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Developmental needs and sustainment of 21st century teachers [இருபத்தோராம் நூற்றாண்டுக்கான ஆசிரியர்கள் தம் மேம்பாட்டுக்கான தேவைகளும் அவற்றைத் தக்கவைத்தலும்]
Teacher education is the backbone of a country’s socio-economic development. For countries like Singapore, teacher education is vital to the development of its citizens and the sustainment of its knowledge-based economy. Designing a 21stcentury teacher education curriculum, enactment, evaluation and systematic review are key procedures here. National Institute of Education’s ‘A Teacher Education Model for the 21st Century (TE21) Framework’ (2009) fosters the enhanced partnership model with 6 key recommendations to equip the teachers to become skilled 21st century teachers for 21st century students. With strong ethical attitudes, values, skills, knowledge, hard work and continuous motivation, the 21st century teachers can be developed and sustained in their service. This paper traces the journey of teacher education programmes conducted by National Institute of Education and Finland by highlighting the importance of planning, developing and sustaining the 21st century teachers. As Finland is well known for its structured teacher training and high-quality teacher education with research orientation, a comparative study of the systems would be beneficial and enlightening.