Provision of early field experiences for teacher candidates in Singapore and how it can contribute to teacher resilience and retention

ABSTRACT

While teacher retention is a pressing issue for many jurisdictions, Singapore has a relatively low teacher attrition rate. Drawing on the experiences of student teachers from the sole institute for pre-service teacher education in Singapore, this article argues that it is important to expose teacher candidates to a substantial period of school experience as part of the teacher recruitment process. Before they are officially enrolled into pre-service teacher education, the Ministry of Education in Singapore requires all teacher candidates in the Postgraduate Diploma of Education program to go through a compulsory school stint. The authors' research findings show that this exposure to the realities and complexities of teaching can be an important contributor to teacher retention in terms of assessing and promoting teacher candidates’ resilient qualities, such as passion for teaching, self-efficacy beliefs, and positive emotion. In other words, early field experiences can help teacher candidates understand themselves as teachers and assess their own suitability for a teaching career. This study sheds new light on the policies and practices of teacher retention and teacher recruitment strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Early field experiences
• teacher resilience
• teacher retention
• student teachers
• interviews

Acknowledgments

This article refers to data from the research project 'Building an evidence-base for teacher education' [Phase I (OER 15/11 LEL) and Phase II (OER 14/13 LEL)], funded by the Education Research Funding Programme, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ and do not represent the views of NIE or NTU. The authors would like to thank all members of the research team who have contributed to various components of the project. Our deep appreciation also goes to the research participants who agreed to be involved in this longitudinal study and generously shared their views during data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The one-year PGDE was expanded to a 16-month program in 2016. It starts in December of each year.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore [OER 15/11 LEL & OER 14/13 LEL].

Notes on contributors

Pak Tee Ng

Pak Tee Ng is Associate Professor at the Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He specializes in educational policy, educational leadership, coaching/mentoring, organization learning and change, and complexity theories, and has published many books, book chapters, and articles in these areas.

Kam Ming Lim

Kam Ming Lim is Associate Professor at the Psychological Studies Academic Group, and the Deputy Divisional Director, Office of Academic Administration and Services at NIE, NTU, Singapore. He has served as chairs of various curriculum review and enhancement committees at NIE. He also served on committees at the Singapore Ministry of Education for the review and implementation of various education policies. His research covers prosocial behavior, help-seeking behavior, and locus of control.

Ee Ling Low

Ee Ling Low is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Teacher Learning at the English Language & Literature Academic Group, and the Chief Planning Officer, Director’s Office at NIE, NTU, Singapore. She has published widely in the field of World Englishes and Teacher Education. She has led a number of large-scale research projects on pre-service teacher education aimed at building an evidencebase for teacher education in Singapore. She is also Singapore’s representative on the Stanford University International Teacher Policy Study (ITPS) and the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Global Education Innovation Initiative (GEII) projects.

Chenri Hui

Chenri Hui is a Research Associate at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Concurrently he is also doing his PhD on teacher self-concept and teacher self-efficacy. He is interested in teacher identity, teacher beliefs, and teaching practices. He has published a number of papers in the field of teacher education and teacher learning.