Building A World Class Education System From Scratch (Part 2)

SURVIVAL-DRIVEN PHASE (1959 - 1978)

In this phase, the focus was on enrolment and ensuring that every child goes to school because most of the population were illiterate and only the affluent were educated. 

This phase saw the rapid construction of schools and the doubling of the teaching force from from 10,500 in 1959 to over 19,000 by 1968.

At the end of this phase there was near universal primary education.

However, the quality of education was not high. There was high education wastage with almost 30% of primary school children failing to progress to secondary school. English proficiency was also low.

Out of every 1000 pupils who entered primary one, only 35% eventually obtained 3 or more 'O' level passes.
 

EFFICIENCY-DRIVEN PHASE (1976 - 1996)

The education system moved away from the one-size-fits-all system to a system that creates multiple pathways for students in order to reduce the dropout rate, and to enable a more effective deliverance of classroom teaching where teachers were able to focus on teaching students of similar abilities.

This followed from the Goh Keng Swee Report on education which recommended that students be streamed into different tracks based on their aptitude.

CDIS (Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore) was created in 1980 to develop a suite of supporting teaching materials that could be used off-the-shelf by less-experienced and less-skilled teachers.

Workshops were also held to explain to teachers how to use the materials effectively.

This second phase also saw the establishment of independent (1988) and autonomous (1994) schools.

By 1995, the Singapore education system had become one of the top performing systems in the world.

ABILITY-BASED ASPIRATION-DRIVEN PHASE (1997 - present)

This focuses on enabling every child to attain to his or her maximum potential.

The growth of the global knowledge economy required a paradigm shift in Singapore's education system towards a focus on innovation, creativity and research.

In 1997 a new educational vision called "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" was launched. (See then PM Goh Chok Tong's speech here: http://bit.ly/1Hga8MR)

As Mr Goh Chok Tong said in his speech in 1997, learning will not end in the school or the university.

Quote:

"We have to prepare ourselves for a bracing future - a future of intense competition and shifting competitive advantages, a future where technologies and concepts are replaced at an increasing pace, and a future of changing values.

Education and training are central to how nations will fare in this future. Strong nations and strong communities will distinguish themselves from the rest by how well their people learn and adapt to change. Learning will not end in the school or even in the university. Much of the knowledge learnt by the young will be obsolete some years after they complete their formal education. In some professions, like Information Technology, obsolescence occurs even faster. The task of education must therefore be to provide the young with the core knowledge and core skills, and the habits of learning, that enable them to learn continuously throughout their lives. We have to equip them for a future that we cannot really predict."

Thinking Schools, Learning Nation encompassed a wide range of initiatives over a number of years that were designed to tailor education to the abilities and interests of students, to provide more flexibility and choice for students and to transform the structures of education.
A broader array of subject matter courses was created for students and a portfolio of different types of schools specialising in arts, mathematics and science and sports were created."

"Teach Less, Learn More"

In 2004, the government developed the “Teach Less, Learn More” initiative to move instruction further away from the rote memorization and repetitive tasks.
In 2009, art, music and physical education gained a larger role in the overall curriculum.

The Ministry has also rolled out new initiatives dedicated to providing financial aid for students in need, signaling a renewed commitment to educational equality.

OVERWHELMING ADJUSTMENT TO PREPARE FOR A CHANGING WORLD 

Today, the Singapore's education system is going through an overwhelming adjustment to prepare the young for a changing world.

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung used the analogy of a computer to describe this adjustment. From the outside, the computer looks unchanged, but inside, its operating system is changing, its algorithm is changing.

"It's changing the way we do things, uncovering students' talents, developing them to the fullest," he said.

We need a mindset change too. Education Minister Ng Chee Meng said we need to build resilience in students so that they know how to bounce back in a world that is having to cope with disruptive changes.

In this respect, both parents and educators must take a step back and allow students to deal with challenges and setbacks on their own and not be too quick to intervene, no matter how good our intentions are, Mr Ng said.

Our students must dare to 'chiong', he said.

He also spoke of the need to reduce the "growing skills gap between what we learn in schools and the jobs graduates are applying for.

He gave the assurance that his ministry will continue to place strong emphasis on 21st-century competencies, including critical and inventive thinking, communication and collaboration skills, as well as global awareness and cross-cultural skills.


References: http://bit.ly/1L1rewo http://bit.ly/1K5PeRm http://bit.ly/1Hga8MR