Scholars’ Choice IIISpecial THE STRAITS TIMES MARCH 2012 PAGE 24Scholars’ Choice II

by janice goh

TEACHING scholar Lee Shu Jun, 29, has spent an exciting six years with the Ministry of Education (MOE), having taught in two schools and worked at MOE headquarters (HQ).

Says Ms Lee, who currently heads the humanities department at Tanjong Katong Girls’ School (TKGS): “MOE encourages scholars to have job rota-tions every two to three years, especially in the early part of our careers.

“These rotations help us to better understand education policies both on the ground and at the HQ level, where the policies are designed.”

She says her first teaching stint at Crescent Girls’ School laid the founda-tion for her teaching and leadership skills.

In addition to teaching, she organised a national-level conference attended by more than 100 teachers who shared best practices on the use of information and communication technologies in teach-ing humanities subjects.

After spending two and a half years at Crescent Girls’ School, she was post-ed to the corporate communications division at MOE HQ, where she gained broadened perspectives and a better understanding of the rationale behind many education policies.

“Most importantly, I came to recog-nise the importance of communicating our policies in a suitable manner to our stakeholders and of continuously en-gaging them,” she says, adding that the skills and knowledge acquired helped in her transition back to teaching.

At TKGS, she is involved in strategic planning, particularly in the design of the school’s curriculum framework. She also oversees all curriculum mat-ters relating to geography, social stud-ies, history, economics and integrated humanities, and manages a team of teachers in charge of these subjects.

Inspiring young mindsTeaching scholar Lee Shu Jun gains confidence and different skills through various postings in the education ministry

PHOTO: CHONG

JUN LIANG

HOD, I value their advice, particularly in people management matters,” she adds.

Ms Lee, who teaches social stud-ies and geography, says she developed a passion for geography in secondary school. This led her to take up the Edu-cation Merit Scholarship.

“I eventually decided to take up the teaching scholarship so I could impart my love of the subject. I also found that I enjoy working with youth, and other scholarships or career options would not have allowed me to do that,” says Ms Lee, who has a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Ox-ford in Britain.

The scholarship covered her tuition

fees, provided allowances for her ac-commodation and living expenses, as well as air tickets to Singapore to al-low her to participate in official pro-grammes, such as an Outward Bound course and a public policy seminar.

The geography buff went on to do a self-paid master’s programme in envi-ronment, science and society at Uni-versity College London, and bagged a distinction and academic journal entry for her thesis, which examined the use of air-conditioning in Singapore.

Says Ms Lee, who wears another hat as adviser to TKGS’s environment club: “Teaching is an exciting job be-cause no two days are ever the same.

Even if you are teaching the same lesson to different classes, you are bound to get different questions and thus need to find different ways of teaching and engaging the students.”

She finds it fulfilling to see her stu-dents grow to become useful citizens and it warms her heart when some of her former students thank her for inspiring an interest in geography.

“This is a career that invests in people. If you are interested in developing people, this is the right career for you. And if you feel you have benefited from the educa-tion system, why not give back to it and help to make our future society a better place? You can make a difference.”

This is a career that invests in people. If you are interested in developing people, this is the right career for you. And if you feel you have benefited from the education system, why not give back to it and help to make our future society a better place? You can make a difference.— Ms Lee Shu Jun (right)

While it is not easy managing such a large and diverse team, she is thank-ful that her teammates have been very supportive and the heads of depart-ments (HODs) and subject heads con-stantly look out for one another. She is also grateful to the principal and vice-principals who gave her room to try out her ideas and offered suitable advice.

“My current school leaders have also been very encouraging and supportive of my ideas and initiatives. As a young