Sharing Speech by Mr Tan Seng Hua, Deputy CEO (Academic) & Dean/ITE Academy, at the Launch of ITE Academy, held on 26 April 2013 at 9am at The Hall@illuminITE. Mr Bruce Poh, Director & CEO/ITE Professor Tan Oon Seng, Dean/Teacher Education, NIE Our Distinguished Guest Speakers Friends and Colleagues from ITE, ITE Staff Unions and our Industry and Institutional Training Partners Ladies and Gentlemen Good Morning Introduction [Slide Welcome] 1. Let me first on behalf of the ITE Academy team, thank all of you for spending time with us this morning to witness the official launch of the Academy. Our special thanks to Mr Bruce Poh, Director & CEO of ITE for gracing this occasion. Thank you, Mr Poh. 2. [Slide Overseas Participants, Students] The launch of ITE Academy marks another significant milestone in ITE. Besides accomplishing a key strategic 1
programme under the ITE Innovate Plan, the establishment of the ITE Academy will go a long way to sustain and even enhance our global leadership in VTE. More importantly, it will ensure that our students will continue to enjoy the best quality technical education in many years ahead. 3. So what exactly is the objective of ITE Academy? Why do we need an in-house Academy and what role will ITE Academy play to complement the responsibilities of our HRD department and the respective HOEs in the training and development of our staff? How can ITE Academy help you to sharpen your VTE competency and add values to your job in ITE? I am sure these are just some of the many questions you have today. Strengths of ITE and its Staff 4. [Slide Training facilities and activities] As the main provider of VTE in Singapore, ITE is committed to ensure that its training programmes and curricula are upto-date and relevant to the needs of our economy; its pedagogy and classroom management models are effective and innovative; its infrastructure and training facilities are comprehensive and efficient; and its leaders and staff are competent and passionate about VTE and our students. 2
5. Since our inception in 2001 as a post-secondary technical education institution, we have worked hard and made tremendous progress in all these areas, and gained widespread endorsement and recognition, not only from local community and training partners but also international bodies, on our education and business excellence. [Slide Awards] 6. In our journey to build up ITE over the past two decades, we have learned many useful lessons. We have gained good understanding on what will work for ITE and our students. [Slide New campuses, authentic learning facilities] We have also experimented many innovative ideas to make our training more engaging, fun and enjoyable for our students. Many of these programmes, pedagogy, infrastructure, student management strategies were developed in-house, tapping on the experience and wisdom of a large pool of ITE staff over the years. There are very limited external resources or expertise that could assist us in the journey as our role in education sector is a unique one filled with many challenges. 7. The strength of our VTE competency is a valuable asset which we should preserve and further enhance. Very often, our overseas VTE partners and visitors are very keen to 3
learn from us as they were impressed with our ability to innovate our VTE to manage a very challenging segment of the education with outstanding results. Let me quote a few examples. [Slides Tjerk Dusseldorp & TVET Wuhan Programme] As ITE staff, we ought to be proud of our own achievements and treasure our vast knowledge and skills that is one of a kind. 8. However, the success in the past will not guarantee us the continued success in the future. We need to put in place a strong mechanism to ensure that our competency, our secret recipe will pass on from one generation of staff to another, and in the process, to further improve and strengthen our product, process, people, place and promotion of VTE to benefit more young school leavers and working adults in the years ahead, enabling them to live a good life in this fast changing and competitive world. 9. The establishment of ITE Academy is thus a logical step towards this direction. [Slide ITE Academy facilities] 4
Strategic Focus and Desired Outcomes of ITE Academy 10. The key objective of the Academy is to serve as a central body for the development and strengthening of our staff in ITE s very own niche Vocational and Technical Education competencies. [Slide 2 Desired Outcomes] The Academy has two desired outcomes: 10.1 Sustainability of organizational and educational excellence 10.2 Enhancement of our competitive edge as a Global Leader in VTE Integrative and Holistic Approach 4 Centres of Excellence 11. Taking on a more integrative and holistic approach, the ITE Academy focuses on four key areas of strategic importance to ITE. Each of these four areas will hopefully evolve into a Centre of Excellence over the next few years. [Slide 4 Centres] 11.1 Centre for Leadership Development (CLD) The continued success of ITE hinges on the quality and competency of professional leadership and value proposition of our leaders. [Slide CLD] 5
Hence, the Centre for Leadership Development will organize programmes to enhance our leaders knowledge in VTE Management and Development, as well as Governance and Leadership. 11.2 Centre for Pedagogic Development (CPD) As an education institution, the pedagogic competency of our staff is the key success factor of the learning journey of our students. [Slide CPD] The Centre for Pedagogic Development offers programmes to deepen pedagogic knowledge and skills of our Academic Staff, Mentors and Academic Leaders. While Pedagogical Certificate in Technical Education (PCTE) will be our flagship programme to prepare our newly appointed lecturers for their roles, we will also be launching a series of new programmes, such as Essential Pedagogy for Academic Leaders, Being an Effective PCTE Mentor and Mentoring Veteran Lecturers. 6
11.3 Centre for Professional and Executive Development (CPE) To ensure a Total System Capability in innovative planning and management of VTE infrastructure, systems, resources and operations, it is critical to build a sustainable pipeline of such capability amongst all levels of staff. [Slide CPE] The Centre for Professional and Executive Development offers ITE staff training programmes on key VTE functional skills from soft skills such as motivation and management of VTE students to the technical skills in design and development of VTE curriculum, instructional materials, authentic learning facilities as well as planning and development of VTE campuses. This centre will leverage on our very own ITE management and professional staff who are Practitioners and Subject Matter Experts with vast ITE experience and expertise, including our seniors who have retired from service after accumulated many years of experience in the management of VTE, to impart their knowledge to other colleagues. 7
11.4 Centre for Organisational Learning (COL) [Slide COL] Last but not least, the Centre for Organisational Learning supports the organizational learning culture by creating an eco-system environment for ITE staff to learn and share with fellow colleagues. The ultimate aim is to build a learning community with activities that are initiated by staff for staff to propagate ITE s VTE competencies. For our ITE Mentors, we have developed a new Mentoring Framework that focuses on enhancement of pedagogic excellence, alignment of professional development opportunities and career advancement, and empowerment of Mentors. We will be sending teams of mentors for several overseas benchmarking study trips this year, to learn from others their best practices in mentoring of peers in an academic environment, as well as to gain a better understanding on subject didactics or what we commonly known as discipline-specific pedagogy. 8
12. From the above articulation, you can see that ITE Academy is focusing its attention on the enhancement of VTE competency for the ITE family. These programmes will be unique and specially designed for VTE in Singapore. They aim to develop a team of passionate staff with critical thinking skills to move ITE to the next level of success in the years ahead. Some of these programmes will be launched soon, and we have designed a course catalogue to guide you in the selection of programmes that would be of value to you. [Slide QR Code and Programme Calendar] To provide convenience to you, please join me in taking out your smart phone and scan the QR code found on your course catalogue, so that the list of programmes offered by ITE Academy in the next twelve months could be downloaded to your smart phone for your easy reference anytime anywhere. Conclusion Leveraging on the ITE Academy 13. The ITE Academy is designed by staff for staff. I strongly encourage all of you to leverage on the Academy for your personal development. [Slide Be our Partners] 9
You can be a Participant in the programmes offered by the four centres to hone and propel your VTE capability and skills. For those of you who have benefited from your seniors and developed your competency and experience in VTE, I invite you to join us as a Training Facilitator to impart your knowledge and skills to others in the family. For the rest, be a Mentor to inspire your fellow colleagues. Together, we can form a formidable force to showcase our VTE competency to the world and establish ITE as a global brand name in VTE. 14. Before I end my speech, I would like to take this opportunity [Slide Thank You] to thank our CDE, EDT, LTD, HR, CA, SDM, PE/CE, ITE Academy colleagues and student helpers for setting up the new ITE Academy and put together the launching programme for today s ceremony. We hope to see you soon at the ITE Academy. Thank you. 10