Hairon Salleh

Since 2015, the MLS Course Facilitation component of the programme, which has to do with help participants develop reflective practice knowledge and skills so as to use it to deepen their learning in the MLS has been of interest to both the Programme Leader and the Associate Dean, Leadership and Learning, GPL. The initial interest was borne of out two main events or thinking. First, the strength of the MLS programme has always been its self-directed and self-organization in learning, which is consistent with principles of adult learning theory, and more so with principles of social theory of learning. Second, the demands on manpower and man hours have the tendency to be high due to the number of reflections per participant. This study was motivated by these two ideas or thinking.

Community-based teacher learning in Singapore education started in 2000 with the introduction of Learning Circles, followed by other forms of community-based teacher learning platforms such as Action Research and Lesson Study. By 2010, the Ministry of Education embarked on a school- and system-wide approach to community-based teacher learning in the form of Professional Learning Communities (PLC). However, studies looking at its impact on student learning outcomes are non-existent locally. Internationally, research studies investigating the effects of PLCs specifically on student learning are not aplenty. In their literature review, Vescio et al. (2011) found that although 11 studies reporting impact of PLCs, only eight out of the 11 investigated the impact of PLCs on student learning with modest evidence (Louis & Marks, 1998; Suppovitz, 2002; Suppovitz & Christman, 2003; Phillips, 2003; Strahan, 2003; Hollins et al., 2004; Berry et al., 2005; Bolam et al., 2005). Since the publication of the literature by Vescio et al. (2011), three other studies investigating impact of PLCs on student learning outcomes have also been reported (Sigurðardóttir, 2010; Lomos et al., 2011; Williams, 2013).

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.

The concepts of instructional leadership (IL) and distributed leadership (DL) have been featured prominently in much of the recent discourses on educational leadership research and are considered as key factors for school effectiveness. However, a review of the literature revealed few attempts that empirically establish the link between these two leadership-related constructs. The purpose of this study was to address this gap and investigate the relationship between dimensions of IL and DL. The dimensions of DL include empowerment, collective engagement, shared decision-making, and developing leadership; while the dimensions of IL are aligning teaching practices to the school vision, leading in teaching and learning, developing a conducive environment for teaching and learning, and promoting professional development. The study sets out the qualitative methodological approach to uncover possible intricate links between the dimensions of the two leadership constructs within a Singapore secondary school context. Leadership practices enacted by the middle leaders demonstrated value for pragmatic efficiency, teacher autonomy and teacher agency which land well in the Singapore education system that values teachers’ innovation and contribution in a fluid education system for the twenty-first century education. Elements of situations like routines, tools, structures and functions shaped the leadership practices of DL and IL.

Over the past decade, the Singapore government has introduced various initiatives such as Teach Less, Learn More and engaging minds to develop students’ 21st century competencies. One significant approach adopted in these initiatives is to encourage school-based curriculum innovations (SCI).This current initiative involves the participation of all schools in the system. A marked departure from previous practice, schools in Singapore now have more autonomy and space in SCIs through engaging in school-based curriculum development (SBCD) activities. In this study, we used the terms SCI and SBCD interchangeably. This study is novel in taking a comprehensive approach in developing this baseline research of curricular and pedagogical reforms of nine schools in Singapore.

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.