Is Singapore’s Education System the Fourth Way in Action? (ERPP Issue 11.1)

Abstract

Welcome to the first issue of ERPP for the year 2012! As mentioned in the foreword by our editor-in-chief, this also marks a special issue of the journal as it brings together articles first presented at a roundtable held on 1 March 2011 held in conjunction with Professor Andy Hargreaves’ appointment as the CJ Koh Professor, late February to mid-March 2011. The theme of the symposium centred around the Fourth Way, which is the title of a book co-written by Andy Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley, and how Singapore’s education system across the different spectrum from K-12 all the way to teacher education and educational leadership development both locally and globally may be seen to be paving the fourth way. In the first article, Andy Hargreaves describes the predecessors of the Fourth Way and the Fourth Way itself to set the stage for the special issue. The Fourth Way is distinguished from its predecessors by the strength and wisdom of leaders who take a paradigm shift with regard to how they approach and view education to advance towards a more inspirational, comprehensive and sustainable future. It is not a destination but a journey to improve student learning and achievement. The success of Singapore’s education system is no secret. Has its development and change embodied the Fourth Way? What does Singapore need to do or change to remain successful in education and competitive in the global economy? The rest of the article in the issue examine the various facets of the Singapore Education System through the lens of the Fourth Way and address the issue of change in the system. The article by Poon discusses the relationship between policy, research and practice in the Singapore education landscape in response to the Fourth Way principles of educational change. She uses recent policy developments in Singapore as examples to illustrate the interaction between the use of research data, pragmatic knowledge of classroom practices and stakeholders’ interest in policy formulation in Singapore. Poon argues that a key ingredient of the success of Singapore’s education system is the unity of vision and mission of the people behind policy, research and practice.