A Study On The Partnership Model For Teacher Education Internship In Singapore

Education is a fundamental condition for the development and prosperity of a country,and the professionalism of teachers is a key factor in determining the quality of education in a country.At present,the integration of teacher professional development and pre-service teacher practice models has become a theme of education development in countries around the world,especially in countries with a high level of economic development.Since the 1990 s,Western countries,particularly the UK,have made a series of reforms to their teacher training models,actively exploring a model of practice for pre-service teacher education characterised by cooperation between universities,schools and government.This approach successfully remedied the shortcomings of the then existing university-based model of separating theory and practice in teacher education,and was conducive to enhancing pre-service teachers’ practical skills in education and teaching.The release of the National Institute of Education（NIE）Model for 21 st Century Teacher Education in 2009 led to an ’enhanced’ partnership between the Ministry of Education,NIE and primary and secondary schools in Singapore,which bridged the gap between theory and practice in the development of teacher education.The effective interaction between them has contributed to the improvement of the educational practice of teacher educators.This paper begins with a historical perspective on the evolution of teacher education placements in Singapore and the formation and development of Singapore’s teacher education placement partnership model.The second part of the paper outlines the theoretical basis of Singapore’s teacher education internship partnership model and the tripartite partnership comprising the Singapore Ministry of Education,the National Institute of Education and primary and secondary schools;it further deepens the understanding of Singapore’s teacher education internship partnership model by analysing three main aspects,namely the spiral internship system,the strict supervisory system of mentors and the comprehensive education internship evaluation system from macro to micro.It also summarises the characteristics and successful experiences of the Singaporean model of teacher education internship partnership.Chinese teacher education has traditionally emphasised the important role of teaching practice in the professional growth of teachers,but it is only in recent years that attention has been paid to the close collaboration between universities and primary and secondary schools.Although there are still some shortcomings in the current partnership in China that require continuous reflection and improvement,there are also many successes.Therefore,the last section of this paper first introduces the content and implementation status of the partnership model in teacher education in China,and then compares and contrasts the implementation of the partnership model between the two countries,with a view to providing experiences for the further promotion and development of the partnership model for teacher education internships between China and Singapore.