Professional Development Courses / Workshops
A. Professional Development Workshops for MOE Schools
Here at CPD Singapore Education Services Pte Ltd, we believe in lifelong learning, which is why we offer a wide array of professional development workshops for educators to create opportunities for everyone to pursue knowledge. Our courses are run by accredited professionals such as former school principals, curriculum specialists and experts in different fields, with years of service in the Singapore education system.
Action Research is guided by movement through a cycle of actions: plan, act, observe and reflect actions. In this course, participants will learn the step-by-step process to identify and establish the research problem, plan the action research, evaluate findings, employ appropriate strategies, and ultimately craft appropriate curricular instructions to meet 21st-century teaching and learning needs.
In this course, educators will be expected to work in groups to design tasks that incorporate collaborative learning in their teaching. Collaborative learning explores the educator’s role in the global shift towards high-technology and information-based societies that place a premium on citizens, who are equipped with interpersonal communication and problem-solving skills. Participants will also be facilitated through discussions on issues relating to lesson design and the use of ICT to support collaborative learning.
Participants will learn the essential conditions for promoting creative and critical thinking including classroom environment, teacher competencies and dispositions, and school-wide initiatives for promoting creative and critical thinking in schools. The course will provide an overview of assessments used to evaluate creative and critical thinking. By the end of the course, educators will be able to realise the significance of developing these skills among students in coping with the changes in a transient economy.
At its core, this course aims to present the schools’ strategic plan and outcome as a consequence of a complex web of interdependent parts. Educators will be introduced to social constructivism, involving collective effort in building school leadership, environment and culture, the school’s curriculum and subject curricula, the assessment practices and expectations, and the school’s internal structures and operations.
Every learner differs in their approach towards learning. Differentiated instruction aims to attend to different readiness, interests, motivations, and learning profiles of students. This course explores the principles and practices of differentiated instruction and explains how participants can cater to the needs of learners in various ways.
This course uses pedagogical tools to create a simulated school environment and experimental learning. Participants will learn to create an interdisciplinary learning experience that mimics real-world learning. These tools use concepts such as reflective thinking, demonstrative method, inductive method and problem-solving method.
Participants in this course will explore educational tools to facilitate effective learning, outside of the traditional classroom concept. They will also examine various multimedia resources such as online simulations and games, readings including articles and books, and collaborative tools such as discussion forums, peer reviews, blogs, and social media.
By the end of this course, participants will demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, and knowledge to draw upon theory and principle to develop a practical framework for implementation. Integration of ICT within a curriculum, pedagogy and assessment is complex. Hence, this course is designed in a way that can develop an educator’s understanding of contemporary theories, concepts and skills as applied in the classroom context with some focus on cross-curriculum priorities.
This course offers a guide to formative assessment. Formative assessment, in contrast to summative assessment, conveys that evaluation is carried out during the process, not just at the end. Participants will engage in collaborative learning activities such as peer assessment, learn to incorporate the use of informal feedback in the form of immediate feedback and formal feedback in the form of rubrics that help to clarify learning and assessment objectives.
This course will introduce Lesson Study as a teacher-led, professional development process. By exploring the benefits and challenges of implementing Lesson Study, participants will be exposed to a catalyst to improve teaching practices by collegially reviewing strategies for better implementation of future lessons.
This course offers an instructional approach that begins with the techniques in problem formulation to sustain students’ interest. Participants will learn to engage learners with appropriate literature and proceed to seek relevant, new information in a bid to fill the gaps in their prior knowledge. Additionally, this course covers the synergistic combination of instructional approach with features of the technology to present PBL scenarios.
In a Seamless Learning Environment, learners are encouraged to draw on resources that exist both inside and outside the classroom. This course will investigate the theories in understanding SL across various components and ultimately aid participants to foster habits associated with thoughts and skills of SL among learners.
This course guides educators on how to plan and design assessments, such that they are effective in identifying the knowledge and application gaps in learners. Educators will then use this information support learners in their learning. Different types of assessment methods, including self-assessment for more independent learners, will be introduced. Examples of unethical assessment practices will also be highlighted to deter inappropriate methods.
Asking questions is a necessary skill to solve problems and think critically, and this can be nurtured through inquiry-based learning. In this course, participants will learn strategies that create an inquiry-driven classroom that encourages metacognitive thought processes, exploration, asking questions, sharing ideas and reflection in learners. Steer away from merely presenting facts and being the expert of the class, and start posing more questions, problems and scenarios instead.
Learning Outcomes:
- Identify different types of disabilities, diverse learning needs faced by adult learners with special needs and their potential impact on the learning process.
- Create and implement inclusive learning environments that cater to the diverse requirements of adult learners.
- Explore and apply practical, evidence-based teaching strategies and instructional methods that support various learning styles and abilities for adult learners with special needs.
- Develop skills to effectively assess learning outcomes and provide constructive feedback.
Learning Outcomes:
- Acquire an overview of mental health challenges in children and youths with special educational needs.
- Identify early signs of mental health challenges in children and youths with SEN.
- Explore factors that affect the mental health of children and youths with SEN
- Apply strategies to address mental health challenges among children and youths with SEN.
Learning Outcomes:
- Maintain a safe classroom environment for students’ safety and well-being.
- Create accessible and safe spaces in the classroom to meet the needs of students.
- Establish routines and work systems
- Develop skills in delivering clear instructions, modelling, guided practice and independent practice.
- Plan and implement a lesson based on the explicit instructional approach.
The course aims to provide participants with the underpinning knowledge and pedagogical approaches with a strong theoretical foundation, where learners will acquire evidence-based practices and strategies that are based on current research and best practices in individual education planning in special education. This course blends classroom facilitation with technology-enabled learning to provide a comprehensive, interactive, and practical learning experience where learners are equipped with the knowledge, abilities and strategies necessary to develop effective Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students with special needs.
Learning Outcomes:
- Examine the principles of individual planning
- Analyse the IEP process; APIE Cycle
- Use information of student’s background and present level of performance to create a one-page profile
- Develop an IEP with SMART goals
Social Emotional skills encompass a wide range of skills that enhance personal development and well-being that will lead to positive outcomes in relationships, learning, work and success in life.
Learning Outcomes:
- Identify core social-emotional skills: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management skills and responsible decision-making.
- Analyse the role that social-emotional skills play in equipping students with the ability to build resilience and self-determination.
- Develop the ability to assess the unique social-emotional needs of students with special needs through observation, assessment tools, and collaboration with other allied professionals.
- Design and implement teaching strategies and interventions that effectively foster the development of social-emotional skills in students with special needs.
B. Early Childhood Professional Development Workshops
Early childhood pedagogy covers a vast area of essential theoretical concepts, methods and practices that are ever-evolving to suit the current climate in the field of early education. As such, CPD Singapore Education Services Pte Ltd has designed comprehensive workshops that touch on foundational concepts in early childhood development and address the latest approaches to early education to better equip educators and caregivers.
This course is designed to expose educators/caregivers to a diverse range of child development theories that are vital in supporting the growth of each child. Reviewing theories such as those by Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, John Dewey and Erik Erikson aids participants’ understanding of the significance of providing a child with holistic development and being equipped to calibrate teaching methods for various ages of 0 to 8 years.
Effective classroom management methods assist educators in providing positive teacher-student interactions. This course will examine theories such as Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, Glasser’s Choice Theory and Kohn’s Student Directed Learning Theory to show how these theories are relevant in the early childhood learning environment.
Classroom management strategies are essential, not only in building positive teacher-student interactions, but also in observing and document children’s learning patterns. In this course, participants will examine various classroom management strategies, types of observations and documentation, and the utilisation of various lens to understand each child.
Participants will explore concepts such as simple relationships and patterns, counting and number sense, basic shapes and spatial concepts, one-to-one correspondence, pre-reading and writing. Supporting children in understanding and applying these skills of literacy and numeracy enables better cognitive development. Additionally, educators will learn to apply their understanding to organise the learning environment.
In this course, participants will focus on the integration of language and literacy in the early years, such as speaking, listening, writing and reading. Educators will also explore strategies to develop the aforementioned skills to further language development in learners.
This course reviews the three stands of learning in motor skills development: motor skills acquisition, health and fitness, and safety awareness. In addition to knowing what skills to look out for, educators will also learn strategies such as using games, fitness stations, and explicit teaching in shaping children’s physical fitness, agility and body coordination.
In this course, educators will be given an overview of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), pedagogical principles, and the approaches of ECCE across time and context. Participants will also have the opportunity to examine various models of practices in different countries.
Social-emotional development focuses on children’s personal well-being and social well-being, while paying attention to responsible decision-making to develop a positive sense of themselves in relation to friends, family and the community. Participants in this course will examine strategies surrounding social and emotional development, such as modelling positive behaviour, using dramatisation and role play, planning routines and transitions, just to name a few.