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In an interview with Brainfeed, Maya Thiagarajan, Director of Education, Tree Learning shares her views on ‘Once a teacher, always a teacher?’
Singapore has a very strong education system. The teacher education programmes are excellent. The National Institute of Education (NIE) is very competitive, and you have to be a very good student to get into the NIE. Teachers enjoy a high status in society and the programmes that they have to prepare teachers are very rigorous. Singapore believes that if a country wants to do well, they have to invest in their education system. In 1960s Singapore began to develop rapidly and they put the education system at the center of the development plan. They believed that it is the teachers that matter the most, and certainly research has confirmed that. Hence, to invest in education, they invested in the teachers.
They had two questions:
- How do we make the brightest minds become teachers?
- How do we prepare them to develop into the best teachers?
They have created a pathway for teachers to grow:
From teacher to lead teacher to mentor teacher. With each level, you get higher compensation, added responsibilities and more prestige. So, there’s a job progression.
Every school in Singapore has one person full-time who constantly looks into the professional development of the teachers at that school.
