Dr Leong Wei Shin

Dr Leong Wei Shin is Lead Specialist, Assessment Policy and Practice and Curriculum Policy Office, Ministry of Education, Singapore.

He was previously Assistant Dean of Degree Programme and Student Life at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. At NIE, he was Principal Investigator of a large scale Education Research Funding Program (ERFP) research project on Assessment for Learning (see: http://www.nie.edu.sg/project/oer-12-15-ccd). His latest research on findings on case studies of teachers’ professional learning of Assessment for Learning can be found in this NIE repository: https://knowledgebank.nie.edu.sg/ afl.html. As the focal contact person for NIE of the Network on Education Quality Monitoring in Asia Pacific (NEQMAP - http://www.unescobkk. org/education/quality-of-education/neqmap), he was invited by UNESCO to be their assessment specialist-representative and guest speaker on formative assessment and alignment of curriculum, assessment and teaching. Prior to joining NIE, Wei Shin served as Head of Aesthetics Department with a secondary school and a Unit Coordinator at Curriculum Planning and Development Division, MOE. His many positions and experience on teacher's professional work and knowledge, has kept him from believing that the pedagogical methods in classrooms schools, are the way they must be.

As a specialist, researcher and teacher’s critical friend, Wei Shin sees himself as an intermediary for schools, Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB), National Institute of Education (NIE) and other education institutions in negotiating the ambiguities and complexities of curricular and assessment changes.

He has specific interests in inter-disciplinary research and practices on assessment literacy and leadership, formative assessment or Assessment for Learning, and curriculum planning and implementation. His PhD research with Jesus College, University of Cambridge is on Singaporean teachers' conceptions and practices of classroom assessment.

In his limited spare time, Wei Shin indulges in conversations with teacher friends, assembling and disassembling lego sets and compose songs. He has recently adopted a kitten, call Taro.

Wei Shin has been working with the arts fraternity at NAFA on various initiatives around assessment practices. He conducted professional development workshops on assessment literacy for both visual and performing art lecturers in 2016 and 2017. He is the Principal Co- Investigator of the project on Self-Regulated Learning in Music Performance and Instrumental Practice.