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The current generation of children must grow up with different competencies to thrive in this highly complex and interconnected world. Amongst others, we need to equip them with twenty-first century skills that include curiosity, self-direction, creativity, innovation, and an inquiring mindset. We are short-changing our children if we teach them the way we were taught. In this era, education must emphasise discovery and facilitate inquiry and problem-solving, and learning should be self-directed and collaborative, as well as meaningful and transferable. From this perspective, teacher education cannot be about teacher training. It must be about developing professional leaders in the field of education. Drawing from Singapore's experience of preparing teachers for the twenty-first century, this paper will touch on the four pillars of teacher education in the recent development of the Nanyang Technological University-National Institute of Education Teaching Scholars Programme, the enhanced Bachelor of Arts/Science (Education), and the 16-month Postgraduate Diploma in Education Programmes. The four pillars are deepening professionalism, strengthening practice, broadening pedagogies, and developing perspectives. In essence, the paper will focus on developing thinking professionals through (1) ownership of learning and inquiry that deepen professionalism; (2) reflective practice and focused conversations that strengthen teaching competencies and crystallise teacher identity; (3) pedagogical innovations and technology-enabled learning that develop facilitators of learning and architects of learning environment; and (4) a three-pronged approach of the 'community as coach', the 'industry as partner', and the 'world as our classroom' that facilitates a worldview and fosters new ways of thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital portfolios have gained an increasing prominence in teacher education programmes around the world as a consequence of research which purports their multiple benefits to users and of their potential to represent beginning teachers' practices. Despite the current popularity of digital portfolios, the nature of their use is still not well understood. This article explores how student teachers use digital portfolios in a teacher education programme in Singapore from an economics perspective. It posits that the adoption of an economic lens would shed new light on existing understandings and raise awareness of how and why student teachers use digital portfolios the ways they do. Reference to a range of economic concepts would will help to better understand educational outcomes. The article considers the implications of the findings for informing how digital portfolios are implemented and raises issues for consideration in further implementation efforts and in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflection is recognised as a significant goal in teacher education. Digital portfolios have considerable potential for developing teacher reflective capacities, but more research is needed for documenting the content and quality of the reflections within it and for understanding the factors related to its occurrence. Many schemes of analyses have been developed. However, they do not accord sufficient attention to the situated nature of reflection and the sociocultural context within which reflection occurs. In this study, we seek to analyse and understand student teacher reflections as captured in digital portfolios. We propose using a lens that combines a framework on types of reflection with a situative perspective. Results suggest that student teachers do not typically reflect at deep levels, unless the situation legitimizes or privileges it, even if they may be able to do so. Findings are discussed in relation to contextual factors. It is surmised that student teacher reflections may be tied to the sociocultural context in which they learn and in which reflection is enacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Professional Practice and Inquiry (PPI) course was introduced to equip pre-service teachers with the knowledge, skills, and values required to develop them into reflective practitioners with a strong teacher identity. This study looks into the efficacy of the course in the preparation of thoughtful and reflective teachers. Self-reported questionnaires were administered to the pre-service teachers. Interviews were conducted to complement the quantitative findings. Findings suggested that pre-service teachers (1) were more aware of their teaching identity, (2) perceived themselves as teacher inquirers, (3) were more able to engage in cognitive self-regulation, and (4) were more cognizant of their Graduand Teacher Competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including teacher education, program improvement, and relational competence or teacher-student relations.

• The utility of the e-portfolio as a reflection tool has been widely endorsed in theory. • Conflicting results have been yielded when examined from student teachers' perspectives. • Research in this area lacks a systematic theoretical framework. • Cultural-Historical Activity Theory is proposed as a unifying framework. • A sample analysis using CHAT suggests that CHAT is a potentially useful analytical tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]