The Ministers noted that certain fundamentals were common across top performing education systems. Further, international benchmarking tests, while not comprehensive in measuring educational outcomes across systems, had provided the impetus for countries and territories to systematically seek out useful lessons and experiences from others. This process of learning from one another and adopting or adapting generalisable lessons had in turn helped to enhance performance.

They agreed that to sustain and enhance performance, education systems needed to focus on attracting individuals with the right attitudes and aptitude to become educators and providing them with the best tools, including information and communication technologies (ICT), to do their jobs well. For all schools to improve, there was a need for a rigorous system of performance management, transparent data and sharing of best practices.

A joint project by the Singapore Ministry of Education and McKinsey & Company, the Roundtable, held in Singapore from 6-8 July, was attended by Ministers and senior government officials from Australia (Victoria), Canada (Alberta), China, Hong Kong, Sweden, and the US. The list of representatives is at the Annex.

Under the theme “Top performing education systems: expectations and challenges for the future”, the Education Ministers discussed what top-performing systems should do to nurture educated citizens, and how to mobilise education systems to scale up successful innovations. Singapore Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen and Sir Michael Barber, Partner at McKinsey & Company and former Chief Advisor on Delivery to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, chaired discussions on future challenges in education, with a focus on school leadership and the teaching profession, as well as the impact of ICT on teaching and learning.

How Top Performing School Systems Can Nurture Citizens for the Future

The IER participants noted that in an era of globalisation and rapid changes, education systems, too, must keep up with the times, and constantly look ahead into the future. Foremost on their minds was how they could get young citizens ready for the future. In developing a strategy for the future, engaging and enthusing the community was essential. In Alberta, an extensive public dialogue would take place across the province this year, on their vision for the educated Albertan 20 years from now. China too had started a massive effort to solicit suggestions and views for an education outline plan for 2020 spearheaded by Premier Wen Jiabao. Good platforms for engaging stakeholders in education, as seen in Hong Kong, would further strengthen the partnerships between schools and the community and build strong public support for education reform.

The Ministers noted that, as economies transformed from being industrial-based to becoming knowledge-based, there would be a transition from education for a small elite to education for all, and to high standards. Most jobs to be created would require not just basic education, but also some form of post-secondary education and training. A diversity of pathways, all of high quality, was needed to provide quality education to all. Countries such as China had made innovation and quality their top priorities, even as they expanded access to disadvantaged communities.

Equipping students with a strong foundation in the basics, as seen in New Zealand’s teaching of literacy skills, and the strong focus on Mathematics and Science in several East Asian countries, would remain critical. The Ministers agreed that students of the future would continue to require a strong knowledge base, while striking a better balance between the teaching of content knowledge and the nurturing of essential attributes such as cross-cultural communication skills, creativity and ICT literacy. These attributes would help them to work across geographic borders, critically analyse information from diverse sources, and solve multi-dimensional problems. Strong ethical underpinnings would enable all to live and contribute in increasingly diverse communities. Learning how to learn would help them adapt to change and remain productive citizens. In the continued quest for excellence, some education systems would need to re-emphasise the building of a knowledge base while others would aspire to the nurturing of thinking and learning skills.

The Roundtable re-affirmed the need to invest in educators and educational leaders. Teaching must be valued by society and teachers recognised in both intrinsic and extrinsic ways, as seen in top-performing systems such as Finland and South Korea. For good teachers to deliver quality teaching, they would need the support of a nurturing school environment, high-quality curricular materials, and access to community resources. Emphasis should be placed on continuous professional development, as in the case of Sweden and Australia (Victoria), and fostering a culture of learning and collaboration among educators, as seen in Japan. The fraternity of educators should evolve a consensus around good professional practice. Professionalising the teaching force and resourcing this well would build pride in the profession and enhance job satisfaction.

Educators must have high expectations of their students and of themselves, and be able to adapt well to the changing environment. The most able among them who wish to take the next step in leadership, should aspire to become school leaders and lead innovations in their schools. As instructional leaders, school leaders should place due emphasis on good professional practices and help their teachers level up their craft.

The Ministers noted that the learning process must be constantly updated, to reflect technological advances and to prepare young people for the workplace of the future. They underscored the potential for ICT to improve quality learning in the classroom and nurture future-ready citizens, and acknowledged innovations that were taking place across schools in Australia (Victoria), Singapore and the USA. The Roundtable affirmed the need for clear strategy formulation and alignment to learning outcomes, before education systems committed themselves to making significant investments in hardware or software. The Ministers advocated judicious investment in meaningful integration of technology into the curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. Teaching and learning processes had to change, in tandem with the introduction of ICT. The Ministers saw the need to change the mind-sets of teachers and students as the key to success.

To scale up school-based innovations across each territory, there was a need to put in place appropriate school performance management systems. For instance, England had an independent inspectorate (Ofsted) which was directly accountable to the British Parliament, to monitor the quality of teaching and learning. Processes to collect and analyse feedback and data, and platforms for sharing of best practices were also important. A positive spiral of improvement could result from good practices being widely understood and shared.

The Ministers emphasised the importance of effective and even implementation. They saw extensive public consultations conducted in participating countries and territories as an integral part of good implementation. In addition, timely monitoring and evaluation would provide the basis for refinement and review of policies.

The Ministers agreed that there was value in establishing stronger educational collaborations between education systems. They noted that regional and international collaborative networks for policymakers, educators and students would enhance the spread of best practices and innovations in the field of education, including educational technology.

Moving Forward

The Ministers agreed that the IER served as a useful platform to exchange ideas, to re-affirm sound policies and practices that had led to good performance, and to learn about the need to customise and adapt ideas to fit local conditions. The Ministers agreed to continue the dialogue that had started with the inaugural IER, through a variety of channels. In addition, to ensure that the learning could take place at the professional level, the Ministers tasked their officials to develop new platforms for collaboration, in particular networks for Principals to exchange best practices, and overseas exchanges for teachers and students.

Learning points and key insights gathered from the discussion would also be extended beyond the participants of the IER. A post-conference report to map out key strategies for systems seeking to deliver quality outcomes in education will be shared with other Education Ministers, researchers and policy-makers interested in raising the standards of education not in one or a few schools but across all schools. The realisation of this aspiration will lay a firm foundation for the citizens of tomorrow.

This Japanese Speech Contest has a relatively long history in Singapore. I understand that it was first initiated by the Japanese Cultural Society in 1968. Later, in 1996, it was combined with the Students’ Eloquence Contest organized by the Japanese Association to become what it is today. This is the 14th Japanese Speech Contest and it has seen participation from many keen learners of the Japanese language. The contest has also grown over the years, expanding into four categories - the secondary, junior college, tertiary and open categories.

Bilingualism is a key tenet of Singapore’s education system. By learning English and the Mother Tongue Language, our students acquire language skills that are essential in a global economy even as they imbibe and develop a keen sense of their cultural identity. Proficiency in English and the Mother Tongue Languages has also given Singapore a certain competitive edge in the context of a knowledge-based and technology-driven world economy.

In addition, we have also invested significant efforts to inculcate a global mindset in our young. One such effort has been to provide opportunities for the learning of foreign languages, like French, Japanese and German. Recently, we introduced two more foreign languages - Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic - in our schools. Singaporeans who are conversant in a foreign language can serve as an important bridge to other countries. Students of a foreign language will be prepared with the skills and cultural knowledge to meaningfully engage our friends in the region and beyond.

Practice is fundamental to the learning of a language—as they say, you either “Use it or Lose it”. I am certain that your teachers, in their desire to see you attain the highest level of proficiency, are always trying to find innovative and interesting ways to motivate you to learn the language. Introducing students to popular Japanese culture such as ‘anime’ and ‘manga’ is one way to make the learning of the language enjoyable and meaningful. I understand that Singaporean students are just as great fans of ‘anime’ and ‘manga’ as their Japanese counterparts.

This contest is another meaningful and effective platform for Japanese language learners to demonstrate their proficiency and abilities, to introduce their own culture, and even to share their experiences in Japan. Such speech contests will spur learners to hone their language skills and lead them to a greater understanding of the Japanese people and their culture. And this will also help enhance Singapore-Japan relations. I, therefore, encourage all Japanese language learners to continue to avail themselves of this and other opportunities to use the language and attain even higher levels of proficiency.

I applaud the concerted efforts of all the organizers in providing Japanese language learners in Singapore with the opportunity to practise and showcase their public speaking skills. I congratulate all the finalists and winners and hope that your achievements will inspire the other learners to also work towards participating in future speech contests.

Indeed, I understand that in 2006 and 2007, two Singaporeans managed to clinch the top award in the international contest held in Tokyo. I hope that their accomplishment, and your passion for the language, will spur you to strive for greater heights and to aspire to win the top award again. I wish you all the best.

Doumo arigatougozaimashita.

The selection of schools takes into account our goal of providing up-to-date facilities to enhance the learning environment of our students, while ensuring financial prudence. The four primary schools identified for PRIME will be upgraded to the latest standard so as to enable them to provide a conducive learning environment for our students, as well as enable these four schools to transit to single-session as part of the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee’s recommendation.

Another 20 primary and secondary schools will be planned for upgrading over the next few years. Under PRIME, schools will have more classrooms and be fitted with new or upgraded facilities including media resource libraries, IT learning resource rooms and pastoral care rooms. Schools undergoing PRIME will also benefit from the Flexible School Infrastructure (FlexSI) framework and the provision of an indoor sports hall as part of the upgrading plan.

Background

PRIME was launched in May 1999 to upgrade all schools to the latest standards so as to provide a conducive learning environment for our students. Estimated to cost $4.5 billion, this programme is implemented in phases. To date, 251 schools have been included in the earlier ten phases of PRIME. Of these, 227 schools have completed their upgrading.

Single Session Primary Schools

In April 2009, MOE had accepted the PERI Committee’s recommendation to move all government primary schools to a single-session model by 2016. Government-aided schools will be given more flexibility in their transition timeline, as they have to take into account stakeholders’ concerns. An estimated 18 new primary schools will be built. About 80 existing schools will also be upgraded separately under the Single Session Primary School Programme. These schools are in addition to schools upgraded under PRIME as they have either completed PRIME or are completed after 1997 and hence do not qualify for PRIME.

FlexSI

Under the FlexSI framework introduced in 2005, school infrastructure is made more flexible to support teaching approaches that better engage students, thus giving schools more room to innovate in teaching and learning. For example, the schools could have modular classrooms that can be opened up for larger group lectures, or partitioned for smaller group discussions; special-purpose rooms could be designed to allow multiple use of such rooms; common areas such as corridors and study areas could be designed such that they can be expanded learning spaces.

Indoor Sports Hall

Starting from early 2007, all schools would be provided with an indoor sports hall in phases. An indoor sports hall will provide schools with greater flexibility to conduct Co-Curricular Activities and Physical Education lessons, which are integral to the holistic education that our schools provide. Students will have more opportunities to participate in sports and games at any time of the school day without having to worry about the weather.

The public may obtain more information on PRIME on the MOE website or through the MOE Customer Service Hotline at tel. 6872 2220 during office hours.

Schools to be upgraded under PRIME Phase 11