Education In Singapore Research Articles

Navigating the Racial Landscape: Malay Youth Experiences of Education and Work in Singapore

ABSTRACT Scholars have noted the need for both empirical and theoretical research on the unique configurations of race and racism within Asia. This paper explores the racialized landscape encountered by Malay youth during their education and employment in the city-state of Singapore. We highlight the three unique building blocks which comprise the country’s racial landscape, namely (i) race is used as a naming device by the state; (ii) economic and social inequality along the lines of race exist alongside discourses of meritocracy and (iii) discussions of race which can be perceived as offensive are violations of local laws. Based on focus groups conducted with Malay youth on their experiences and memories of their education and employment, we highlight their perspectives on racial stratification. We explore Singapore’s racial landscape within which Malay youth are excluded from networks, silenced through discourses of harmonious multiculturalism, and excluded from Chinese-language-based corporate cultures which are predominant. Our findings suggest that challenging racial inequality in multicultural cities requires the dismantling of systemic systems of stratification. Our analysis contributes to understanding the unique configurations of race and racism in Asia and amongst Asians.

0221 Time to wake up! Adolescents woken up by an alarm or family member get short sleep on schooldays and weekends/holidays

Abstract Introduction Many adolescents get insufficient sleep on schooldays because they need to wake up early. It is often assumed that students can sleep in longer on non-schooldays (weekends and holiday periods) to recover their sleep debt. However, few studies have explored the degree to which adolescents are given the freedom to extend their nocturnal sleep. Here, (1) we investigated how often adolescents are awoken by an alarm or family member on schooldays and non-schooldays, and (2) we tested whether this results in shorter sleep even on non-school days. Methods Adolescents aged 13-18 years (n=66; 10 schools in Singapore) wore an actigraphy watch (Actigraph wGT3X-BT) and completed daily diaries for 7 days during their school and holiday periods. Each morning, students indicated their reason for having woken. Actigraphy-derived sleep parameters included sleep onset, sleep offset, and the nocturnal sleep period. Simple effect sizes (e.g., mean difference in sleep period) were calculated for schooldays versus non-schooldays, and for days waking up to an alarm or family member versus other reasons. Results Adolescents’ nocturnal sleep was about 1.7 hours shorter on schooldays (mean=6.50h, 95% CI=6.24h-6.75h) compared with non-schooldays (mean=8.17h, 95% CI=7.89h to 8.45h) because they woke up much earlier. Students were awoken by an alarm or family member on 78% of schooldays, and this was associated with shorter nocturnal sleep compared with waking up for other reasons (mean difference in sleep period=-1.16h, 95% CI=-1.59h to -0.80h). By comparison, adolescents were awoken by an alarm or family member on 41% of non-schooldays. In such instances, students also obtained shorter sleep by about an hour (mean difference in sleep period=-1.21h, 95% CI=-1.46h to -0.94h) and slept less than the recommended amount for their age group (mean sleep period=7.38h, 95% CI=7.18h to 7.59h). Conclusion Adolescents’ nocturnal sleep was frequently interrupted by an alarm or family member on both schooldays and non-schooldays. Chronic sleep restriction extends beyond schooldays if adolescents are not allowed to wake up naturally on their ‘free days’. This may have deleterious effects on students’ performance and wellbeing. Support (if any) The research was funded by the National Institute of Education, Singapore (OER 14/21 JJG).

Cognitive style and creativity: The role of education in shaping cognitive style profiles and creativity of adolescents.

Previous research on cognitive styles (CSs) has often overlooked their complexity and the effect of the environment on their development. While research supports visual abilities as predictors of domain-specific creativity, there is a lack of studies on the predictive power of CS in relation to creativity beyond abilities. The current study aimed to explore the validity of the CS construct as environmentally sensitive individual differences in cognition. We examined the internal structure of the CS construct, its predictive power in creativity beyond visual abilities, and how CSs of Singaporean secondary school students are shaped with age under specific sociocultural influences (Singapore's emphasis on STEM disciplines). Data were collected from 347 students aged 13-16 from a secondary school in Singapore. Students were administered nine tasks assessing their visual abilities and learning preferences, artistic and scientific creativity, and questionnaires assessing their CS profiles. The confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for a matrix-type CS structure consisting of four orthogonal CS dimensions and third levels of information processing. Structural equation models demonstrated significant contributions of context independence and intuitive processing to artistic and scientific creativity, respectively, beyond visual abilities. The results also suggested that Singapore's education system could be contributing to significantly shaping adolescents' CS profiles. Our findings support the validity of CS as individual differences in cognition that develop to cope with environmental demands. They highlight the importance of providing an appropriate environment in shaping adolescents' CS profiles to support the development of domain-specific creativity according to their strengths and talent.

Digital competencies for Singapore’s national medical school curriculum: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that national-level initiatives to equip medical students with relevant digital competencies carry many benefits. Yet, few countries have outlined such competencies for clinical practice in the core medical school curriculum. This paper identifies current training gaps at the national level in digital competencies needed by students in the formal curricula of all three medical schools in Singapore from the perspectives of clinical educators and institutional leaders. It bears implications for countries that intend to implement standardized learning objectives for training in these digital competencies. Findings were drawn from in-depth interviews with 19 clinical educators and leaders of local medical schools. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were interpreted using qualitative thematic analysis. Thirteen of the participants were clinical educators while 6 were deans or vice deans of education from one of the three medical schools in Singapore. While the schools have introduced some relevant courses, they are not standardized nationally. Moreover, the school’s niche areas have not been leveraged upon for training in digital competencies. Participants across all schools acknowledged that more formal training is needed in digital health, data management, and applying the principles of digital technologies. Participants also noted that the healthcare needs of the population, patient safety, and safe procedures in the utilization of digital healthcare technologies should be prioritized when determining the competencies needed by students. Additionally, participants highlighted the need for stronger collaboration among medical schools, and for a stronger link between current curriculum and clinical practice. The findings highlighted the need for better collaboration among medical schools in the sharing of educational resources and expertise. Furthermore, stronger collaborations with professional bodies and the healthcare system should be established to ensure that the goals and outcomes of medical education and the healthcare system are aligned.

Practical and theoretical considerations as a researcher-teacher: reflections on a bidialectal programme involving Singlish in a secondary school

ABSTRACT This paper is an exercise in reflection on my role as a researcher-teacher, while designing and implementing a qualitative study in a secondary school in Singapore. The first study of its kind locally, I designed and taught a bidialectal programme with Singlish as a resource to facilitate the teaching of Standard English. The 8-week programme was delivered to two classes of Secondary One students (13 year olds) in a mainstream secondary school, between July to August 2019. In this reflection, I first conceptualize gaining access as part of the research project, resulting in a research design that involved myself as a researcher-teacher. The nature of Singlish then posed particular issues when it came to designing teaching materials for students, even as certain aspects of classroom teaching went well. I discuss my dual position as researcher-teacher in the data collection process, before addressing the importance of and how I shifted between analytic familiarity and distance from the data. It is hoped that being transparent about the research process in this fashion will strengthen the field and be useful to fellow researchers embarking on similar studies.

Evaluating Basic Education in Singapore: Trends and Dynamics

This paper set out to evaluate the trends and dynamics of basic education in Singapore. It explored the country's emphasis on refined learning system in primary and secondary schools, efficient human resources policies, and state-of-the-art tools. This study provided thorough explanations and content analysis of the trends and dynamics of basic education in Singapore with regards to: curriculum design, teaching methods, special needs and student achievement; pre-service teachers’ training, teachers’ professional development and teachers’ effectiveness; as well as school leadership and community participation. Results indicated that Singapore's basic education has provided a roadmap for success in building competent life-long learners. In conclusion, this study provides evidence that policymakers, planners, and educators from developing countries can take inspiration from Singapore to better their own educational systems and stave off pertinent challenges

Benefits, mechanisms and challenges of international accreditation for teacher education: ASEAN academics’ perspectives

Purpose This study aims to explore some benefits and challenges of establishing an international accreditation for teacher education institutions (TEIs) by AsTEN Quality Assurance Agency. This specific accreditation agency is expected to improve the quality of teaching, learning and research at TEIs in ASEAN region. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative study generates data from questionnaires and online semi-structured interviews among ASEAN academics. They work as teacher educators in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Findings As findings show, participating academics from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam believe that it is necessary to have a specific international accreditation agency that can properly accommodate particular standards of teacher education. This accommodation is expected to increase the governance of quality teaching, learning and researching to prepare more competent and professional future teachers. Participating academics also acknowledge some potential challenges this specific accreditation agency may have, including local acceptance by national governments in ASEAN region and global acknowledgement from international accrediting agencies, mostly based in Global North countries. Research limitations/implications The study only involves academics in five ASEAN countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines so that it may have less international acceptance. Practical/social implications The study also identifies aspects and mechanisms of blended online-onsite international accreditation application for TEIs, which grows its significance because of technological advancement, efficiency and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value The study provides a digital accreditation system for TEIs, particularly in ASEAN region. This originality is important in this era of Internet of Things.

Coaches’ Perspectives of the Continuing Coach Education Program in the Development of Quality Coach Education in Singapore

Continuing professional development is considered essential to the improvement of sport coaching standards through the development of coaches’ knowledge. To support continuing professional development participation and learning for Singapore coaches, the Continuing Coach Education (CCE) program was introduced by Sport Singapore. The present study examined the influence of the Continuing Coach Education program on Level 1 Singapore-based coaches registered under the National Registry of Coaches. Utilizing an explanatory sequential quantitative–qualitative mixed methods approach to enhance understanding of participants’ perceptions, National Registry of Coaches Level 1 coaches completed an online questionnaire (n = 124) and participated in a semistructured interview (n = 7). Results revealed: (a) that intrapersonal knowledge was valued over professional and interpersonal knowledge; (b) that holistic development with an emphasis on character development of athletes was valued; (c) coaches’ key learning needs (i.e., sport psychology, use of technology in coaching, and career planning and development); (d) a preference to experience various learning sources (i.e., collaborative, experientially driven, recognized mediated, and internal unmediated), specific learning sources (i.e., self-directed and guided experiential), and improved coach developer facilitation; and (e) main learning motivations (i.e., meeting requirements and content relevance) and barriers (i.e., time and cost). Possible strategies to promote continuing professional development participation and learning for coaches practicing in similar contexts are discussed.

Evaluating the Use of Immersive Interactive Mixed Reality (I2MR) Technology in Special Needs Education in Singapore

Evaluating the Use of Immersive Interactive Mixed Reality (I2MR) Technology in Special Needs Education in Singapore

Multimodal composing in the English classroom: recontextualising the curriculum to learning

ABSTRACT As literacy curricula around the world expand to include multimodal meaning-making, the challenge that remains is how teachers can design engaging and effective learning experiences in this context and the nature of their guidance to students in developing their multimodal literacy. Our paper focuses on the topic of multimodal composing, where students create artefacts to learn and demonstrate their learning. We seek to understand how teachers can design for students’ learning through multimodal composing with the use of a pedagogic metalanguage. Our data is drawn from a design-based research project on the teaching and learning of multimodal literacy in two secondary schools in Singapore. We discuss the implications of the design and evaluation of students’ learning through multimodal composing and reflect on the nature of the design work by teachers as they negotiate the curriculum requirements and make sense of their professional learning.

An International Comparison of Online Learning Transition During COVID-19

This article looks into the impact of COVID-19 on the digitization of work and learning, specifically for adult educators (post-secondary educators and trainers) around the world. It provides a comparison of adult educators in Singapore and their international counterparts from the United Kingdom, European Union countries, and the United States. Results show international respondents tended to view transition to online learning, teaching, and assessment (LTA) as a temporary response to the emergency due to COVID-19, while the perceptions of respondents from Singapore seemed to represent a general sentiment toward a more permanent shift to online LTA rather than an emergency response. Additionally, respondents from Singapore tended to be more positive when it came to rating the impact of the online transition. Regardless of the differences in their views, it appears online LTA is here to stay, and the immediate challenge would be to make appropriate continuing professional development arrangements to support adult educators around the world to cope with this transition. It is, therefore, hoped the lessons learned from this current study could provide useful references to a wider community in higher education and adult training to emerge strong from the pandemic.

Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration.

Biomimicry is an interdisciplinary design approach that provides solutions to engineering problems by taking inspiration from nature. Given the established importance of biomimicry for building a sustainable world, there is a need to develop effective curricula on this topic. In this study, a workshop was conducted twice in Singapore: once with 14 students from a local high school in Singapore, and once with 11 undergraduate students in engineering from the United States. The workshop aimed to better understand how students conceptualize biomimicry following the bottom-up and top-down biomimetic methods. The workshop contained a lecture and laboratory session, and data were collected via questionnaires, field observation, and participant presentations at the end of the laboratory session. A qualitative analysis revealed that the top-down biomimetic approach was initially understood using vague and generic terms. In contrast, the students described the bottom-up approach using precise and technical vocabulary. By naming the themes highlighting the students' conceptualizations, it was concluded that strengthening the principle that makes the natural object unique and increasing interdisciplinary knowledge are needed to help them perform the top-down approach. The results from this work should be confirmed with a more significant number of participants, and they could help develop a curriculum to teach the two approaches effectively by providing tools to help the students generalize their ideas and abstract meaning from systems.

Academic resilience and test anxiety: The moderating role of achievement goals

The present study examined the associations of academic resilience and achievement goals with test anxiety, and the moderating role of achievement goals in the relation between academic resilience and test anxiety among 1632 secondary one students from eight secondary schools in Singapore. Results showed that students who reported lower levels of academic resilience also reported higher levels of cognitive test anxiety, and those who reported higher levels of avoidance-goal endorsement reported higher levels of cognitive test anxiety. Importantly, the relationship between academic resilience and test anxiety was moderated by avoidance-based goals endorsement level. Specifically, this relationship was stronger for those who endorsed higher levels of avoidance-based goals. Approach-based achievement goals did not significantly interact with academic resilience to influence test anxiety. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Global citizenship education practices in Singapore and Australia: Tensions between educational and market rationales

This article draws on a qualitative comparative research study of global citizenship education (GCE) in two primary schools, an international school in Singapore and an independent school in Australia. This paper focuses on the implementation of GCE within the two specific school contexts, Singapore and Australia, examining the tensions which existed between neo-liberal market rationales and the critical democratic ideologies at each site. The paper explored in-depth how the neo-liberal market agenda influenced and shaped the societal imaginaries specifically in relation to their GCE commitments. Despite each schools’ commitments to critical democratic GCE ideals, they were very mindful about being distinctive and remaining competitive within their respective educational markets. To that extent, the schools were neo-liberal market actors. Empirical data shows the complexity of a more hybridised or a continuum existence between these two ideologies, thus providing a more nuanced insight of the binary within the school sites.

Financial capability training for social workers in Singapore: Towards more effective practice

In most countries around the world, social workers assist financially vulnerable people, but they often do so with little or no training in finance. This article examines the development and pilot testing of a financial curriculum to be used in social work education and training in Singapore. Feedback from social workers informed development of the curriculum, which is practical and capability-based. The study covers two phases: first curriculum development, then pilot testing. Focus group methods are used to analyse the process and effectiveness of curriculum development and the initial training outcomes.

Universitising teacher education in Singapore: from the TTC to the NIE.

The emergence of a modern teacher education system in Singapore can be traced to 1950 when the Teachers Training College (TTC) was established. The TTC was a separate entity from the School of Education at the University of Singapore. Rapid economic growth in the 1970s and 80s necessitated changes to upgrade the education system, such that school leavers could be better prepared for work in a post-industrial economy. It was recognised then that teacher preparation had to be upgraded to represent the field as an evidence-based profession, thus leading to the establishment of the Institute of Education in 1973; this was a significant first step in the journey towards universitising teacher education in Singapore. Continued and transformative economic growth in the 1980s and 90s necessitated further changes in education goals, best represented by the Thinking Schools, Learning Nation initiative in 1997, the Teach Less Learn More initiative in 2004, and the ICT MasterPlans initiatives. In response, in 1991, the National Institute of Education (NIE) was established, as an institute of Nanyang Technological University. The move to universitise teacher education in Singapore enabled the profession to attract a better calibre of teacher-students, develop rigorous graduate and postgraduate programmes in education, recruit faculty with postgraduate qualifications, and invest in Singapore-centric education research. Though the journey has been long, steady progress towards universitisation has contributed significantly to Singapore's development, and the NIE can today claim to be an internationally recognised Institute of Distinction.

Employers’ perspectives of effective continuing education and training in Singapore

PurposeEmployers often claim that the lack of employee competence is a limitation in their enterprises’ success and viability. Consequently, employers are important stakeholders in considerations for workforce continuing education and training (CET) policies and practices. Hence, the authors undertook an exploratory investigation to understand how employers perceive provisions of CET offered through tertiary education institutions and how they might be improved.Design/methodology/approachOverall, 40 employers from a range of industry sectors in Singapore were surveyed and interviewed about effective CET for their employees.FindingsThese employers reported preferring one-on-one training in the workplace and being willing to invest in their employees’ training so long employees remained committed to their companies. They value online education, but prefer that it is combined with workplace or face-to-face learning experiences. They proposed effective CET trainers as those with relevant industry knowledge and teaching skills and effective CET learners as those who were self-motivated, goal oriented and open-minded.Originality/valueA study of such nature that focusses on the perspectives of employers, as opposed to employees and educators, has not been undertaken before in Singapore. Given Singapore’s increasing emphasis on lifelong learning and the workplace as a vital site for that learning, the lessons learnt here transcend national boundaries and may serve as a useful reference for other countries that seek to provide inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all.

Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools in Singapore: building Chinese elitism or settling on meritocracy, Singapore style?

Since the People’s Action Party (PAP) came into power in 1959, there has been a series of tensions and tussles between the Chinese educated in their vernacular and the western-trained Chinese, whose own mother tongue is Chinese but who embrace western values such as liberty and western religion. The Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools in Singapore – for example, Hwa Chong Institution and Catholic High School – were introduced in 1979 and remain the result of an elite education system built to ensure that there remains a core of Chinese-educated elites in Singapore who are educated at the first language levels in English and in Mandarin (Putonghua). This is to offset the balance between the dominant English-educated Chinese and the Chinese-educated Chinese in Singapore. Several problems are associated with the SAP schools, which are analyzed in this study. This study concludes with the power of Kuan Yew Lee and his PAP and provides several possible solutions to the SAP school problem and how they may be fixed over the short term for all Singaporeans alike. Raffles Institution, Anglo-Chinese School, and St. Joseph’s Institution have long histories in Singapore but are not SAP schools, thus proving that SAP schools may not even be necessary in the first place in the globalized world.

Achievement gaps before school in Singapore: Family SES, parental values and young children's self-regulation

This study examines how family socioeconomic status (SES) shapes the early achievement gap among preschool children aged 3 to 6 (N=2,940, 52% boy, 68% Chinese) in an Asian context. Results based on the Singapore Longitudinal Early Development Study highlight several factors in early childhood that can contribute to the diverging achievement by family SES — parents’ value, investment in children, and children's self-regulation. Higher-SES parents have a higher emotional value and educational expectations of their children, set more boundaries, and are more likely to provide an organized and stimulating home environment and plan for their children's future. Children's self-regulation measured by their ability to delay instant gratification at a young age is positively associated with early cognitive development.

Investigating the experiences and perceptions of teachers and students about blended learning during COVID-19: a case study in a Singapore school

In this research, a survey was conducted with a group of students and teachers from a neighbourhood primary school in Singapore to investigate about their experiences and perceptions about blended learning. The results show that both teachers and students agreed that blended learning aided learning. However, they did not prefer blended learning to traditional face-to-face learning. Teachers felt that they were not able to get the attention of all students during blended learning. As such, they felt that students should be more self-directed and well educated about the various IT tools. Students felt that they were unable to clarify their doubts with their teachers and peers during blended learning. As such, there should be better communication facilities for them to communicate with their teachers and peers.