Professional Support for Teachers in Public Primary Education

Introduction

Until the present day, there is no universal clear-cut definition of what primary education is; however, generally defined, primary education refers to the first period of formal schooling, following preschool and prior secondary education. Primary education oftentimes occurs in either a primary school or elementary school. While in some countries, primary schooling is subsequence to middle school in between primary and high schooling. According to Ben Ansell and Johannes Lindvall on the discussion of history of primary education, it was the beginning of the 1870s that national governments of all countries initiated to pay more attention to primary education. Not to mention that, it was the middle of the nineteen centuries that primary education first became a local phenomenon in all countries with either municipal governments or churches’ authority over schooling under the development of the modern states with social insurance systems being addressed in respective decades, generating a first-hand relationship between the state and the masses for the very first time ever

Definition of professional development

According to Speck, M. & Knipe, C. (2005), professional development refers to the undertaking of obtaining or bearing professional qualifications regarding academic grades to formal coursework, participating conferences, discussions, coaching and any possible learning opportunities occurred as rigorous, conjoint and incorporate forms. In addition to that, it also denotes the procedures and tasks done to better the occupational knowledge, skills and attitudes of teachers which possibly results in enhanced learning and outcomes of students. Key illustrations of occupational improvement might be training, observation/assessment, participation of an enhancement process, study groups, research and monitoring.

Case Study of South Korea 

It is surprising to pinpoint that the government has moved South Korea from a less developing to a developed country in just a few decades, after recognizing education as the backbone of the social and economic development. Generally, Korea’ education system relies on a 6-3-3-4 ladder structure including elementary school (6 years), middle school (3 years), high school (3 years), and college or university (4 years) according to Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. Education, particularly primary education, is one of the key drivers of South Korea’s development strategy in the long run.

Ferreras, Kessel, and Kim (2015) depicted the selection procedures of public teachers in Korea. First, the top 10% of high school graduates are able to complete a four-year teacher-education program in one of the 13 universities of education. Having successfully completed the program, each graduate is awarded a teaching certificate, allowing them to work in only private schools. If they wish to work for public primary schools, they have to pass an extremely challenging entry examination to be employed by either urban or provincial offices of education. It is interesting to note that the superintendent decides how many teachers need to be recruited annually. More importantly, only graduates in the top 5% of their class at South Korean teacher education colleges can become public teachers.

Moreover, newly recruited teachers receive a series of pre-service training namely pre-employment training, post-employment training, and harvest training. To begin with, the pre-employment training is given for two weeks, aiming to discuss field-related practical cases including student guidance, classroom management, and basic capability development for teachers. Kim and Han (2002) further explained that post-employment field training lasts for about six months, and is usually led by the principal, vice-principal, and advisor teachers to adopt new teachers to the new school environment. Lastly, newly employed teachers exchange what they have learned and what they need to improve with other trainees and trainers in the harvest training before working in their real classroom environment.

In South Korea, each primary school teacher is obligated to participate in Professional Development (PD) activities for a minimum of 20 hours annually. Nonetheless, the vast majority of teachers attend between 40 and 60 hours of annual PD activities as they are keen on exchanging ideas and supporting one another. The PD topics include classroom management, instructional practice, student counseling, observation visits to other schools, and mentoring and peer observation. All sharing materials from experienced teachers in the PD sessions are then published on a special website weekly to make them available to teachers countrywide.

Previous studies suggested that most Korean teachers neither work closely nor discuss teaching issues with other teachers. Research by Kim and Han, and Park and So (2014) found out that Korean teachers can enhance their teaching quality and mutual communication by means of collaborative learning from colleagues. In this assessment, it is compulsory for all teachers to participate in a peer supervision once or twice a year. Peer supervision is a form of arranged demonstration teaching in which colleagues observe and provide constructive feedback on their peers’ teaching materials and teaching methodology. Most teachers emphasize the importance of mutual conversations with colleagues and critical self-reflection, having taken part in this assessment.

Additionally, public primary teachers still improve their professional performance and pedagogical methodology through these opportunities. Actually, each primary school has teachers’ councils, aiming to invite teachers to meet weekly to discuss issues arising during teaching hours and share techniques along with experience how to lead class more effectively. Sami (2013) and Park and So (2014) further illustrated that interested teachers can form research groups to develop creative instructional methods and materials. Most crucially, the most innovative ideas will be awarded annual research grants of between $5,000 and $10,000, supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST). To upgrade professionalism, teachers are advised to rotate among schools every 5 years to avoid working in the same school during their entire working life. This also helps teachers and students receive plenty of educational opportunities albeit the reputation of schools they are working for.

Most practically, the National Teacher Professional Development and Evaluation System were first introduced in 2009 to strengthen teachers’ effectiveness and their specialists, and it has now been implemented in all primary and secondary schools in Korea. Unlike the traditional system which exclusively depended on the vice-principal’s and principal’s assessment when evaluating teachers’ performance, this new system requires multiple evaluations from at least three teachers and school principal and survey from both students and parents. Yoo (2018) explained that if teachers receive below-average scores, they will be required to complete additional professional training ranging from 60 to 210 hours over a six-month period in assigned teacher-training institutions. What is worse, teachers who fail to increase their scores in the following year are expelled from their classrooms for six months, and they are then advised to complete 710 hours of professional training at the National Training Institute of Education, Science, and Technology. On the other hand, high-achieving teachers are allowed to take 6-month to 12-month sabbatical leave to work on research.

Case study of Singapore

Singapore is known as one of the top-performing countries in education in the world. With its limited natural resources, Singapore considers its citizens as the most priceless and indispensable resources, making the prominent education policy and government investments. It is compulsory that Singaporean citizens enrolled in primary schools at least at the age of six, and thus if parents or guardians do not abide by this policy, they will be penalized. It is also possible that some children are exempted from the primary education provided by the Ministry of Education in case they attend religious schools or receive homeschooling with successful exemption permission from the authorities. Primary education is free of charge for every single child for the entire 6-year compulsory education. Though test and examination were the integral indicator of child’ s leaning success for each academic year, Singapore has shifted to holistic assessment which means grades and marks are no longer important and reversely emphasizes the development of skills, values and knowledge which help build child’ potential and confidence. Teaching career is a highly honorable profession in Singapore. Since teachers play prominent roles in the whole quality education for Singapore, National Institute of Education needs to ensure the quality teacher education as well. National Institute of Education in Singapore (NIE) is one of accreditation agency for teachers in Singapore. NIE needs to provide initial education programmers to pre-service teachers as well as professional development programs to in-service teachers. The recruitment of teaching workforce is limited to a third of the top graduates in each cohort.

Pre-service teachers

Singapore has made teaching profession the most attractive one among other careers with low resignation rate. Admission to initial education is very selective— merely 1100 and 1500 competent candidates recruited and invested in their training. The MOE advertises widely through multiple social media and injects a fascinating perspective of teaching as the most valuable profession of all professional opportunities. The applicants must be the top of one-third graduates with high-level literacy, while some are still required to take English proficiency test. Upon successful CVs screening, the shortlisted candidates then go through an interview conducted by the experienced principals. Lastly, candidates get monitored by the experienced teachers and spend time as untrained contracted teachers before they are successfully accepted into initial teacher training at NIE. In the process, the schools assess the candidate based on the suitability, passion and interest for teaching before an official acceptance to NIE training preparation. Initial teachers can enjoy a great deal of privilege and benefits , including free education training, funds for books, laptops and salary.

In-service teachers

Despite meticulous selection and training for teachers, Singapore continuously maintains considerable investment and development of teaching quality by entitling all in-service teachers to 100 hours of paid professional development yearly. The professional development is not necessarily a workshop, but can be in the form of professional meeting and discussion, class visit, research, inquiry approaches. Most of formal PDs are offered by NIE, the Academy of Singapore Teachers (AST) collaborating with network of teacher leaders and other schools to provide a variety of professional course, activities and expertise. Singapore has also implemented the practice of ongoing connected professional learning among schools, where each school head of apartment work on professional learning aligned with the school plan and teacher needs. Teachers are widely supported with time and opportunities to enhance oneself personally and professionally. As an illustration, almost all Singapore teachers participate in research and innovation projects. Besides workshops conducted by teachers within each school, teachers are also encouraged to pursue further learning beyond school boundaries based on personal interests.

Positive impact and challenges

Korean and Singapore’s attempt in making its education recognized internationally can be achieved due to each crucial component of its effective staffing ranging from recruitment to training and career enhancement through ongoing professional development activities. However, it is envisaged that Singapore potential challenges may be the shortage of time with increasing reforms and advancement, leaving limited time for policy evaluations and teacher’s preparation time to cope with changes. Moreover, a concerning issue for policymaker is the equity between the high-performing and lower-performing students who are in need of additional attention. (NIE , 2016)

References

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