Non-traditional Approach to Running Education
Sir, MOE has often enjoyed the reputation of being progressive and is considered a trail blazer in some areas. I encourage the Ministry to continue in this direction and not play too safe as it embarks on its future plans in running the education portfolio.
I have four suggestions for the Minister to consider in MOE's future plans: (1) the concept of Education Village; (2) the Use of IT; (3) Satellite Schools; and (4) Teacher Recruitment.
Sir, in a township named Darlington in north England, a pioneering education model is receiving rave reviews. Darlington Education Village caters for about 1,400 students aged from two to 19. The Village is a federation of three schools - a well-regarded special school, a mainstream primary school and a mainstream secondary school. Except for the classrooms where most academic subjects are taught, majority of the other physical facilities are co-used by students from all three schools. All the buildings are linked by a common corridor and a kaleidoscope of primary school, special school and secondary school students interact and transact with each other. Even if they do not study in the same classrooms, they share the same social programmes, non-academic lessons, toilets, corridor, cafe, library, labs and performance courtyards. I saw hot-dog stands operated by special-needs students coached by their nurturing teachers.
Sir, as I quietly followed two of the special-needs students around the Campus to deliver the food orders to the lecturers in all three buildings, my heart was deeply touched for two reasons. One, I saw special-needs students successfully included in normal mainstream school life and yet still learnt according to their needed styles and pace. Two, I asked myself when we can witness such a scene in Singapore, where mainstream school and special school students can all enjoy one school life, interacting daily and bonding with each other, accepting each other's differences, all under one roof. Sir, I believe, if we only dare to try, an Education Village model can build inclusiveness and tolerance in Singaporeans from young, much more powerfully than the typical yearly school Community Involvement Programme (CIP) projects or joining grassroots Community Engagement Circles in their adult years.
Suggestion two: Use of IT. Sir, I urge the Minister to help level the playing field and spread best practices throughout the education system so that the average quality of all schools, goes up. I offer four suggestions in this regard: (a) provide access to electronic education records, much like the electronic medical records, that will not just reflect one's progress but also allows a student or his family or his teachers to help manage the student's progress and take steps to close any learning gaps; (b) put core and good quality lectures online as a model for other teachers and as a resource teaching material for students; new teachers and their parents; (c) share assessment papers (or projects of good schools on the portal) instead of having parents buy them at lobbies of shopping centres; (d) embark on a dream of making available not just one PC for Every Student, not just for those in privileged schools. Start with the secondary school students first. In addition, structure a package of PC support and coaching for needy students whose families do not have the means to supervise them or provide for PC peripherals such as ink, paper and broadband access at home.
Suggestion three: Satellite Schools. Still on my call to level the playing field, let me share with the House Bill Gates Foundation's strategy to replicate the school models that worked the best. Bill Gates wrote this recently, "A few of the schools that we (Bill Gates Foundation) funded, achieved something amazing. They replaced
schools with low expectations and low results with ones that have high expectations and high results. Bill Gates shared that "these schools are not selective in whom they admit, and they are overwhelmingly serving kids in poor areas, most of whose parents did not go to college". Almost all of these schools, he said, are charter schools, much like the autonomous schools in Singapore, that have significantly longer school days than other schools.
Bill Gates' strategy to replicate the school models that worked best is one that was already tested in Singapore, I would say, albeit a modest scale in the special education sector in the form of satellite schools. I believe the idea can be borrowed and use in mainstream schools as well. Sir, if the demand for good branded schools continues unabated, the Ministry should consider the potential of starting satellite campuses for schools in borrowed or new school grounds - start an RGS satellite, for instance, in the North, South, East and West cluster. To do this, the Ministry will have to acquire critical skills in building systems and processes that allow for scalability and consulting skills to install, implement and follow through till the desired outcomes are achieved. With MOE's track record, I am confident this is doable.
And, Sir, as Minister considers my suggestion of replicating best school models and practices, I urge him to please do not leave out the special needs children especially those in special schools run by charities. Do not treat these children as addendum items in our education plan.
Suggestion four: teacher recruitment and best sourcing. Sir, teachers are the top critical success factors in any education venture. The headline of an article in Wall Street Journal in April 2006 read, "It's the Teachers, Stupid". The article summarises the findings of Brookings Institution, one of the oldest think-tanks in Washington. It cites research that suggests that there is a huge difference in performance between students with the best teachers and those with the worst teachers. It also says that it is possible to discern in a short time if a teacher has what it takes and recommended that "weeding out bad teachers and recruiting better teachers" would be smarter than just shrinking class sizes.
I applaud the Ministry for its dedication to bring forth its hiring plan during this time. I worry, however, about the motives and the aptitudes of some of the job applicants who may perceive teaching as a job that provides the iron rice bowl, complete with holidays and hopefully, a less stressful environment than the private sector. In fact, members of the public were attracted to MOE's advertisement last December that featured a principal, teacher from MOE, decked in black leather jackets and boots. I can assure the House and Singapore that it is way too warm in most schools to dress this way.
Instead of glamorising the profession, it makes more sense to refer potential candidates to inspiring role models such as California's Erin Grunwell who performed a great turnaround job in the school. Grunwell wrote a book in 1999, entitled "The Freedom Writers' Diary". The book is the basis of a 2007 move, "Freedom Writers", starring Hilary Swank.
In conclusion, Sir, I would like to encourage the Ministry to continue its good work. Continue to be bold and innovate. Do not play too safe. As a wise man once said, "To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing."