AS THE principal of a secondary school, Ms Thoo Mei Lan was disturbed to find that some children could hardly read despite completing primary school.

It left her wishing that something could have been done earlier so that they would not arrive in secondary school handicapped this way.

In 2003, she decided to do something about it.

She gave up her job as head of Hillgrove Secondary, a neighbourhood school in Bukit Batok, and joined the Ministry of Education's educational programmes division, where she is now a senior reading specialist.

senior specialists like Ms Thoo to do research in areas that can make a difference to children and schools here.

The number of specialists has grown from 59 in 2005 to 160 now, and the ministry is aiming for 310 by year's end.

It is adding a position of chief specialist, roughly equal in grade to a ministry director. The highest position previously was principal specialist, similar in grade to a principal, cluster superintendent or deputy director.

One principal specialist who has played a key role in helping put Singapore mathematics on the world map is Dr Kho Tek Hong, now 61.

He led the writing of the series of Primary Mathematics textbooks and workbooks now being used in a growing number of classrooms abroad.

On top of having more of these specialists, the ministry is also setting aside $1.5 million a year as research funding that they can use to hire assistants and buy materials.

They will also be allowed to spend 20 per cent of their time on research activities, such as attending conferences, going on school attachments or working on their doctorates.

This will help give them more room to keep up with the latest research in their areas of specialisation, said Ms Thoo.

The senior specialist scheme was introduced in 2001 and is one of three career paths in the education service.

The others are the teaching and leadership tracks.

An entry-level senior specialist is usually someone who is a subject or level head and above, and holds a master's degree.

They are different from university researchers because their work must be directly relevant to teaching and learning in schools.

Dr Mariam Aljunied, 40, a senior education psychologist, sees senior specialists as the bridge between research and practice.

They focus on areas ranging from curriculum to education statistics and psychology, help train teachers and devise new programmes.

For example, Dr Mariam developed a test to help spot children with autism in mainstream schools.

She trains other psychologists, and was also involved in drawing up new initiatives on special-needs education.

Before the specialist track was established, Dr Mariam found herself charting her own path in the teaching service.

She was a psychology graduate who became a teacher and taught at a primary school. Along the way, she acquired her master's and doctorate degrees in the subject from University College London and became an educational psychologist.

The changes to the senior specialist scheme have helped to create a path for teachers who want to specialise in specific areas, she notes.

'In my time, there was no path,' she said. 'I had to be guided by my own interest.'

Agreeing, Dr Kho, who taught maths at a junior college before becoming a textbook writer, said the new track will help draw more young teachers.

'In my time, there was not much career scope for people who were not interested in becoming principals,' said the man who has devoted his career to developing maths textbooks and training teachers.

Ms Thoo, 54, who has a master's degree in education from Harvard University, sees the improvements to the scheme as reflecting the ministry's aim of building its own knowledge base and innovating in education.

Singapore can no longer just copy what others are doing, she said.

The first principal to make the switch to the specialist track, she said there has been no loss in prestige.

'I'm still on the bus of education,' she said. 'There is no change in the destination; I have just changed my seat so that I can contribute more effectively.'