23 September 2000

SPEECH BY RADM TEO CHEE HEAN,
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SECOND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
AT THE MOE WORK PLAN SEMINAR 2000
ON SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2000 AT 9.20 AM
AT THE NANYANG POLYTECHNIC AUDITORIUM

1. Education is an enterprise about the future. As educators we need to look into the future to see what our students will need, and shape our current systems and methods to help our students reach that goal.

2. In his National Day Rally Speech on 20 August 2000 this year, Prime Minister Goh painted a picture of education in the future - a life-long education system from pre-school to retirement, where our people will have the opportunities to achieve their full potential by acquiring new knowledge and skills throughout their lives.

3. He underlined the Government's commitment to education by saying that he is prepared to increase spending on education from 3.6% to 4.5% of GDP over the next few years. This is equivalent to an extra $1.5 billion every year, on top of the $6 billion we spend now each year for education. But he also added an important qualifier - that the funds would have to be put to good use. The Prime Minister pointed out several areas where these additional resources can be invested for good effect. In the coming year the Ministry will study these areas in greater detail to plan out how they can be implemented. Let me describe some of the things that we are planning to do.

4. We will extend the reach of our education system at both ends of the age continuum. At the front end of the system, the government will do more to strengthen the pre-school sector, while retaining the current framework of private and community provision. MOE is starting a pilot programme to develop good pre-school curriculum which aims to balance between understanding concepts, the learning process and acquiring desirable attitudes and values.

5. On the other end of the age spectrum, we will also be putting in more resources into our Post Secondary Educational Institutions to improve their capacity to deliver continuing education and training. We are working out a framework for Singaporeans to upgrade themselves throughout their working lives, especially ITE and polytechnic diploma holders. Apart from short courses to refresh and update the skills of our workforce, there would be upgrading in formal qualifications, for example from an Industrial Techinician Cert to a Polytechnic Diploma, and from a Poly diploma to an advanced diploma or degree.

6. These additions will complement our efforts in the school education sector. A good pre-school education will give the child a firm foundation at an early age for lifelong learning. The products of our education system will need to return to our Post Secondary Institutions periodically to renew, and refresh their knowledge and skills.

7. In addition to Pre-School and Continuing Education, we will also be investing resources to provide more options for post-secondary and tertiary education, including tertiary arts education through NAFA, LaSalle, and the new music conservatory at NUS.

8. We will also need the additional resources to improve the quality of education in our schools, especially to improve the quality of interaction between teachers and pupils. "Putting our funds to good use" means investing to improve and add depth to how we currently do our work, so as to make the mass customisation of education envisaged under the ability-driven paradigm, a reality. This applies to both how we use our resources at the ministry level, and how principals are able to capitalise on their assets at the school-level.

9. At the ministry level, we intend to improve the quality of educational interaction in three interlinked ways: creating a conducive physical environment, improving support for teachers, and recruiting and retaining a quality teaching force.

10. In terms of physical resources, we have just completed the conversion of all secondary schools into single-session schools. We have begun on PRIME, or the Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing Schools. When PRIME is completed in 2005, our children will study in some of the most modern and best-equipped schools in the world. Looking ahead, the Ministry will be exploring the possibility of implementing single-session primary schools.

11. This will be a major decision which the Ministry expects to make in 2 to 3 years' time after careful deliberation. We have to balance the benefits of better access to facilities and attention devoted to students' needs, with the practical considerations of implementation, such as adjusting the size and capacity of schools. If the decision is to go ahead, it would fundamentally alter the primary school environment.

12. As important as having the right physical infrastructure is having good administrative support. Every school now has a School Administrator and an Operations Manager. These posts were only created during the last 4 years. In the coming years, the Ministry will be channelling more resources into school administrative support. This will take the form of additional support personnel and the implementation of more IT support systems. This will free teachers to spend more time on teaching.

13. The third area of improvement is that of teachers. We need to build a quality teaching force for the 21st century. To ensure quality, our teachers are selected from the top third of their cohort. We currently recruit 2,000 teachers each year, with about 60% of them graduates, or 1 out of every 8 university graduates. We are near the limit as to how many more graduate teachers we can recruit each year, without adversely affecting other sectors.

14. Our main efforts must therefore be directed towards retention of good teachers who will be the outstanding and experienced senior teachers, HODs, subject heads, level heads, VPs and Principals of the future.

15. MOE is currently undertaking a fundamental review of the pay and career structure of the Education Service. This review is to help us better shape our service to meet both organisational needs and the personal aspirations of teachers. This is to ensure that the Education Service continues to attract and retain good teachers. The review will look at how we can recognise and motivate experienced teachers. It will also consider how we can retain and build a new generation of teachers of similar high quality.

16. In addition to this, we have committed ourselves to meeting the needs for continuing education and professional development of our teachers. To mould the sort of classroom teachers and school leaders required in Thinking Schools, NIE is reshaping itself to become a "Teaching Institute of Distinction", through its quality teacher training programmes and educational research. NIE today is no longer the same NIE you knew when you were there as trainees.

17. Later this year, NIE will move into its new, state-of-the-art, $400 million campus at the Nanyang Technological University grounds. But the changes have gone far deeper than this. NIE has developed a framework for continual education to facilitate and encourage professional upgrading at all levels within the teaching profession. It has structured programmes and courses for our teachers in modules which can be taken throughout their careers; and innovative ways of delivering training courses are being introduced to make training more accessible and convenient.

18. We are fortunate that in Singapore we are deeply engaged in the business of looking ahead. The Ability Driven Education paradigm is our roadmap. Our work plan seminars serve as key signposts in our journey towards an ability driven education system. We come together, exchange notes and take stock regularly.

19. In this same auditorium during the Workplan Seminar in 1998, we painted the broad strokes of an Ability Driven Education and dealt with the "whys", by identifying the need for a paradigm shift. We stood then at the crossroads, deciding the way to the future. We chose to blaze a new trail though it was easier to stay with an old and familiar path. It marked a turning point in the thinking and mindset of the ministry as we set our compass to head for a new future.

20. The second Work Plan Seminar was about the "whats" of strategy. Together, we mapped out the key features of the ADE landscape and gave substance to each of the 6 strategic areas.

21. This process of putting in place the right education policies and systems is still a work in progress. We are still building the paths and expressways that will lead us towards an even better and more responsive education system.

22. Over the past two years, we have introduced new programmes and initiatives in areas like curriculum review, school autonomy, school appraisal, and university admission criteria. (As you saw from the opening video) schools are now beginning to map their programmes onto the Thinking Schools Learning Nation framework. Our educational institutions are bustling with ideas and activities, from project work to CCAs. The entire education system is in the midst of a fundamental re-orientation as we adapt to an unfamiliar terrain and put in place the necessary policies, structures, and processes for ADE.

23. This year's workplan seminar takes us one step further, by examining "how" ADE can happen. Our schools may be similarly equipped, with the latest technological features. On the surface, they may look the same, but they are not identical. Each is unique, and has it's own set of students, staff and community to serve. Whether the ADE journey will be a smooth one, and proceed speedily or a rough ride, lies in the abilities of our school leaders - knowing when to press on, and when to shift gears, and understanding the unique features of our particular school, students and teachers and playing to those strengths.

25. We have laid out the systems and the programmes for the ADE. But it takes good people to translate these programmes into action, to bring them to life.

26. Teaching is ultimately a human enterprise where teachers and students share a common purpose in learning. Learning is not about textbooks alone, but comes alive when teachers turn the raw materials in textbooks into meaningful learning activities. Values are transmitted through role models, not technology. People are the source of new ideas, improvements and innovations that sustained achievement is built upon.

27. As school leaders, you hold the key to whether we can capitalise on our most important assets - our teachers. Every teacher has the potential to be like a virtuoso in the classroom, educating our children. Like musicians in an orchestra, they are talented individuals who produce their best performances only when they are led effectively by a conductor capable of harnessing their talents and gelling them together as a team.

28. Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and management guru, likens leadership to conducting. The conductor is the only person in the orchestra who doesn't make a sound. The conductor's power depends on his ability to make other people powerful, and enabling his musicians to be the best performers they can be. By creating a powerful vision that allows room for things to occur that are as yet undreamed of, he can generate great performances.

29. To realise an Ability Driven Education, principals will likewise have to exercise their responsibilities as leaders and conductors who articulate a vision of high achievement, and create learning and nurturing environment for our teachers to thrive.

30. More than just motivate, principals must empower our teachers to face present and future challenges; and through their constant search for excellence, encourage, inspire and draw out the very best in both individuals and teams. They can bring about a fundamental change in people's beliefs and behaviour, and instil the qualities of innovation and risk taking by rewarding initiative, forgiving mistakes, and viewing error as a learning opportunity. Principals can create a community around themselves where such beliefs can be practised, expressed and nurtured. Schools can then serve as incubators and communities of good ideas and practice.

31. Effective leadership is all the more important within the framework of greater autonomy for schools. In order to innovate successfully, we have devolved greater autonomy to schools and clusters, and will continue to explore further possibilities for doing so.

32. This will allow us to move authority and freedom of action closer to the ground; closer to the needs of children, to technology, and to all the changes in society, the environment, demographics and knowledge that provide opportunities for innovation. Instead of waiting for directions from the headquarters, the initiative, the drive and the energy must come mostly from the parts, with the centre as an influencing force. Principals and teachers can become "insurgents", looking for new ideas and opportunities, and trying them out. And age is no barrier, as we can become "grey haired revolutionaries".

33. With such autonomy comes accountability. Principals will be expected to make more timely and effective local decisions to cater to the specific needs of their students. The School Excellence Model, with its system for self appraisal and framework of awards will serve as a means of helping schools to organise their activities in ways that are accountable to the community they serve.

34. But the influence of Principals goes beyond their schools. Together with their teachers, they play a crucial role in the propagation of ideas - they are the "carriers" of good ideas, and must play the role of communicators of these ideas, within their schools, and to other schools.

35. I congratulate the 110 schools that will be receiving the Sustained Achievement Awards and the Value Added Awards later. These awards will come with the responsibility of sharing with others your methods of success, so that we can propagate best practices amongst our schools. For a truly excellent organisation, there should be no "secrets" which cannot be shared, for an excellent organisation would have since gone on to newer and better things.

36. By helping to circulate good ideas through the school system, either through school clusters or Learning Circles at the Teacher's Network, Principals are the social glue that bond our schools together in a common commitment to excellence. In so doing, we benefit not just from the creativity and diversity that comes with autonomy, but also from the multiplier effect that comes through unity of purpose and collective sharing of ideas. The whole of MOE can then always be greater than just the sum of its parts.

37. Singapore has a robust education system - schools, JCs/CIs, ITE institutes, polytechnics, NIE, universities and HQ. It is the result of many years of hard work and careful investment. Thanks to this, we are able to build a strong foundation for every child, which follows him wherever he goes. An American boy recently credited his perfect score in the SAT to the primary education he received in Singapore five years ago, which he felt helped him to achieve his full potential.

38. Something can be done in school that will alter the lenses through which our children see the world. Our schools can provide a point of view from which the present can be seen clearly, the past as a source of inspiration and identity, and the future a rainbow of colours, full of promise and possibility.

39. Our schools can be about how to make a life, which is much more than how to make a living. Our schools can become the key institution through which the young find reasons for continuing to grow and learn. In this way, education gives every child a fair shot at achieving his or her hopes and aspirations.

40. I hope you will have a fruitful discussion at this year's Work Plan Seminar.