Email exchange with an educator I respect

Dear Mdm,

Last week, I hosted a team of NIE Dip.Ed CL trainee teachers in HKU. After a lot of interaction with them, I realized that new teachers are adopting a mentality of ownership, which is very encouraging. However, like we have discussed in the past, research needs to keep pace so as to provide sufficient base for teacher education and professional development. I wouldn't be as bold as to suggest we totally decentralized and adopt full-fledged school-based curriculum like in the States and in HK. Moreover, after all, I realized that to do so requires high-quality tertiary institutions that can collaborate with the schools. Nonetheless, I believe the thrust to allow greater teacher ownership should continue.

I also favour the shift in focus to primary and pre-primary education for our system. However, even as social trends may be changing with a new generation of parents, I realized that there are many fundamental needs that remain unchanged. Basic values, in my opinion, don't need to be done away with, but they have to be "repackaged" into something more palatable. Older students should to feel for their fellow country-mates without experiencing the brunt of inculcation in reconciling with a "national identity". In this age of globalization, many young Singaporeans want to break out of conformity, but they turn too fast to the other extreme of wanting absolute freedom and staunch individuality.

That brings me to another point. I also feel there is a need to inject some form of criticality into our education, esp for the secondary schools and beyond. At the moment, we see more room opening up in allowing children to speak freely. However, what the Internet has produced is a generation who "comments" a split second after reading some article, without giving issues much thought. The result is a citizenry that is ruled by the heart, not by the rational mind. You just have to visit the Straits Times portal STOMP and you will see uncountable examples of such emotional comments. Therefore, schools should begin fostering a culture of critical liberalism. Of course, like the new HK liberal studies have shown, change has to begin with teachers. Those who do not think about humanism, about the children, about the society-at-large and about the future, can never lead their students very well.

These are concerns that have long-term impact, but I sincerely believe changes have to be introduced and deepened. Undoubtedly, no system can ever be perfect, but for Singapore, I feel that we have come to a historical stage when the tides of new-century challenges are finally hitting us hard. As one whom I deeply respect and look up to as being an educator at heart, I sincerely hope you can steer the Education Service in a favourable direction during your term.

Best wishes,
Wei Xiong in HK


Dear Wei Xiong

Thank you. It's good to hear from you. I agree with your views - challenge is in opening up the system without losing core strengths. We have arrived at a certain clarity in the last two years when we undertook an envisioning exercise about the future curriculum. We believe it's about striking the right balance, between national and school-based curriculum, between content and skills. This has been borne out in my recent participation at a roundtable in Melbourne on high-performing education systems in the world.

The next lap has to depend on teachers and school leaders in implementing the spirit of the curriculum. This requires deep conversations about intents and desired outcomes. It also requires that we build deep capacities - this through teachers taking ownership of their own learning. So it's encouraging to have your observations on the new entrants into the profession. The next lap has to do a lot with developing the soft skills in our students, through our teachers. There is an on-going review on both pre- and in-service teaching at MOE.

Best regards,