Based on the admission exercise information provided to applicants by National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore in 2010, approximately 50% (575 of 1165) of the applicants admitted into the Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme were engineering and science graduates. It can thus be inferred that many engineering and science students from NUS enter the teaching career upon graduation. To be effective educators, teachers need to be equipped with good communication skills. Unfortunately, it is observed that engineering and science graduates do not possess the necessary competency in the required communication skills that would benefit them in the role as a teacher.
Teacher quality is widely recognized as one of the most important factors in the process of education and therefore, represents a promising focus for efforts aimed at school improvement. Based on the research conducted by Harris, Rutledge, Ingle and Thompson (2007), principals in general, consistently indicate a preference for teachers who display strong communication skills. Schulte, Slate and Onwuegbuzie (2008) further hypothesized a list of communication skills that effective teachers have. In of this list, the following skills pertaining to oral communication were identified:
• Ability to read body language (i.e. non-verbals),
• Good listening skills and listening to students,
• Ability to interact effectively with students,
• Being able to clarify when needed
• Teachers should also have the ability to effectively convey knowledge to students
Many institutions, including NUS, recognize the importance of preparing students for the workforce. Aside from imparting the essential knowledge of their field, these institutions also facilitate the acquisition of various oral communication skills, necessary not only in teaching but also in the various sectors of the workforce. Within the NUS society, such communication skills are introduced to the students via the various enrichment modules. However, the current efforts to expose students to the various communication skills might not be enough. This is especially so for the students from the Faculty of Science (FoS) and the Faculty of Engineering (FoE).
For science undergraduates, some communications courses are available, such as SP1203, Foundation in Effective Communication, and ES2007S, Professional Communication. However, there is no strict requirement in the curriculum for them to undertake such modules. Hence, undergraduates may complete their course of study in NUS without ever having developed their communication skills. Furthermore, only a limited number of vacancies are available for these courses each semester, which further hinders the efforts to equip science undergraduates with valuable oral communication skills.
The situation is only slightly different for engineering undergraduates. Engineering undergraduates are expected to take one communications module, EG1413, Critical Thinking and Writing, throughout their course of study. However, through our team member’s experience with this module, one semester is not enough to successfully inculcate students with the necessary communication skills. Moreover, the list of skills crucial in oral communications, as mentioned above (Section 2.1), is not covered in this module. Besides this, ES2007S is also open to FoE undergraduates, but similar to the situation within FoS, this module is not compulsory and there are limited vacancies.
This situation is further exacerbated by the fact that graduates who ultimately choose a teaching career in junior colleges are also given inadequate training in communications skills during their 1-year pre-teaching training (PGDE programme) at the NIE. During this programme, NIE trainees are only required to undertake two modules (QKS520, Knowledge Skills: Interdisciplinary Studies, and QLK520, Communication Skills for Teachers) that are targeted to improve their effective communication and presentation skills. However, given our own experiences with communications skills, a one year period might not be sufficient to impart these abilities. The training provided by the NIE would probably be more beneficial and meet greater success in producing effective teachers for junior colleges, if student-teachers were better prepared in such skills prior to admission to NIE.
