Streaming This review of the Ministry of Education covers the period beginning February 1979 when the new education system was introduced. Last year, streaming commenced in primary schools and this year, in secondary schools. The exercise aroused widespread public controversy, as is inevitable when a major change takes place affecting many parents and their children. The object of streaming pupils according to ability is to enable them to be taught at the most suitable pace. Previously, the pace of learning was set by the top 12% who made it to 'A' level in 12 years. Less able children fell by the wayside and many left school virtually illiterate. While it is easy to enunciate the objectives of streaming, it is less easy to set. up a system of implementation that will appear fair to everyone. Hence the policy of the Ministry has been to introduce streaming with caution and flexibility. Parents will accept the new policy more readily if large changes are avoided and if the reasons for the policy are clearly explained. In the Secondary 1 streaming this year, streaming proportions were based on the percentage of Secondary 1 pupils who would later get three 'O' level passes. Past records showed that 50% of the Secondary 1 pupils were successful. This figure was hence used to separate those who would take the 'O' level examination in four years (in the Express and Special Streams) from those who would take five years (in the Normal Stream). Parents of 3,635 children in the 40% to 49% group were given the choice of the Express or Normal Streams. 88% chose the Express stream. If a more stringent criterion had been used, say, five 'O' level passes, only a third would have gone to the faster streams, instead of 59%. But there could well have been a public uproar. However, the purpose of streaming would have been better served and more of the lower two-thirds would have been able to get five good 'O' level passes, This would have enabled them to proceed to the Polytechnic or Ngee Ann or to the 'A' level and eventually to the University. Curriculum Development The process of curriculum development comprises two main components: syllabus definition and development of materials. The Division looking after curriculum development should be the main source of innovation. The former Education Development Division in the Ministry was not suitably organised for this purpose. In June 1980, the Division was disbanded. The job of syllabus definition was transferred to the School Inspectorate. The production of teaching materials of all kinds was taken over by a new institute, the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS). The former Singapore Education Media Service (SEMS), which produced educational television (ETV) programmes and audio-visual aids, was incorporated as the Division of Educational Technology in CDIS. CDIS tries to attract talented, innovative and creative teachers. The Institute is sited in the Kent Ridge campus of the National University to keep it out of reach of Ministry bureaucrats. Bureaucratic procedures are reduced to the minimum. Each team of writers is led by a Project Director who is given full responsibility for his or her project. Members of CDIS who write textbooks and produce other teaching materials will receive a share of the royalties on sales. The Institute is concentrating on the English and Chinese Languages, Mathematics and Science, mainly for the primary level. An example is the CLIPS project which produces Chinese Language Instructional Materials for Primary Schools. This year, CLIPS materials are used in Primary 1 classes in 300 schools. Experts in English, Mathematics and Science from Britain and elsewhere are being engaged as consultants to the project teams. CDIS is also developing supplementary materials. Examples of these are materials for supplementary English and Chinese lessons for the Special Assistance Plan Schools and materials to correct common Singapore errors in written English. Materials for the monolingual courses and for the lower secondary science classes are also being developed. Altogether, there are 17 project teams at the moment. Teams will be formed for new projects when talented teachers have been identified. CDIS also conducts courses for teachers on how to use the materials it has developed. It acts as a resource centre to serve the instructional needs of teachers in schools. Its resource library containing audio-visual materials will be expanded to about five times its present size. Moral Education In 1979, the Ong Teng Cheong Report reviewed the status of moral education in schools and made many recommendations for improvement. The report forms the basis of a new approach. However, little progress has been made. Implementation has proved more difficult and complex than expected. "Education for Living", comprising moral education and social studies, will be replaced by Moral Education as a separate subject in primary schools. A series of books entitled "Good Citizen" is being produced to inculcate in our pupils desirable moral values. Pupils will be made aware of their existence, their relationship to others, their family and ultimately the nation and the world. The values imparted at each stage will be directly related to the pupils' development and experience. Instead of the traditional didactic approach, pupils will acquire the values through discussions, story-telling and other activities. Social Studies will be introduced as an additional subject only from Primary 4. At the lower secondary levels, Moral Education will replace Civics. An experimental Moral Education Programme developed by Dr R. Balhatchet is being tried out in Bukit Merah Secondary School and will be extended to more schools if found successful. Religious Education, in the form of the study of an individual religion or the comparative study of religions, is being encouraged as an 'O' level examination subject. Papers on Christianity and Islam are already available for the Cambridge General Certificate of Education 'O' Level Examination. Comparative religion will be introduced shortly by the Cambridge Examination Syndicate and the Ministry is assessing its suitability. The Ministry is also considering Hinduism and Buddhism as other options. The syllabi for these two papers have been prepared and textbooks are being prepared. However, it will take several years to produce good textbooks and teaching materials and to train teachers in their effective use. Quick results cannot be expected in this area. Computer Training of School Pupils To develop a computer software industry successfully in Singapore, a projected shortfall of up to 7,800 trained computer personnel has to be met by 1990. The Ministry has started a programme of computer training for school pupils. In 1980, Computer Science, as an 'A' level subject, was introduced to the first batch of 50 pupils. The second batch in 1981 will have at least 400 pupils. Each junior college teaching the subject will be equipped with a mini-computer system and will have at least two teachers trained in Computer Science. Each year, 25 teachers will undergo a diploma course in Computer Science at the National University of Singapore. A computer appreciation course will be conducted for pupils in 17 secondary schools from January 1981. The course will arouse pupils' interest in computers and teach them to write simple computer programmes. Another 30 secondary schools will have this course from July 1981. By 1983, all secondary schools should have computer appreciation clubs as an extra-curricular activity. For this purpose, each secondary school will have a micro-computer system. The Special Assistance Plan Schools The Special Assistance Plan (SAP) was introduced in 1979 in nine established secondary schools. These schools admit pupils who are within the top 10% of those who passed the Primary School Leaving Examination. Students in SAP schools sit for their GCE 'O' level examination in English. The brightest among them do English and Chinese at the first language level. Their schools provide them with a suitable environment to achieve this. Thus, the Ministry has provided SAP schools with better facilities like air-conditioned language laboratories and libraries and better staffing quota (about 12% more for SAP schools with double sessions and 30% more for those on full day). Pupils from the Chinese medium schools are given additional support in the form of an immersion programme in good English schools or a supplementary English Language programme in their own schools. A supplementary Chinese Language programme is offered to pupils from English medium primary schools. Pupils in the SAP schools will enjoy certain privileges. If they pass both first languages and qualify for admission to junior colleges, they will be given priority in their choice of colleges. Pupils with a grade of at least E8 in one of the two first languages and a grade of C6 in the other will be considered as having satisfied the language requirement for pre-university admission. If they obtain a grade of C6 for Chinese as First Language (CL1) at 'O' level, they will be considered to have satisfied the second language requirement for admission to the university and will be exempted from doing Chinese as Second Language (CL2) at pre-university. Pupils will also be allowed to revert to CL2 if they are unable to cope with two first languages. Pupils at the end of Secondary 3 will be allowed to sit the 'O' level CL2 paper, If they obtain a minimum CL2 grade for pre-university admission, they need not do further Chinese Language papers at 'O' level. This is to allow them to concentrate on English in Secondary 4. School Administration and Appraisal Changes in the education system in the last two years have been complemented by changes in the management of schools. Principals are encouraged to take on more responsibility and authority. For example, the guidance, supervision and assessment of teachers in schools are no longer the responsibilities of inspectors of schools; they are now entirely the responsibilities of principals. Principals are now also responsible for the development of school work plans and the implementation and evaluation of the instructional programmes of their schools. A set of school work plans consists of a brief three-year rolling plan and a detailed annual work plan for the current year. The plans identify the school's policy and goals; examine pupil inputs, teacher resources, school facilities, and other resources; establish priorities; and set targets. The detailed annual work plan provides clear guidance and direction to the teaching staff in planning instructional strategies, developing instructional programmes and preparing schemes of work for the year. A good part of 1979 was devoted to orientating principals in this new task of planning. A set of guidelines, including suggested formats for the plans, was developed by the Ministry and given to the principals. School appraisal comprises two components; the self-appraisal and the external appraisal. The orientation of principals and key teachers for the self-appraisal exercise commenced in 1980. By the end of the year, over 140 primary and 130 secondary schools have been prepared for this exercise. By April 1981, the remaining schools will have been covered. Guidelines have been issued to schools. External appraisal of each school is carried out by a team of three inspectors of schools. The team is augmented by relevant subject specialist inspectors. It spends a week to 10 days in a school gathering information; observing teachers at work to evaluate the teaching and learning programmes: checking documents and pupils' written assignments: and interacting with teachers and pupils. The findings and recommendations of the external appraisal team are conveyed to the school in the form of an external appraisal report. The school develops follow-up activities, including the drawing-up of action plans for the areas identified as needing improvement. In 1980, 16 primary and four secondary schools were externally appraised. In 1981, 40 primary and 28 secondary schools will be externally appraised. Thereafter, the annual rate will be 56 primary and 28 secondary schools. When the system was first introduced, there was widespread apprehension among principals and teachers. There was also complaint about additional work load. These mis-givings are slowly dissipating as teachers and principals see the value of the new approach. This method of school inspection was adapted from the one used in some states in Australia. Institute of Education The Institute of Education (IE) was set up in 1973. Because attention was directed at more pressing problems in schools, little consideration was given to the physical expansion and manpower requirements of the Institute. Considering the difficult conditions and adverse environment under which the Institute's staff had to work in past years, the results they achieved were remarkable. The Institute trains those who carry out education policies and programmes - the teachers. Because of this, the Ministry will accord its top priority to raising the professional standards of the Institute. Two independent reviews on the Institute were carried out, one in 1979 on the administrative aspects by a team led by Miss Lim Hsiu Mei, a senior administrator; and one in 1980 on the professional aspects by Dr William Taylor, Director of the University of London Institute of Education. The recommendations of the review teams have been accepted and are being implemented. Dr Taylor has accepted appointment as expert consultant to the Ministry on the Institute's development. In the years to come, the development of IE's professional staff will be given top priority. Scholarships for higher degrees will be available for talented lecturers as well as talented teachers who will join the Institute. Sabbatical leave overseas for its staff will be resumed. More good lecturers will be recruited, locally and overseas, to strengthen the quality of the Institute. The salary scales for lecturers have been revised and new facilities have been, or will be, provided. Development of Computer Services in the Ministry In 1979, the Ministry purchased a mini-computer system. A Computer Services Branch was set up to develop a comprehensive computer-based management information system for the Ministry. In 1980, the Ministry conducted a massive data-capturing exercise for the 500,000 pupils in schools. This input forms the basis of the new Pupil Data Bank comprising information on the pupils' personal and schooling particulars, family background and home environment. A data verification exercise was also conducted for 20,000 teachers to re-vamp the Teacher Data Bank. The new Teacher Data Bank contains teachers' personal particulars, their academic and professional qualifications, their appointments and other achievements. The Ministry is also developing a School Data Bank to capture information on pupil enrolments, staffing, physical facilities and equipment, ind academic performances of schools. An occurrence slip reporting system was also implemented to keep track of information changes. The three data banks are partially operational and will be fully operational by mid-1981. The Ministry received substantial assistance from MINDEF's systems analysts, without whose contribution the targets set could not have been met in time. The computerised management information system provides accurate information promptly. The system also reduces administrative work. For example, previously, clerks had to update and prepare the curriculum vitae of individual teachers when- ever they are needed. Now, the computer can print an accurate curriculum vitae of a teacher in a minute, saving many man-hours of file searching and typing. The system also provides services to schools, for example, providing analyses of pupils to help schools prepare their school plans. The Ministry will be taking over the computerised examination and posting systems from the Ministry of Finance's Computer Services Department. The financial control systems of the Ministry, IE and CDIS will be computerised. Student and staff data at IE will also be computerised. A curriculum data base will be set up to monitor textbooks and instructional materials available for each subject. Cataloguing of books and retrieval of information in the libraries of the Ministry, IE and CDIS will also be fully computerised by the mid-1980's. The management information system is still in its infancy. Users, for example, school principals, will need to be made more aware of the benefits of immediate access to information stored in the computer. Orientation courses will be conducted for them but because of the large numbers involved, it may take up to two years or more to complete these courses. Proposed Innovations (a) Senior Education Service A major problem faced by the Ministry is how to attract good officers to take up positions of responsibility in the Education Service. At present, most teachers are unwilling to work at Ministry Headquarters (HQ). This is unlike in the United Kingdom where there is strong competition to join Her Majesty's Inspectorate, an elite professional corps. Members of the Inspectorate are experienced professional officers and are highly paid. This is also the case in France, where the general inspectors are distinguished officers of proven merit and high intellect. In contrast, there is no incentive for our good teachers to work in HQ. Officers at HQ lose their school holidays, work longer hours and in unfamiliar conditions but draw the same or even less pay than their counter- parts in the schools. Principals and vice-principals, for example, lose their allowances (up to $300 pm) when they join HQ. Teachers are also fearful of losing face should they be posted back to schools as teachers when their services at HQ are no longer required. The dismantling of the Education Development Division caused much anguish in the profession. To recognise talent in the Education Service and to attract good officers to take up positions of responsibility, the Ministry proposes to introduce a Senior Education Service (SES). Key posts in HQ and schools will be designated as Upper Timescale posts, with the most important of them graded Superscale posts. These posts will eventually be held by officers in the SES. All serving officers can apply to be in the SES if they meet minimum requirements laid down by the Ministry. Those who choose not to apply for the SES will remain in the Education Service. Their promotion prospects will end at the Upper Timescale. There are many good teachers, especially among women, who enjoy teaching and do not wish to hold staff appointments in schools or the Ministry. Promising young officers will be identified and tested for the SES. If found suitable, they will be sent for higher degrees or specialist training, either overseas or locally. In 1980, six officers were sent overseas for postgraduate studies. The Ministry hopes to send 10-15 officers for postgraduate and specialist courses each year. The National University of Singapore (NUS) has agreed to set up a Graduate Centre for Education. Many talented married women teachers, unwilling to take overseas courses, will be able to get their Masters and Doctorates in Singapore when the Centre is established. (b) Schools Council One of the more intractable problems of our education system lies in the area of communication between Ministry Headquarters, where decisions on policy are made, and the schools where they are implemented. The flow tends to be downwards from Ministry to schools in the form of circulars and direc- tives. The reverse flow does take place but is inadequate. Sometimes it takes the shape of formal enquiries through questionnaires. At other times, contacts are informal through discussions with a few principals or teachers. The Schools Division, whose inspectors are in constant contact with schools, maintains good and continuous liaison with schools. Discussions centre on particular problems of each school but basic Ministry policies are seldom examined. Professionals developing and testing new teaching materials also maintain contact with schools but only a few schools are involved in each project. The lateral flow of information between schools is very restricted. Except for sports meetings and some extra-curricular projects, schools mind their own business as they have no reason to do otherwise. One consequence of all this is that policy-thinking in the Ministry is not thoroughly understood by principals and teachers in schools. As a result, the Ministry has established a reputation for being, to quote a Systems Engineer in the Ministry, "at best a mystery, at worst a place of confusion". Such a state is not conducive to efficient management and needs to be changed. Schools must be made aware of policy-thinking in the Ministry before decisions are reached and embodied in directives or circulars. That is to say, they must be involved in the decision-making process so that when decisions are made, they have thoroughly understood the reasons for the decisions and have a clear perception of objectives to be attained. Implementation will then be effective and accurate. The Japanese system of management, now accepted by many experts as having great merit, emphasises the importance of adequate flows of information throughout the system. To achieve this objective, the Ministry proposes to establish a Schools Council. In the first stage, this will be confined to secondary schools and junior colleges. The Ministry will be represented by the political leadership and the administrative and professional heads. Schools will be represented by 20 principals selected by the Ministry. However, all principals of secondary schools and junior colleges will be invited to witness the proceedings of the Schools Council through closed circuit television at the Division of Educational Technology premises next to the Ministry. They will also be provided in advance with reports and study papers to be discussed by the Schools Council. They will be free to express their opinion on any subject by memorandum. A catalogue of reports and study papers discussed in the Ministry during 1980 is being prepared and will soon be circulated to the schools. The catalogue contains 550 titles. Principals and teachers may obtain copies of any paper for a modest fee. These documents will also be made available to the media for background information only and not for publication without the approval of the Ministry. The media have the important role of informing the public of education policies. To discharge this function properly, they themselves must be adequately informed. The same access to Ministry documents will be made available to Members of Parliament. (c) Full-day Schools A pilot project has been introduced this year for two primary and three secondary schools to function as full-day schools. A full-day school starts at 7.30 am and ends at about 3.00 pm. The additional curriculum time is used mainly for the teaching of the various subjects. However, the curriculum remains unchanged. The extended school day allows pupils to remain in school for self-study, homework, or extra-curricular activities, thus leaving Saturdays free of school activities. To maintain the same workload as before for teachers in full-day schools, the staffing ratio has been increased by about 30%. Shortages of teaching staff and building construction capacity are the main constraints on rapid expansion of full-day schools. Major Areas of Concern The implementation of the new education system requires professional expertise in various fields of education. One area is testing. With our emphasis on streaming, it is necessary to build up a strong core of trained experts in testing. Talented officers will be sent on scholarships for higher degrees in testing or attached to major testing projects for specialist training. Last year, two officers were attached to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in Australia. To date, eight officers have been sent abroad for training and six have returned with post-graduate qualifications in testing. Another major area is the teaching of English Language in our schools. The Morris and Thomson Report on Curriculum Development in Singapore (September 1979) has recommended a review of English Language teaching. The Ministry has engaged an eminent linguistic expert, Professor H.G. Widdowson from the University of London, to undertake a preliminary study. Professor Widdowson will take a broad look at English Language teaching and identify the problem areas which will then be studied by a team of experts. As a short term measure, the Ministry is recruiting expatriate teachers in English to fill part of the vacancies for English Language teachers in our schools. As a long term measure, the Ministry has introduced a SALUTE Scholarship Scheme to train more graduate teachers of English by offering scholarships to pre-university students. After their General Cambridge Examination 'A' level, these students do an undergraduate degree in English and later join the education service. The Public Service Commission (PSC) has also taken significant steps to train more graduate teachers. All along, PSC has awarded teaching scholarships and bursaries. However, recognising the urgent need to have more graduate teachers, PSC has increased greatly the number of such awards since 1976. Between 1976 and 1980, a total of 727 teaching awards were granted. Starting from 1979, PSC also requires students awarded teaching scholarships tenable in the Science and Arts Faculties of the NUS to do English Language as one of their subjects. The aim is to enable them later to teach English Language as well as their subjects of specialisation. Since the implementation of the scheme, 155 students on teaching awards have been admitted to the English Language course. The measures taken by PSC have contributed towards improving the quality of teaching in our schools. Owing to the high demand for places in schools, much of the space in our schools has to be used for classrooms. As a result, other facilities cannot be adequately provided. Staff rooms and school libraries are smaller than desirable. There is also a lack of special rooms such as audio-visual rooms. In the next three years, a total of 48 primary and 22 secondary schools will be built. Seven junior colleges will also be built in the next five years. New schools will have bigger staff rooms, bigger libraries and special rooms. Overcrowding in existing schools will be alleviated. Some of the classrooms in existing schools can be converted for special purposes. We will improve the physical facilities in existing schools to the latest building standards, where possible. The changes in the composition of our teachers is another area of concern. Among our younger teachers, i.e. those 30 years or younger, there are 3,026 females (81%) and 724 males (19%). Extra-curricular activities such as rugby and soccer which traditionally require the charge of a male teacher will be affected by the decreasing number of male teachers. Furthermore, our male pupils may be increasingly deprived of a male image to look up to and emulate. Most of our female teachers will eventually raise families of their own. At present, most of our schools function on a half-day and married female teachers have time to take care of their own children for the other half of the day. With full-day school, these teachers will have less time to take care of their children. Some may consider leaving the teaching service to look after their children. It may be an advantage to introduce a system of part-time teachers. To continue the development of computer services for the Ministry and schools, the Ministry needs to expand its data processing staff. This will be difficult. Because the salaries for systems analysts and programmers in the Computer Service are less than those offered in the private sector, the Computer Service has found it difficult to retain trained staff. There is a dearth of systems analysts and programmers in the Ministry and half of the posts are vacant. We also have a high staff turnover rate of 33% in 1979 and 22% in 1980. This means that we are continuously losing those systems analysts and programmers who have experience, and we have to continuously train new staff, a costly affair. GOH KENG SWEE First Deputy Prime Minister