THE PANELLISTS
Professor David Hawker
Moderator
David Hawker is Honorary Professor at Durham University UK, a former Professor of the College of Teachers and former Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University College London Institute of Education. He is an experienced educational administrator, serving as director in both local and national government in the UK between 1999 and 2011. From 1992-9 he was Assistant Chief Executive at the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, where for several years he was responsible for managing the national pupil assessment system and support for the school curriculum. Between 2010 and 2016 he ran his own international education consultancy specialising in providing advice on the development of effective educational systems in a number of countries.
Professor Hawker has advised several international organisations, including the OECD, the Open Society Institute and the World Bank, and is a Trustee of three educational charities in the UK. Now semi-retired, he enjoys keeping in touch with what is going on in education and educational assessment across the world. Professor Hawker is also the chairperson of the Academic and Examination Board of Cavenagh Institute which is wholly owned by the Principals Academy.
Ms Elaine Jee
Fuhua Secondary School
Elaine has been actively involved in the education sector in Singapore for more than a decade. She has taught in different primary and secondary schools, and is currently the Head of Department of English Language and Literature at Fuhua Secondary School. She was also a Senior Educational Technology Officer in the Ministry of Education (Singapore).
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A passionate practitioner, Elaine strives to promote a culture of active experimentation and reflective practices on innovative use of pedagogies in education, through building of staff capacity. Together with fellow educators, she has conducted diverse classroom research on implementation principles for sustainable and scalable applications to enrich student-centric learning experiences. She has also shared her findings locally and at various international conferences around the world. Her areas of interest include education research, curriculum design, professional development, pedagogies, assessment literacy, multimodality and multi-literacies, teaching and learning of English Language, and development of 21st Century Competencies.
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She was conferred Bachelor of Arts by National University of Singapore, Postgraduate Diploma in Education and Master of Education (English Language) by Nanyang Technological University (National Institute of Education, Singapore). She also earned a Master of Education Research Methods from University of Western Australia.
Mdm Khoo Geok Hwa
Dunman High School
Geok Hwa Khoo has more than 30 years of teaching experience, having taught in a junior college and three secondary schools which offer diverse programmes like the Gifted Education Programme and programmes for lower progress learners. Currently a Lead Teacher for High Achieving Learners at Dunman High School, Singapore, Geok Hwa had held appointments as Head of Department (HOD) of Mathematics, HOD of Gifted Education Programme and HOD of Curriculum in schools, and as Head of the Curriculum Policy Office in Ministry of Education, Singapore.
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Geok Hwa’s interest is in exploring pedagogies to provide differentiated instruction to students in both mixed ability and high ability classes. She is also constantly looking out for ways to stretch the high ability learners such as mentoring them in research programmes in Mathematics and teaching Thinking and Research Skills.
With a passion for teacher education, Geok Hwa has conducted numerous workshops and sharing at schools, symposiums and conferences in Singapore and overseas on topics like Strategies for Differentiated Instruction, Assessment Literacy and Richard Paul’s Elements of Reasoning.
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She also served as the Chief Editor for four volumes of the publication “The Art & Craft of Teaching” by the East Zone Centre of Excellence (EZ COE) for Teaching & Learning since 2014, Chief Editor for the second publication of “Pedagogical Practice and Reflections - A Dunman High Perspective” in 2016, as well as an editorial team member for the publication by the EZ COE for Research since 2012.
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Geok Hwa obtained her degree in Bachelor of Science with Honours from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Education (Curriculum & Teaching) from Teachers College, Columbia University. She had also pursued a Specialist Diploma in Educational Assessment conferred by Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board.
Dr Edwin Lim
Hwa Chong Institution
Dr Edwin Lim is an educator with over twenty years of experience working with teenagers, having taught English Language/Literature, General Paper and Project Work. He has taught at secondary and junior college levels, led an educational department in a private institution, and headed an international school in Jakarta (Indonesia) – and he counts himself privileged to have been involved in different aspects of assessment in a variety of contexts. As Lead Teacher/CCE at Hwa Chong Institution, he contributes towards the character development and well-being of students and the professional development of teachers, and is the school’s current Coordinating Instructional Mentor and former Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility. He is also serving as Secretary of SPEN (Singapore Positive Education Network), which facilitates the learning, sharing and application of best practices in Positive Education. He has conducted workshops and best practice sharing sessions at cluster, zonal and national levels on a variety of topics. He has also served as moderator of workshops and conferences by Principals Academy, including the 4th APEAC.
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Edwin completed his masters in the field of synergistic creativity in Project Work, which deals with social problem solving, and his doctorate in Positive Psychology’s application in education. He was a recipient of Hwa Chong Institution’s Outstanding Educator Award (2015, 2020).
Edwin is passionate about dealing with societal challenges, addressing the issues of people in need, and mentoring young people to be change agents. His key interest lies in helping people, especially youths, to exercise their strengths, enhance their mental-emotional capacities and lead flourishing, thriving lives.