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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education and learning analytics (LA) tools are increasingly being developed and implemented to enhance teaching and learning within Singapore’s education landscape. This paper provides an overview of key AI in education and LA projects and initiatives in Singapore, organized by the types of technology. The identified projects and initiatives involve a range of techniques and systems to achieve personalized learning, improve student engagement, optimize resources, and also predict student success among a list of educational outcomes. We briefly describe each identified project before further discussing the collective impact and limitations, as well as the implications for Singapore and her education environments. Overall, this paper seeks to provide an overview of the state and use of AI and LA in education-related projects within Singapore and highlights the need for further research and development in this area to fully realize the potential of these technologies for improvement of teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have noted the need for both empirical and theoretical research on the unique configurations of race and racism within Asia. This paper explores the racialized landscape encountered by Malay youth during their education and employment in the city-state of Singapore. We highlight the three unique building blocks which comprise the country's racial landscape, namely (i) race is used as a naming device by the state; (ii) economic and social inequality along the lines of race exist alongside discourses of meritocracy and (iii) discussions of race which can be perceived as offensive are violations of local laws. Based on focus groups conducted with Malay youth on their experiences and memories of their education and employment, we highlight their perspectives on racial stratification. We explore Singapore's racial landscape within which Malay youth are excluded from networks, silenced through discourses of harmonious multiculturalism, and excluded from Chinese-language-based corporate cultures which are predominant. Our findings suggest that challenging racial inequality in multicultural cities requires the dismantling of systemic systems of stratification. Our analysis contributes to understanding the unique configurations of race and racism in Asia and amongst Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the human resources (HR) knowledge and cross-cultural and interpersonal skills needed by HR managers/directors to administer the integrated resort and hotel (IR&H) organizational talent. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a qualitative method in the form of extensive interviews. Findings: The labor-intensive nature of the IR&Hs have forced these organizations to be innovative in terms of retaining their top talents and to look overseas for foreign workers to ensure smooth operations. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited to two Asian geographies and the high regulatory nature of the industry correspondingly limits the number of HR executives in operation within IR&Hs. Practical implications: This paper provides insights for current and future Asian-based IR&Hs policy planners and HR managers. Social implications: The paper provides an understanding of national and organizational skills shortages and their impact upon work and workers. Originality/value: No previous comparative research in relation to Singapore and Macau has been conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the representation of information literacy and media literacy in the Singapore education discourse as part of its twenty-first century competencies framework. Through examining the conceptual definitions, purposes/aims, and means of these two significant twenty-first century competencies in the global context and the Singapore education policy, the authors argue that despite both information literacy and media literacy have been widely recognized as crucial skills in the knowledge-based economy, they are perceived as separate concepts, given differentiated emphasis, and implemented using similar approaches by various governmental and educational agencies in Singapore. To facilitate the acquisition of these critical competencies, this paper argues that an overarching framework featuring the seamless integration of information and media literacy in school curricula and public education needs to be in place to clarify conceptual concerns and guide its practical implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has established the value of regarding cities as complex systems, and as systems which will evolve over time. The research reported in this paper concerns the development of an approach to urban design and management which recognises the complexities of change resulting from design-led urban interventions. The research commenced with a study of urban design and urban management processes, and the manner in which they have been studied in an academic context. The system aims to guide the processes of urban design so that it can be implemented within a cyclical process of evaluation and application. The system aids communication across design teams and improves clarity within the design process for the designers themselves. The specific system also aspires to interconnect theory with practice, while supporting designers to be inclusive and holistic. The paper describes a case study where the framework was applied within an academic setting, related to real urban environments in Singapore. It validates the model's ability to guide students through the design process, give depth to their analysis of urban systems and meaning to their designs. Action research was implemented, to reflect the need for a "practice-changing practice" methodology, that supports a greater understanding of the relationship between theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory action research is an empowering approach to advance research with participants. This paper describes and discusses the process and outcomes in engaging cogenerative dialogue (cogen) and coteaching in participatory action research (PAR) to support science curriculum change in a Singapore lower track classroom. The intervention was introduced after researching in a science teacher's two lower tracker classrooms for about 18 months and observing that his lessons were teacher-centered and he experienced difficulty engaging the students. Using the empirical findings to inform teaching practice, the researchers engaged the science teacher and two selected students in two cogen sessions to identify issues with the science lessons. The students suggested solutions which were taken up and used to plan and design revised lessons co-taught by the science teacher and one researcher. This paper describes changes to the teacher's and researcher's teaching, learning, and research experiences through the lens of cogen and PAR. Transcripts from one cogen session, one cotaught lesson, one teacher interview, and one researcher's written reflections were analyzed to distil affordances of PAR that led to changes in the classroom practices, views about science teaching and ways to carry out science research. The study illuminates the potentially transformative role of cogen, when coupled with action research, in Singapore and other classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countering the drive to erect walls between nations and communities, the burden is increasingly on educators to develop in students essential skills and dispositions for a more hospitable future. Global education is essentially aimed at addressing the realities of increasingly networked societies and porous exchanges of knowledge, capital, and products among people and groups around the world. This paper examines how global education is enacted in two schools in Singapore and the United States. Given that a central characteristic of the twenty-first century is globalization, global education is inevitably embedded in the discourse of twenty-first century competencies utilized by policymakers worldwide. However, while global education has typically been studied as a singular subject such as Human Rights or integrated into History, Social Studies, or Civics Education, this study differs as it examines two schools that have adopted a whole-school approach to global education. That is, global education is embedded in the culture of schooling and infused across curricula subjects. The first part of the paper provides an overview of global education and its two key emphases – globalism and global citizenship. The second part discusses the tensions emerging from observations of global education in the two schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the migration of Asia-born academics from traditional centers in the West to Singapore, a rapidly developing education hub in Southeast Asia. We argue that such movement can be seen as a form of quasi-return, where migrant faculty look for places where they can be "close enough" to aging parents and family, while working in an institution that is "good enough" to continue research work. This position leads to conflicting notions of social mobility, when defined in terms of professional prestige and status. While interviewees perceived their move to Singapore as a form of upward mobility when compared to colleagues within their home countries, they simultaneously worried about their downward mobility compared to peers who had remained in the West. Such perceptions shape their decision to leave Singapore in the future, reinforcing current university hierarchies, where institutions in the USA and Europe continue to dominate notions of academic prestige. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community engagement is crucial for controlling disease outbreak and mitigating natural and industrial disasters. The COVID-19 pandemic has reconfirmed the need to elevate community engagement to build equity, trust and sustained action in future health promotion preparedness strategies. Using the health promotion strategy of strengthening community action enhances the opportunity for better outcomes. There is, therefore, a need to improve our understanding of community engagement practices during crises, scale-up good community engagement initiatives, and improve and sustain people-centered approaches to emergency responses. This paper presents five case studies from the United States, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Kenya and South Africa that demonstrate the potential strengths that can be nurtured to build resilience in local communities to help mitigate the impact of disasters and emergencies. The case studies highlight the importance of co-developing relevant education and communication strategies, amplifying the role of community leaders, empowering community members to achieve shared goals, assessing and adapting to changing contexts, pre-planning and readiness for future emergencies and acknowledgement of historic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While English literature once occupied a central position in national curricula, enrollment in the subject has undergone a continuing decline in English-speaking countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. Its marginal position may also be observed in formerly colonized countries such as Singapore, where the subject was introduced, appropriated, and reconstructed. My aim, in this paper, is to propose a reenvisioning of literature education premised on the principles of ethical cosmopolitanism. In the first part of the paper, I describe ethical cosmopolitanism by distinguishing it from strategic cosmopolitanism, which has more recently emerged in response to the pressures of economic globalization, leading to the economization of education. In the second part of the paper, I show how the principles of strategic cosmopolitanism have directed the national literature curriculum in Singapore through my analysis of the national syllabus and high-stakes examination papers from 1990 to the present. This leads to the third part of the paper, in which I use a case study of four literature teachers in Singapore secondary schools to characterize the ethical cosmopolitan pedagogies they employ to circumvent nation-centric, economic pressures of strategic cosmopolitanism operating at the national level. More importantly, I discuss how such pedagogies have the potential to foster a hospitable imagination, which constitutes the strongest defense one can give to literature education in the context of an increasingly culturally complex, connected, and contested global sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to discuss how the Singapore Education System is shifting towards student-centred designs and pedagogies, yet retaining a unique Singaporean orientation. It complements the McKinsey report by analysing directives and efforts to understand trade-offs, consequences, and insights for moving forward. The paper uses an ecological view to acknowledge that education systems are complex-historical, contextual, and cultural dimensions shape Singapore's trajectory. Building on understandings of high-performing systems, Singapore's trajectory, and informed by education research, the paper distils three shifts (from a systems level of analyses) which are currently on course: (1) hybridising pedagogies; (2) levelling up the base of lower achieving students; and (3) recognising diverse talents. The paper postulates a gradual, evolutionary stance and for continuing dialogue and alignments in the change process. The paper draws implications by proposing mitigating approaches in Singapore's continuing journey of balancing high academic achievements and twenty first century, inquiry-oriented learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines the long-term effects of birth cohort size on life outcomes. Using administrative data from Singapore, we study the outcomes of large birth cohorts created by the Chinese superstitious practice of zodiac birth timing, where parents prefer to give birth in the year of the Dragon. This practice is followed exclusively by the Chinese majority, with no similar patterns detected among non-Chinese minorities, allowing us to differentiate cohort size effects from confounding year-of-birth effects. Despite government efforts to increase public educational resources for these cohorts, Chinese Dragons earn lower incomes and are less likely to gain admission to national universities. There is also evidence of negative externalities on non-practising populations who happen to enter the labour market at the same time as Chinese Dragons. Our analysis suggests that the adverse life outcomes are not due to selection, but rather reflect the aggregate resource implications of birth cohort size. Supplementary material is available for this article at: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of the literature on principal instructional leadership in Singapore. The authors investigated the dimensions of instructional leadership in the practices of Singapore principals and highlighted the strategies these leaders adopt to enact their instructional roles. Singapore principals were found to play an active role in defining the school vision and promoting the school climate. However, in the areas of curriculum implementation and classroom instruction, the middle management team in the school played more active roles as compared to principals. Five broad conclusions were discussed to provide perspectives on instructional leadership practices in Singapore. This paper also highlighted limitations on current instructional leadership research in Singapore and pointed to areas of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Textbooks are a repository for canonical material that serve as important guides for students as they embark on their journey of learning and discovery. In a discipline as varied as Geography, it is often challenging for authors to decide what to include. We negotiate these concerns as editors of a textbook for a course on Changing Landscapes of Singapore, which is taught primarily to non‐Geography majors who are required by the university to acquire knowledge about Singapore before they graduate. This paper discusses how textbook authors often balance a multiplicity of concerns that extend beyond disciplinary content. These concerns are situated within the broader context of how geographical education plays a key role in making student‐citizens critically aware of the trade‐offs in nation‐building projects and encouraged to apply geographical concepts to engage in active and informed public debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how sustained professional learning for teachers within a centralised system was cultivated. Specifically, the sustained professional learning was initiated by officers from the headquarters (HQ) and involved interested teachers across schools in Singapore. Qualitative instruments were used to collect and analyse the data in examining the partnerships perceived by the participants. The enablers responsible to bring about sustained professional learning are proposed. A contribution of this study is to clarify how resources in the HQ and its schools can be bridged. Deliberate bridging of resources is critical particularly at the initial stage of the partnerships. This bridging is made possible through dedicated appointed champions. The appointed champions are passionate about the educational innovations and are willing to invest their time to understand the teachers’ needs. This paper argues that the enablers can offer opportunities for lateral networks to be forged within a hierarchical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore’s strong performance in international benchmarking studies – Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – poses a conundrum to researchers who view Singapore’s pedagogy as characterized by the teaching of facts and procedures, and lacking in constructivist learning principles. In this paper, we examine the impact of different curriculum innovations on critical thinking as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Assessment – UK (WGCTA-UK). This includes two innovations that are subject-specific and short-term, one that strongly infuses the arts into the curriculum throughout the whole course of study, and the innovation of the Integrated Programme (IP) which allows academically stronger students to skip the GCE “O” Levels and enter directly into the next level of education, with the time previously allocated to exam preparation now spent on greater breadth in the academic and non-academic curriculum. This paper takes the sociocultural approach to investigate the contexts, process, and outcomes, reports the state of critical thinking, and sheds light on how critical thinking is being promoted. Through our analysis, we find support for the claim that only curriculum that is rigorously designed to foster critical thinking competencies will reap the intended student outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for innovation diffusion as a “becoming” process in the context of lateral and vertical moves. The context of these innovations involves technology-mediated innovations and their diffusion trajectories in the Singapore education system. Embedded in a centralized-decentralized dialectics, this paper traces particular innovations from their nascent beginnings to their present state of play. We found that the cases we observed had lateral (or decentralized) moves and were subsequently supported by vertical (or centralized) ones. Characterizing these innovation diffusions was challenging as we found them to move across models according to different granularities and levels of analysis. Instead, we have chosen to characterize these diffusion patterns as “innovation becoming”. We attempt to distil some substantive generalizations from three case studies presented and how decisions can be made for future innovation diffusions. We recognize that the trajectory for innovation diffusion is inextricably linked to the identity projected by the particular innovation and the leadership supporting it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifelong learning policy came and went in many countries in the last few decades. Much of the lifelong learning policy experience has been either ineffective or drifting in and out of policy discussions unnoticed. Yet, in 2015, Singapore launched a new policy initiative known as SkillsFuture, which brought lifelong learning back into mainstream policy. In this paper, we re-examine the origins of lifelong learning as a concept with a view of providing useful points of reference for policy discussion in Singapore. We employ the Delors Four Pillars of lifelong learning and data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to make a comparison between Singapore and its international peers. We use this comparison to identify potential policy challenges that lie ahead for Singapore. We argue that the historical focus in Singapore on formal education, both pre-employment and continuing, provides a solid foundation for lifelong learning. Nevertheless, recent policy shifts have begun to bring the humanistic elements of learning – for example, living together and self-actualization – back to the front stage of policy for learning. This is where potential policy gaps may exist in Singapore, as the utilitarian emphasis has dominated for a long time. An understanding of these different elements of lifelong learning and how they are linked in Singapore’s context will be valuable for policymakers and practitioners to prepare for the challenges ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of educational mobilities worldwide, students' experiences of educational sojourn, especially that of the Chinese Mainland students, have come under greater research attention in recent years. Amongst diverse kinds of Chinese students/scholars abroad, this paper focuses on a type that finds themselves in a unique country under equally unique circumstances: Chinese students studying at pre- and undergraduate levels in Singapore under Singapore's government-sponsored "foreign talent" scholarship schemes. Based on an ethnographic study conducted over a 16-month period in China and Singapore, this paper presents an overview account of these Chinese student-scholars' sociocultural experiences in Singapore under three headings: (1) privilege-how Singapore's "foreign talent" policy endows considerable privileges, opportunities, but also responsibilities on these Chinese students; (2) prejudice-how and why these PRC "foreign talents" encounter certain local discourses of discrimination and exclusion; and (3) predicament-how they sometimes experience complex and conflicted feelings about being made Singapore's "foreign talent." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International education achievement indicators potentially obscure students' localised experiences of school. This paper examines adolescent purpose to understand what drives students' learning experiences in high-performance schooling in Singapore. Purpose is a long-term intention to engage with the world in ways meaningful to oneself and to others. Using clinical interviews, the authors analysed students' perspectives of the purpose of schooling and learning against the tensions of preparing students for performance-focused outcomes in schools. Findings indicated purpose clusters with prevalent self-oriented academic achievement goals. About one-third of the students with forms of support had nascent beyond-the-self life goals. To think about teaching and learning in a more integrated manner, this study shows it is important to look closely into students' learning experiences, as these provide critical insights into how policies are implemented in schools, and how curricula can be made significant and meaningful in a more humanising vision of what schools might become. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the major policies that have been implemented to ensure its continued success,Thinking Schools, Learning Nation(TSLN) has been described as the ‘big bang of educational reforms’ in Singapore. However, while the policy aims to develop critical thinkers in school leavers, the corporatisation of education in the shape of structures such as the school excellence model seems to be at odds with TSLN. This paper argues that these structures unwittingly engender a culture of performativity among schools, marginalising the central outcome of its initiative that entails developing a culture of thinking and thinkers. The tension is further exacerbated by the larger rationalities that have shaped Singapore and the pragmatic and instrumental philosophy which underpins its educational system. The tensions generated by the clash between intended (culture of thinking) and engendered culture (culture of performativity) present the challenge of mediation for the system on its path to realising TSLN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an overview of the development of contemporary China studies in Singapore from the regional Cold War to the present. It argues that the waxing and waning of China studies in Singapore were intertwined with state interests at different points in time, defined in accordance with the state's self-professed 'pragmatism'. In particular, this paper suggests that the state's ostensible aversion to communist China during the regional Cold War, the decline of the Chinese language under its bilingual policy, and the state's active courting of China from the 1990s have profound and lasting influence on the state of China studies in Singapore. All in all, in the context of a rising China and the state's 'pragmatic' responses, it is likely that China studies in Singapore shall continue to gravitate toward policy research for many years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the performance of one entire cohort of Singapore prospective secondary school mathematics teachers in a mathematics proficiency test. The prospective teachers were admitted to the teacher education program specializing in teaching secondary school mathematics. The strengths of the prospective teachers' content knowledge, their errors and misconceptions in school mathematical content knowledge are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the role of trust in colleagues and its relationships with the factors of the theory of reasoned action (TRA). Specifically, this study examines the relationships among perceived social pressure about knowledge sharing, attitude toward knowledge sharing, behavioural intent to share knowledge, trust in colleagues and knowledge-sharing behaviour. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology adopted was a questionnaire survey of employees working in 34 member institutions of the Singapore Association for Private Education (SAPE). These institutions form the entire member list of the SAPE as of 2020. A total of 297 employees completed a self-administered and anonymous survey using a cross-sectional design. Multiple linear regression was used to test the conceptual framework. Findings: On the mediation effects, full mediation was found to affect attitude toward knowledge sharing on knowledge-sharing behaviour, and partial mediation was found to affect perceived social pressure on knowledge-sharing behaviour. On the moderation effects, trust in colleagues moderates both perceived social pressure and knowledge-sharing behaviour and attitude toward knowledge sharing and knowledge-sharing behaviour positively. Specifically, as the level of trust in colleagues increases, the impact of direct relationships also increases. Research limitations/implications: Data for the current study were obtained at a single point in time and self-reported. The findings may be biased because of common method variance. Furthermore, this study was conducted in a specific industry in Singapore, i.e. the private education institutions, which limits the generalisability of the research. Practical implications: The results of this study indicate that managers need to encourage a higher level of trust between employees. Policies and processes could be enacted to promote building quality and trusting relationships between employees. Originality/value: This study contributes to knowledge-sharing behaviour by integrating the role of trust with the TRA. This study extends the conceptual model of the TRA by providing a new theoretical perspective that takes into account the position of trust in knowledge sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how entrepreneurial visions of the future contribute to neoliberalism's appropriation of language learning as a strategy for capital accumulation. Taking as an example South Korea's heavy investment in children's English language learning – commonly known as early English education (yeongeo jogi gyoyuk) – it discusses how affective conditions of anticipation (Adams, Murphy and Clarke. 2009. Anticipation: Technoscience, life, affect, temporality. Subjectivity 28(1). 246–265.) may serve as a basis for rationalizing the incorporation of language learning as an essential element of entrepreneurial visions of the self. Based on examples from the discourse of the Korean private English education market and ethnographic observations from early study abroad (jogi yuhak) families in Singapore, we show how the English language learning of young children in the Korean context was framed and justified as an investment in the future. We then discuss how parents' hopes and fears about their children's future played a major role in transforming English language learning into a matter of neoliberal anticipation. We conclude by considering how this affective orientation to the future inherent in early English education may serve as a juncture for critiquing the entrepreneurial vision of the self that underlies the logic of human capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilingualism has always been emphasized in Singapore's education system. Since 1959, Singapore government leaders have repeatedly stressed that bilingualism is the cornerstone of Singapore's language policy. Scholars researching language policy and planning in Singapore have also assumed that Singapore has always maintained a consistent stand on bilingualism. This paper cites the case of Chinese language (Mandarin) education as evidence to show how "bilingual" education has undergone significant changes in Singapore by tracing the historical changes and examining how bilingual education has evolved since its implementation. The findings show that the once-compulsory bilingual requirements gave way to differentiated ones in the history of Singapore's bilingual policy. This finding will help researchers have a better understanding of Singapore's "bilingual education" today and its position compared to other bilingual education systems in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including science education at the upper secondary level in Estonia, Greek students' logic, convergent and divergent thinking associated with chemical phenomena, and science education in Singapore.

The study featured in this paper investigates pre- and in-service Physical Education (PE) teachers' diverse views of OE (Outdoor Education) against the backdrop of numerous curricular changes underpinning Singaporean education. We highlight the potential challenges Singaporean schools and teachers may face in implementing the newly formalized OE curriculum. Findings revealed the teachers' prioritization of high elements and adventure activities within residential camps. Then, the teachers linked these 'risky' and 'unfamiliar' activities with transferrable learning outcomes, mostly in line with students' personal and social development. The more experienced teachers in the cohort tended to advocate that OE could be situated within local school and community environs. Yet, this envisioning of OE within a place-based learning model reflected limited understanding of this concept. We conclude by suggesting that curriculum designers and teacher educators should draw upon pre- and in-service PE teachers' perceptions of OE. It is imperative that these teachers' key concerns and beliefs, which currently structure their work in this recently formalized subject area, are used to contextualize the extensive curricular change and professional learning endeavors that are being implemented by the education ministry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With advancements made in mobile technology, increasing emphasis has been paid to how to leverage the affordances of mobile technology to improve science learning and instruction. This paper reports on a science curriculum supported by an inquiry-based framework and mobile technologies. It was developed by teachers and researchers in a multiyear program of school-based research. The foci of this paper is on the design principles of the curriculum and its enactment, and the establishment of a teacher learning community. Through elucidating the design features of the innovative curriculum and evaluating teacher and student involvement in science instruction and learning, we introduce the science curriculum, called Mobilized 5E Science Curriculum (M5ESC), and present a representative case study of how one experienced teacher and her class adopted the curriculum. The findings indicate the intervention promoted this teacher's questioning competency, enabled her to interact with students frequently and flexibly in class, and supported her technology use for promoting different levels of cognition. Student learning was also improved in terms of test achievement and activity performance in and out of the classroom. We propose that the study can be used to guide the learning design of mobile technology-supported curricula, as well as teacher professional development for curriculum enactment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Not only does Singapore have a unique ethnic and multilingual makeup, it also boasts unique language policies, especially with regard to the learning of the official languages. Previous studies of Singaporean youths have largely focused on the differences in attitudes and code-switching between linguistic varieties (e.g. Colloquial Singapore English [Singlish] and Standard Singapore English) as well as looking at the specific languages of Singapore's multilingual community. This paper seeks to examine how Chinese–Singaporean youths differ in their perception of the benefits (general, communicative, cognitive and pragmatic) and disadvantages associated with Mandarin–English bilingualism and their Chinese–Singaporean identity. 165 Chinese–English bilingual youths from secondary schools, Polytechnics/Junior Colleges, University undergraduates and young working adults were stratified based their gender, socio-economic status and self-rated language proficiency. Our findings suggest that bilinguals' self-rated proficiency is generally the best indicator of local Chinese youths' attitudes towards Chinese–English bilingualism and identity, regardless of their current occupation, gender or socio-economic status. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is taken by all Primary 6 students in Singapore. Test takers are assessed in four subject areas: English Language (EL), a Mother Tongue Language, Mathematics, and Science. Test scores of the high-stakes PSLE determine outcomes relating to secondary school placement of test takers. This article reviews the EL test of the PSLE. We provide background information, give a description of the PSLE EL test, and adopt Kunnan’s Test Fairness Framework to examine the fairness of the test in its validity, absence of bias, access, administration, and social consequences. Because of a lack of empirical studies on the PSLE EL test, we have occasionally based our evaluation on secondary sources (e.g., anecdotal evidence). Overall, our review shows that the validity of the test may have been enhanced because of improvements to the test design in the past two decades. We also find proactive access arrangements and stringent, efficacious administration of the test in place. Given that there is little empirical research on the PSLE EL test, more research is needed to further examine it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the close of World War II, Japan’s ouster from Malaya led to the resumption of British control and a new outlook toward political independence. Higher education would play a central role in this complex transition, where the forces of decolonization and nation-building converged with drives toward both interethnic competition and multiethnic cooperation. These tensions stimulated a multiplicity of new rhetorics and new networks for universities and university students. This paper uses the framework of governance to uncover the contrasting rhetorics and networks produced by postwar Singapore’s new universities. By examining their structures and mechanisms of governance, the paper demonstrates how the sudden catapulting of university education to a crucial socio-political position redefined the intersections between education, language, culture, and nation. In doing so, it reveals that these redefinitions forecasted contemporary discourse and mechanisms in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a review of empirical studies on principal leadership in Singapore. It seeks to provide a general picture of Singapore principals’ leadership qualities, styles, and roles. Design/methodology/approach – This is a systematic review of empirical studies, using a “bounded” approach with a focus on the main findings of the reviewed studies. In all, 36 studies were selected for the interview. The findings of these studies were open coded, synthesized, and clustered into different themes. Findings – The review revealed several qualities, characteristics, styles, and enacted roles of Singapore principals. While there are similarities between Singapore principals and principals elsewhere in the world, the review brought out some features unique to Singapore principals. Originality/value – This review contributes to the growing literature in comparative research on principals’ leadership and their enacted roles, and concurrently functions as a guide for further research on school leadership in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how material and emotional investments in childrearing are rendered culturally meaningful in Chinese middle-class families in Singapore, and its consequences for family life. The competitive education system is a major concern for families with young children, and parents often invest substantial resources and energy in their children’s upbringing. The ‘overburdening’ of middle-class schoolchildren appears in most modern societies, as childhood has become a site of accumulation and commodification. But how can we understand the cultural logics of this seemingly global phenomenon? How is the representation of the child as accumulation strategy entangled with a gendered renegotiation of parenting strategies in everyday life? How do states shape and define notions of the value of children in and through existing policies and ideologies? Based on ethnographic data, I will illustrate how parents with young children perceive and handle childrearing, parenting arrangements and the meaning of educational success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Once regarded as the most essential subject in the national curriculum vital for civilizing the public, English Literature has now lost its place of prominence. In this paper, I focus on Singapore where the subject was a core aspect of the colonial curriculum and where it is currently facing declining enrolment at the national examinations. In the first part of the paper, I discuss how Literature initially functioned to propagate colonial values education in Singapore and how, following Singapore's independence, its goals were overtaken by a nation-state model of values education. Limitations of this model provide the grounds for a transnational model of critical values education that, as I argue in the second part, may be powerfully conveyed through Literature. It is Literature's capacity to facilitate transnational critical engagements with values and explorations of identity especially involving highly sensitive aspects related to gender, race, and religion that represents the strongest justification in the light of its present demise. What Literature offers is the possibility of engaging with values beyond the confines of Empire or nation by grappling with essential questions about what it means to be a cosmopolitan as opposed to a nationalistic citizen inhabiting the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the return to university education in Singapore using a new estimation strategy related to Chinese traditions where children born in the Year of the Dragon are believed to be superior. Because parents might time the arrival of their offspring on a Dragon year, this causes the Dragon cohort to be larger and university entry to be more competitive. First, we find evidence of a negative 'Dragon effect' on university educational attainment. Then, using it as an estimation strategy, we find that university education has a ceteris paribus effect of raising earnings by at least 50% on average. ( JEL I21, C26, J30) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilises ideas of correspondence as a way of thinking about intersections between school and work in Singapore’s developmental state. Whereas the principle of correspondence predicts segregated patterns of association between school and work, this paper shows how a developmentalist form of political economy gives rise to crosscutting, rather than segregated patterns of school-to-work correspondences among the elite. Although the correspondence principle treats education and economy as major elements, it fails to consider what is arguably a far more revolutionary force – namely the state, which ultimately frames and mediates the pathways elite students take from school to work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Singapore’s education system has often been characterised as exam-oriented. This paper describes efforts (‘windmills’) made by the Government to constructively respond to the ‘winds of change’ in the education system. A committee called the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee was appointed to study and recommend the priorities, programmes and resources needed to revise primary education in Singapore. The Committee recommended that a balanced school-based assessment system that provides constructive feedback, enabling more meaningful learning in support of both academic and non-academic aspects of a pupil’s development, be carried out under the label of ‘Holistic Assessment’. This paper is an attempt at surfacing the challenges (‘walls’) in implementing ‘Holistic Assessment’ on a large scale, highlighting in particular, the tensions perceived by stakeholders concerning the interaction between formative assessment and accountability systems. It documents how stakeholders, namely teachers and parents, perceive and typify the concept of ‘Holistic Assessment’. The findings provide insights into the consequent realities of a nationwide shift in assessment purpose and discourse on teachers and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discussed the importance of prevention of diabetic foot ulcers and our institution's protocol for prevention, reviewing the existing evidence in the literature regarding the effectiveness of the preventive approach. Diabetes mellitus is the second most significant cause of disease in Singapore after ischaemic heart disease. National University Hospital, Singapore, adopts a two-pronged strategy for the management of diabetic foot ulcers. The most important strategy is prevention, and education is key. Education should mainly be directed at patients and caregivers, but also professionals (general practitioners, allied health professionals and nurses) so that they can effectively educate patients and caregivers. Patient education includes care of diabetes mellitus, care of the foot and use of appropriate footwear. Patients also tend to have poor foot hygiene. Annual foot screening for diagnosed diabetics plays an important role. However, prolonged and sustained government intervention is necessary to provide education and screening on a national scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present Singapore's language policy as a case of flexible responsiveness to demographic and societal shifts as a result of high migration. The particular need to accommodate the enhanced linguistic diversity among the linguistically heterogeneous Indians, previously served by Tamil, has led to the 'semiofficial' representation of Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Urdu in the language policy in recent years. Notwithstanding the choices, a majority of the target Indians prefer Hindi over the familial languages as the national status of Hindi in India better meets the multilingual aspirations of transmigrants with uncertain itineraries. The language choices of Indian parents indicate that language values derive from the range of mobility (e.g., translocal or transnational) that languages have promoted or are perceived to help chart in the future. Adopting the metaphor of cartographies of language used by Park (2014), we suggest that these cartographic perceptions pose a challenge to language policies. We attribute the cartographic mismatches between policy and individual goals to distinctions between language valuations. Through an analysis of school enrolment data and ethnographic interviews, we suggest that language in education decisions of transmigrant populations are mediated through valuations of languages that allow the widest radius of mobility across multiple sites rather than attachments to linguistic, ethnic, or national communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how thinking and values in student teachers are cultivated in the Singapore context, via a case study of a teacher educator selected based on having won excellence in teaching commendation awards. The study adopts a qualitative case study methodology (i.e., interviews with the teacher educator and her student teachers) and uses the theoretical lens of modelling to argue for values pedagogy in teacher education. The findings of this research shed light on the importance of teacher educators modelling the pedagogical practices that they endeavour to impart in their pre-service classrooms. Additionally, this study emphasizes the importance of teacher educators as role models who truly embody the values that they would like to cultivate in student teachers in the twenty-first century education landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear Pedagogy is an exploratory approach to teaching and learning Physical Education that can be potentially effective to help children acquire relevant twenty-first century competencies. Underpinned by Ecological Dynamics, the focus of Nonlinear Pedagogy is on the learner and includes the provision of less prescriptive instructions and guided discovery which serve to develop greater autonomy, competency, and relatedness in the learning process. This paper describes a study that examines the factors that contributed to motivation, enjoyment, and the development of twenty-first century competencies in Primary School Children. One hundred and thirty-three children were taught over seven weeks to play a modified-tennis game either with a Nonlinear Pedagogy or a Linear Pedagogy (i.e., more teacher-centred) approach in a Singapore school. While findings from the intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI) questionnaire showed that there was no difference for the subscales measured, student and teacher interviews indicated that the Nonlinear Pedagogy approach created a learning environment that facilitated perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness, thus potentially enhancing intrinsic motivation and enjoyment during practice. Nonlinear Pedagogy encourages teachers to create representative learning designs through the inclusion of a variety of modified games, the freedom to choose, an emphasis on exploration and problem-solving, and can be relevant to develop twenty-first century competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tan Keng Feng, who died in December 2016, was a member of NUS Faculty of Law for over 30 years until his retirement in 2005. Professor Tan introduced generations of students to Tort Law. This compilation of papers to mark the 60th anniversary of the Law Faculty provides a timely opportunity to pay tribute to our colleague by examining the Faculty's influence (both direct and indirect) on the development of Tort Law in this jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about students in a particular grouping hierarchy are shaped by their ideological views. Within education systems that have high international profiles, such as Singapore, what has been less explored is how teachers think about and interact with students who are seemingly positioned as being ‘low-ability’ or ‘low achieving’ within disadvantaged education contexts. This paper accordingly examines teachers’ perceptions of ‘Normal Technical’ students in Singapore. The findings underscore the need to understand teachers’ interpretations and thinking about teaching and learning processes that influence classroom practice. This is a necessary starting point for pedagogical innovation and change in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess knowledge of Singapore Grade 5 (11 years old) students’ understanding and proficiency in basic information literacy (IL) skills of defining information tasks, selecting information sources, seeking information from sources and synthesising and using information.Design/methodology/approach A 38-item multiple-choice question assessment instrument was used to assess the students’ IL skills based on the i-Competent IL model. The instrument first developed in 2010 was refined and expanded to increase the robustness and accuracy of assessment for the study. It was administered to 17 primary schools in Singapore in November 2015. The maximum possible score of 54 was scaled up to 100 to report the overall mean score for ease of reference and comparison. A total of 2,399 returns were obtained and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22.0 to compute the mean scores, IL stage-level scores. The study also investigated for any significant differences in performance between male and female students, and students with or without access to the internet at home.Findings The students achieved an overall mean score of 53.39 which is below a recommended acceptable score of 60 or 70 advocated in a number of past studies. The two worst performing areas of IL skills were synthesising and using information and seeking information from sources with mean scores of 45.89 and 48.81, respectively. A review of the highest number of incorrect answers suggests that students had difficulty in identifying key information from an information task narrative, understanding the use of reference sources and role of librarians, distinguishing between a fact and opinion, and adopting the best strategy for searching. Girls outperformed boys with an overall mean score of 55.38 vs 51.50. Students with internet access at home fared better than those without access to it with a score of 53.67 vs 45.81. The overall poor results of the survey suggest an urgent need to review the IL education landscape in the Singapore school system, revisit polices, priorities and assess the relevance and effectiveness of the IL curriculum, practical hands-on classes, and interventions that are currently employed in schools.Practical implications The study helped identify areas of IL skills strengths and weakness among Grade 5 students in Singapore schools. It provides recommendations for follow up actions for education authority and schools to improve the situation.Originality/value This study was prompted to provide an assessment after a national IL initiative was launched in 2012 to inculcate IL skills among the school-going children as part of creating a value-driven education system. This is the first reported set of findings for a large-scale survey conducted to measure and ascertain the IL skills level among Grade 5 students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Chinese curricula in the contexts of China and Singapore on primary level are compared and contrasted by both quantitative (Word Segmenter and Text Analyzer) and qualitative methods (in-depth thematic analysis). The research shows challenges for educational administrators, teachers and other professional staff in Chinese education on the aspects of applying information and communication technology, implementing individualized and autonomous teaching and learning, balancing different teaching objectives, understanding students' cognitive and psychological varieties, readjusting teachers' roles as organizer, facilitator and instructor, and aligning formative assessment and summative assessment. Meanwhile, the research also demonstrates and rationalizes the prospects of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in Chinese teaching and the glocalization of Chinese curricula in the future. Further, the research will help people know more about diverse social linguistic contexts in China and Singapore, the different essence of first language (L1) and second language (L2) teaching, and the complexity and arduousness of language teaching in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research that examines the perceptions of school principals of the "Teach Less, Learn More" (TLLM) initiative in Singapore schools. A qualitative research was conducted with 13 school principals to explore their understanding of TLLM and their perception of the challenges that they faced in the implementation of TLLM. The findings show that the research participants agreed that TLLM was a good policy that would prepare students with knowledge and skills for the future. However, there were also many challenges, the most pertinent of which being the readiness of the students and teachers for a new teaching and learning paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]