Abstract
This chapter examines the provision of initial English Language (EL) teacher education for those preparing to teach in primary schools (lower primary) in the light of national developments that impact EL teaching in Singapore, in particular, the English Language Syllabus (MOE 2010) and the implementation of the Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading (STELLAR) programme. We first focus on a course designed to support the development of children’s literacy and help prepare beginning teachers to implement the new EL syllabus. Key pedagogical principles that underpin the approach to developing literacy taken on the course, such as the Shared Book Approach (SBA) and a modified version of the Language Experience Approach (MLEA), are highlighted.
In the second part of the chapter we outline three main challenges faced by beginning teachers and the teacher educators preparing them at the initial stage in their careers. The first is the potential disconnect newly-qualified teachers may face in the transition from broad-based principles of literacy development espoused by the teacher training institution to school-based specific parameters drawn up to suit the school context. A second issue is the tension between teaching and testing. The third challenge relates to the background of our pre-service teachers and the issues that arise due to their lack of subject content knowledge.
The three authors are language teacher educators in the sole institution in Singapore that trains teachers for the state school system. As practitioners, not policy makers, we reflect on these three challenges and describe how we try to help our student teachers address them. We further outline recent policy decisions we feel have the potential to ease the tensions observed. In doing this we consider the socio-cultural forces that affect our student teachers’ perceptions and practice and discuss the role we, as teacher educators, can play in widening their perspectives and encouraging their critical thinking so as to prepare them to be agents of change in a school system that aspires to develop concerned citizens who are active contributors, confident individuals, and self-directed learners (MOE 2016).
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