Bringing Research to Greater Heights

In November 2020, Dr Dennis Kwek was appointed as Centre Director, Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP). CRPP was established in 2003 as a key research centre of the Office of Education Research, NIE. Over the years, it has been led by its key mission to advance knowledge that promotes the improvement of teaching and learning in Singapore and the wider educational community. We speak to Dennis about his new role and the importance of education research in Singapore.

Q: Share with us a little about your new role.

Established in 2003, the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP) seeks to conduct leading education research that focuses on the analysis and improvement of pedagogies and classroom practices in our schools, with the aim to provide an innovative and substantive research base for the implementation of policy and pedagogical initiatives within our school system. Over the last decade and a half, CRPP has worked closely with the Ministry of Education, schools and other stakeholders to generate rigorous and impactful school-based and system-level research that is cognizant of the sociocultural context of Singapore’s education system.

My role as the Centre Director for CRPP is to build on CRPP’s research strengths to do meaningful research into improving our schools for the benefit of all learners, to collaborate and engage with local stakeholders in our educational ecology and the international research communities to generate such research, and to develop and mentor the next generation of educational researchers to enhance NIE’s research capacities.

I grew up with CRPP, having worked here since 2004. I started as a Research Associate in the CORE Research Programme, one of NIE’s flagship research programmes, while studying for my PhD at the same time. Now, as Centre Director, I am very excited and keen to not only continue to lead our team of passionate researchers to carry on the good work they have been doing for our schools, but to explore new research territories and initiatives that can ultimately help our teachers and students in their educational journeys.

Q: What are some of the plans you have for the research centre?

We have an established suite of research programmes in CRPP that showcase the kinds of education research that our staff excel in. We want to continue building on those strengths but perhaps redirect them towards some of the grand challenges in our education system. Some of these challenges include maximizing every learner’s potential, ensuring quality education for all learners, developing pedagogically adept and future-ready educators, understanding and enhancing educational pathways for all, generating new ways to assess learning, fostering lifelong learners for both teachers and students, and really having a deep discussion around the purposes of education.

Ultimately, CRPP should be looking at how we can prepare educators and learners to thrive in a socially and linguistically diverse, culturally complex, dynamic and increasingly uncertain future.

Q: Is it important for teachers to do research? Why so?

I believe, as do many colleagues in CRPP, that teachers should know about pedagogical research and the different pedagogies that they can mobilize in their classrooms. They should learn how to use such research to inform their practices, and if possible to be actively doing pedagogical research. Here, I draw from Professor Robin Alexander’s meaning of pedagogy as “the observable act of teaching together with its attendant discourse of educational theories, values, evidence and justifications”, where teachers can not only think about their teaching practices, but search (and re-search) for meaning in their work, in the numerous kinds of decisions they make everyday in their classrooms, and to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the complexities of their craft.

Q: What are your hopes for the future of education research as we enter the new normal?

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges, and importantly, new opportunities for education policy and practice. It has brought to the forefront some of the systemic challenges in our system such as inequality, the digital divide, the urgent need for lifelong learning, to name a few. But it has also opened up new discourses around the purposes of education and new avenues for research as well.

It is my hope that CRPP can contribute towards policy, pedagogy and practice in new and exciting ways. There is a wealth of knowledge and deep understanding, driven by research over the past decade or so, on our education system that can be brought to bear on making a serious effort to improve our schools and childrens’ lives.

It is also my hope that CRPP will continue to be driven by cutting edge ideas and vigorous intellectual debates, that it will be a hothouse for educational researchers not just within NIE but in Singapore and internationally. We have passionate and empathetic intellectuals here in CRPP who understand the local context and are committed to research-driven educational improvements. So do come by and talk to us!