New teachers urged to focus on holistic education

SINGAPORE: New teachers have been reminded to focus on providing a holistic education, said Director of the National Institute of Education (NIE), Lee Sing Kong, at a teachers’ investiture ceremony on Monday.

He pointed out that with the discussions shifting beyond test scores and top grades, success is not measured by just grades and rankings.

What is more critical is the ability of each teacher to help students intellectually, aesthetically, morally and socially, he said.

On its part, Prof Lee said NIE would focus on producing quality teachers, "by continually enhancing our initial teacher preparation programmes, to strengthen the foundation in skills, knowledge and values".

"I think NIE has equipped us in the sense that we did a lot of group work during our course, so that has really helped us to not just focus on drill and practice which was much like the old system," said graduate Samantha Wee.

317 students graduated on Monday.

They are the first batch of newly—qualified teachers to graduate in 2013 with post—graduate or bachelor’s degrees, or diploma in education.

— CNA/xq