Education in Singapore

1
Education in Singapore

• A Response to Economic Challenges
• Nation Building

2
Education during the Colonial Period (1819-1945)

• Mission Schools English medium
• Singapore Free School (1834) later RI (1963)
• King Edward VII College of Medicine (1905)
• Raffles College (1926)
• Vernacular Schools Chinese, Malay and Tamil
• Govt support for Malay schools (not all)
• Role of community clan associations, businessmen

University Of Malaya
3
Strengths

• Enterprise pioneering spirit of the various
  community
• ? existed entirely on their own resources
• Preservation of cultural linguistic differences
  in Singapore

4
Challenges

• Education was limited to those who could afford
  (end of colonial period, gt40 were illiterate)
• Divided along racial lines
• Due to world events (revolutionary fervor
  changes in China in the early 20th C)
• ? Politicized ? threat to the govt

5
Post-War Years (1945-1965)

• 1947 Ten-Year Plan
• Free Education ages 6-12 yrs
• To foster capacity for self-govt
• MT as medium of instruction
• EL from 3rd year
• Standardised curriculum
• Selection for English Primary School
• Training College

Meanwhile, Unrests continued
6
Post-War Years (1945-1965)

• 1955 Limited Self-Government
• All-Party Committee
• Proposed education policy that met the needs of
  various committees ? nationhood ? NE
• Bilingual primary education
• Trilingual secondary education
• ECA
• Teaching of civics
• Parity of treatment for all 4 language streams
• Technical education and industrial training
  emphasized

• 1959- Policy took shape
• Emphasis on Maths and Science
• 1960- 2nd Lang compulsory in Primary School

7
Challenges of Independence

• Social
• Lacked built-in reflexes
• (loyalty, patriotism, shared
• history/ tradition)
• Population divided by race,
• language, religion
• - 1964 racial riots

• Political
• Confrontasi
• Clashes with Malaysian leaders
• ? Highlighted our vulnerability

• Economic
• Lost Malaysian hinterland
• Unemployment (double digit)
• fall in entrepot trade
• 1967 withdrawal of Br forces

• Solution?
• Dual role of education
• Economic transformation
• Disciplined cohesive society

8
Post Independence YearsLabour-Intensive
Industries (1966-1970s)

• Aims
• Nation Building
• Economic Development
• Education for more people

• Different types of education
• were provided for different
• age groups
• Malay as the National Language
• Overall increase in student
• intake at various levels
• Focus on Mathematics, Science and
• Technical subjects

9
Post Independence YearsLabour-Intensive
Industries (1966-1970s)

• Meeting Economic Challenges
• 1966- Second Language in Secondary schs
• 1969- Lower Sec Tech Subject
• Girls had a choice/ VITB/ Science Labs in all
  Sec/ SP and NA Tech College

• Improved quality of education
• Attention to teaching resources, planning
  (facilities), research, organisation, and
  evaluation
• Promote use of Mandarin
• 1978, SAP schools
• 1971, GCE O-levels

• Nation Building
• Pledge taking, flag raising lowering
• ECA grades
• 1969, common curriculum for all Sec 1 2 in all
  4 language stream schools

10
Problems

• High education wastage
• Attrition rate 29 for primary
• 36 for secondary
• Variation in academic performance
• New Economic Challenges
• Labour Shortage
• Competition from Other Countries
• Lower cost
• Lower productivity

11
Industrial Restructuring -1980s

• Higher/ Tertiary education was encouraged
• Increased intake
• NU merged with U of Singapore NUS
• NTI, 1981 (engineering and technology)
• 1991, NTU
• BEST (EL, MA) for large protion of the workforce
  who have less tha P6 education

• Improved quality of education
• Streaming introduced to bring out the best in
  every individual and to reduce dropout rate
• GEP, 1984
• Increased investment
• Building more schools, single-session schools
• 1988,89 Independent Schools

• Relaxed entry to Secondary school

12
Moving into the 1990s

• Economic Restructuring
• What was the focus in the 1990s?

13
1990s

• Further concentration on post secondary and
  tertiary education
• ?to develop the manpower needed for the push to
  high tech and knowledge intensive products and
  services

• 1992, SIM Open U
• 1997, became privatized
• 1992, ITE
• 1993, Edusave
• 1994, 4th Polytechnic, TP
• 1994-6, Autonomous schools

14
1990s

• Twin forces of globalization and technological
  change

• Ability-driven
• Curriculum
• School environment
• Teaching service
• Education structure
• Education hub
• Administrative excellence

15
1990s

• 1997, 2 bil on IT in classrooms
• IT Masterplan
• PW
• NE
• ECA? CCA
• Post-grad and Arts education encouraged
• PRIME
• SEM
• Cluster Schools
• Compulsory Education, 2000

16
Education Policies Practices in Singapore

• 60s-70s
• Flag-raising
• Pledge-taking
• Billingualism
• ECAs
• Technical Education

• 80s-early 90s
• Streaming
• Moral Values
• Vocational Traning
• Schools given
• Greater Autonomy

• Late 1990s
• Caring Thinking
• Creative thinking
• IT
• NE
• CIP
• Compulsory Pri
• Education (2000)

17
Education Policies Practices in Singapore
21st Century TLLM (2003) Integrated Programme/
Through Train (2003) Future Schools
(2008) Specialised Schools - NUS Maths Science
School - School of Science Technology -
School of the Arts - Singapore Sports School -
Pathlight Northlight Schools
18
Education Policies Practices in Singapore

• Leveling up for all economic-social classes?
• Financial Assistance Schemes
• Government Bursaries
• Edusave Scheme (1993)
• to maximise opportunities for all Singaporean
  children
• rewards students who perform well or who make
  good progress
• provides students and schools with funds to pay
  for enrichment programmes or to purchase
  additional resources.

19
Summing Up

• What are the features of our education system?
• Do you agree with what the government has done so
  far?
• What would you do differently?

http//www.moe.edu.sg/
20
Practice Question

• Instilling and reinforcing national loyalty
  through National Education is the main
  consideration of our education system.
• Do you agree with the statement? EYA