Done by: Ng Wei Bo (24) Marcus Chong (10) Andrew Sung Wei Yang (01)

1. Done by: Ng Wei Bo (24) Marcus Chong (10) Andrew Sung Wei Yang (01)

2. Overview • Education • MOE • Policy Making • Good Governance • Ethnicity Issues • Welfare for Citizens

3. Education

4. Education • achieves two things: 1. Develops individual 2. Educates Citizens • refers to developing the child in 5 aspects: • Morally • Intelligently • Physically • Socially • Aesthetically

5. Education • Many domestic political issues of the country, such as the relations between ethnic groups, the competition for elite status, the plans for the future security of the nation and its people, and the distribution of scarce resources were reflected in the schools and in Singapore’s education policy

6. Ministry of Education (MOE)

7. MOE • Mission • Vision

8. Mission • The wealth of a nation lies in its people - their commitment to country and community, their willingness to strive and persevere, their ability to think, achieve and excel. • How we bring up our young at home and teach them in school will shape Singapore in the next generation. • The mission of the Education Service is to mould the future of the nation, by moulding the people who will determine the future of the nation. • provide children with balanced and well-rounded education, develop them to their full potential and nurture them into good citizens, conscious of their responsibilities to family, society and country.

9. Vision • "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" (TSLN) -- first announced by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1997 • describes a nation of thinking, committed citizens capable of meeting challenges of future and education system geared to needs of the 21st century. • will be learning organisations in every sense, challenging assumptions, and seeking better ways of doing things through participation, creativity and innovation • will be the cradle of thinking students and this spirit of learning should accompany our students even after they leave school. • envisions a national culture and social environment that promotes lifelong learning in our people, will continually learn, both for professional development and for personal enrichment, will determine our collective tolerance for change.

10. Good Governance

11. Good Governance • Participation • Rule of Law • Transparency • Responsiveness • Consensus oriented • Equity and inclusiveness • Effectiveness and Efficiency • Accountability

12. Good Governance 1. Participation: • When a new policy is waiting to be imposed by the MOE, the people affected: parents and children are informed of the changes as well as given a chance to speak their views • allowed to give positive feedback so that the policy can be reviewed and changed to be much better. 2. Rule of law: • very fair and uncorrupted, needs impartial government that will help the minorities and not ignore their concerns and needs • subsidies are given to students from poor families and MOE also rewards those who have done well in their studies

13. Good Governance 3. Transparency: • Media in Singapore has always been well-informed of whatever changes there are in education • people know whatever is going on easily because information is easily accessible 4. Responsiveness: • Requires government to respond readily to changes • Schools have been closed due to the increase in number to H1N1 cases in Singapore • a sign of the MOE being well prepared against threats of any form

14. Good Governance 5. Consensus oriented: • decide the best for the community on the whole • to let all students in Singapore learn English as their first language so that communications would be better and conflicts could be solved easily. 6. Equity and inclusiveness: • all members feel they have a role in it and not feel as outsiders who are not treated equally. • everyone has fair share in decision-making and not restricted by any others • MOE allows students to have a chance in choosing their education style

15. Good Governance 7. Effectiveness and efficiency: • Requires organisations to use whatever resources they have to produce the best result • Money spent on education is lesser compared to other countries, Singapore is still able to produce lots of talent and far exceeds those of foreign nations. 8. Accountability: • Being responsible for everything that one does and answerable for one’s actions. • cannot be enforced without transparency and rule of law • MOE is accountable for the welfare of the students and has insurances that take care of the students in Singapore.

16. Policy Making

17. Policy Making • Compulsory Education Act • Education Act • Children with special needs • Learning Support • Gifted Education Programme • Elective Programmes • Co-curricular Activities • Education System + changes • Reducing drop-out rate • Singapore Education System

18. Compulsory Education Act 1)   A child of compulsory school age who is — • (a) born after 1st January 1996; • (b) a citizen of Singapore; • (c) residing in Singapore shall attend regularly as a pupil at a national primary school. • Shall not affect Education Act • Shows that the government is trying all ways to reduce literacy rate and they want citizens to at least know basic knowledge of languages and let them develop a particular skill after education to contribute to the country’s economy or development

19. Education Act • relates to education and the registration of schools. • includes: • Education Finance Board– advise on administration of all finances contributed in respect of education and consider annual estimates for educational purposes. • Educational Advisory Council— advise Minister upon any matter of educational policy or development. • Contains all these councils and boards to carefully manage the running of the government schools, including the budget for education per year so that students can get their hands on more resources. After education, they can use these knowledge to contribute to the country’s social development.

20. Children with special needs • In 2004, MOE decided to support children with mild special educational needs in mainstream schools: came into effect in 2005 • Deployment of Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioural Support), to support children with special educational needs in mainstream schools. • Additional funding for resourced mainstream schools. • Training in special needs for a proportion of teachers, they take on the role as Teachers Trained in Special Needs (TSNs) in schools. • This again shows that the government wants the best for Singapore’s growth to international fame in terms of education by providing special resources to those in need. They in the end have the knowledge and the means to contribute to our society in one way or another

21. Learning Support • to help primary pupils who enter P1 with weak English Language and literacy skills or Mathematics competencies • identified through systematic screening process • an early intervention effort aimed at providing additional support to pupils who do not have foundational numeracy skills and knowledge • to equip pupils with basic literacy skills and numeracy skills and knowledge so that they could access learning in classroom. At least they leave school with some basic knowledge, and can help in society development.

22. Gifted Education Programme • to nurture gifted individuals to full potential for fulfilment of self and betterment of society • make Gifted Education in Singapore a model of excellence • develop intellectual rigour, humane values and creativity in gifted youths to prepare them for responsible leadership and service to country and society

23. Elective Programmes • Art Elective Programme [AEP] • Started in 1984 • Offered to academically able students with talents in art • Music Elective Programme [MEP] • Started in 1982 • Offered to academically able students with talents in music • This was done to stretch the students’ talents in art and music and to develop individuals who would be able to provide leadership meant for the cultivation of the arts in Singapore, giving a holistic development in Singapore’s society

24. Elective Programme • Language Elective Programme [LEP] • a 2-year programme, at selected junior colleges • have optional subjects, current third and second languages • This was done because talents groomed in this area can have more opportunities and will find it easier to develop in other countries where such languages as common communication language.

25. Co-curricular Activities • build and enhance the capacity of schools to enrich students' experience • Cultured and Active Youths of Tomorrow • Enrich students’ experience --- give them experience for future problem solving, increasing leadership qualities for the betterment of society when they grow up and become future leaders.

26. Education System • Goal: to develop talents of every individual so that each could contribute to the economy and the ongoing struggle to make Singapore productive and competitive in the international marketplace • an education system that stressed the assessment, tracking and sorting of students into appropriate programs, but this is being changed, step-by-step

27. Changes made • 1979: produced an elaborate tracking system, intended to reduce the dropout rate and to see that those with low academic performance left school with some marketable skills • 1987: 4% of GDP went into education. Education wasn’t compulsory but attendance was universal. Primary education was free. Malays received free education through university. Special funds were available to ensure no student dropped out. Secondary schools charged nominal fees of S$9.50 per month. • 1989: discussing the possibility of permitting some of the junior colleges to revert to private status in the interest of encouraging educational excellence and diversity.

28. Reducing drop-out rate • schools operated a modified British-style system GCE O level and A level examinations. • All instruction was in English, with supplementary teaching of the students' appropriate "mother tongue"--Malay, Tamil, or Mandarin • basic structure was six-year primary school, a four-year secondary school, and a two-year junior college • some students progressed through the system more slowly than others, spending more time in primary and secondary school but achieving similar standards • goal was that every student achieve some success and leave school with some certification

29. Singapore Education System

31. Ethnicity Issues

32. Ethnicity Issues– some info • a multi-ethnic nation-state with the following groups: Chinese (76.8%), Malay (13.9%), Indian (7.9%), and Others (1.4%). • Follows a bilingual policy, which takes English as a lingua franca and Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil as mother tongue for each ethnic group, reflects Singapore’s multi-ethnic characteristics.

33. Ethnicity Issues • All students in schools have to go through the national curriculum including learning about racial harmony through CME classes and the National Education programme • MOE ensures that all races in Singapore get the same treatment as the rest and there are no "special treatment" for certain races in Singapore. This has been integral in Singapore's policy making after joining the Federation of Malaysia in 1959.

34. Ethnicity Issues • often have multi-racial gatherings because Singapore is a multi-racial nation. • very prone to conflicts because no common roots. • Thus, the government is doing its best to avoid future racial conflicts that may arise and stop the problem before it even develops.

35. Ethnicity Issues • collaborate with other schools and external organisations to create more opportunities for students to mingle with other races, to understand their cultures • children of different races to interact with one another and get to know about about the other races. As children are the future leaders of Singapore, this action by the government is good insight because it reduces friction among the different races in Singapore and also is a great way of bonding Singapore together into a tight, cohesive unit.

36. Welfare For Citizens

37. Welfare for Citizens • School Discipline • Sexuality Education • Social Work Services [CIP]

38. School Discipline • expelling delinquent students • proactive measures --aimed at helping students build self-esteem, take responsibility for their actions and develop purposefulness in life. • Expulsion from school if allowing the student to remain would threaten the safety of other students or undermine school discipline • expulsion is always last resort and only when all other measures have no effect on improving the students’ conduct. • to maintain good order for the safety and welfare of all other students in the school.

39. Sexuality Education • aims to inculcate positive values in and equip students with essential knowledge to make responsible choices on sexuality matters and issues. • developmental in nature to meet the needs of students at their various stages of maturity. • cannot address all causes of emerging social problems • What we can do through sexuality education is to inculcate the right values in our students, raise their awareness of the options and consequences, and equip them with the skills to make informed choices • This is so that wrong choices will not affect others’ lives

40. Social Work Services [CIP] • MOE gave school autonomy to decide on need for social work services • provided with information on community service providers • because students and problems vary across schools • give schools flexibility to decide on engaging the type of social services required • A good thing because schools would naturally know and want what is best, in terms of time spent and other miscellaneous things, for the different groups of students in the school.

41. References • http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_retrieve.pl?actno=REVED-51&doctitle=COMPULSORY%20EDUCATION%20ACT%0A&date=latest&method=part • http://countrystudies.us/singapore/26.htm • http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/html/homepage.html • http://edu-s1.wikispaces.com/ • http://www.unescap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/gg/governance.asp • http://www.singaporeedu.gov.sg/htm/stu/stu01.htm • http://www.flamingtext.com • http://www.google.com • http://images.google.com