Teacher Education in the 21st Century Singapore’s Evolution and Innovation

Professor TAN Oon-Seng is Director of NIE. Prior to this, he was Dean of Teacher Education there and spearheaded the Teacher Education for the 21st Century (TE21) Model, which is a major milestone for teacher education both nationally and internationally; President of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association (2008–2010) and Vice-President (Asia and Pacific Rim) of the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology (2008–2011). He is Editor-in-Chief of the Educational Research for Policy & Practice journal and Lead Editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Education. In 2014, he was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) by Singapore’s President for his dedication and achievement in the field of education. 


Associate Professor LIU Woon-Chia is Dean of Teacher Education at NIE. She is Associate Professor with the Psychological Studies Academic Group and founding member of NIE’s Motivation in Educational Research Laboratory.She was Associate Dean of Practicum and School Partnerships (2009–2014) and Sub-Dean of Diploma Programme (2008–2009). She co-chaired the Theory-Practice taskforce in NIE’s Programme Review and Enhancement initiative that culminated in the TE21 Model (2008–2009) and the Theory-Practice Core Team, TE21 Implementation Steering Group; was President of the Educational Research Association of Singapore; and represented Singapore in the World Education Research Association (WERA) Council. She is co-convener of the WERA-International Research Network conference.



Professor LOW Ee-Ling is Head of Strategic Planning & Academic Quality at NIE. She is Professor at the English Language & Literature Academic Group and was Associate Dean of Teacher Education (2009–2013). She obtained her PhD in Linguistics (Acoustic Phonetics) from the University of Cambridge under its Overseas Graduate Scholarship. She won a Fulbright Advanced Research Scholarship in 2008, which she spentat Lynch School of Education. She had a leading role in the TE21 Model and NIE’s Strategic Roadmap: Towards 2017. In 2012, she was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) by Singapore’s President. She represents Singapore in Stanford University’s International Teacher Policy Study and Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Global Education Innovation Initiative.