Education In Singapore Research Articles

Teaching of Philosophy in Singapore Schools

Teaching of Philosophy in Singapore Schools

The Changing Role of Education in Economic Development: An Analysis of the Role of the State in Singapore’s Education System

After Singapore’s independence in 1965, the country successfully transformed itself from a developing country to a knowledge-based economy. Singapore has since achieved outstanding economic and academic performances in the following five decades. This paper analyses the relationship between education and economic development in Singapore. It will also look at the role of education from 1965 (Independence) to 1989, and then 1990 onward as it aims to analyse how Singapore’s developmental state used education to promote economic development as the country develops.

PELESTARIAN BAHASA MELAYU SEBAGAI BAHASA IBUNDA DI SINGAPURA

The latest statistics from the Department of Statistics in Singapore (2020) shows that more Malay families speak English at home. However, this trend is common across all ethnic groups in Singapore. Over the five decades of independence and enforcement of the bilingualism policy, the Malay language, which is the National Language and language commonly spoken in Malay households, is gradually being replaced with English. Other statistics reveal that the Malay language, which is the mother tongue of the majority of the Malays, is used less frequently, even from the early years of socialisation in a Malay household and the exposure of Malay only begins at the preschool level (Maliki, 2020). There is an assumption that, as long as the government maintains the Malay language in the education system through language learning in Singaporean schools, the bilingual policy will continue to maintain the usage of vernacular language. This development is likely to create more issues towards learning and teaching the Malay language as a mother tongue. Hence, this study utilises the approach of the sociology of language to discuss the reasons and impact of the language shift in efforts to preserve the status of the Malay language among the Singapore Malays.

Differentiated instruction for students with SEN in mainstream classrooms: contextual features and types of curriculum modifications

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores what contributes to the development of differentiated instruction (DI) through the use of curriculum modifications for the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in three primary Singaporean schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, descriptive observations, lesson plans and focus groups. Five teachers, six allied educators, and two learning support teachers (n = 13) participated in this research focusing on five students as “cases” for the professionals to provide individualized examples. Participants often provided restricted understandings about DI as an ability driven approach, which mainly requires modifications in the content of teaching based on staff perceptions of student readiness. However, undifferentiated learning objectives and assessment methods were commonly used. The participants described an overreliance on the use of instructional modifications and lack of curricular and alternative modifications, which they deemed as inadequate and unfair for the students. The findings indicate resounding evidence that contextual constraints, such as class size, a common standardized curriculum and national exams constitute critical impediments that affect the types of curriculum modifications used. The participants proposed an “exams-free” pedagogy to enhance diversity in modifications. The research implies a need to consider the contextual features that impact upon the quality of learner-centred instruction internationally.

Madrasah Education in Secular, Modern and Multicultural Singapore: Challenges and Reform

Madrasah education has become a major concern for Singapore government due to the characteristic of Singapore as a secular, modern and pluralist state, coupled with the government’s deep-seated anxiety whether the Islamic school graduates can contribute to national economy and integrate into national cohesion. This article aims at exploring the challenges and reform of madrasah education within the secular, modern and multicultural state. Collecting data from official documents and websites, literature review, and interviews, this study is qualitative in which some data and relevant literatures have been presented and analyzed. It finds that madrasah education has constantly been perceived in a negative nuance due to its ineffective contribution to the knowledge-based economy. The orthodox and conservative education system in the Islamic institution of education is also viewed to hinder Singapore’s racial and religious cohesion. These then force Muslims to reform the Muslim school by changing orientation, revamping the system, improving quality , instilling national cohesion and fundraising . This study implies that reformation in Islamic education would be successful by innovatively negotiating the pressures that national politics and rule present and appealing to the identity and aspiration of local society.

Teleconferencing as a teaching modality for clinical year medical students: Lessons from COVID-19

Introduction: Disease outbreaks (DO) result in unprecedented changes to the healthcare industry with far-reaching implications for medical education. The need to adapt to the fluidity during DO requires the delivery of the clinical medical curriculum to be flexible and effective. There is a lack of well-established guidelines on how medical education should be delivered during DO. This study aimed to explore the efficacy of teleconferencing-based platforms (TBP) as a teaching modality to overcome the challenges of clinical year medical education amidst a global pandemic and possibility of its use when there are no disease outbreaks (NDO). Methods: A cross-sectional survey amongst 144 undergraduate clinical year students from a medical school in Singapore was conducted from May to June 2020, to explore their perspectives on TBP compared to physical venue-based platforms (PVBP). The survey consisted 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions. Statistical and thematic analyses were performed. Results: TBP provides greater convenience in travelling, note-taking and ability to overcome administrative challenges. Students strongly recommended its use in DO and NDO. However, students faced increased distractibility, decreased engagement and ease of raising questions, with a lower efficacy in content delivery. The above is dependent on the type of lessons delivered - clinical skills-based or didactic sessions. Conclusion: TBP is a promising teaching modality for DO with promising possibility of extending its use to NDO. We propose a tri-faceted approach to target improvement in content delivery on TBP, mainly with measures to target propensity for decreased engagement and increased distractibility and to address the technology-related concerns.

Formative assessment in English language teaching: exploring the enactment practices of teachers within three primary schools in Singapore

ABSTRACT This article explores formative assessment enactment practices of six lower primary teachers within three primary schools in Singapore. Using a case study approach, data from interviews and lesson observations were examined to determine teachers’ formative assessment enactment practices and the influences to their enactment attempts. Findings from the study suggest formative assessment implementation to be complex when the teachers conceptualized and then enacted their practice. The teachers were found to play out processes and practices related to formative assessment based on interpretations they held. The teachers’ institutional, social and cultural settings were also found to influence their enactment practices. The study discusses evidences drawn before outlining implications for formative assessment implementation in schools.

A Local Research Evidence Base for English Language Education (ELE) in Singapore from 2010 to 2020 (early childhood to secondary school)

ABSTRACT This article is a review of research in English language education (ELE) in multilingual Singapore from 2010 to 2020. Most research activity has been in the areas of reading and writing while the least has been in speaking and listening and learning spaces. Some findings show how students may be distanced from learning and how complex thinking is constrained in classrooms. Others show the productive nature of metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness and linguistic transfer, suggesting pedagogic approaches of assessment for learning (AfL), scaffolding, and translanguaging to personalize teaching. Factors which influence teacher and student adoption of technologies are revealed by research in e-pedagogies and multiliteracies. Fresh avenues of study have been identity and spatial research which have produced knowledge about agency, diversity, and relations between schools, homes, and communities. Additionally, teacher knowledge and beliefs about texts, metalanguage of the subject, and theories of linguistic and conceptual development evidently require extending. Overall, this decade of research prompts a conceptual opening-up of ELE in Singapore for the next decade in recognition of participant agency and knowledge construction over the networked variety of spaces of ELE.

From functional literacy to multiliteracies: understanding the challenges of integrating rich and visual texts in Singapore writing classrooms

ABSTRACT The recent exemplification of multiliteracies in the newly implemented English Language (EL) syllabus in Singapore clearly signals to EL teachers the great importance of integrating technology-mediated communication practices into their classrooms. An initiative of the New London Group, multiliteracies is a pedagogical approach that points to the urgency and challenges of preparing students for a fast-paced, dynamic and multimodal world that now shapes all aspects of modern text consumption and production. Yet, EL writing instruction remains particularly resistant to such reforms. What we have instead is a persistence of long-dominant functional literacy strategies which emphasize technical skills, language rules, and learning by rote. This paper utilizes data gathered from a two-year, grant funded multiple-case study that investigated writing pedagogy on the part of six teachers working in three typical secondary schools in Singapore. It seeks to explain how functional literary persists to constrain the pedagogical actions of teachers, either explicitly or implicitly. It also identifies teaching opportunities that emerged in classroom observations but remained unexplored as a result of this functional literacy focus. Most importantly, the paper articulates how this historical trend may be challenged and overcome with a more robust multiliteracies pedagogy.

Understanding middle leaders’ concerns in curriculum change: a missing perspective

ABSTRACT This paper is a case study evaluating the concerns that middle leaders in Singapore schools had as they implemented a large-scale English language curriculum reform. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the study aimed to gain insights into middle leaders’ perspectives. Its findings indicated that middle leadership could exert a substantial influence on educational change within a school. Not only were they able to influence their teachers’ understanding, but they also held some sway over the teachers’ receptivity towards and enactment of the reform. In addition, there were commonalities among the middle leaders’ concerns about the curriculum reform. As reform policies tend to differ from school priorities, failure to address middle leaders’ concerns has wide implications for curriculum reform and implementation.

Coaching: an approach for leadership development in the Singapore education system

PurposeThis paper aims to explore coaching as an approach to developing school leaders in the Singapore education system. It takes a close look at the nature of coaching experiences of beginning principals and principal-trainers, as well as the related benefits and challenges.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative inquiry approach was adopted, and four beginning principals and three principal-trainers were interviewed. An emergent coding method was deployed in data analysis.FindingsBeginning principals described a positive, helpful and empowering coaching experience when coached by principal-trainers. The latter skillfully asked questions in a safe, non-threatening space for deeper self-reflection. In the process, beginning principals gained greater self-awareness and self-empowerment, and appreciated the shared context of school leadership. While coaching is a useful leadership development approach, inherent implementation challenges were identified.Research limitations/implicationsCoaching as a system-wide strategy to support school leaders in Singapore has only recently been implemented. Further research using a larger sample is recommended as coaching becomes more pervasive.Practical implicationsThe findings revealed a compelling case for a more pervasive adoption of coaching as an approach to support leadership development. Coaching facilitates effective school leadership, and there is scope for self-coaching, peer coaching and coach supervision of principals, middle leaders and classroom teachers.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the nature and positive impact of principalship coaching within a specific policy and cultural context of the Singapore education system. It adds to the body of literature on principal preparation, development and support.

A Study on Cases and Implications of Future Schools in Singapore

A Study on Cases and Implications of Future Schools in Singapore

‘Don’t Say It’s Going to Be Okay’: How International Educators Embrace Transformative Education to Support Their Students Navigating Our Global Climate Emergency

Many education professionals are looking to Environmental and Sustainability Education as a guide to incorporate curricular lessons and activities into school classrooms and other learning environments. Building upon the framework of Jickling and Wals (2008) of identifying how to teach about environmental education in transformative ways, this study examined how the experiences and perspectives of seven faculty and staff members at a K-12 International Baccalaureate school in Singapore impacted how they taught about sustainability issues. It also investigated how they work to empower students to become change agents by employing concepts and strategies such as hands-on learning, systems thinking, and service learning. Qualitative interview data revealed four overarching key themes: (1) importance of local context (both the school and the broader socio-political context), (2) pedagogy in relation to student psychology, (3) teacher and staff views on effective pedagogy for teaching about climate crises, and (4) mental health, as experienced by both students and their educators. Teachers and their students regularly struggled with tensions of authority (e.g., school/government, parent/child, teacher/student) and outlook (e.g., “doomism”/hope, empowered/disempowered). Nonetheless, they expressed a variety of thoughtful ways to cultivate their students’ lifelong advocacy for the environment and other related social justice issues.

The Role of Visual Abilities and Cognitive Style in Artistic and Scientific Creativity of Singaporean Secondary School Students

AbstractThe current research addresses the question of the multidimensional relationship between visual abilities, visual cognitive style, and creativity (artistic and scientific) in Singaporean students of 13–14 years old. Three hundred seventy students (100 students in Study 1 and 270 students in Study 2) from two typical secondary schools in Singapore were administered 10 tasks assessing their visual abilities, visual cognitive style and domain‐specific, artistic, and scientific, creativities. Consistent with the results of recent research challenging the foundation of the current assessments of creativity as a general ability, the results of principal component analysis (PCA) (Study 1) and path analysis (Study 2) provided evidence that artistic and scientific types of creativities are clearly dissociable in students of 13–14 years old. Furthermore, the results of both studies demonstrated that although both visual abilities and corresponding cognitive style (object and spatial) reliably predicted artistic and scientific creativity respectively, cognitive style was a reliable predictor of corresponding creativity beyond visual ability. The findings suggest that domain‐specific visual creativity begins developing concurrently with corresponding types of visual abilities and cognitive style, and that socio‐cultural influences, as reflected by cognitive style, also affect the development of creative performance in a specific domain, beyond abilities.

Learning number patterns through computational thinking activities: A Rasch model analysis

Despite the increasing presence of computational thinking (CT) in the mathematics context, the connection between CT and mathematics in a practical classroom context is an important area for further research. This study intends to investigate the impact of CT activities in the topic of number patterns on the learning performance of secondary students in Singapore. The Rasch model analysis was employed to assess differences of ability between students from the experimental group and control group. 106 Secondary One students (age 13 years old) from a secondary school in Singapore took part in this study. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent groups design was utilized where 70 students were assigned into the experimental group, and 36 students were assigned into the control group. The experimental group was given intervention with CT-infused activities both on- and off-computer, while the control group received no such intervention. Both groups were administered the pretest before the intervention and the posttest after the intervention. The data gathered were analyzed using the partial credit version of the Rasch model. Analysis of pretest and posttest results revealed that the performance of the experimental group was similar to the control group. The findings did not support the hypothesis that integrating CT in lessons can result in improved mathematics learning. However, the drastic improvement was observed in individual students from the experimental group, while there is no obvious or extreme improvement for the students from the control group. This study provides some new empirical evidence and practical contributions to the infusion of CT practices in the mathematics classroom.

Working as an educational psychologist in an international school in Singapore during a pandemic

Working as an educational psychologist in an international school in Singapore during a pandemic

Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative framework for supporting assistive technology decision-making in Singapore schools: perspectives of in-service educators

PurposeThis study explored in-service educators' experience of using the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) for assistive technology (AT) decision-making within Singapore schools.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a qualitative design. Eight educators across both mainstream and special education schools were introduced to the WATI framework which they subsequently employed as a trial experience for a student under their care. Written feedback gathered from participants was analysed to identify common issues and themes regarding the use of the WATI framework for AT decision-making.FindingsThe comprehensive consideration of a broad scope of different factors, provision of a structured process for AT decision-making, as well as a common language for use by different stakeholders emerged as key benefits of implementing the WATI. Challenges encountered include administrative struggles in gathering different stakeholders together, time and resource constraints and difficulties in loaning AT devices for trial use.Practical implicationsBased on educators' feedback, recommendations to facilitate the adoption of the WATI for AT decision-making within Singapore schools are discussed and considered. This study also highlights the need for greater AT instruction within both preservice and in-service teacher preparation programmes in Singapore.Originality/valueSchools in Singapore currently rarely adopt any frameworks in place to guide educators through a systematic process of AT consideration. It is anticipated that this study will spearhead and drive the adoption of systematic frameworks such as the WATI for better AT decision-making within Singapore schools.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon 10.1108/JET-03-2021-0015

The Challenge of Cultivating National and Cosmopolitan Identities Through Literature: Insights From Singapore Schools

AbstractSince the late 20th century, scholars have called for a need to broaden the aims of teaching English Literature away from its Eurocentric focus. Much effort has also been invested in making the subject more relevant through diversifying the texts studied and connecting texts to current social and global issues. It is pertinent now to ask what the significant role of Literature is in a globally interconnected age. In particular, what do teachers believe are key philosophical objectives of teaching literature, and how does this influence the texts they select, the instructional strategies they employ, and the values they seek to cultivate in the classroom? In this article, we report on the first National Survey of Literature Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Singapore schools. First, we review four key pedagogical movements that have underpinned the teaching of literature in schools around the world: New Criticism, Reader‐Response Criticism, Poststructuralist Criticism, and Ethical Criticism. These respectively represent four key constructs (text, reader, culture, and other) used in the design and analysis of our survey instrument. Next, we report on the survey findings, focusing on Singapore as a barometer of current trends given its identity as an Anglophone country negotiating conflicting global and postcolonial identities with an education system that inhabits colonial traditions. We highlight key tensions arising from the impetus to develop national and cosmopolitan identities through Literature, and reflect on the implications for future directions in teaching.

Embedding Formative Assessment in Blended Learning Environment: The Case of Secondary Chinese Language Teaching in Singapore

The fast global spread of COVID-19 has resulted in the mass disruption of teaching, learning, as well as assessment, in mainstream schools in Singapore. Teachers were caught unprepared and this jeopardised the quality of classroom delivery and assessment. The Ministry of Education has since shifted to an online asynchronous mode of teaching whilst attempting to keep the face-to-face method of lesson delivery, to which it is called ‘blended learning’ (BL) in the local context. Besides being propelled to learn and use new technology tools for online lessons, teachers also need to quickly explore to embed formative assessment (FA) in the new BL environment to substitute traditional classroom assessment. In this context, I argue that teachers’ language assessment literacy (LAL), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and e-pedagogy are vital to the success of embedding FA in BL. Following, I also describe some tentative predictions for future challenges and opportunities of embedding FA in the BL environment of secondary Chinese Language (CL) teaching in Singapore. On this basis, I discuss the ways in which current conceptualisations of language assessment literacy will need to shift in response to these challenges. Finally, I make some recommendations for practice based on this argument.

Impact of COVID-19 on health profession education in Singapore: Adoption of innovative strategies and contingencies across the educational continuum

Introduction: The Coronavirus-19 pandemic has had profound effects on health professions education (HPE) posing serious challenges to the continued provision and implementation of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education (CME). Across these HPE domains, the major disruptions included the exclusion of undergraduate learners from clinical learning environments, restricted intra-, inter-institutional and overseas movement of medical professionals, termination of face-to-face learner-educator interactions, deployment of postgraduate learners into non-scope service settings, and CME postponement. Methods: In this review we report on how in Singapore various adaptive measures were instituted across the 3 HPE domains at institutional and national level to maintain adequate resources at the frontline to meet service exigencies, promote healthcare professionals’ wellbeing and safety as well as mitigate the spread of the pandemic. Results: We identified several strategies and contingencies developed to address these challenges. These involved the use of online learning platforms, distributed and asynchronous learning, an undergraduate Pathway Programme, and use of innovative hands-on technology like simulation. Robust, well pre-planned pandemic preparedness, effective communication, as well as provision of psychological support resources ensured maintenance of service and academic continuity, trust and resilience within HPE. However, several challenges remain, namely the timing and manner of conducting formative and summative assessments, cybersecurity, and the indispensable hands-on, in-person experiential learning for surgical training. Conclusion: Strong leadership with vision and planning, good communication, prioritising learners’ and educators’ wellbeing and safety, and harnessing existing and emerging online learning technologies are crucial elements for effective contingencies for HPE disruption during pandemics.