Graduand Teacher Competencies

The Graduand Teacher Competencies Framework (GTCF), recently revised, provides a solid integration of the new V3SK model and MOE’s competencies framework of beginning teachers. In this framework, there are three dimensions of performance that beginning teachers are supposed to take into account and fulfill, namely:

 

·       Professional Practice

·       Leadership and Management

·       Personal Effectiveness

 

Professional practice is something that is important for all beginning teachers to cultivate as we represent the very frontline of our nation’s efforts to ensure that we educate a new generation that has the necessary intellectual and moral capabilities to survive and prosper in the new and ever-changing set of challenges to come in the 21st century.

 

To do so, developing each and every student in a holistic manner is necessary, and something that the teacher should take responsibility and pride over. Firstly, it means that the teacher has to educate every child with the correct set of ethical and moral values. There is no set curriculum for this, but this is simply done through the everyday teacher-and-student interactions.

 

Another aspect that is important for the teacher to cultivate good habits of mind in his or her students. For me, this means the ability to question received knowledge, rather than simply absorbing and incorporating information passively. In the new world that threatens to overwhelm all of us with an overload of knowledge, the emphasis is now no longer on the accumulation of knowledge but the ability to synthesise and critically assess all received knowledge. This is something I personally feel most strongly about.

 

Finally, a big part of the professionalism, particularly of a beginning teacher, is to ensure that he has the necessary subject mastery in whatever curriculum subject he or she is teaching. Just as the teacher teaches his or her students to question, so must the teacher be prepared to be questioned by his or her students. The beginning teacher has a primary responsibility to ensure that he or she is absolutely prepared to impart upon his or her students the necessary and correct content knowledge to students. After all, despite all the current emphasis on critical thinking and questioning, it is still the subject matter of the curriculum subjects that is the vehicle through which students can exercise, practise and cultivate positive habits of mind and the ability to be critical.

 

The next aspect of the V3SK is Leadership and Management, and this pertains to the beginning teacher less as a conduit of knowledge but also as a team-player in the school, organisation and any work teams he or she finds himself in. It means that the beginning teacher has to understand the environment he finds himself in, the school culture of wherever he is posted to, and also be able to have high levels of interpersonal effectiveness in dealing with all of the stakeholders in Singapore education - students, colleagues, subordinates, superiors, parents, and the media. As the beginning teacher rises through the ranks, he or she will also have to play a role in supporting the induction of new teachers, and develop leadership skills on the go in an increasingly fast-paced environment.

 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the beginning teacher is supposed to have high levels of personal effectiveness. To be able to be a good team player to his colleagues and a good role model for his students, this quality is arguably the most essential to cultivate and a pre-requisite to the other two abovementioned competencies. Personal effectiveness means that the beginning teacher has to know himself, and be in tune with his personal teaching philosophy, moral and spiritual bearings, as well as all other beliefs. In addition, he has to possess immaculate levels of personal and professional integrity, be able to adapt too ever-changing work and societal conditions, and also be able to understand and respect people around him – be it students, colleagues or superiors.

 

In all, this is a highly demanding and challenging set of criteria that beginning teachers are expected to fulfill, and as a beginning teacher myself, it might not be easy to be able to accomplish all these lofty ideals. What is personally within my own control is the domain of personal effectiveness, and this will be something I have to consciously work on as I begin my journey as an educator. While I will make mistakes and do certain things sub-optimally, what cannot be compromised is my personal effectiveness, and it is only with high levels of personal effectiveness that I can proceed to learn from my mistakes and experiences and become an even better teacher. As a graduand teacher, I hope to develop high levels of professionalism in my career, staying true to my teaching philosophy and ensuring that I am an exemplary role model to my students both as an educator and a human being.