Committee of Supply 2022: on SPED Schools for the Future
It is time to uplift Special Education Schools to better prepare for the future. Here is my 4th of 7 Budget Speeches (sorry only 4 minutes long – parliament guillotine time rules).
There are many in political leadership, in Government and in the field, and of course families and PWDs who want to and can make the difference. We have to better organize all the good hearts, heads, and hearts together and maxmise the potential and lives of persons with disabilities in our country. Thank you to all who care about this topic.
SPEECH ON SPED SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE
BY DENISE PHUA.
There are 22 Special Education (or SPED) Schools in Singapore, catering to about 7,000 students with moderate to high support needs. The government has invested heavily in both manpower and funds into the sector. Many of us are grateful.
TIME TO UPLIFT SPED SCHOOLS. There are 3 COMPELLING REASONS why it is time for SPED schools to be uplifted to be better prepared for the future.
One, the incredulous pace at which technology has changed lives at home, work, and out in the community.
Two, the need for better education outcomes. The prognosis of SPED graduates is not as positive as expected in spite of more MOE funding, more MOE controls, more pay, and more MOE-seconded mainstream principals and teachers. We need a breakthrough in the SPED education system for a higher return in the form of physical wellness, literacy, numeracy, community living, and independent living skills acquired as a result of a SPED education.
Three, the need to continue learning for life and throughout life, is something even more critical and urgent for all students. But SPED school graduands literally stop learning after they leave the school gate.
In a complex, rapidly digital, VUCA world, Government must facilitate their transit of SPED schools to become better Schools for the future. Let me propose five features.
One, SPED Schools of the Future, must be scoped to cover LIFELONG LEARNING – to learn for life and to learn throughout life. Special education can no longer be about frontloading content in the first 18 years of one’s life. Learning must extend beyond 18 to avoid the falling off the cliff with no hope of any more education.
Two, SPED Schools of the Future must be MASTERS OF THEIR MISSION. No lip service to SPED basics like person-centred planning, individual education planning and other aspects of disability-specific curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.
SPED Schools must become truly schools without walls and strongly facilitate learning at home, in the community, at the workplace and care facilities; just-in-time, self and appropriately paced, bite-sized, with repositories of learning resources which are easily accessible.
Three, SPED Schools of the Future, must develop STRONG THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND PRACTICE; to the extent that it can guide and inform the support of students with SEN (or special education needs) in the mainstream schools.
In education systems elsewhere, educators with disability and SPED expertise are better regarded and even better paid.
Singapore has only begun its journey in building expertise in special education; disability studies and in the education of its special educators.
With 80% of students with special education needs in Singapore’s mainstream schools, SPED schools can become the precious resource to uplift them.
To reach this place of leadership, NIE, the mothership that now trains special educators, will need to update its current service model. One that can offer updated, stackable, modular, just-in-time training to train and support professionals in SPED; that connects and collaborates strongly with disability and education experts, local and global.
I propose the setting up of a Special Education Academy.
Four, SPED Schools of the Future should be led, not just by MOE, but by a SPED LEADERSHIP COUNCIL at the national level comprising many strong helping hands; with members who can represent the eco-system of SPED – Government, Disability and Education Experts, Family Representatives and Industry.
SPED Schools of the future will not be managed by their Funders in a cookie-cutter manner. They will be trusted to deliver according to the outcomes agreed upon. They will not be micro-managed.
Those who are competent and have a proven track record will be given more autonomy and space to innovate, experiment and break new ground. Just as how MOE has allowed for autonomy of schools and IHLs in the mainstream.
Five, SPED Schools of the Future must ACTIVELY PARTNER AND EN-SKILL FAMILY CAREGIVERS in the education of their students. Parents or caregivers will play an active role in the education of their own children. They will not wait till when they or their children become much older to worry about their unpreparedness for life or life after the parents’ death.
In conclusion, Sir, it is time to lift Singapore’s SPED Schools to the next lap. And the time is now.
Denise Phua, 7 Mar 2022