Teacher Quality = Teacher Qualification

Was reading one of those editor's articles published a couple of weeks back, after some announcements were made in the MOE workplan seminar. In particular, she wrote about the part on leveling up teacher's qualification.

There's been quite a fair amount of emphasis on moving non-graduate teachers to graduate teachers, and continued PD for graduate teachers to do Masters. Yes, there's so much effort in place in the recent years. One not so direct strategy is from the improving Growth package.

In fact, am for the idea of educational officers to seek for professional development, to pursue for knowledge & being equipped with skills & good ideas that benefits us & people around us. However, the article also create the impression that higher qualification makes better teachers, which I beg to differ!

No doubt that learning at higher institutions broaden our perspectives & deepen our understanding of the subject, how often do we apply them when we teach our subjects at secondary level. Think it's the kind of processes and training that make a difference! The exercises, the thinking that we go through in the discussions, the interaction, etc... hm... the soft skills... of course, am not downplaying the concepts or new ideas we get from the lectures!

On the other hand, I think it is important to recognise the fact that when one has a "Master Degree", it does not necessary imply that he/she would be a fantastically good teacher. Trust me, we had scholars who could not teach! Not that he/she do not have the content knowledge, but failed to connect and deliver. Also learnt from my experiences in these 2 years that, in fact, the lower level we go down to... the more challenging for us to understand (as a teacher... ) and to teach! Having a degree does not necessary help us to do the work! It's having strong fundamental knowledge that matters!