Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Schools making small strides in shifting focus from academics

SINGAPORE — As the Ministry of Education (MOE) continues its push for a less academics-driven school culture, including scrapping the secondary school banding policy last year, the changes are slowly but surely gaining traction, teachers and principals interviewed by TODAY said.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — As the Ministry of Education (MOE) continues its push for a less academics-driven school culture, including scrapping the secondary school banding policy last year, the changes are slowly but surely gaining traction, teachers and principals interviewed by TODAY said.

One school, for instance, has come up with a report card for students to reflect on their communication skills and resilience quotient. Teachers would record their observations when pupils participate in class projects or community involvement activities.

Another school has started organising leadership handover ceremonies for the entire cohort to recognise students’ participation in co-curricular activities (CCAs), apart from giving out awards to recognise CCA achievements.

About a dozen secondary school teachers whom TODAY spoke to also attested to frequent reminders from principals to incorporate and focus on character development in their lesson plans. Anecdotes of how Physical Education or Civics and Moral Education lessons were sacrificed in place of make-up or remedial lessons for examinable subjects are also increasingly less common.

But while progress is being made, teachers say the pace of change is gradual because schools are working against the tide, with most parents and society in general still placing a high premium on academic achievements. And as they try to tilt the balance in the classroom towards non-academic development, their dilemma is how far they should go, without eroding academic excellence — a hallmark of the Singapore education system and, like it or not, a ticket to a well-paying job.

As a secondary school educator with 15 years of teaching experience put it, exam results “remain the clearest yardstick of a student’s performance”. Another secondary teacher, who has been teaching for the past decade, added: “It is still difficult for parents to accept excellence by other definitions.”

Ms Samantha Chng, a mother of two boys who are in secondary school, said she believes in the importance of an “all-rounded education”. “But we still have to focus on academics as this is how it works in Singapore, a paper qualification is needed to get our children to places,” she said. “The O-Level exam will be the start of the process and they have to do well in it to move on to the next level.”

With changes to the Primary School Leaving Examination expected to be announced at the National Day Rally tomorrow — some Members of Parliament have suggested reducing the focus on aggregate scores — TODAY takes a look at the ongoing efforts in the education system to address the over-emphasis on academic results.

Steady progress: MOE

In 2004, then-Acting Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam abolished the ranking of the top 50 secondary schools based on their students’ average O-Level scores. Instead, schools were categorised into academic bands, while the school awards scheme was also expanded to recognise non-academic areas such as character development.

The MOE later went on to develop a 21st-century skills framework, which included aspects such as self-awareness and decision making, to prepare students for future challenges. When Education Minister Heng Swee Keat took office in 2011, he declared that a values-centric education will be the cornerstone of the education system. Among the initiatives was a new Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) framework.

Last year, Mr Heng scrapped the banding of secondary schools and simplified the awards scheme to recognise best practices, with the focus on getting schools to share and learn from one another. “The fact is there is no single yardstick to measure how ‘good’ our schools are,” said Mr Heng at the MOE Work Plan Seminar in September last year.

Schools were also given more resources to hone their niche areas and the annual Singapore Youth Festival started giving out certificates instead of awards. In response to TODAY’s queries, an MOE spokesperson said the ministry has “seen steady progress” in achieving a “holistic and student-centric education”.

She added that schools are making efforts to introduce CCE, with 700 primary and secondary school teachers trained to oversee the management of the programme in the schools.

Following the revamp of the awards scheme, schools are “refocusing their resources and energies” to provide opportunities for students to “discover their strengths, realise their full potential and develop a passion for lifelong learning”.

‘Academic results are still important’

Tampines Secondary Principal Balamurugan Krishnasamy noted that changing the awards scheme has, for example, allowed resources to be allocated to CCAs students are keen on, like hip hop and modern dance, rather than only focusing on a few that will earn the school accolades.

But he said: “While these policy changes have broadened the definition of quality and achievement, much is still dependent on public perceptions of success and quality”.

Bowen Secondary Principal Bernard Chew noted that non-academic components such as character development “are not easy to measure”. He said that schools now have more room to provide students with a wide-ranging educational experience.

“(But) it is to be expected that parents, students and teachers alike will still be motivated to (succeed) in national examinations, because the students’ next educational station depends on their performance in the national exams,” he added.

Nevertheless, educators also cautioned against swinging too far in the opposite direction. The pursuit of academic excellence, even for its own sake, has some merits, they noted.

Queenstown Secondary Principal Ang Chee Seng pointed out that the pursuit of excellence has underpinned Singapore’s success. “By retaining this mindset to achieve excellence, it will also motivate the child later on in life,” he said.

Teck Whye Secondary Principal Ong Kong Hong said results indicate a student’s mastery of a particular subject. “It is important that they have a basic understanding of certain concepts to move on to higher learning,” he said.

He also noted that, unlike in the past, the O-Levels do not just test a student’s rote learning ability, but also other skills such as critical and analytical thinking, which could be honed through experiences outside the classroom.

On their part, schools are hoping to influence public mindset by organising regular meetings for parents to find out more about their non-academic programmes. Some educators have suggested that employers can also play their part by placing more emphasis on non-academic achievements when hiring.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.