Message from the Minister of Education, Dr Ng Eng Hen

"I extend a warm welcome to all participants of the 9th World Convention of the International Confederation of Principals. Singapore is happy to play host to colleagues and friends from over 1000 schools in some 30 countries for this biennial meeting of the educational fraternity, jointly organized by the Academy of Principals, Singapore, and the International Confederation of Principals.

Every country wants their young to be well-educated, because education is the best investment for our future. This can only be achieved through effective school leaders and committed teachers. One critical challenge is therefore to attract, develop and retain talented principals and teachers. The second critical challenge relates to the school environment, not only for students but also for the teachers."

[Please click here to read the full message.]

Message from the ICP President, Mr Andrew Blair

"Welcome to the 9th International Confederation of Principals Convention - "Many Minds, One Heartbeat - Singapore!"

What could more adequately sum up our collective moral and ethical purpose as educators than this Convention tagline?

We come together at a time of profound change globally. We as leaders of school communities and systems need to be acutely aware that certainty is not longer an expectation - indeed change and uncertainty is constant. Our students are exposed to global pressures like never before. They are part of a global employment pool. The global financial crisis has taught us that we are all exposed to "fissures" on a world scale."

[Please click here to read the full message.]

Welcome from President, Academy of Principals (Singapore), Mrs Belinda Charles.

"Singapore is greatly honoured to be the host for the for the 9th World Convention of the International Confederation of Principals 2009.

We have chosen "Charting the New Education Landscape" as the theme for the Convention, conscious as we all are of the rapid changes overtaking the whole enterprise of learning and school management in this century where connectedness is the key word and yet where great disparities still remain between the developing and developed world, between rural and urban, between the have-nots and the haves."

[Please click here to read the full message.]