Making teacher education relevant: 2004-2005 curriculum review

Teacher education (TE) in Singapore has undergone regular reviews and reforms over the years within the National Institute of Education (NIE). The main impetus tended to be to ensure continual relevance of TE to the educational landscape in Singapore, as well as to incorporate new evidences in pedagogical and assessment practices. The 2004-2005 TE review in NIE, while operating within similar considerations, incorporated a then new perspective into teacher preparation. It introduced the Group Endeavour in Service-Learning as a core curriculum component, so as to more firmly link the work of a teacher to communities in Singapore. This established a conduit through which student teachers could "practise" values, representing one of the three key parts of the Values, Skills and Knowledge framework that guided TE in NIE. This paper aims to not only revisit key aspects of the curriculum review done in 2004-2005 but, more importantly, to examine current contexts within which TE operates to provide insights on how TE can and may evolve in the near future.