Evaluation of Education in Singapore

Education is something that humans cannot live without. In previous generations, if you did not receive a formal education, you learned how to do a skill of some sort to secure the ability to have a stable life. In modern society, we are all familiar with situations where families will move to an entirely new area to ensure that their children have an opportunity to go to a school that is considered better than the others in the community. What if a society decided to improve its entire education system? Not only improve, but what if an organization made it a priority to prepare their people through education to be the most skilled globally? Singapore is striving to be a country that accomplishes 21st-century excellence.

Less than a century ago, Singapore was a part of Malaysia. When the country received its freedom, its Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew stated, "Our priority must be to develop Singapore's only natural resource, its people (The AQI Team, 2021)". Yew set the foundation for people who saw growth as a necessity. During the early years of the country, the method by which education was provided was rigorous. The focus was "embedding a tightly specified curriculum, recruiting more, better teachers, and closely controlling standards (The AQI Team, 2021)."

Over the past sixty years, Singapore's education system has gone through many different phases. Each one of the phases focused on where the society was and continued improvement. The steps in the educational system were "survival-driven (1965–1978), to efficiency-driven (1979–1996), ability driven (1997–2010), and student-centric, values-driven (2011 onwards) (Koh, Ponnusamy, Tan, et al., 2014)." Each phase helped a distinct priority to improve the country.

Due to the country's focus, Singapore has produced some of the best PISA scores of the last decade. According to Charlotte West's article Toward Globally Competent Pedagogy, the trends they have followed have been to recruit the best teacher talent, provide continuous teacher development, and all primary students are required to learn a second language. As a result, education went from a period focusing on basic skills to striving for excellence in every area. In 2010 Singapore introduced a framework for 21cc student outcomes. The map detailed the broad areas that should be focused on in the outer layers and then listed the more concentrated areas in the internal layers. (Tan, Koh, Costes-Onishi, et al., 2017).

In the country's continued educational improvement, the minister of education, Ong Ye Knug, brought elements of the Swiss curriculum to Singapore. The curriculum was designed to help mix classwork with apprenticeships. Some tangible steps the country took to ensure the curriculum was successful was ensuring all primary schools had an applied learning program. The agenda focused on providing "nurturing creativity and innovation to prepare Singapore's children for the future (Fitzwilliams, 2018).

While excellence is expected, the method being attained has adapted over the years. An example of this evolution can be seen in the technique the Singaporean government allowed Santosa School to implement the IP program. While the ministry of education expected the students to be "stretched in academic and non-academic areas ( Koh, Ponnusamy, Tan, et al., 2014)", they gave the school the liberty to make changes to the program. What makes this interesting is that an education system that was once extremely strict now allows some schools to make changes to a curriculum and let teachers teach in their way. The study found that "strong school leadership and teacher professionalism are found to mitigate the tensions that emerged in the implementation process ( Koh, Ponnusamy, Tan, et al., 2014)". The additional freedom made it easier to be effective.

In closing, the Singaporean educational system has had many changes over the past sixty years. The primary focus has been to develop its people to be globally proficient. While initially, the government had small goals like ensuring people had basic reading and mathematical skills, the country has moved toward creating a globalized talent pool. This country has led the trend that traditional academics is not enough. Their focus has shifted toward creating a more well-rounded learner. As the world becomes smaller, Singapore aims to continue to provide the world with 21st-century learners.

Resources

Fitzwilliam, H. (2018) Singapore's Classroom Revolution. Financial Times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRgI20Vul60

Koh, E., Ponnusamy, L., Tan, L S., Lee, S., & Ramos, M. (October 2014). A Singapore Case Study of Curriculum Innovation in the Twenty-First Century: Demand, Tensions, and Deliberations. De La Salle University. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=593fd266-a819-4184-9e7c-2be11779f8e7%40redis

Tan, J, Koh, E, Chan, M, Costes-Onishi, P, & Hung, D. (February 2017). Advancing 21st Century Competencies in Singapore. Center for Global Education. https://asiasociety.org/sites/default/files/2017-10/advancing-21st-century-competencies-in-singapore.pdf

The AQI Team. (March 2021). Singapore: Probably the Best Organized Education System in The World. Assessment & Qualification Insight. https://www.aqi.org.uk/blogs/probably-the-best-organised-education-system-in-the-world.

West, C. (2012). Toward Globally Competent Pedagogy. NAFSA Association of International Educators. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xUjHGmQrWM2ysZJ8dXPsCtr_9tx-Pew9/view

Cultural and Social Impact of Migration

Two weeks ago, I received an alert on my phone during an afternoon planning period. With a tap of my finger and a face recognition scan, an email from my eight-year-old son’s homeroom teacher appeared on the screen. The message I read was short and direct. As curtain keywords propelled off the screen, the words cascaded toward an abrasive halt. The message included the statement that my child no longer wanted to attend school. My mind began to wander as I tapped on the corner of my desk, attempting to determine my next course of action. Minutes later, my wife messaged me asking if I could talk to the specialist teacher with which my son had an issue in his class. Without hesitation, I replied, unsure how the conversation would unfold, mainly because the teacher I needed to talk to was in my department. The school bell chimed, echoing the signal of the end of the current period. The unkempt metal door to the shed, which we call an office, opened. I lifted in my chair, attempting to appear unfazed by any events of the day. My co-worker sat down parallel to me in his usual stance. I briefly observed his body language to see if I noticed any discomfort from sitting across from me. He quickly nodded his head over his computer screen before gazing at it. At that moment, I spoke, “so, did anything happen during my son’s class with your earlier”? He warmly shared an incident in which my son missed a winning point during a game, leading to an argument with other children. My co-worker then ended with the statement, “kids will be kids .” His glance following the announcement suggested he wanted a reply, but I could not give him one at the moment. My co-worker had no idea that my son deals with comments from the same children he argued with. Regularly I listen to stories about how the children in his class don’t say nice things to him and how he wishes he could go to a different school. While I understand my son’s plight, I also remember similar situations at other schools. My son is reaching for a sense of belonging, but what does that mean for him? In the article Where do I belong? Ruth Druart describes Third Culture Kids “as growing up in different countries but not being integral parts of these countries” (Shenfield, 2017). I remember once in a “family debriefing,” where we sat down and talked about the day’s events. I asked my son who are you? His response involved being a soccer player and the color of his skin. If I am honest, they are the only external qualities that have remained consistent in his life outside our family structure. Having experienced international and bilingual schools, my oldest son adapts quickly to new situations. It is easy for him to let things go, but he holds on to intangible memories when he can. An example is how he equates living in the United States to fishing trips with his grandfather and life in the United Arab Emirates to a trip to Lego Land. As stated in Harrington’s article, “immigrant children seek to manage their various cultures and identities” (Harrington, 2008). My son wants to be all his experiences but struggles to put them into words. Last year’s first month of school, he struggled to tell his Chinese teacher his nationality. As she asked detailed questions, her original perception became dwarfed by the multicultural reality of my then seven-year-old. As my son grows, I have come to the understanding that my reality is not his reality. The pains of my youth were more systematic, while his battles are social. As a parent, my responsibility is to love and assist my child with learning how to interact with others and respond to adverse situations. He is not a boy from America, the Middle East, or China. He is all of the above, and his perception of himself should be based only on the identity he chooses to accept. Resources Harrington, P. (2008). The negotiation of identity in an international school setting. International School Journal, 28 (1), p 12-16. Shenfield, T. (2017, May 17). Understanding the challenges faced by immigrant children. Advanced Psychology Services. https://www.psy-ed.com/wpblog/challenges-faced-by-immigrant-children/

The Impact of Globalization on Education

I remember sitting in my 10th-grade history class on the first day of school. The awkward silence was occasionally broken as an old air conditioner turned on to regulate the room's temperature. Suddenly the class door flew open, and a man dressed from head to toe in American Revolutionary war attire walked into the room. Multiple chuckles released into the stale air as my new history teacher Mr. Patton gave a glassy gaze toward the class. Then, when everyone became quiet, he said in one of the most dramatic voices I have ever heard, "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." (Zemeckis, 1985). While the rest of my class irrupted in laughter, I could not wait to hear the next thing he would say, and the desire to absorb more information continued the entire year. Mr. Patton was the first teacher to meet me where I was. He taught me how to communicate in group discussions about his intriguing lesson topics and allowed me to be creative as I discussed famous people from history in narrative form. While Mr. Patton was a fantastic educator, the quality of education I received in my other classes was far from the local standard. However, after having a teacher who showed me that education was more than worksheets and standardized tests, I knew I did not have to settle for what others expected my future to become. My experience in school leads me to the question, if education was similar around the world would many countries be in better situations for success? In this blog, I will discuss the impact of globalization and internationalism on education.

Before unpacking globalization and internationalism, a topic must be addressed as the primary requirement for running a school. Before getting students, teachers, or a principal, the school requires funding. Many schools take on an investor of some type to ensure that they have a building and resources and can afford a staff before opening their doors. Fazal Rizvi and Bob Lingard cite Basil Berstinein in saying, "Values allocation in education policy not only steers the goals of education but also impact curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation" (Rizvi and Lingard, 2010, pg 374 para. 4). The connection between economy, politics, and education is the values that they are installing through education. In other words, politics determine the funding educators teach the next generation, who improve the economy.

There are positives and negatives when receiving funding, including setting a school vision. While standards can vary from school to school, many international schools share a similar vision. In James Cambridge and Jeff Thompson's study on Internationalis and globalization as context for international education, the writer shares a quote from Rohrs about international schools, which states [international schools "having the aim of producing students' willing and able to understand other nations. To understand another nation, one must be open to learning things that may not be culturally normal. On the other end of the spectrum, some schools may "serve students of a variety of nationalities but they are not necessarily internationally minded" (Cambridge and Thompsons, 2004). The schools mentioned want to keep their culture while providing elements of international education.

A challenge that these schools faced was a way to bridge the learning gap. This dilemma is where programs like International Bachelorette or IB and assessments similar to the PISA come into place. IB is a curriculum that promotes critical thinking and has become commonplace in international schools. PISA provides a "tool for evaluating education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students" (Robertson & Dale, 2017). By frequently improving assessment, PISA boosts the ability to assess 21st-century learners. The question is, with comprehensive testing tools, are the criteria for a 21st-century learner the same in every country? Also, do students use the same tools in each country? In my opinion, I believe global assessment does measure 21st-century skills, but with such a large testing base, I do believe there is room for error.

Since we have discussed the requirements to run a school and ways to align what international schools do, let us talk about globalization. After viewing many definitions of globalization, I believe it is common knowledge to say globalization involves sharing something on a large scale. While it is safe to say that all schools around the world cannot reach the same standards, globalization allows many educational systems to access information faster and more consistently compared to previous generations. A positive of globalization, citing Nicholas Sun-Keung Pang made from Daun and Suarez-Oeozco is that "global competition leads to an increasing demand for higher skills in the population as a whole, and lifelong learning for all" (Pang). As education improves, the job force becomes more skilled, and in my opinion, more jobs are created in most situations. A negative could be that "countries differ in their response to the process. An example is a country like the United Arab Emirates, where the local population relies on importing people from other countries to maintain their growth instead of raising an internally skilled community to handle their growth.

Internationalism is another element of education that should be discussed when talking about improving global education. In an article written by Futao Huang, a citing by Knight is found which shares that internationalism is "the process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, function or delivery of postsecondary education" (Huang, 2007 pg 48 para. 3) According to the definition ideas and other aspects a shared and pulled from various places and added to an entity. This process benefits "a transition from technical assistance for developing countries by developed countries to a growing global competitions" (Huang, 2007). So, aid is provided to the point where the one that requires assistance can compare with other institutions that are at a particular standard. However, according to table 2, a downside to internationalism is a "loss of national identity" (Haung, 2007).

Globalization and internationalism have had many effects on higher education. How people think and approach various facets of life can be partially attributed to their education. According to Huang, the impact of internationalism is the "dispatching of students and faculty members abroad for advance studies and research as part of efforts to enhance the quality of education" (Huang, 2007). Some countries promote sending students and teachers away so they can return with knowledge that can help society as a whole.

In closing, education has made many changes. As society grows, the need to improve also grows. As globalization and internationalism spread, the way to assess and improve curriculum also increase. Some places embrace the changes afforded by exchanging ideas and cultures. At the same time, other societies prefer to stay rooted in their values and systems. In any case, the world is becoming more competitive. As the need for high-skill workers increase, the education system will continue to change and evolve.

Resources

Cambridge, J., & Thompson, J. (2, June 2004). Internationalism and globalization as context for international education. Compare, 34(2), 161–175.

Huang, F. (2007). Internationalisation of Higher Education in the Era of Globalisation: What have been its Implications in China and Japan. Higher Education Management and Policy, 19(1), 47–61.

Nagahara, M. (2011). Globalizing education policy [Review of Globalizing education policy, by F. R. A. Lingard].

Pang, N S-K. (n.d.). GLOBALIZATION IN THE ONE WORLD: IMPACTS ON EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT NATIONS. BCES Conference Books, 11(Education in One World: Perspectives from Different Nations), 17–27.

Robertson, S., & Dale, R. (2017). Comparing Policies in a Globalizing World: methhodological reflections. Educacao & Realidade, Porto Alegre, 42(3), 859–875.

Zemeckis, R. (1985). Back to the Future. Universal Pictures