Rethinking teacher education in pandemic times and beyond

Abstract

With disruptions such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changing our lives and challenging all nations to rethink our current paradigms of teaching and learning and paradigms of living and working, the world needs to educate our young to be future-ready in more deliberate ways. Future-ready learners need to have a lifelong learning mindset that is instilled with the right values, attributes, skills, competencies and knowledge so as to ensure that their nation survives upcoming disruptions and crises and thrives amidst and in spite of the great challenges faced. Singapore is learning to adapt to the fast-changing and unpredictable landscape, seeking solutions to succeed beyond the difficulties and seizing opportunities amidst the myriad challenges faced. Drawing lessons from international best practices while contextualising them to our local needs and developing our own brand of innovations, teacher education at the National Institute of Education (NIE) anchors itself in taking a values-driven, evidence-informed and future-focused approach, building upon the past foundations. This article will detail how Singapore’s sole teacher preparation institute is rethinking teacher education by seeking to articulate the archetype of the future-ready teacher, provide greater learner agency and flexibility and develop interdisciplinary programmes, and reimagining, restructuring and streamlining teacher education programmes. Ultimately, the aim is to nurture teacher educators, teachers, students and the entire education ecosystem to be future-ready.