Hairon Salleh

Although action research has been around and had been used for a couple of decades in the world of academics and practitioners, its value and essence are often under appreciated. In the Singapore education scene, some may perceive action research as beneficial especially with the slew of recent reforms that demand greater accountability not only to the product, but also the process of education such as the School Excellence Model (SEM) and External Validation (EV). Some are given the choice between WITS (Work Improvement Teams) or LCs (Learning Circles) – the latter is one form of action research. In this paper, the author will provide the rationale for the use of action research in current change agenda, and conclude by emphasising on the necessity for action research to be critical, reiterating the salient proposition that “action research is a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes” (Reason and Bradbury, 2001, p. 1).

The advent of the Knowledge Age has brought many challenges to countries around the world in every aspect of life, including learning in teacher education. With regards to this, there is widespread agreement on the promotion of educational themes such as higher order skills, teaching for understanding, constructivism, authentic problem solving, and lifelong learning. In the same vein, there is increasing recognition for teachers to teach in ways that are appropriate to prepare students for the Knowledge Age, and thus the need to re-evaluate the learning structures for pre-service teachers. This paper summarises an inductive research study of four final-year pre-service teachers (Diploma in Education) to look at how engagement in an action research project during the teaching practicum influences their pedagogical practice and beliefs towards professional learning.

In line with TLLM and I &E, Nan Chiau Primary seeks to move away from the traditional mode of frontal teaching to adopt the social constructivist model of teaching with pedagogical intentions which focus on nurturing pupils skilled in creating, evaluating and sharing knowledge in authentic learning experiences. The school’s Microsoft Class Server, the infrastructure of wireless technology and handheld devices, provides the structure for the integration of social constructivism across four core subjects in the curriculum. The action research conducted in 2005 sought to understand how the social constructivist model of teaching in a technology-enabled environment is integrated in Primary 4 curriculum using three dimensions of inquiry: perceptions of pupils towards learning; practices of learning; and performance of learning. The findings of the action research project hopes to provide a model for teachers and school leaders who wish to better engage pupils in learning through social constructivist processes in an ICT environment.

The notion of educational change is no longer new among practitioners, policy-makers and academics in education. Although much has been said and debated in relation to educational change, along with the increase in our understanding of it, the voice of teachers, parents, principals and pupils are, however, rarely heard within the Singapore context. This paper seeks to provide the platform for part of the voice, specqcally teachers, to be heard by describing a qualitative research study that was conducted on 19 school teachers from three primary schools in Singapore with regard to educational changes. From the findings of the research, the author will present a conceptual proposal in response to current educational change challenges.

In Singapore there is increasing recognition for teachers to be lifelong learners as the pace of change, and obsolescence, in knowledge increases. This is understandable as changes in education require changes in the way teachers learn. However, schools are often not the best places for lifelong learning, especially when teachers have to squeeze for time to meet a myriad of deadlines and complete multiple workloads. This seems to be the main obstacle for engagement in teacher learning. Yet, schools are the best places for learning because learning takes place in day-to-day activities. Within this context, a case study research was embarked to understand how action research provides a response to the aforementioned issue. The study describes the learning journey of a collaborative action research project between a Science teacher and an NIE lecturer to investigate how teaching using memory skills influence pupils’ learning. The case study highlights two themes. First, the challenges in attempting to understand how students learn. Second, how action research contributes to teacher learning.