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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg |
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Enhancing Learning
Experiences for Students in the Normal Course |
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The Ministry of Education (MOE) and schools
will be taking further steps to enhance the learning experiences of
Normal Course students, who make up 40% of the secondary school
cohort[1]. |
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Additional resources, both manpower and
financial, will be given to schools which have more Normal Course
students. |
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Students in the Normal (Academic) Course [N(A)]
will be helped in building stronger foundations for post-secondary
education. Three schools will try out fresh approaches to learning in
the Normal (Technical) Course [N(T)] course. |
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All in, the new initiatives will help
students in the Normal Course engage better in their learning, and
succeed in school and in post-secondary education. |
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These initiatives were announced by Mr
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education & Second Minister for
Finance, at the 2007 MOE Work Plan Seminar on 2 October. |
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MORE RESOURCES TO SUPPORT THE TEACHING OF
NORMAL COURSE STUDENTS |
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(A) The Education Associate Scheme |
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To provide additional support for secondary
schools with Normal Course students, MOE will introduce a new Education
Associate (EDA) scheme from 2008. The EDAs will provide additional
manpower for schools, on top of the teaching force that is also being
expanded. |
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The EDAs will work closely with trained
teachers, focussing especially on the teaching of the Normal course.
Their roles will include co-teaching with the teachers in classes and
complementing the teachers’ efforts in providing pastoral support to
students. |
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EDAs with the requisite skills,
expertise or teaching experience, can also be deployed to teach
special modules or subjects in applied areas, such as computer
animation, digital music or drama. These could include existing
Elective Modules and Advanced Elective Modules[2] offered by N(A)
and N(T) students. |
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EDAs should possess post-secondary
qualifications and have the passion, aptitude and skills to teach
Normal course students. |
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MOE will provide them with a
structured pre-service training programme to equip them with basic
teaching skills. This will be a four-week full-time training
programme in the National Institute of Education (NIE) where the
EDAs will study topics ranging from educational psychology to
classroom management and teaching strategies. |
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EDAs who are keen, and have
demonstrated their suitability to become teachers, could be
recommended by the schools to join the Education Service after
they have served a minimum of two years. |
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The EDA scheme will be extended to all
secondary schools with Normal course students in phases by end
2010. Priority will initially be given to schools with higher
Normal course enrolment, or higher N(T) enrolment. We expect 37
schools to qualify for priority deployment of EDAs in 2008. Annex
A provides the list of schools. |
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(B) Increase in Manpower Grant |
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MOE will also increase the Manpower
Grant for secondary schools with Normal course students. Since
1999, Manpower Grant has been given to all government and
government-aided schools to buy services of support staff or to
employ relief teaching staff to supplement their manpower needs. |
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140 secondary schools will each
receive about $20,000 more in Manpower Grant every year. A typical
secondary school currently receives about $150,000 of Manpower
Grant each year. In total, these schools will receive about $23
million in manpower grant yearly, up from $20 million currently.
Schools could use these extra resources to engage additional staff
to support programmes tailored for the Normal course students. |
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(C) Greater Support for N(T)
Teaching |
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(i) Creation of HOD (NT) Position |
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Schools with a relatively higher
proportion of N(T) students would benefit from having a key
appointment holder dedicated to looking after the academic and
non-academic needs of the N(T) students, as well as to oversee
coordination and provide guidance for teachers who teach the N(T)
classes. MOE will establish a key appointment position - Head of
Department N(T), or HOD N(T). |
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Secondary schools with at least 20% of
their student population comprising N(T) students, or with eight
or more N(T) classes with a minimum of 30 students in each class,
are eligible to appoint an HOD N(T) with immediate effect. This
will be in addition to the existing key appointment holders that
these schools currently have. 32 schools are currently eligible to
appoint an HOD N(T) based on the criteria. Please refer to the
italicised school names in
Annex A. |
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(ii) Customised Training Programme for
N(T) Teaching |
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MOE will provide further training for
teachers who are passionate about teaching N(T) students and whose
responsibilities are focussed on teaching these students. With the
additional teachers provided to schools through the Adjunct
Teacher Scheme, schools have greater flexibility in teacher
deployment and specialisation across the courses within the
school. |
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MOE will collaborate with the NIE and
the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to provide a customised
training programme that equips these teachers with in-depth skills
for teaching and relating to N(T) students. The programme will
include teaching skills and pedagogy for engaging N(T) students,
classroom management as well as counselling skills. |
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MOE will also facilitate greater
sharing of practices by tapping on the Master and Senior Teachers
network to mentor and coach these teachers. The first customised
training programme will be introduced from mid 2008. |
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More..... |
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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg Press Release 2
October 2007 |
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Notice |
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FrontPage Edition: Tue 2 October 2007
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