Singapore Primary Schools Research Articles

Children’s perceptions of factors influencing their physical activity: a focus group study on primary school children

ABSTRACT Purpose Establishing healthy lifestyle behaviours in primary school children is important, as these behaviours are likely to track into adulthood. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing physical activity (PA) in primary school children through their perspectives. Approach Eleven focus group discussions and one interview were conducted with 52 children (n = 29 girls) aged 9–12 years from two primary schools in Singapore. Data analyses were conducted using thematic analysis, deductively following the socio-ecological model (SEM) and inductively for themes at each SEM level. Results At individual level, children’s perceived enjoyment, health benefits and expectation of rewards motivated them to engage in PA, while time constraints and their apathy towards PA hindered PA engagement. Children’s PA occasions at home were reported to be influenced by parental permission, priorities and availability, and the availability of preferred peers. Physical environmental factors such as opportunities for PA in school, access to facilities for PA and weather influenced children’s time spent on PA and the types of activities they engaged in. Conclusion This study summarized some factors that children have reported to influence their PA behaviour. These findings could help inform future interventions aimed at promoting PA among primary school children in Singapore.

Digital technology use and early reading abilities among bilingual children in Singapore

Singapore has launched a bilingual education policy nationwide, which leads to three main home language environments amongst Chinese families, namely, Chinese dominant, Chinese-English bilingual families and English dominant families. However, little is known about the development of early reading abilities among Singapore children from these family backgrounds. Moreover, against the backdrop of technological advances in the digital age, how the use of digital technology may affect the development of early reading abilities remains understudied. In this study, 225 7-year-old Chinese Singaporean children with different home language environments were recruited from mainstream primary schools in Singapore to complete the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reading comprehension tests and questionnaires. Evidence revealed that children’s reading ability and digital technology use in Chinese varied across home language environments. Also, the use of digital technology in both English and Chinese positively predicted the reading abilities in both languages respectively for children from English dominant families. The results provide interesting insights into the role of bilingualism and digital technology use in the development of early reading abilities. In view of the results, we also discuss and put forward suggestions on online reading education policy.

Leisure reading in multilingual Singapore

What are bilingual children reading? Do children who enjoy reading books in one language also enjoy reading books in the other language? Drawing on survey data from 1,312 children (aged 9–11) in two government primary schools in Singapore, this study examined reading enjoyment, habits and preferences of two groups of bilingual children – English-Chinese and English-Malay bilingual children. Results showed that children generally enjoyed reading in English more than reading in Chinese/Malay, and that they read English books more often and for longer duration. Within each language, reading enjoyment was significantly associated with reading frequency and reading duration. Crosslinguistically, children’s reading duration and frequency in their two languages were closely related, despite their different reasons for reading English and Chinese/Malay books. Even though levels of reading enjoyment in the two languages were not significantly correlated, results suggested that English reading enjoyment may facilitate Chinese/Malay reading. Results highlight the important role of language policy, the focus of language curriculum and language-specific features in shaping bi-/multilingual children’s reading habits and preferences. Implications for classroom applications and the need to promote Chinese/Malay reading are discussed.

Teacher collaboration for change: sharing, improving, and spreading

ABSTRACT Teacher professional learning has been recognised as a critical contributor to improving teaching quality and securing student learning. Leadership at different levels is important for professional learning in schools. Job-embedded teacher professional learning occurs in collaborative activities that include co-teaching, action research, and initiation and implementation of curricular and instructional change. The current article conceptualises a non-linear, iterative, and recursive process of teachers leading initiatives collaboratively in schools. This conceptualisation was based on an analysis of 38 interviews with teachers and school leaders, field notes from 50 visits to four Singapore primary schools, and email exchanges. The process has three stages – sharing, improving, and spreading. In this process, affective support is central in providing social reinforcement to keep the team motivated to revise and move a change initiative forwards. The article enhances understanding of teacher collaboration process for change in schools, through which teacher leadership for professional learning is evidenced.

Perceived principal's learning support and its relationships with psychological needs satisfaction, organisational commitment and change-oriented work behaviour: A Self-Determination Theory’s perspective

Based on the perspective of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this research examined the mediating role of teachers’ psychological needs satisfaction in explaining the relationships between perceived principal’s learning support and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Results from a convenience sample of 180 Singapore primary school teachers revealed that perceived principal’s learning support directly predicted psychological needs satisfaction (i.e. autonomy, competence and relatedness), change-oriented work behaviour and organisational commitment. Psychological needs satisfaction partially mediated the relationships between perceived principal’s learning support and change-oriented work behaviour as well as organisational commitment. The findings could contribute useful insights to teacher education and SDT research and practice.

Teaching grammar: issues and challenges

The relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their instructional practices has attracted educational researchers’ attention. The literature on teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices suggests that a sound understanding of those beliefs is extremely helpful in developing and implementing useful programs and effective in-service training. This study explores the complex relationship between the beliefs and practices of teachers from primary schools in Singapore, specifically looking at how instructional strategies are reflections of teacher beliefs on grammar instruction.Overall, the teachers who participated in this survey unanimously agree that grammar is important and has to be taught in primary school. They believe that grammar consists of rules of sentence formation, and the use of accurate tenses, and that grammar should focus on both form and meaning. Explicit discussion of grammatical rules in the classroom is thought to be extremely important in helping students acquire the English language and develop their writing skills.In terms of their classroom practices, the data suggests a more traditional approach of explicit teaching of grammar where rules and sentence structures are first taught to students and brought to their attention.

Exploring the relationships between instructional leadership and teacher competences: Singapore primary school teachers’ perceptions

ABSTRACTThis article presents part of the findings drawn from a larger study on school leadership in 28 Singapore primary schools. This article discusses the perceptions of 224 key personnel (i.e. teachers with formal leadership titles) and 462 teachers (i.e. classroom/subject teachers without a formal leadership position) of their school leaders’ enactment of instructional leadership and the predictive relationships between instructional leadership and teacher competences. The key findings were (i) Singapore school leaders were perceived to adopt a selective instructional leadership approach and (ii) instructional leadership practices that focused on promoting professional development and positive school climate were strongly associated with teacher competences. The article contributes to the growing knowledge base on the enactment of instructional leadership in non-Western settings and specifies the relationships between instructional leadership and teacher-level variables.

"I always need a translation to read"

Bilingual reading enhances children’s cognitive skills and nurtures them to be proficient bilinguals. This paper examines Malay-English bilingual students’ reading habits and preference in both Malay and English reading and the Malay collection in school libraries to identify ways to increase bilingual children’s reading engagement. Data collection from two Singapore primary schools consists of surveys, interviews, focus groups and library observations. It was found that students’ reading preferences are influenced by their struggle to comprehend the Malay text and consequently, they find Malay books less appealing. In terms of relevance and visibility, the quality of the book collection is vital to encourage students’ reading engagement. Finally, this paper discusses suggestions and strategies in promoting primary school students’ bilingual reading.

Teacher perception on the potential of flipped classroom pedagogical practice in enhancing classroom interactions in Singapore primary classrooms

ABSTRACT In many Singapore schools, there are large class sizes comprising about thirty to forty students in each class. In such large classes, the opportunities for interactions between teachers and their students and among students can be limited, especially when teacher-centred, didactic teaching practices are adopted. This small-scale research project explored the potential of a flipped classroom pedagogical practice in one Singapore primary school on how it can contribute to primary level classroom interactions. Through interviews with teachers who had implemented flipped classrooms, the practice was explored if it has the potential to contribute towards classroom interactions.

Refining teaching expertise through analysing students’ work: a case of elementary mathematics teacher professional learning during lesson study in Singapore

ABSTRACT This article provides a concrete illustration of how teachers in a primary school in Singapore discuss students’ learning in a lesson study cycle and grew professionally as a community. Specifically, we examined how collaboratively analysing students’ work serves as a useful practice for teachers to learn to work with diverse learners. The findings suggested that open discussions around students’ work helped teachers to reflect upon their unwarranted perceptions of their students and their teaching. The study provided insights into how teachers’ understandings of their students’ diverse backgrounds, as well as teachers’ understanding of subject content and pedagogy, developed as they participated in lesson study activities that were focused on analysing students’ work. Our findings found that lesson study provided the following affordances to foster such changes: (1) eliciting hypotheses in dialogue; (2) creating space for alternative perspectives; (3) collaboratively scrutinizing student learning evidence for follow-up teaching; and (4) identifying problems for further discussion. While the illustration of this case is uniquely Singaporean, implications include concerns about teacher professional learning and teaching for equity common to many other educational contexts.

Translating education neuroscience for teachers

ABSTRACT Translating Neuroscience to education involves providing accurate and simplified information about neuroscience to teachers. The aim of this research was to understand if providing translated abstracts from neuroscientific articles helped teachers understand content more thoroughly. Surveys, experimental manipulation, and focus group discussions were conducted with thirty teachers from two primary schools in Singapore. Teachers shared their familiarity with neuroscience, self-rated their understanding of neuroscientific abstracts, and provided feedback on the abstracts’ translations. Results indicate that translated abstracts did not improve attitudes significantly; however, focus group discussions revealed that teachers were more interested in the applications of neuroscience research in classroom pedagogy. These findings highlight the importance of improving communication between neuroscientists and educators. Abbreviations TENC: Translational Education Neuroscience Clearinghouse; AEDs: Allied Educators

Studying the enactment of School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD) in Singapore

ABSTRACTBackground: To help equip students with 21st century competencies, one popular strategy adopted by governments and schools worldwide is to move from less formal to more engaging school environments through School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD). In Singapore, the governmental call to Teach Less and Learn More has galvanised SBCD in schools nationwide. Schools have been given more autonomy and greater flexibility to develop diverse approaches in innovating their own curriculum frameworks.Purpose: This study aims to provide a nuanced, retrospective account of the enactment of SBCD via Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-integrated, theme-based programmes in a primary school in Singapore. The research questions that guide this study are: (1) How do the school stakeholders enact SBCD? (2) How does the enactment affect the school stakeholders?Method: This study looked into curriculum innovation using a retrospective lens and employed a case study approach to examine the enactment of SBCD in the school. Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with the major stakeholders of the school, including two school leaders, ten key personnel and ten teachers across different subjects and grade levels. Thematic analysis of the data was undertaken.Findings: Four themes and twelve associated sub-themes were identified from the analysis of the FGDs. The four themes include experimentation, support, growth and challenges. This whole-school approach to curriculum innovation had a clear focus on mobilizing the school community to tackle the uncertainties of implementing an innovative curriculum. The stakeholders played diverse but intertwined roles throughout different stages of the enactment process, producing strong collegiality amongst the stakeholders. This prevailing collegiality, as embedded in the active participation of the stakeholders in a multiplicity of collective sharing and learning practices, seems likely to help the school achieved desired outcomes.Conclusions: The whole-school approach to curriculum innovation in the case school is promising from the perspectives of teaching-learning and student outcomes, but cannot provide a panacea for all the challenges encountered in the enactment process.

An archaeological analysis to trace the emergence and transformation of qualified physical education teachers in Singapore primary schools

This study explored the underlying processes associated with the policy of increasing qualified physical education teachers (QPETs) in Singapore primary schools. Data were collected from the National Archives of Singapore, Newslink, NewpaperSG and documents. An ‘archaeological analysis’ by Foucault (1972) was used to trace the discursive conditions which enabled and facilitated the policy. Three distinct elements were borrowed from ‘The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language’, namely: the status – as reflected in the positions of individuals influencing the PE policies and initiatives; the institutional sites – as in the locations of the decisions being exercised, and; the situation – identified by the key events leading to the decision to increase QPETs in primary schools. The conclusions based on the analysis of these elements offer a clearer understanding of the various contributions to the adoption of the policy and serve to provide an insightful lens to policymakers who might seek to redesign the future shape of Physical Education.

싱가포르 초등학생들의 체육 수업 경험에 대한 현상학적 연구

싱가포르 초등학생들의 체육 수업 경험에 대한 현상학적 연구

School-based curriculum development in Singapore: a case study of a primary school

ABSTRACTThe term school-based curriculum development (SBCD) implies that teachers are to innovate and customize school curricula according to their local needs. This also means that SBCD requires co-constructive work among schools’ key stakeholders in the school curriculum development process. While much work has made known on SBCD in Western contexts, much less is known in non-Western contexts. This paper reports on key findings pertaining to SBCD drawn from a case study of a primary school in Singapore. Singapore makes for an interesting case as education policymakers encourage schools to innovate their curriculum yet maintaining a steep culture of academic achievement and control over standards across schools. The study involved data collection from non-participant observations of classroom lessons, teacher group meetings, and focused group discussions. A salient finding that had emerged from the study is that the societal value for pragmatism underpins the processes of SBCD.

The why, what and how of the ‘Model’ method: a tool for representing and visualising relationships when solving whole number arithmetic word problems

The goal of this paper is to present a succinct consolidation of the why, what and how of the ‘Model’ method as there is a lack of such documentation for researchers, practitioners and policy makers thus far. The ‘Model’ method is a tool for representing and visualising relationships when solving whole number arithmetic (WNA) word problems. The paper traces the history of the method in the Singapore school mathematics curriculum, exemplifies the three basic models of the method, explores its efficacy and assesses its role as a problem solving heuristic in the Singapore primary school mathematics curriculum. The findings show that the method, a tool for representing and visualising relationships between quantities when solving whole number arithmetic word problems, was introduced in 1983 as part of the primary school mathematics curriculum for schools in Singapore. The method comprises three basic models, namely the part-whole model, the comparison model and the change model. Past studies carried out both in Singapore and other parts of the world, related to the use of the method and its impact on student learning show that the method does help students, including those with mathematical difficulties, improve in their ability to solve whole number arithmetic word problems. Perceptions of expert primary school mathematics teachers show that they engage students in solving whole number arithmetic word problems through Polya’s framework and also Newman’s strategies. They encourage students to represent on diagrams the givens and goals of a problem as this is a necessary step in visualising and recognising relationships. To do so they may use the method. Students may also use any other heuristic to solve the whole number arithmetic word problems.

Understanding primary school students’ use of self-regulated writing strategies through think-aloud protocols

This study seeks to extend our current understanding about the relationship between writing competence, grade level and use of self-regulated writing strategies. Especially, research regarding primary school students' use of self-regulated writing strategies in an ESL/EFL context is still lacking. Thirty-two Singapore primary school students wrote a picture composition while thinking aloud. Through analysis of the participants' think-aloud protocols related their use of metacognitive and cognitive writing strategies, the findings show that the students used 24 self-regulated writing strategies among the 87 writing strategies found in the sample more than once. The high competence students outperformed their low competence counterparts in using both metacognitive and cognitive strategies. However, inconsistent findings were found between the middle graders and upper graders. The study underscores the importance of understanding young learners’ use of self-regulated writing strategies through think-aloud protocols. The findings provide practical implications for teachers to conduct differentiated writing instruction in an ESL/EFL context.

Leveraging Online Annotation Tool to Enhance Cohesion in Writing of Malay Language Students in Singapore Primary Schools

Leveraging Online Annotation Tool to Enhance Cohesion in Writing of Malay Language Students in Singapore Primary Schools

Improving the design of a mCSCL Chinese character forming game with a distributed scaffolding design framework

Appropriate design of collaborative learning activities for students using mobile devices can be supported by different forms of scaffolding provided by peers, by the teacher or by the technology. Building on prior studies in mCSCL (mobile computer-supported collaborative learning), we developed Chinese-PP, a novel in-class mobile synchronous collaborative learning game for constructing Chinese characters from components, with the unique characteristic of spontaneous small group formations. In this paper, we propose a distributed scaffolding design framework to guide us in examining and refining/revising the interplay among various forms of scaffolding in the learning model across various design-based research (DBR) cycles of our study on Chinese-PP in a primary school in Singapore. We believe a generalized scaffolding design framework has the potential to inform technology-enhanced learning research with a structure to support the iterative process of enacting and redesigning the socio-techno-pedagogical frameworks developed by individual research projects.

Study of architectural design & acoustic conditions of primary schools in Singapore

Urban noise problems are a growing concern in rapidly urbanizing cities such as Singapore. Studies have revealed that children are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of noise. Children in Singapore schools are particularly susceptible considering the long hours spent in naturally ventilated classrooms. This study aims to assess the architectural design and planning of schools in Singapore based on their acoustic qualities. External ambient noise, façade sound insulation, and reverberation time were measured in three schools about the architectural design to characterize their acoustic environments and seek areas for improvements. It is revealed that all the classrooms studied experience internal noise levels above the guideline values recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 35 dB, suggesting poor acoustic conditions and harmful effects on children’s’ health, behavior, and learning abilities. Reverberation time standards were only met by the classrooms in one school out of three, implying that speech intelligibility and learning performance are hindered elsewhere. Two overseas case studies are explored to demonstrate how better acoustic environments can be achieved through planning and design in unbuilt schools and abatement strategies for built schools. Architects and planners can adapt and incorporate them into the design of primary schools in Singapore.