation for the construction of a competency framework for future professional development of counsellors.

Adopting a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006), this research sought to identify factors which assisted or hindered the development of professional identity amongst counsellors in Singapore’s tertiary educational institutions. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with 20 counsellors from across the various tertiary educational institutions in Singapore. Four categories were identified to be significant influencers for the development of professional identity: ‘Adapting to expectations’ and ‘Building knowledge and skills’ within the personal dimension of self and ‘Building support networks’ and ‘Navigating practice within the socio-politico environment’ within the interpersonal dimension of self.

The results indicated that professional identity development happens in a process when counsellors become intentionally engaged with stakeholders whilst ensuring good service to students and being responsive to management requests. Additionally, counsellors who continually build their knowledge and practice increase their credibility amongst stakeholders as well. It appears that the process of building a professional identity requires a willingness of the counsellor to negotiate the personal and interpersonal dimensions of their professional self, whilst being engaged in the various job demands.
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An ecological approach to understanding highly able students’ experiences of their academic talent development in a Singapore school
(2016)
Thor, Theresa Poh Sin
This study seeks to understand highly able students’ experiences of their academic talent development in a Singapore school, why they choose to do what they do in their talent development, and why some students thrive in their talent development while others do not. It uses an ecological approach that highlights the central role of the overall environment as it interacts with students. A working ecological system model drawn from Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory provides a framework to describe the environment of the students.

Based on qualitative methodology, a case study research design was used to examine the experiences of students in an advanced talent development programme. The students belonged to the top 3 per cent of the national age cohort. The study employed semi-structured focus group interviews, individual in-depth interviews and document analysis. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

The findings of this study suggested that the characteristics of students and their multi-level ecological system environments are inextricably intertwined in the talent development process. Individual characteristics affect students’ experiences and their responses to experiences and these are themselves formed through interactions with environmental conditions. Immediate settings connect directly to students through their capacity to elicit participation and progression in the talent development process. Moreover, congruent messages within overlapping immediate settings amplify the developmental effects of individual settings, thereby sustaining the talent development process. Further, more distal influences such as the systemic and structural arrangements of schooling and talent development as well as national macro factors such as meritocracy and a highly competitive education system affect students’ decisions and interactions in their immediate settings. An important implication of this study is the need to reconceptualise talent development more holistically as nurturing the life of the mind rather than having a narrow focus on nurturing elite students.
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Education and economic (im)mobility of low-wage workers : the case of the security sector in Singapore
(2013)
Gog, Soon Joo
The worsening income disparity in Singapore is threatening the legitimacy of the Developmental State. In the attempt to address the widening income gap, the government has prescribed “productivity enhancement and skills upgrading” as the primary means towards building an inclusive society.

Against this backdrop, this case study examined the upward mobility of low-wage workers in the unarmed private security sector by interrogating the interactions among the state, employers, and workers. The study drew upon Bourdieu’s Praxeological analysis to investigate the causal mechanism underlying their actions and rationale and the reasons embedded in their reciprocal relationships in their interpretation and facilitation of upward mobility of low-wage workers.

The findings revealed the existence of institutional and circumstantial conditions that have impeded the upward mobility of low wage employees in the security sector. These conditions reflect a deep set of culturally- and historically-constructed dispositions of a developmental state such as economic primacy, pro-business mindset and self-reliance. The very same attitudinal, institutional, and circumstantial factors that have contributed to Singapore’s economic success have also led to the immobility of low-wage security workers. As shown in this study, the uncovering of the visible and the invisible forces that have impeded the upward mobility of low-wage workers highlights the need to explain the hidden predispositions embedded within the actors’ interactions.

Finally, the thesis argues that an multi-disciplinary macro-mesomicro integrated approach of analysing the relational positioning of actors an enhance the Praxeological analysis by providing a balanced, yet critical, evaluation of a socio-economic phenomenon leading to a practical course of actions to improve current practices.
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Effect of extensive reading and listening on L2 students' speaking performance : a mixed-methods study
(2024)
Maria Hidayati
Research has provided evidence supporting the effects of input-based learning on learners’ language learning through Extensive Reading (ER), Extensive Listening (EL), and bimodal input (e.g., reading while listening, listening passage previewing). Less studied, however, is how input-based learning impacts learners’ language use, particularly speaking proficiency. This is important as the learners’ competence in producing the language either written or oral becomes the success parameter in learning a foreign or second language. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the potential effects of input-based learning through ER, EL, and the combination of ER and EL (EREL) on second language (L2) learners’ spoken performance.
Employing an embedded mixed-methods design, this study investigated the impact of different input-based language learning programmes on participants’ speaking skills and their perceptions of these programmes. Quantitative data were collected from students taking a Speaking for Academic Purposes (SAP) course at an English department, in a public university, Indonesia. These participants were assigned to four groups: Extensive Reading Only (ERO; n = 38), Extensive Listening Only (ELO; n = 41), Extensive Reading-Extensive Listening (EREL; n = 51), and a control group (n = 53). The extensive learning groups had access to Xreading, an online library, and each group received different language instructions. The ERO group received written texts; the ELO group received oral texts, and the EREL group received language input from both written and oral texts. The control group, however, was not exposed to Xreading platform. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design to assess learners’ language skills (listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and vocabulary knowledge), and their speaking performances. Prior to conducting statistical analysis, the Rasch model was conducted to prepare learners’ language skills, and the many - facet Rasch measurement was applied to validate their speaking skills. Furthermore, the qualitative data were gathered from the questionnaires, learning logs, and focus group interviews to investigate the participants’ perceptions about the extensive learning programmes. The data were analysed using MaxQDA, a qualitative analysis application, to augment the quantitative findings.
The results of this study, as suggested from repeated-measures MANOVA and oneway ANOVA, indicate significant progress in language skills and speaking performance across each experimental group. In terms of gains from their pre and post -test, the EREL group performs better in listening and speaking compared to the control group. In addition, from the qualitative data results of the questionnaires and focus group interviews, the participants in both EREL and control groups believe that engaging with written and oral texts is important for their language development (e.g., vocabulary, listening, reading, and speaking) as they believe this helps them learn new vocabulary and improve the pronunciation of these words in language production. However, the students in the experimental group showed little interest to record their experiences in learning logs as post activities. They perceived these tasks as potentially discouraging further engagement in reading and listening activities. Despite this, the study offers valuable suggestions for future implementation regarding input-based learning, directed towards teachers and practitioners in classroom settings.
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Effect of peer praise notes on peer acceptance, school conduct and subjective well-being of adolescents in Singapore classrooms
(2019)
Nur Iman Nasyita Mohtar
Using the Broaden-And-Build Theory of Positive Emotions as a framework, this thesis studies the effects of a simple positive psychology intervention (PPI) in the form of Peer Praise Notes (PPN) on peer acceptance, school conduct and subjective well-being of early adolescents in Singapore. The PPN intervention involved the writing of positive notes (PPN) to peers within the classroom. Participants in this 8-week long study comprised of 170 students from Secondary 2 and Secondary 3 classes (mean age=14.17) and 9 teachers in a co-educational school in Singapore. A pretest-posttest experimental design was employed. Classes were randomly assigned to either the PPN (experimental) group or the wait-list control group. Participants were asked to complete a set of questionnaires before and after the intervention. The Peer Acceptance Scale, a peer-rated scale, was used to measure peer acceptance. School conduct was measured using the teacher-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as well as the self-rated Classroom Engagement Scale and Classroom Misbehaviours Scale. Subjective well-being was measured using the self-rated Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS). Results of the study indicated that PPN increased peer acceptance but did not improve school conduct and subjective well-being of the participants in the study. Findings also suggested that peer acceptance could increase irrespective of any changes to positive affect. There was no conclusive evidence of positive affect on school conduct and subjective well-being. Limitations of the current study are noted and suggestions for future research are proposed. This thesis concluded with recommendations for educators on how the PPN could be incorporated into the classroom to foster peer acceptance amongst early adolescents.
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Effects of peer helping programme on leadership competencies learning for university peer helpers : a servant leadership approach
(2022)
Ng, Steven Poh Yaip
This thesis paper seeks to explore the effects of the Peer Helping Program on leadership competencies learning through a servant leadership approach. There have been several research studies with findings proposing the significance regarding the study of student leadership at different situational angles. Literature review encompassing Peer Helper and Student Leadership within the context of higher education identified gaps and issues such as lack of consistency regarding a defined theoretical framework for Peer Helper Training and scarcity of related research on peer helping and student leadership conducted in Asia and specifically, within Singapore context. Research has suggested that the ultimate aim of higher education is to produce future leaders for the workforce. Hence, there is a pertinent need to explore and investigate student leadership and its learning in higher education to ensure efforts are consistent with the desired outcomes.

This study is framed by a qualitative research design utilising interview as the method for the collection of data. Using a semi-structured interview with questions that are guided by the servant leadership framework, 5 selected Peer Helper Leaders are interviewed individually. The 24 questions were constructed intently encompassing 3 dimensions of servant leadership namely, ontological, attittudinal and behavioural as the guiding directives due to their relevance in the contextual field of peer helping to ensure meaningfulness. Under these 3 dimensions, 6 leadership competencies were further outlined. Kolb’s learning model was deployed to further synthesise the relevance and meaningfulness for the selected context on the learning of competencies. Using qualitative content analysis for data analysis, this research is convened with the hope of using the findings for student learning professionals, policymakers, co-curriculum planners, counsellors and educators in their consideration for the potential outcomes, improvements and impactful contribution in the area of leadership skills learning for university students from a Peer Helper Program in the context of higher education.
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Enactment of formative assessment in the lower primary English classroom : case studies of teachers' practices in three schools
(2019)
Kiren Kaur Ratan Singh
This study attempted to explore teachers’ formative assessment enactment practices in three primary schools under the Holistic Assessment Plan policy. The aim was to explore enactment practices and to determine factors that affect Singaporean teachers’ capacity and will to enact educational reform.
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