Wong, Isabella Yuen Fun

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there were differences in the levels of pedagogical knowledge and skills as perceived by the student teachers who were enrolled in the Primary and the Secondary Post Graduate Diploma in Education programme at the National Institute of Education in Singapore. 170 Primary and 426 Secondary student teachers participated in the study. The results showed that there were no significant differences at the beginning of the programme between the two cohorts. However, there were significant differences between the two groups at the end of programme, with the Primary student teachers tending to perceive themselves as gaining more pedagogical knowledge and skills by the end of their initial teacher preparation programme than the Secondary student teachers.

"This document synthesises 34 studies (See Annex A for a full list of projects covered.) that have assessed, developed, or evaluated ways to nurture Learn-for-Life competencies and dispositions among the diverse student population in Singapore."—Overview of the Synthesis.

The transition from being students to first-year teachers can be a satisfying journey, and yet has the potential to be a significantly challenging life transition for many beginning teachers, and it is not different for any physical education (PE) teachers. This is especially so when these novice teachers are expected to fulfill similar roles and responsibilities as their more experienced counterparts in the schools. There is without a doubt that teacher education programmes provide the opportunities for these novices to develop their expected skills, knowledge, and attitudes to become qualified teachers. Therefore, it is reasonable for these individuals to learn a lot during their teacher education experiences, and to be effective at some beginning level. However, it is not reasonable to expect them to completely master these skills independently from experience alone, without any sustained and purposeful continuing professional development (CPD) and school-based support during the beginning years of their profession.
For many education systems and government, the difficulties faced by beginning teachers is of grave concern, and points to the need of specialised forms of assistance or support mechanisms, using a variety of CPD strategies, structured induction and mentoring programmes. Scholars have also argued that besides helping beginning teachers, welldesigned and high-quality CPD and school-based mentoring are critical to improving the quality of teachers, schools, and to some extent, student achievement. For the Ministry of Education (MOE), teacher continual learning and professional development, coupled with building a strong core of mentors for the younger generation of teachers, have always been a key thrust in the MOE’s strategic direction to developing a highquality teacher workforce (Heng, 2012). To support this vision, the Academy of Singapore Teachers (AST), and other specialist academies, like Physical Education Sports Teacher Academy (PESTA), have been established to spearhead professional learning and development for the subject-specific fraternity.

The objective of the part of the study that this paper is reporting on is to investigate the perceptions and beliefs that student teachers hold of teaching and teachers in Singapore at the beginning of their initial teacher preparation programme.

This study was designed to examine and describe the perceived concerns and problems faced by beginning teachers in Singapore primary and secondary schools. It was also designed to gain insights into the perceived availability and value of the different types of support services provided to beginning teachers during their first year of teaching. The study was undertaken in two phases:

In Phase I, perceptions regarding beginning teacher concerns and problems were investigated from an ipsative perspective through the use of Q-methodology. Within the study, four factors or similar perspectives about beginning teachers' concerns and problems were found: Factor 1 - Doing the Professional Job Well: the Do-er Concerns - expresses the viewpoint that beginning teachers' primary concerns are about being good and effective teachers. Factor II - Work and Role Overload: the Juggler Concerns - focuses on beginning teachers' struggles to cope with the overload of tasks and role responsibilities associated with the job of teaching. Factor III - Recognition and Support: the Seeker Concerns - is based upon the beginning teachers' perceptions of a lack of affirmation, recognition, and support of their abilities. A final perspective, Factor IV - Image, Autonomy and Valuation: the Performer Concerns - expresses the beginning teachers' discomfort with the school ethos, and the pressures placed on them to fulfill high performance requirements for themselves and their students.

In Phase II, a survey instrument, The Beginning Teacher Induction Questionnaire was developed, and used with 207 first-year beginning teachers to gather data regarding perceived 1) personal coping strategies; 2) the nature of help from schools, Teachers' Network and teacher training to cope with beginning teachers' concerns; 3) availability and value of different types of assistance; 4) most helpful support sources; and 5) barriers to effective induction.

The study revealed that beginning teachers relied more on adaptive "individual" (work it out alone) rather than "group" (work it out with others) strategies to cope with their problems. Beginning teachers felt that there was much that the schools and Teachers' Network could have done to alleviate their concerns and these could be synthesised into five categories of support: personnel support; school workload assignment; on-going professional development support; teacher feedback support; and Teachers' Network support.

Other findings indicated that the most highly valued forms of assistance were concessions in workload and the allocation of fewer outside classroom duties, but these were ironically least frequently offered to beginning teachers. Teachers valued support practices that were more interactive, such as peer coaching, observations, mentoring, and these were perceived to be the most useful set of induction practices. Teacher colleagues were perceived to be the most valuable source of support.

The study concluded that mentors were most valued for their help with instructional skills, information on school practices, pupil and classroom management, and lesson planning; that mentors may play multiple roles, such as advice giving, problem solving, empathetic listening, and reflecting; that factors which enhance mentoring relationships included shared time, a supportive school culture, and careful selection of mentors; and that obstacles to effective mentoring included, low commitment level of mentors, personality conflicts, lack of time for positive mentor-mentee interaction, and a lack in skills and understanding of the mentoring process.

The study concluded with suggestions about comprehensive and effective induction of beginning teachers, while also identifying ways in which the schools, Teachers' Network and the sole teacher training institution might provide support in helping beginning teachers feel comfortable, confident, and competent in their new profession.

This chapter focuses on video analysis as a tool to enhance physical education teachers’ pedagogical practices and experienced practitioners’ mentoring skills. It offers a description of how videos have been managed to help beginning physical education teachers (hereafter “beginning teachers”) reflect and improve on their pedagogical performance, and to develop instructional mentors’ (hereafter “mentors”) competence. Exemplary digital videos were created that represented the desired “best practice” teaching actions. Furthermore, digitally recorded beginning teachers’ lessons and mentors’ mentoring episodes facilitated video-aided analysis of beginning teachers’ teaching for self-reflection and subsequent conversations with their mentors. Three Primary and four Secondary beginning teachers and their mentors participated in a year-long professional development, where they learnt pedagogical knowledge and viewed the exemplary videos. Qualitative data of conversations and semi-structured interview transcripts were analysed using the constant comparison method to arrive at themes to describe the influence of video in transforming the professional learning of the beginning teachers and mentors.