Student-centric, Values-driven Education

Hello All,

Subject: Opening Address by Education Minister @ Workplan Seminar

During his opening address, Mr Heng addressed the need to:

-develop students holistically, in all aspects - moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic.

- cater to the diverse needs of Singaporeans and allow all to progress in life

To prepare students for an increasingly technologically-driven world, he calls for a student-centric, values-driven education.

To achieve Student-Centric, Values-Driven Education, three broad areas will be focused on:

a. Student-centric Education: Enabling All Students to Succeed

b. School-based, Teacher-led Excellence: Empowering Schools and Educators to Do the Best for Each Student

c. Working with Parents and the Community: Enhancing Partnerships

Values and character development should be the core of our education system as:

-We need personal values to enable each of us to have the confidence and self awareness, and the grit and determination to succeed.

- We need moral values, such as respect, responsibility, care and appreciation towards others, to guide each of us to be a socially responsible person. In particular, for our multi-racial, multi-cultural society, a sense of shared values and respect allows us to appreciate and celebrate our diversity, so that we stay cohesive and harmonious.

As for values and character development, I think that this concept was piloted at Hougang Secondary School. When I was there during my practicum, the principal was very adamant about character building. During one of the discussions over lunch that I had with fellow NIE trainees, one of them shared that it is important to correct the character, behavior and discipline of students first before striving for academic excellence. Only with positive attitudes, will students be ready and willing to learn.

The move towards a values-driven education system is exciting quite refreshing in the Singapore’s education system as it has been too academically-driven. However, the implementation or changes that will be made to the system is still questionable for me, because, in the same speech, Mr Heng addressed the need to preserve rigour and high standards of Singapore’s education system. Hence, it seems to me that the education system still will continue to be demanding and stressful for students and teachers.

Oh well… we’ll just have to wait and experience it for ourselves when we go out to teach J

All the best! Haha!

For the full speech, you can go to this website:

http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2011/09/22/work-plan-seminar-2011.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+singapore-education%2Fspeeches+%28Speeches%29