#BTColumn – In pursuit of a holistic educational model

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Wayne Campbell

“Testing children until they cry is a bad idea. It is an educational malpractice.” – Diane Ravitch

Singapore has long been recognised as having one of the best education systems globally. The island state has long been an educational high-achiever, endorsing rote learning and long study hours to propel school children toward examination success. However, this successful nation has re-branded their approach to education and students are no longer ranked by examination results.

In a history of high performance Singaporean students were absorbed in a highly competitively charged educational environment which is rather characteristic of other Asia-Pacific societies such as China, South Korea and Japan. In 2004, the government developed the “Teach Less, Learn More” initiative, which moved instruction further away from its early focus on rote memorisation and repetitive tasks and toward deeper conceptual understanding and problem-based learning.

Singapore’s current priorities for its education system are reflected in the title of its initiative “Every School a Good School.” This set of reforms aims to ensure that all schools have adequate resources to develop customised programme for their students; raise professional standards for teachers; encourage innovation; and foster partnerships between schools and communities.

In 2018 Singapore launched the “Learn for Life” initiative to promote greater flexibility in teaching, learning, and assessment. This change of the educational model has been reaping benefits for Singapore

Programme for International Student Assessment

Singapore stands out among The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for its low percentage of low-performing students and high percentage of high-performing students on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Singapore’s change of approach to education is in stark contrast to the neighbouring states which are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) education rankings.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives.

In most international educational indicators such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Singapore has been ranked at the top or close to the top.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is not only the world’s most comprehensive and reliable indicator of students’ capabilities; it is also a powerful tool that countries and economies can use to fine-tune their education policies.Every PISA test since 2000 has assessed students’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematics and science; each assessment focuses on one of these subjects and provides a summary assessment of the other two.

In 2018, the focus was on reading in a digital environment; but the design of the assessment also made it possible to measure trends in reading literacy over the past two decades. In Singapore teachers perform continuous assessment of their students at all levels
of education.

On a daily basis, this assessment is informal and based on student work in and out of the classroom. Previously, all Singaporeans students in primary school took school-based examinations throughout the year and at the end of each year, but in 2019, the government dropped the examinations for Primary 1 and 2 and in 2021 dropped the mid-year exams for Primary 3 and 5, as well as Secondary 3.

The government hopes that by removing these examinations there will be a shift away from grades and competition and more toward learning for its own sake.

It should be noted that in Singapore there is only one institution, the National Institute of Education (NIE), authorised to prepare teachers, and it offers both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree route into teaching.

Contrastingly in Jamaica there are multiple teaching training institution. In this way, Singapore limits its teacher recruitment only to those students qualified for the country’s rigorous research universities. By taking this route Singapore has been able to add prestige and status to the teaching profession. They have also been able to ensure that those who have been accepted and trained in the profession go on to teach.

Each year, Singapore calculates the number of teachers it will need, and opens only that many spots in the training programs. The selection process is competitive: teaching is a highly-regarded profession in Singapore. The population of Singapore is just undersix million. The island state is a parliamentary representative democratic system of government with a President as head of state and a Prime Minister as the head of government. The country practises multi-party political system with democratic elections.

Educational Reform

Since the 1950’s Jamaica has embarked on a number of educational reform programmes. At one point there was the Primary Education Improvement Programme (PEIP), Jamaica also bloomed with the Reform of Secondary Education (ROSE) programme during the 1990’s.

We continue to operate in a paradigm of an overly competitive education system which oftentimes does not facilitate the learner to identify his/her learning style. This is problematic and continues to have negative long term impact on our students. Interestingly, many of us have only been able to identify how best we learn since becoming adults.

Jamaica’s education system in one in which the ranking of students is a critical component. At the end of primary education students in Jamaica normally sit the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination. Jamaican students in grade 6 begin their assessment in grade 4.

The system is as such that the top ranked students are placed at those high schools which are deemed as among the best in the country. Thankfully, with the arrival of the PEP more emphasis is geared around critical thinking skills as opposed to rote learning which was conducive to the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) for which the last sitting ended in the 2017-2018 academic year.

According to Angel Gurría OECD Secretary-General, the OECD produces a triennial report on the state of education around the globe: to share evidence of the best policies and practices and to offer our timely and targeted support to help countries provide the best education possible for all of their students; the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) changed this.

The idea behind PISA lay in testing the knowledge and skills of students directly, through a metric that was internationally agreed upon; linking that with data from students, teachers, schools and systems to understand performance differences; and then harnessing the power of collaboration to act on the data, both by creating shared points of reference and by leveraging peer pressure.

Embracing Soft Skills

Education is not merely about passing examinations. In the pursuit of an educational model we must take into account how best to holistically appeal to students. Singapore which has an enviable Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has made a shift away from examination towards creating more rounded individuals. Perhaps this is not only a lesson for Singapore but also
for Jamaica.

The term “soft skills” hardly does justice to the complex combination of capabilities it describes: empathy, emotional intelligence, creativity, being able to collaborate and communicate. Choosing a career is one of the greatest challenges for any young person and as such the education system pursued must foster this innate desire. Undoubtedly, the skills we need to perform at work are changing and quickly.

Digital Tools

Our education system must prepare our students for the digital era and take into consideration how technology will impact our students. Whereas people have different views on the role that digital technology can and should play in schools, we cannot ignore how digital tools have so essentially transformed the world outside of school.

According to the World Economic Forum, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is interacting with other socio-economic and demographic factors to create a perfect storm of business model change in all industries, resulting in major disruptions to labour markets. New categories of jobs will emerge, partly or wholly displacing others.

The skill sets required in both old and new occupations will change in most industries and transform how and where people work. It may also affect female and male workers differently and transform the dynamics of the industry gender gap.Is the Singaporean model of education worthy of consideration?

In the words of Ong Ye Kung, Singaporean politician, learning is not a competition.

Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo ©