Redesigning Classrooms, Reimagining Learning: Strengthening Students' Holistic Development

At this year's Schools Work Plan Seminar on 16 September 2026, Minister for Education Mr Desmond Lee outlined two shifts that the Ministry of Education (MOE) will make to redesign classrooms and reimagine learning. This builds on ongoing efforts to strengthen students' holistic development, including in areas such as 21st Century Competencies (21CC) and social-emotional competencies.

2. Three primary and three secondary schools¹ will pilot the two shifts from January 2027. They will explore how learner-centred teaching approaches and more purposeful feedback can be better incorporated to support students' holistic development; and how more time and space can be provided to teachers to enable the redesign of teaching and learning in classrooms.

3. MOE will also roll out Teacher Workspace to all MOE schools by 2027. Teacher Workspace is a platform developed by MOE to simplify teachers' day-to-day work. It streamlines everyday processes by bringing together relevant information and tools teachers need in one place. This too, will allow teachers to invest more time into teaching and supporting students' holistic development.

Shift #1: Reimagining Learning

4. MOE will build on strong foundations in academic and 21CC domains to strengthen the use of learner-centred teaching approaches, such as inquiry-based and collaborative learning. Under the pilot, students will have more opportunities to apply their subject knowledge; tackle authentic, open-ended problems; and take greater ownership of their learning.

5. MOE will also review how teachers can provide more purposeful feedback to help students learn. This includes providing clearer guidance to teachers on the forms of marking that best support students' learning, and how technology can be used to augment the feedback process.

Shift #2: Redesigning Classrooms

6. Through the pilot, MOE will look into how we can redesign teaching and learning in classrooms, so that more time and space can be created for teachers to deliver learner-centred teaching approaches for students' holistic development. We will explore four strategies to do this:

1. MOE will explore how existing school spaces can be adapted for more flexible use to support learning. This includes classrooms with mobile and modular furniture that can be easily reconfigured, spaces that support both whole-class and small-group learning, as well as technology-enabled environments that allow smoother transitions between physical and digital learning.
2. MOE will build on ongoing efforts to recalibrate teachers' work so that they can focus more on teaching and student interactions. This includes studying the possibility of allowing teachers to focus on two of three responsibilities beyond classroom teaching – Form Teachership, CCAs, and Committee work², taking into account the school's needs, and each teacher's strengths and interests. The time freed up can be channelled into teaching and stronger classroom practices. MOE will continue to streamline teachers' duties by simplifying processes, leveraging technology, and reallocating some duties to non-teachers where appropriate.
3. We will explore the use of smaller classes where useful to support the delivery of learner-centred teaching approaches, taking reference from MOE's experiences with smaller classes, such as for Primary 1 and 2 classes. In line with MOE's existing needs-based approach, we will explore whether more students can benefit from smaller classes, where more teacher attention for each student can make the greatest difference to teaching and learning.
4. We will also leverage technology more effectively to create more time for teaching. One such effort is Teacher Workspace, which brings together key student information, tools and workflows which teachers use daily into a single platform. This reduces the time that teachers spend navigating between different digital systems, while giving teachers a more holistic view of each student's needs and development. Teacher Workspace will be rolled out to all MOE schools by 2027, with additional features introduced progressively.

7. MOE will work closely with the six pilot schools to provide guidance and support as they explore models and approaches suited to their needs and operating contexts, before considering how the new approaches can be applied more widely across schools.

Footnotes

1. The pilot schools are St. Anthony’s Canossian Primary School, Woodgrove Primary School, Zhangde Primary School, Commonwealth Secondary School, Deyi Secondary School, and Jurongville Secondary School.
2. Examples of Committee work include Student Development, Staff Development, Partnerships, and Timetabling.

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About MOE's Schools Work Plan Seminar (WPS)

The annual WPS brings together around 1,900 school leaders and teachers to discuss priorities and innovation in education, with the 2026 edition anchored by the theme "Growing Holistically, Teaching Purposefully".