14 th OECD Japan Seminar Keynote Address Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education Singapore

1. 14th OECD Japan Seminar Keynote Address Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education Singapore Singapore Education Reform Journey Integrity, the Foundation . People, our Focus . Learning, our Passion . Excellence, our Pursuit

2. Singapore school system pre-independence: Highly fragmented 2 2

3. Typical schools built in the 1970s

4. Early Days

5. …education is a powerful vehicle of social mobility; that is, families can improve their earning power through the education system…we should ask…”What proportion of the original Primary 1 cohort reached Pre-U 1 and how do children from different parental educational backgrounds compare?”…we should get a higher percentage of school children to get good passes at ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels, and where their inability to do so is the result of handicaps arising out of their home or family environment, we must help them to overcome these. Dr Goh Keng Swee Then Education Minister 31 August 1979

6. For the first time, we dared to think of returning control of a school to the community that founded and supported it, and that school excellence is best achieved ground up. Mr Wee Heng Tin Then Director-General of Education

7. Teachers & School Leaders are key

8. 21st Century Skills

10. Thank You