Singapore’s education system is paradoxically both centralised and decentralised. Called ‘centralised decentralisation’, this governance approach influences the way teacher professional learning takes place in the education system. There are top-down initiatives that require teachers’ participation. There are also bottom-up initiatives that reflect teacher agency and ownership of their learning. As a result of centralised decentralisation, agency for teacher professional learning is exercised both by the system and by the teacher. Both the teacher and the system benefit from teacher professional learning. The nature of teacher professional learning is both personalised and collaborative. At every level of the system, centralised decentralisation is a crucial governance approach to provide direction, coherence, support and empowerment in teacher professional learning.