Issues of Inequality in the Singapore Education system

By Benedict, Denise, Eunice, Mei Ling and Xiaochun

The Singapore Education System:

of

Heng Swee Keat: Education is also a key enabler of social mobility. We cannot guarantee equality of outcome, but we seek to provide equal opportunity for every student.

In your own experience of the Singapore education system, share, in your own groups, how the system has provided equal opportunities for all students.

Some MOE initiatives.. Socrative room number: 716043

Is every school a good school?

Of course, equal opportunities to ‘The Singapore Education Journey’ do not lead to equal outcomes.

But why do some groups consistently lose out or fall

behind?

Proceed with Caution: Sensitive issues ahead…

What are some stereotypes that exist in

Singapore schools and our society? List some of these and/or share some stereotypes that

have been imposed upon you (and your community).

Biological Destiny and Cultural Deprivation: Truth or Fallacy? Do you subscribe to these theories? Should you?

Keep these questions at the back of your mind as we begin our investigation...

•  Biological destiny - argues that there are inter-group (racial/ethnic, male/female, rich/poor) differences in intelligence i.e. some groups are innately superior/inferior and thus ‘natural’ that some groups will perform better/worse

•  Cultural deprivation - argues that some groups are

culturally inferior. They are seen to hold cultural values (e.g. being lazy) that are the cause of their own failures in life

Investigation 1: Race & Results

•  What have you noticed from these statistics? •  What reasons could account for Malays faring more

poorly than the Chinese and Indians in national examinations?

1. Historical & Institutional Factors (Fallacy) •  Malays historically marginalised and disadvantaged under British

colonialism: Divide and Rule (Collin Abraham, Naked Social Order (2004))

o  Malays marginalised economically e.g. Stevenson Restriction Scheme 1922 •  Marginalisation of Malays not ‘solved’ with independence

o  Rahim (1998) argues that PAP perpetuated problem of Malays’ marginality §  1950s-70s: PAP subscribed to cultural deprivation theory, encouraged

Malays to change ‘bad’ cultural values rather than consider other solutions §  1980s: PAP intervenes by establishing MENDAKI (Council for the

Development of Singapore Muslim Community) but this perpetuates SES inequality as helps middle and not lower income students

•  What other factor do these events point to?

2. Socio-Economic Factors (Fallacy) Parents with a higher SES are typically more involved in a

child’s education. True or False? Research (Blau and Duncan, 1968; Ishida, Muller and Ridge, 1995) shows that •  SES affects educational outcomes as •  Higher SES parents are typically more involved in child’s education

o  Able to guide child o  Positively influence child’s study habits, attitude towards education

etc.

2. Socio-Economic Factors Chinese Malay Indian Other

Average ($) 3,610

2,200 3,660 5,930

Median ($) 2,500

1,800 2,480 3,250

2005 Statistics: Monthly Income From Work (S$) By Race

Census 2010: Only 7.2% of Malay families earn over $10 000 as compared to 23.1% of Chinese families and 22.6% of Indian families

2. Socio-Economic Factors Highest Qualification Attained by Malays (% of Malay Population)

*note: improvement over the years

2005 2010

Primary 13.1 6.7

Incomplete Secondary 35.4 10.9

N/O Level 7.6 24.5

Polytechnic 3.5 15.6

University 5.1 6.8

3. Cultural Factors (Truth?) •  Not all races share the same views on the purposes and

aims of education o  Education for successful careers vs. for character building (Kang,

2004) o  Malay student: “my parents want me not really to become a very

clever person. To them more important is that in responsibility, politeness and everything, I am a good person”

3. Cultural Factors (Truth?) •  Use of mother-tongue

o  Implications of this (English-based syllabus)? o  Malays consistently out-do Chinese and Indians in

Mother Tongue results

Investigation 2: Streaming

All secondary school students taking the ‘O’ Levels use the same syllabus, textbooks etc. But those who have gone through normal stream fare significantly worse than their Express counterparts.

% of 5 or more O level passes 2007 2008 2009 2010

Sec 4 94.8 98.1 97.7 98.0

Sec 5 57.1 42.4 62.5 54.4

Qn: Are normal stream students fated to fare worse because they are lazy (culturally deprived) or intellectually inferior (biological destiny)? What (other) factors can you think of that might have negatively affected their results?

Factors •  Impact of Educators: Kang 2004 study shows

o  Differing expectations of Normal vs. Express students (Pygmalion) o  Differential exposure to curriculum content

•  Influence of society/stereotypes on post-secondary school aspirations •  Detrimental effects of streaming:

§  Damaging to self-concept and self-esteem §  Marginalisation of Normal stream students by Express stream

students; seen as ‘second-class’ •  → lack of information circulation & interaction (social cognitive)

Key takeaways 1.  While biological destiny and cultural deprivation arguably

contain certain truths, we should not subscribe to them wholly as

2.  Many possible factors contributing to a certain group of student’s ‘inferiority’, many of which are beyond the student’s control

3.   The playing field is not even!

Food for thought… What assumptions have we made in the above two case studies with regards to

a) the meaning of b) the ability to measure

‘success’ and ‘failure’?

Meritocracy and Assessment •  System of reward based on merit

Tuition Nation?

Why are Singaporean parents so reliant on tuition?

•  Have you benefited from this meritocratic system? How?

•  Have you (or someone you know) ever worked hard but failed to do as well as someone who put in less effort? How did it feel?

•  Does hard work necessarily translate into

reward?

●  Is there any way in which we can assess students in a more comprehensive way?

e.g. attitude, character etc.

• What are the implications of these on our role as educators and on our teaching philosophies?

• What can we as educators do to promote

a more level playing field?

As such…

6 Guiding Principles of a Good School 1. Cares and motivates 2. Develops strong fundamentals and holistic education

3. Positive school experience 4. Caring and competent teachers 5. Support from parents and community 6. Provides opportunities to all

What would you do?

What can we do?

Create Respond

Educate

a positive environment Create

The teacher - Identify your own attitudes How do your Experiences, Values, Beliefs, Stereotypes influence…

Your Knowledge & Understanding of people who are different from you?

The way you interact with students who are different from you?

The way you behave in a classroom?

a positive environment Create

Understand the issue of student diversity in today’s classroom

Be aware of your class profile and diverse/special needs learners

Create opportunities to get to know students on a personal basis, and let them get to know you as well

a positive environment Create Adopt good teaching attitudes

Adopt culturally responsive teaching ●  Incorporate multicultural

information ●  Draw links to other subjects ●  Use a variety of

instructional strategies

Avoid stereotypes; do not make assumptions ●  Try not to make

judgements on students’ learning behaviour and capabilities based on their background

a positive environment Create

Adopt good teaching attitudes Pygmalion effect & self-fulfilling

prophecy

a positive environment Create Adopt good teaching attitudes

Unconditional Teaching

“You know what? I really, really like you. You can keep doing all this stuff and it’s not going to change my mind. It seems to me that you are trying to get me to dislike you, but it’s not going to work. I’m not ever going to do that.”

-What a teacher said to a child who constantly misbehaved (Watson, 2003)

Caring and showing concern… no strings attached

to the situation

Responding to ‘hot moments’

Interrupt blatantly discriminatory behaviours when they emerge and address them immediately

Be an expert facilitator - Help all students recognise the ‘learning moment’

Respond

your students

Address issues of inequality openly

Create opportunities to discuss controversial issues openly but sensitively ●  Encourage mutual

understanding before discussion

●  Teacher can share personal learning experience

●  Encourage open mindset in students

Activate student voices

●  Encourage students to share and acknowledge them when appropriate

●  Do not make students representives of their race

Educate

your students

Address issues of inequality openly

Design opportunities for students to interact ●  Be aware of individuals

who are constantly excluded in group work, and intervene accordingly

●  Create opportunities for students to present their work

Address an indiviual’s needs to

the whole class if necessary

Educate

Conclusion •  Equal opportunities do not lead to equal outcomes! •  Be aware of current MOE policies aimed at promoting

equality of opportunities and leveling the playing field for all students

•  Truths and fallacies of biological destiny and cultural deprivation

•  Limitations of meritocracy •  Understand our roles as educators and the steps we can take

to promote equality of opportunities in their classroom

By Benedict, Denise, Eunice, Mei Ling and Xiaochun Question & Answer

of