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Education system must keep experimenting for the future: Tharman

SINGAPORE — Despite its students aceing mathematics, science and reading in a prestigious international benchmarking test, Singapore’s education system must keep experimenting and having a “sense of dare” to prepare for the future, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Wednesday (Sept 20).

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the education and training industry has not been particularly responsive to learning outcomes and he said it has to evolve. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the education and training industry has not been particularly responsive to learning outcomes and he said it has to evolve. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — Despite its students aceing mathematics, science and reading in a prestigious international benchmarking test, Singapore’s education system must keep experimenting and having a “sense of dare” to prepare for the future, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Wednesday (Sept 20).

“The biggest mistake we would make is to think that because we’re doing well in the Pisa test… therefore we keep things as they are. The biggest mistake is to think, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said at the Nanyang Technological University’s inaugural Majulah lecture.

The Pisa, or Programme for International Student Assessment, is a triennial study run by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It compares how education systems are helping students acquire knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems, and Singapore’s 15-year-olds ranked number one for maths, science and reading in the 2015 study, it was announced last December.

Mr Tharman was speaking to about 1,500 university students, academics and other guests on “How Education Shifts Will Make Our Future”, and took questions from the audience after his lecture.

Education policymakers will only know how well measures have worked 20 to 30 years down the road, and Mr Tharman said “by changing and experimenting, by having a sense of dare, we are best preparing ourselves for a range of eventualities in the future”.

Noting the continuous education and training industry globally has not been particularly responsive to learning outcomes despite significant resources pumped in, he said it has to evolve. “There has been very little modification based on a feedback from outcomes. And that is the new game in education. Constant feedback loops based on actual outcomes which we have to measure, capture and keep modifying — teaching methods, curriculum and so on,” he said.

Areas where necessary shifts are taking place include doing more to help children at an early stage, more fluid and flexible pathways for students, lifelong learning and deepening of multiculturalism.

In the last area, Mr Tharman felt some co-curricular activities are “far too ethnically defined”. Football is dominated by Malays and sports like table tennis, volleyball and basketball appear to draw Chinese, although some schools like Dunman and Jurong Secondary have been deliberate in forming multi-racial basketball teams, he noted. In contrast, football in Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s was very multicultural, he said.

“How about the rest of the world? You have all sorts of countries playing basketball, volleyball and table tennis. In our region itself, the Indonesians, the Filipinos, are top in basketball and volleyball. We are trapping ourselves too easily, and it is not difficult to change,” he said.

Having foreign coaches who speak another language is not a disadvantage, he added.

Government efforts to help children from vulnerable families early on include the KidStart initiative, which supports their education, healthcare and developmental needs.

The education system must avoid the problem seen in some countries of appearing egalitarian but, in fact, having vastly inegalitarian outcomes, he said. Pathways for students should be “porous” with “no dead ends” so they can capitalise on their various strengths. It is an ongoing effort. At its Committee of Supply debate this year, the Education Ministry announced all secondary schools offering Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) courses would allow students to take subjects at a higher level from Secondary One from next year, for example.

The SkillsFuture movement, meanwhile, promotes lifelong learning and Mr Tharman said employers should train their workers for today and tomorrow, with help from the government.

Concluding his lecture on an optimistic note, Mr Tharman said: “We can do this. Giving fair chances for every child, no matter who their mothers and fathers are. Creating flexible pathways, not just in schemes but in the mind. Reducing the academic load to provide more space for that free play of the mind. Developing our potential throughout life. And strengthening our identity in multicultural Singapore.”

He added: “It means a new spirit in education. When you think of our (national) anthem, remember ‘Mari-lah kita bersatu, dengan semangat yang baru’ (with a new spirit). And that new spirit was not intended just for the day we became a new nation 52 years ago. Every so often, we need that new spirit in our society, and that’s how we go forward together.”

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