Transcript Summary & Wrap-up on 21st Century Learning and Teaching

SESSION 8 - Summary & Wrap-up
on 21st Century Learning and
Teaching - TSLN
Workshop on Teaching & Learning in
the 21st Century
Koh Boon Long, M. Ed., PPA.
National Institute of Education, Singapore
[email protected]
ORGANISED BY DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
Directorate for Development of Secondary School Teachers & Education
Personnel (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Indonesia)
Thinking Schools,
Learning Nation
Scope of Presentation
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Education in Singapore’s nation-building
history
Emerging trends, future challenges - the
changing role of the teacher
MOE’s response - our mission, vision, goals,
capacity and strategic paradigm
The education buffet
Survival-Driven Education (1959 1978)
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Self-government - merger with Malaysia independence
National survival a concern
Fragile social situation
Widespread poverty, high birth rate,
insufficient housing, high unemployment
Fertile ground for communist activism
Survival-Driven Education (1959 1978)
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Mass education for all
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accelerated school building programme
recruitment of teachers en masse
A technical bias in education
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technical secondary schools
establishing what would become today’s ITE and
polytechnics
Survival-Driven Education (1959 1978)
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Parity of treatment for all streams
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common curricula
common training for teachers
common examinations
education structures aligned with English system
Pledge-taking, flag-raising introduced
Bilingualism
Efficiency-Driven Education (1979
- 1996)
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Singapore achieved full employment
Economic restructuring to higher valueadded activities
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focus on productivity and efficiency
widespread automation and mechanisation
expansion of technical manpower training
wage correction
selective investment promotion
Efficiency-Driven Education (1979
- 1996)
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Problems in education
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high educational wastage
lower literacy and numeracy
pre-mature school leaving
unemployability of school leavers
Ability-based streaming introduced
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Curricula changes
User-proof materials produced
Efficiency-Driven Education (1979
- 1996)
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Severe economic recession in 1985
Singapore subject to factors beyond our
control
Economic Committee report (1986)
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upgrade workforce, continually retrain
cultivate a flexible, innovative mindset in our
people
Efficiency-Driven Education (1979
- 1996)
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A need to raise the minimum educational
levels of the workforce
Provide broad-based education to develop
adaptability
Expansion of post-secondary and tertiary
education
Excellence in education
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independent/autonomous schools
cluster schools
Percentage
A Sound and Robust System
Today
20%
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
19%
Sec
Pri
11%
4.20%
4.40%
1.90%
0.40%
80
90
Year
97
A Sound and Robust System
Today
97
95
93
91
89
87
85
83
81
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
A Sound and Robust System
Today
GCE O-levels
JC/CI
25%
Polytechnics
39%
University 21%
WORK
GCE N-levels
ITE
21%
A Sound and Robust System
Today
Secondary level
Math
s
Primary level
Math
s
Science
A Sound and Robust System
Today
“We have no failing schools, an assertion few
countries in the world can make. We only
have good schools, and very good schools.
We have not only provided education to our
young, we have succeeded in providing
quality education to all of them”
RAdm Teo Chee Hean
Minister for Education
Why Change?
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Change is discomfiting
The best time to change is before change
becomes critical
But things are still relatively comfortable, and
the need for change is not pressing
Here lies the challenge for change
Why Change?
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Three fatal errors
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failure to learn from the past
failure to adapt to the present
failure to anticipate the future
A failure to change in good time is a result of
a failure to change in good times
The Challenge of Change
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Charting change
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Communicating change
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building from past successes and failures
forging a shared vision
appreciate broader national visions
re-orientate mindsets
Effecting change
–
harnessing the creativity of everyone to
implement change
Emerging Trends and Future
Challenges
Competing in the First League of Nations
 Globalisation
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Intellectual Capital
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the death of distance
increased mobility of talent across borders
intense competition
Knowledge will be the key strategic asset
Technology, innovation critical
Technology
Emerging Trends and Future
Challenges
Life in the 21st Century
 Over Information
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vast amount of information available
knowledge is expanding rapidly
Shifting Moral Values
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Easy access to foreign media
Our young better educated than elders
dual-income families, latchkey kids, rising juvenile
delinquency and divorce rates
Emerging Trends and Future
Challenges
Life in the 21st Century
 Demographics
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ageing population
baby boom
Evolving Social Patterns
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Families more cloistered
Technology encouraging more individualism
Less concern for others in society
Emerging Trends and Future
Challenges
Hotel Singapore
 Great Expectations
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rising material expectations without regard for
Singapore’s constraints
unthinking vocal dissent
Fight or Flight?
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Emigration to perceived greener pastures in good
times
In bad times, will Singaporeans quit Singapore?
Emerging Trends and Future
Challenges
National Cohesion
 Ethnic Divides
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Socio-Economic Stratification
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a migrant, plural society
natural divides along lines of race, language and
religion
Income gap likely to grow
A growing underclass?
Citizenship and Permanent Residence
The Changing Role of Teachers
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Teachers no longer perceived as people in
society holding the key to knowledge
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need to go beyond dispensing knowledge to
imparting thinking and learning skills
particular expertise of teachers lies in the ability to
catalyse learning in a class of very different
individuals
emphasis must shift from eliciting right answers to
asking good questions
a more constructional, less instructional approach
The Changing Role of Teachers
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Learner-Centeredness
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not what is most convenient for the teacher, but
what is most effective for the learner
need to be mindful of whole-person factors
influencing learning - aptitude, ability, learning
modality, learning style
mass customisation of education
The Changing Role of Teachers
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Teachers must be conversant with IT as an
educational tool
The teaching profession as a whole needs to
collaborate more - tapping good ideas within
and across schools
Teachers should be encouraged to network
widely, even with teachers in other countries
The Changing Role of Teachers
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The teacher must be the moral guardians of
society
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the health of a nation lies ultimately in the values
of its people
the building of stout character must be through
personal example
Teachers are cornerstones of social defence,
advocates of our principles of governance
But some things
do not change …
Let’s take a
short break ...
An Overall Framework
Our Mission
Moulding the Future of Our Nation
Our Vision
Thinking Schools,
Learning Nation
Our Goals
The Desired Outcomes
of Education
Our Capacity
Managing for
Excellence with the
4/3 Approach
Our Mission
Moulding the Future of Our Nation
 We cannot provide fixed formulae for
success or dictate desired goals
 We inculcate values and attitudes, develop
skills and competencies
 Our young must identify their own problems,
find their own solutions and chart their own
destiny
 Continuous renewal of our people
Our Vision
Thinking Schools, Learning Nation
 Thinking Schools are true learning
organisations in every sense
 A Learning Nation envisages a national
culture and social environment that promotes
lifelong learning
Our Goals
The Desired Outcomes of Education
 A return to education fundamentals,
developing the moral, cognitive, physical,
social and aesthetic realms
 Developing the individual, educating the
citizen
Our Organisational Capacity
MOE’s 4/3 Approach
 The approach sets out
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the centrality of people for all achievement
the need for systems to assure efficiency and
consistency
the need to recognise the customer as the reason
for all things
Purpose is to achieve excellence on a
sustained basis
MOE’s 4/3 Approach
WELL-BEING
Fitness
Challenge
Recognition
LEAD
PEOPLE
SUPERVISOR
S
Mission
Vision
Support
Example
ExCel
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Learning
Teamwork
Standards
Innovation
Economy
MANAGE
QUALITY SERVICE
DELIGHT CUSTOMERS
Courtesy
Accessibility
Responsiveness
Effectiveness
SYSTEMS
ORGANISATIONAL
REVIEW
Qualitivity = Quality + Productivity
Our Strategic Paradigm
Ability-Driven Education
 Maximal development of talents and abilities
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of students
Ability-Driven Education
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Every child has talents and abilities
Every child is different
Ability refers to ability at all levels, ability of
all types
Everyone should excel according to his own
ability
To excel is to be the best one can be, to do
the best one can do.
Ability-Driven Education
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Every Singaporean is able to make a unique
contribution to society
By doing so, he gains a sense of selfconfidence, a sense of self-worth
Every student can succeed in ability-driven
education, so long as he puts his mind to it
Ability-Driven Education
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We also develop our teachers
Efficiency paradigm for training
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miserly provision of professional development
opportunities
Ability paradigm for training
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each teacher entitled to 100 hours of training
with his supervisor, the teacher decides how he
can get the most out of training
Ability-Driven Education
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Harnessing the creative talents of every
member of staff to provide the best education
for the students
School autonomy - not fewer rules, but
different rules
Vision, rationale and strategic intent become
vital, procedures more flexible
The TSLN Strategic Review
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The First Wave
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The Second Wave
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problem identification
about 300 people in 32 project teams
problem-solving
The Third Wave
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vision-sharing
continual feedback
The Education Buffet
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Not fixed meal, not a choice of set lunches,
but a la carte
A spread to choose from
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Two mistakes
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what to eat, what to eat first
eat everything
eat nothing
Decision based on what you need, and what
you can chew
The Education Buffet
The Masterplan for IT in Education
 Education’s answer to a world of rapid
technological advancement
 Not to teach IT skills per se, but to make our
young IT savvy
 IT is an enabler, not an end; it empowers
sound pedagogy, not replaces it
The Education Buffet
National Education
 Education’s efforts towards rootedness and
social cohesion
 To know the Singapore story
 To think global, yet stay local
 To safeguard social harmony
The Education Buffet
The Syllabus Content Reduction
 Education’s response to the nature of
knowledge in the future
 To free up time for developing thinking skills,
learning skills, process skills, communication
skills
 Identified the core, cut down content
coverage by up to 30%
The Education Buffet
Teacher-Training
 Teachers are key to education reform
 Foundation training at NIE should inculcate
values and attitudes
 Teachers must keep up to date with
educational developments and effective
classroom practices
 Upgrading to come through courses as well
as professional sharing
The Education Buffet
University Admissions System
 Shifting students’ attitudes
 The university admission system serves two
purposes
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sorting students
signaling effect
A-levels to be supplemented by reasoning
tests, project work and ECAs
The Education Buffet
School Excellence Model
 Shifting schools’ mindsets
 Quality assurance approach based on selfappraisal
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50% results
50% enablers
Aim is to sustain excellence
The Education Buffet
PRIME
 To create a conducive physical learning
environment in schools
 All schools will be upgraded over the next 7
years
 Thereafter, schools will be upgraded to the
most recent standards every 5 years
The Education Buffet
MOE’s 4/3 Approach
 Leadership is key to organisational
excellence
 Management of systems and resources to
get the most value out of pre-allocated
resources
 Delighting all customers
Create Your Own Buffet
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Not everything is best implemented centrally
Schools know their students’ needs best,
schools know the capacity of their staff best
Some areas to think about
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Non-academic school programmes
Mass customisation in the school and in the
classroom
Let’s digest ...
CLOSING REMARKS & GOOD BYE
A big “Thank You” – Respect & Greetings to
all Esteemed Participants OF THIS
WORKSHOP
Hope sharing with you
Workshop on Teaching &
st
Learning in the 21 Century
had been useful