22 September 2001

OPENING ADDRESS BY RADM (NS) TEO CHEE HEAN
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SECOND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INAUGURAL COMPASS SEMINAR
"HOME-SCHOOL-COMMUNITY TIES: CONNECTING FACES
(FAMILY, ALUMNI, COMMUNITY, ENTERPRISE, SCHOOLS)"
SAT 22 SEP 2001 AT ORCHARD HOTEL @ 9.05 AM

1. Good morning. Today's seminar marks a significant milestone for COMPASS. It is the first time that a forum has been organised to provide a platform for different stakeholders in education to share their perspectives on the imperatives of home-school-community collaborations. I am indeed pleased to note that we have a wide-ranging group of participants today, including school leaders, community leaders, chief executives of business organisations, and other stakeholder representatives from school advisory committees, alumni and parent support groups. Your presence here testifies to the importance you accord to the role you play in educating our young, in partnership with other stakeholders.

2. COMPASS was established in December 1998 to advise the Ministry of Education on ways and means to promote and strengthen the partnerships of school, parents and community in education. The setting up of a framework at a national level to engage parents and the community is the result of our belief that educating our young is a joint responsibility to be shared by the home, school and the wider community.

3. Over the last two years, COMPASS has worked hard on promoting greater collaborative efforts between the home, industry, community and the school. To this end, the Council has produced two seminal documents. As a first step, the key roles of all the stakeholders in education were clearly spelt out in the document "Stakeholders in Education" launched in April last year. This was followed by a second document entitled "Home, School and Community Partnerships", launched in November last year, which presents different models in which collaborative practices among the home, school, and community/business organisations can be developed. It is intended to promote good practices among all those who have a stake in the education of our young. We are heartened to note that many have found these documents very useful in articulating the vision of collaborative partnerships we want to see in education.

4. To ascertain the current state and nature of home-school-community partnerships in schools, COMPASS carried out an in-house survey in April this year. The survey was completed by Principals and Heads of Department of 330 primary and secondary schools, and JCs/CIs. The first part of the survey focused on school practices across six major types of involvement for effective home-school-community partnerships. This framework was introduced by Dr Joyce Epstein, Director of Centre on School, Family and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. Dr Epstein was invited as a consultant trainer for our schools last year. The six major types of involvement include good communication between the school and home; improving parenting skills and support, volunteering, improving home support for learning, representing other parents and collaborating. More than half of our schools indicated that they are already engaged in such collaborations. In particular, almost 80% of them have parent representatives who participate in school activities. A copy of the survey findings has been given to you already, and is in your seminar pack.

5. The second part of the survey focused on the extent our schools have collaborated with community groups and business organisations, as well as the main forms of support received from them. Our schools have strong collaborations with voluntary welfare organisations, self-help groups, CDCs/CCs/RCs and religious organisations. More than 90% of our JCs/CIs, and almost all of our primary and secondary schools, reported having some forms of partnerships with the various community groups. The main forms of support received include financial assistance, counselling services, tuition and other enrichment programmes. More than 90% of our JCs/CIs also reported having links with business organisations, including MNCs, SMEs and statutory boards. Similarly, about 80% of the primary and secondary schools have established links with them. Amongst the support services tapped on, career guidance offered by business organisations is most sought at the JC/CI level.

6. As of April this year, 156 schools reported having set up either a Parent Support Group or a Parent-Teacher Association. This means that about 40% of our schools now have a formalised parent involvement programme. More specifically, more than half of our primary schools (53%) have parent support groups and/or parent-teacher associations. About 1 in 3 secondary schools (31%) and close to 1 in 5 JCs (18%) have similar set-ups. In addition, another 25% of schools reported having informal groups of parent volunteers assisting in ad-hoc programmes. It is also interesting to note that in 1998, i.e. before the formation of COMPASS, there were 60 PSGs/PTAs in our schools. Since 1998, another 96 new PTAs/PSGs have been set up. In fact, the number of PSGs/PTAs in primary schools has almost trebled.

7. The above findings are very encouraging, and speak well of the work of COMPASS to date. Also evident is that the community and business organisations have played a key role in helping our schools better meet the needs of our pupils, and achieve the Desired Outcomes of Education. Schools should continue to build strong links with the community and work closely with industry/businesses. To encourage schools to do that, we will be giving recognition to deserving schools which have forged successful partnerships with their stakeholders, from next year. The PARTNERS awards, which stand for PARents, Teachers, NEighbourhood Resources in Synergy, will be presented to schools to recognise their efforts towards promoting and strengthening such partnerships. More details on the awards will be announced to schools early next year.

8. Schools which currently have no PSG/PTA should consider setting one up. To help schools, a related document "Partners in Education: Developing Effective Parent Support Groups" has been included in the seminar pack. It provides the rationale for setting up PSGs and explains the process involved; and I trust that schools will find these guidelines a useful resource.

9. As I mentioned at the outset, this national seminar is a significant one in the history of COMPASS. It is also a timely one, both to consolidate efforts of COMPASS to date, and to consider future ventures among our stakeholders in education. For the schools, the seminar is aimed at providing you with a better understanding of the key factors leading to successful partnerships with external bodies. For parents, it is hoped that you will learn of ways to play a more active role in supporting your children's education. For the school advisory committees and alumni, we hope to explore with you ways to support schools in charting out their future directions and in developing their distinctive niche areas. For business and industry, I hope that you will find new ways to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with schools. And finally, for the community organisations, we will look at how you can contribute to school life more fully, and how resources in school can be harnessed in return to help the community.

10. The main reason to create such partnerships is to help all our young people to succeed in school and in later life. Progress in school, home and community collaborations take time to develop, must be periodically reviewed, and should be continuously improved. The development of a partnership is a process, not a single event. With good planning, thoughtful implementation, well designed activities, and focused improvement, more effective and meaningful engagement of stakeholders can take place to broaden the learning experience of our students.

11. I hope that new ideas about forging collaborative efforts and avenues of networking among the stakeholders can be developed today. At today's seminar, we aim to build ties by connecting FACES: among the Family, Alumni, Community, Enterprise, and Schools. Our children will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

12. The tragic events in the US in the past week have been indelibly etched in the consciousness of all of us who watched in horror as it unfolded. Our hearts go out to the victims and their loved ones. We must ensure that this tragic event and its aftermath will not affect the harmonious relationship between Singaporeans of all races and faiths. Parents, teachers, and community and religious leaders have the special responsibility of ensuring that our children understand this too.

13. In our multi-racial, multi-religious society, our schools are an important common ground for all our children to interact, bond with each other, have a shared experience, and develop a set of common aspirations and values for our country. The connections and partnerships that we are gathered here today to build take on an extra dimension. As our children build bonds with each other, all of us, community, parents, enterprise and schools, will also become more united as we join in the common cause of doing our best for all our children.

14. In closing, I would like to express my thanks to all the Seminar presenters. I am certain that we can all gain valuable insights from what they have to share with us today. I wish all of you a fruitful time together.