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The learning opportunities are endless for teachers today, with the implementation of the enhanced Professional Development Leave (PDL) scheme and a wide range of Teacher Work Attachment (TWA) openings.
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Having spent a fruitful year on her research studies under the Professional Development Leave (PDL) scheme, Ms Abi Tan is all ready to implement what she has learnt in her school. |
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When Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, announced the GROW package, he gave teachers who have long wanted to improve their teaching skills through exposure to new environments, studying and researching new pedagogies and undertaking other learning opportunities, a chance to fulfil their dreams as the enhanced PDL now offered them the time and space needed to do so.
Special Interests
Ms Abi Tan, HOD for English in Rulang Primary, is currently pursuing a PhD in Special Education at the University of Wollongong. Her experiences with children with disabilities—she has taught students who are autistic, hearing impaired, even those with physical and learning disabilities in the regular primary schools—motivated her choice of course. She reveals that Rulang Primary's effort to be an inclusive school was also a driving force behind her search for this opportunity.
Although she acknowledges that “organisations can set directions and provide incentives”, Ms Tan firmly believes that teachers need to see professional development as a personal responsibility. She realises that, “In their commitment to educate the students, teachers may forget that they can be a positive and active change agent in the system.” Ms Tan thinks it is healthy for teachers to take time to reflect and take stock of their personal/professional development, because “teaching is a ‘giving’ job and we need to ‘recharge’ from time to time.”
On to the Future!
She has spent a year on her research studies and Ms Tan says, “I’m very excited by what I have learnt from my reading and from the experts in the field.” She is very much inspired by her supervisor, Dr Deslea Konza, Director of primary education at the University of Wollongong, who is an expert in Special Education. Ms Tan goes on to share, “I’ve been attending and participating in conferences and education expositions relating to diversity learning in Australia and USA.” She is now looking forward to contributing in the planning and administration of the inclusion programme in schools upon her return.
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Having majored in Biology during her NIE days, Christina is enamoured of marine animals and jumped at the chance to learn more about them at the Underwater World. |
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Diving In
One of the strongest supporters for TWA is Underwater World (UWS), which offers an average of six places for TWA annually since 2004. Last year, five teachers were attached to UWS in June and December. One of them was Mrs Christina Teo from Lakeside Primary School, who chose to be attached to The Underwater World due to her personal interest. “Since majoring in Biology when I was in NIE,” she explains, “I was greatly enamoured by marine animals.” She also wanted to find out more about the education programmes conducted there.
Being attached to the Guest Service Department as a Guest Service Officer (GSO) meant some of her responsibilities included the routine (“ticketing booth”) and the frontline (“guiding and showing visitors how to touch and feed stingrays”). Mrs Teo especially relished the opportunity to observe different educational workshops namely, the ‘Marine Life Workshop’ and a one-day camp called ‘Living in the Ocean’.
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As part of her duties under the TWA at Underwater World, Christina guides visitors on how to touch and feed stingrays at the ‘Ray of Fun’. |
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A Touching Encounter
She shares a particular incident at the ‘Ray of Fun’ pool, where she met and shared her knowledge on the different species of stingrays, their peculiarities and friendliness towards humans, with both local and overseas visitors. “I met a group of Australians whose first reaction to the rays was to jump 10 steps back and refuse to have anything do with them! The reason? Just not too long ago, their dearest hero—Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife expert and television personality who was also affectionately known as “The Crocodile Hunter”—passed on after having an encounter with a stingray. Mind you, these were grown men! I had to cajole and assure them that these were really harmless creatures. Eventually, I got them round to not only feed the stingrays, but even touching them.”
Christina is looking forward to future attachments, “if time permits and the right doors open!” she admits. She acknowledges, “It would have to be something along my interests and, of course, help spark off those creative juices to create more interesting lessons in the future.”
The Teacher Work Attachment (TWA) Scheme was launched in November 2003 to provide opportunities for teachers to gain new perspectives on education outside their school environment. With these new experiences, teachers will be able to create new learning opportunities and enrich students' learning. These attachments vary from a short one-week stint to a full year.
From less than 80 teachers taking on work attachments in external organisations in 2003, the numbers have grown steadily to about 1350 last year. There are now over 100 organisations offering TWA in both public and private sectors. Some of these include the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Press Holdings Pte Ltd, Citibank and Underwater World (UWS).
UWS offers a wide range of hands-on experiences for the teachers, customised to their interest and strengths. Teachers on TWA with UWS are attached to three departments—The Front Office, where they take on the roles of customer service officers and tour guides; the Curatorial Department, where they can try their hand at being marine caretakers by preparing the daily fish food, cleaning the tanks and quarantine areas for various marine animals; and the Education Department, where they can utilise their classroom teaching skills to becoming camp facilitators at the Living in Ocean Camp and assist workshop instructors and education programme planners. |
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