Singapore to stress on technology in new education masterplan - Future Gov - 14 April 2011

According to Singapore’s Educational Technology Division (ETD) in the Ministry of Education (MOE), the digital divide related to technology access is fading. What the nation faces now is a digital divide about students with ICT skill sets, and those without, said Tham Yoke Chun, Deputy Director of the Professional Development & Consultancy, ETD.


Hence, the ETD is now on its third education masterplan, looking to strengthen and scale education technology use in schools and to develop a new curriculum—a Curriculum 2015 Vision (C2015) meant to build 21st century competencies in students.


Tham explained at today’s 3D Learning Symposium, “If we want to make sure technology use is sound, the starting point must always be sound pedagogy and curriculum”.


“Technology in itself cannot transform learning,” Tham said.

In which case the C2015 hopes to create students who are:

Anchored in strong moral values;

Possess social and emotional competencies;

Have ICT skills, civic literacy, cross cultural skills and critical and inventive thinking.
The department is also looking to introduce “new modes of pedagogy using social media to enable participation, negotiation of meaning, dialogue, and co-construction of knowledge”.


The MOE’s first masterplan started in 1997 to build a strong ICT foundation in Singapore’s schools; and the second one in 2003 birthed FutureSchools in a bid to seed innovation. The current masterplan started in 2009 with a vision of “harnessing technology to transform learners”.

Reference: http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2011/apr/14/building-21st-century-competencies-students/

Pilot programme to aid preschoolers with developmental needs sees success - CNA - 06 July 2010

SINGAPORE: A pilot programme that seeks to help preschoolers with developmental needs overcome their learning gaps has seen success, spelling new hope for this group of children.

Mission I'mPossible is a first-of-its-kind programme that takes a community-based and family-focused approach to better prepare such children for mainstream schools.

The programme started its pilot run in July last year, with 22 PAP Community Foundation (PCF) centres in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

To date, 980 pre-schoolers have been screened and 92 children have successfully completed the programme.

Under the programme, each child has a customised education plan (IEP) to help in learning.

The child receives general learning support, speech and occupational therapy.

More than 90 per cent of children who have undergone the programme have shown improvement.

70 per cent of the kindergarten teachers at the 22 PCF centres have also been trained to screen and detect students with developmental needs, and provide them with better support in class.

The pilot programme is a joint effort by the Lien Foundation, KK Women's and Children's Hospital's Department of Child Development and PAP Community Foundation.

It's hoped that the community-based model of care can now be further replicated. - CNA/jm

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1067795/1/.html

Factsheet: http://www.lienfoundation.org/press/MIP%20press%20release_Final_6July.pdf

Singapore's ITE praised in Unesco report - pressrun.net - 23 Feb 2010

Singapore's Skills Development Fund and vocation education system are praised in Unesco's 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, Reaching the Marginalized.

The report, available on the Unesco website, says:

Republic of Korea and Singapore both aligned vocational programmes with the needs of high-growth sectors, identifying skills bottlenecks and, as the economy developed, gradually shifting the focus of training from secondary schools to specialized technical institutes and higher education.

Two distinctive features of the vocational success story in East Asia have been missing from the policy environment of many other developing countries. The first is rapid economic growth, which has created demand for skilled labour and resources for training. Second, provision of technical and vocational education in countries such as the Republic of Korea and Singapore has been integrated into broad-based national strategies for industrial development, employment creation and raising living standards through higher levels of skills and productivity.

It notes:

Singapore’s Skills Development Fund and Malaysia’s Human Resources Development Fund are financed by a 1% levy on wages, with the revenue used to subsidize training for workers in smaller companies. Singapore’s fund reaches 65% of enterprises with between 10 and 49 workers.

The report quotes from Education in Singapore: Developments since 1965 by Goh and Gopinathan. Here is the long quote, which appears in a box headlined: Singapore's 'jewel in the system':

By helping drive economic growth, overcome shortages of skilled labour and reduce social inequalities, technical and vocational education has played a central role in turning Singapore into a high-income country with one of the world’s best-performing education systems. The education minister has described the Institute of Technical Education as ‘a shining jewel in our system’.

The Institute of Technical Education was established in the early 1990s in response to growing concerns over the education system’s ability to meet the demands of a more productive economy and the needs of the young. It is meant for students who register low scores in general academic education. Courses are designed by government and industry. Companies value its graduates highly: over 90% of students were employed within six months of graduating in 2007. As the economy has evolved, the institute has responded with innovative programmes, including partnering with global industry to set up centres of technology in niche areas such as industrial automation, offering joint certificates with companies such as Microsoft and linking with institutes in Germany to offer diplomas in machine technology.

Perhaps the institute’s greatest success has been in combating the stigma associated with vocational education. Successive governments have invested heavily in training teachers, involving the private sector as well, so that the institute’s facilities are comparable to those of the country’s universities. Qualifications from the institute can be used as a route into tertiary-level technical education through polytechnics, or back into academic education through universities. The emphasis on giving confidence to students and tackling the perception of technical and vocational education as a sign of failure helps explain why Singapore’s model has succeeded where others have failed.

--- Goh, C. B. and Gopinathan, S. 2008. Education in Singapore: Developments since 1965. Tan, J.-P. and Fredriksen, B. (eds),

Source: http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2010/02/singapores-ite-praised-in-unesco-report.html

Report: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001866/186606E.pdf