Why Education in Singapore Works

every weekday morning across the small island nation of Singapore children arrive at state schools while the children come from different economic and cultural backgrounds they are all offered the same quality of instruction with 20% of the national budget voted to education Singapore has developed a well resourced world leading educational system with the world becoming much smaller and more globally competitive we are looking at what's going on in education throughout the globe and to see where things are being done well and what we can replicate in the United States looking at the piece of results you see certain countries who out-compete America countries like Finland an Ontario Canada and countries like Singapore where we are in right now and what's remarkable about the places that out-compete America they focus on collaborative environments where kids and teachers can thrive and they focus on building the best professional class of teachers one can teachers are the heart of Education and the Institute that trains the teachers it is the heart of the whole education system the National Institute of Education trains all teachers in the Singapore school system top performing students are selected for specific subjects and teaching positions and are given a rigorous 21st century training to prepare them for a lifelong career we are always open to look and new new domains with the total ultimate focus is how do we prepare a better teacher such that he or she can bring the best education to the students in the classroom see we just had a service-learning game where many as we walk around and see the campus he will just demonstrate to you how the government view in terms of this importance of teacher education you know in Singapore where that square for the land is equated the goal and diamonds and here the government gave us 16 hectare devoted to teacher education and teacher development okay you're more darling I would like you to find it very personally summer then may actually create a timeline so that you're contributing back to the class what was his penis hawks mm-hmm so you're really trying to get his perspective of what he was thinking about yeah wow that's fantastic kids in the school are joyful they like being here but equally important is what the teachers are doing in every classroom we go into teachers can explain what they're doing why they're doing it and the connection between what they're doing and the learning that kids are accomplishing we have longer what does it mean and in seeing from math classes we're starting to see a really interesting pedagogical method it's about visualization as opposed to memorization and about kids actually engaging in creating blocks to see what's more and what's less in Factory just figured out that the busts are relative I'm not absolute you also see as part of this a real focus on language immersion so that kids are understanding what more than means what few of them means things like that in Singapore there is a recognition that post-secondary education is important for all students not only the top performers the state of the art institute of technical education involves businesses in shaping their curriculum preparing students for real-world employment prospects restricted enzyme and what companies to walk out and come up with a washing detergent and they pick up some basic skills other in enterprise or entrepreneurship whether they go for to work for someone else they understand how business or operating will be able to contribute more to the organization than what we or they can go and start their own little business you see a place that is focused on Commerce a place that is very entrepreneurial a place that is very focused on work and a work ethic shampoo the customer's house to be better for them to the Eastman French so basically if I wanted to have a party I only had to make one phone call right yeah and you do everything yeah let's continue I'm Randy it's great to be here at the Tampines school we've just spent several hours looking and watching an amazing educational environment yes so moving every Tuesday went to church so they're learning how to use itself the education is engaging where technology is infused as a tool in education and where teachers are constantly working with each other we're just so happy to be here to see and to watch how you're creating that engagement and that love of learning in that sense of kids becoming resilient and confident and caring and passionate and and and learners and that's fantastic so thank you there is collaboration there's trust there sharing you didn't hear one teacher talk about test based accountability you didn't hear one principal talk about test based accountability and you didn't see any fixation in terms of testing do you see a school system that's focused on collaboration and Trust Eddie station pupils will learn on how multi-ethnic multi-religious nation of Singapore inertia freedom pressure I really just harmony that also has these in school environment thank you busy does I have it's been a wonderful trip not just because of the hospitality that we've been shown by the educators here but because of the commitment that you see to education kids are joyful the education is engaging where technology is infused as a tool in education and where teachers are constantly working with each other to create an amazing educational environment Oh

Channel: AFTHQ

Views: 729,382

Keywords: brightcove, PISA, international, asia, study, education, afthq, singapore, Reform

Id: sEn6OKsVoMs

Length: 7min 18sec (438 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 16 2012