CIP and SPED Schools

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng, MP for Jalan Besar GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education:

(a)  what is the effectiveness of the Community Involvement Project initiatives in developing the character of students towards an inclusive Singapore

(b) if he will consider implementing a special school within a mainstream school, to enable greater daily interaction between students with special needs and their mainstream peers.

Response

1          Teaching our students to respect those who are different from them, and to learn to work with them is an important part of  education.  There is no one way in which we seek to do this. We need many approaches. 

2          The Community Involvement Programme (CIP) is in fact one of these ways. Schools consciously create opportunities for their students to interact with people of different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and abilities.  CIP encourages students to develop the habit of being socially responsible, and to understand that every Singaporean has an active role to play in the well-being of the country. 

3          The effectiveness of CIP is difficult to measure in any direct way.  However, the surveys conducted with schools suggest that CIP has indeed made a difference to the students’ awareness of volunteerism and their sense of service to the community. 

4          At the Primary and Secondary levels, students have been encouraged to initiate and organise their own CIP.  For example, at Greenview Secondary, a Secondary 3 class collaborated with MINDS Towner Gardens School to organise team-building activities for their students.  Schools like Raffles Girls Secondary and Bedok South Secondary also have long-term collaborations with Special Olympics Singapore and Very Special Arts’ Singapore respectively, to create opportunities for their students to interact .

5.         At Raffles Junior College, students prepared a sports handbook for the disabled, conducted a tennis clinic for the hearing impaired, and interacted with children from the APSN Tanglin School through sandwich-making sessions.  The involvement gave the students a deeper and direct, personal understanding about people with special needs, their hopes, aspirations and concerns.

6.         Besides the CIP and the co-location of mainstream and SPED schools, MOE is also involving staff and students of the SPED Schools in various events such as NE Shows, the MOE Excel Fest which showcase innovations in education, Singapore Youth Festival performances, and events at the Singapore Discovery Centre and the Singapore Science Centre.  We will continue to involve SPED schools whenever meaningful and practicable to promote greater engagement amongst these students and their mainstream peers.

7.         Ms Phua raised the specific idea of having a special school within a mainstream school for the purpose of increasing interaction.  We do want to provide more opportunities for interaction, as I have just mentioned.   On co-location, we are already doing it and will do more of it where it is feasible and educationally sound for the children with special needs.   We are locating SPED schools adjacent to mainstream schools.  With absence of physical barriers like roads and housing blocks between the schools, free flow of interaction and activities between both schools is encouraged.

8.         Currently, 5 SPED schools are already co-located with mainstream schools.   Another 5 new purpose-built SPED schools that are either in the construction or planning stages are also co-located with mainstream schools.

9.         MOE will keep an open mind, and continue to explore different models of educating children with special needs and ways of providing opportunities for them to interact with the rest of their peers.

International Schools

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Mr Gautam Banerjee, Nominated Member of Parliament

Question

To ask the Minister for Education in light of the increase in the number of international schools in Singapore, whether there are programmes in place to promote the exchange of ideas and best practices between local and international schools.

Question

To ask the Minister for Education whether the National Institute of Education, as part of its normal teachers' training programme, regularly places trainee teachers in international schools so that they get an opportunity to experience different teaching methods and practices.

Response

1          As part of the efforts to expose Singaporeans to a global environment, MOE encourages and facilitates efforts to collaborate with international schools.  This includes providing opportunities both for our students and teachers. 

2          In 2006, 31 of our schools were involved in 58 collaborations with foreign system schools.  The collaborations range from joint efforts  on projects, immersion programmes, sporting and cultural exchanges to sharing of good practices and ideas. 

3          For example, Yumin Primary School has an ongoing collaboration with The Japanese School (Primary) since 2000. There are mutual visits by teachers to learn about the different school systems.  They also organise an Immersion Programme every year for the P5 and P6 pupils, and a home-stay programme for the P5 pupils with their counterparts. Another example is the collaboration between Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ Secondary School and the Australian International School in the Arts Programmes.  A few of our schools like St Andrew’s JC, St Andrew’s Secondary and CHIJ St Theresa’s play friendly rugby, hockey and soccer games with the United World College. 

4          MOE is continuing with its efforts to encourage more schools to establish collaborations. We are also exploring other platforms for interactions between our schools and the foreign system schools in areas such as sports leagues, the Singapore Youth Festival for performing arts and an international friendship camp. 
For the teachers, MOE values the importance of building a strong foundation in pedagogy as well as developing the teaching force through broadening of their experiences. The exposure gained by teachers will benefit them professionally and enable them to contribute more to the teaching service .

5.         As the objective of the pre-service training is to lay the foundation for our trainees to teach in local schools, trainee teachers are therefore not sent for teaching assignments in international schools.  However, when they become trained teachers, there are opportunities for them to be attached to overseas or local international schools such as Tanglin Trust School, Singapore American School, United World College and Overseas Family School as part of Teacher Work Attachments or overseas immersion programmes to broaden their outlook on Education.  In the first half of 2006, more than 200 of our teachers participated in these attachments.

6.         Apart from teaching attachments and immersion programmes, there are also secondment opportunities for interested teachers to different type of schools such as the Singapore International School in Hong Kong and the Bangkok-Pattana School, for them to experience different teaching practices and methods.

Primary 1 and 2 Class Sizes

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Mr Alvin Yeo, MP for Hong Kah GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education what are the results and feedback received by his Ministry on the smaller class sizes introduced for Primary 1 and 2 students and whether there are plans to extend this to other students.

Response

1          MOE reduced class sizes for Primary 1 from 2005 and for Primary 2 from last year, from 40 to 30 students per class. The move to smaller classes has provided young children with a more welcoming start to formal schooling. To take full advantage of smaller classes, MOE also introduced the SEED  programme in 2005 to provide a more engaging learning experience for lower primary students. 

2          Feedback about SEED has been very encouraging.  Schools are using the flexibility they have been given to try out varied methods to engage their young learners. Teachers have more room to cater to different learning needs and are able to invest more time in inculcating useful values among their pupils. 

3          In many of these schools, teachers customise activity-based lessons, to match the learning styles and abilities of their pupils.  Concepts in Mathematics and English are taught by having pupils carry out hands-on activities in small groups of 6-10. As a result, teachers can spend more time with the weaker students, while students who learn at a quicker pace can learn to lead a group and help their peers.  Overall, lessons become more interesting, and by working together, pupils learn important values like co-operation and tolerance. 

4          Alternative forms of assessment have also been tried out under SEED.  For example, Punggol Primary assesses pupils in role-play, presentations and story-telling to complement the traditional pen-and-paper assessment modes.  The feedback from parents and teachers shows that these opportunities help the children develop their language skills and build self-confidence, and spark off a certain creative energy .

5.         On the whole, our experience with smaller class sizes at Primary 1 and 2 has been a positive one so far, although it is too early to come to definitive conclusions. MOE will continue to monitor and study the results of this move.

6.         Mr Yeo asked whether there are plans to extend smaller class sizes to other levels. Our approach to this issue beyond the early primary years is to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in schools, and let schools decide on how best to take advantage of the improved provisions. Schools may decide to reduce class size where there is benefit, or to use their additional teachers in other ways that can improve the quality of learning. This will vary from school to school, and by level, depending on the profile of students as well as the particular pedagogic skills of the teachers in the school.

7.         Improving the pupil-teacher ratio however hinges on our ability to recruit more teachers, without compromising the quality of the teaching service.  This is important to ensure that we continue to provide a high standard of education to our students.

8.         Thus, MOE’s approach is to pro-actively recruit as many good teachers as possible. We are making good progress, and are on track to meeting our target of 30,000 teachers by 2010. MOE is also committed to providing the best possible support for our teachers, such as deploying more para-educators and administrative support staff to our schools, so that teachers can focus more time on helping their students learn better.

Pre-school

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Lam Pin Min, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC (SengKang West)
Dr Lily Neo, MP for Jalan Besar GRC (Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng)
Mrs Josephine Teo, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC (Toa Payoh East)

Questions

Dr Lam Pin Min:
(a) What is the proportion of Singaporean children who do not attend pre-school education?
(b) Whether there are any data or statistics to show the benefits of pre-school education or a direct correlation to future academic performance
(c) Whether there is a need to make pre-school education compulsory

Dr Lily Neo:
(d) Whether subsidies for pre-school education for children from lower income families will be considered so as to give these children the opportunity to level up

Mrs Josephine Teo:
(e) What is the number of pre-school education providers in Singapore?
(f)  Whether MOE plans to issue guidelines on the fees charged by providers of pre-school education services

Response
 
1.          Let me address the three questions on pre-school education, related to the pre-school education scene, benefits of pre-school education, and opportunities to level up.

2.          The pre-school landscape in Singapore is diverse, with various community and private organisations providing a variety of pre-school education programmes to cater to different needs and expectations.  As at 1 Jan 2007, there are 1,210 kindergartens[1] and childcare centres offering pre-school education. Of these, 492 (40.4%) are kindergartens and 725 (59.6%) are childcare centres. This diversity provides choice for parents to select the most appropriate pre-school in accordance to their needs and preferences.