Singapore has launched a Teacher AI Literacy Professional Learning Roadmap, a new framework designed to help educators keep pace with rapidly advancing technology. The roadmap is intended to equip teachers with the knowledge and confidence to work with artificial intelligence as it becomes a growing presence in classrooms across the country.
The initiative was highlighted at a teachers' investiture ceremony, where Education Minister Desmond Lee addressed the profession directly. He noted that students are increasingly turning to AI tools, and that teachers therefore have an important role in guiding them on how to use the technology properly rather than leaning on it uncritically.
Mr Lee cautioned against over-reliance on the technology, framing the human dimension of teaching as something that becomes more valuable, not less, as AI grows more capable. He argued that the deeper work of education cannot be handed over to machines, even as those machines become more powerful and enter the curriculum.
"As this technology becomes more powerful and enters our curriculum, the human work of teaching will in fact matter even more," he said. "You ignite curiosity, you shape values and build resilience, and you help struggling students regain confidence. These are things that technology cannot replace."
At the same time, the minister acknowledged the potential of the technology when used well. Under a teacher's careful guidance, he said, AI and other tools can help to personalise learning for individual students and can generate lesson ideas and teaching materials that educators are then able to adapt to their own classrooms.
For newer educators, the appeal lies partly in efficiency. Some said the use of AI could save time and free them up to engage more directly with students, while others expressed interest in exploring what tools are available, how students actually interact with them, and what research suggests about the ways such tools support learning, including in areas like mathematics education.
The Ministry of Education framed its overall stance as one that puts pedagogy first, insisting that teaching must drive the use of technology rather than the other way round. The roadmap, in that sense, is presented not as a push to automate the classroom, but as an effort to ensure teachers remain firmly in control of how AI is used to support their students' learning.