Can We Learn From Singapore’s Schools?
The article discusses the educational systems of Singapore and Australia in light of the recent PISA 2022 results, where Singaporean students outperformed their global peers, while Australian results have stagnated following a two-decade decline. It explores the distinct approaches to learning in these two countries, mainly focusing on how they cater to students’ diverse learning needs.
Singapore’s education system is characterized by its tailored approach to teaching, recognizing that children have varying learning requirements. From an early age, students receive personalized support, with specially trained teachers assisting those who need extra help in core subjects. The system also includes a streaming process based on students' performances, placing them in different educational tracks that align with their abilities and learning stages. In contrast, Australia’s education system avoids streaming to prevent setting limits on students' potential and labeling them based on their learning abilities. Instead, it follows a more uniform approach, where all students are taught the same material simultaneously, regardless of their learning stages. This method, however, overlooks the wide variability in students' learning progress within the same age group, potentially causing many to fall behind as they fail to meet the common year-level expectations.
The article concludes by suggesting that stagnating or declining educational performance in countries like Australia might be due not only to teaching methods or student behavior but also to the systemic framework of curriculum, assessment, and reporting requirements. The challenge for Singapore and Australia lies in designing an educational system that adapts to diverse student needs without negative labeling and sets high yet flexible student expectations.