A Study on Singapore Chinese Language Teachers’ Professional Proficiency and Training Needs for Sustainable Development

Continuous professional development can help teachers become responsible mentors for sustainable education. Taking into account subject characteristics and concentrating on investigation of professional proficiency and training needs of the Chinese language teachers in Singapore, this study seeks to shed light on providing more targeted in-service training and workplace learning support for teachers to attain the goals for sustainable development. An explanatory mixed methods approach was adopted in this study. A total of 1054 Chinese language teachers completed the questionnaire on subject content and professional knowledge, Chinese teaching practice and pedagogy, and knowledge of technology and its application. Focus group discussions and interviews of 112 teachers were conducted to further explore the results from the survey data. The findings of the study provide insights into shaping the forms and priorities of in-service training for teachers to be a powerful agent of sustainable teaching.