Educational Policy Innovations: Levelling Up and Sustaining Educational Achievement

245 Pages·2014·2.77 MB·English

by  Sing Kong Lee

Education Innovation
Sing Kong Lee
Wing On Lee
Ee Ling Low Editors
Educational Policy
Innovations
Levelling Up and Sustaining
Educational Achievement
Springer Education Innovation Book Series
Series Editors
Wing On LEE
David Wei Loong HUNG
Laik Woon TEH
Executive Editor
Siao See TENG
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/10092
Springer Education Innovation Book Series
Educationholdsthekeytounlockhumanresourcesthatasocietyneedstosurvive
andflourish.Thisisparticularlysalientinaborderlessknowledgeeconomy.Forthe
past decades, the sterling performance of economies such as Hong Kong, Finland,
Japan,SingaporeandTaiwanininternationalstudies(e.g.TIMSS,PIRLSandPISA)
haschanneledmuchattentionawayfromthetraditionalcentersofeducationresearch
in America and Western Europe. Researchers, policy makers and practitioners all
over the world wish to understand how education innovations propel the emerging
systems from good to great to excellent, and how different their trajectories were
compared to the systems in America and Western Europe.
The Education Innovation Book Series, published by Springer, will delve into
education innovations enacted by the Singapore education system and situate
theminboththelocalandtheboarderinternationalcontexts.Primaryfocuswillbe
given to pedagogy and classroom practices; education policy formulation and
implementation;schoolandinstructionalleadership;andthecontextandinterface
betweeneducationresearch,policyandpractice.Webelievethatthelatteriscritical
inmakingeducationinnovationscometobear.Eachvolumewilldocumentinsights
and lessons learned based on empirical research (both quantitative and qualitative)
and theoretical analyses. Implications to research, policy and professional practice
will be surfaced through comparing and synthesizing Singapore’s experience with
those of successful systems around the world.
The audience of the edited volumes and monographs published in this series
includes researchers, policy makers, practitioners and students in the fields of
educationandteachereducation,andpublicpoliciesrelatedtolearningandhuman
resources.
Series Editors
Wing On LEE
David Wei Loong HUNG
Laik Woon TEH
Office of Education Research
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Executive Editor
Siao See TENG
Office of Education Research
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Sing Kong Lee (cid:129) Wing On Lee (cid:129) Ee Ling Low
Editors
Educational Policy
Innovations
Levelling Up and Sustaining
Educational Achievement
Editors
SingKongLee WingOnLee
NationalInstituteofEducation NationalInstituteofEducation
NanyangTechnologicalUniversity NanyangTechnologicalUniversity
Singapore,Singapore Singapore,Singapore
EeLingLow
NationalInstituteofEducation
NanyangTechnologicalUniversity
Singapore,Singapore
ISSN2211-4874 ISSN2211-4882(electronic)
ISBN978-981-4560-07-8 ISBN978-981-4560-08-5(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-981-4560-08-5
SpringerSingaporeHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingapore2014
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart
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Series Editors’ Foreword
WeareverypleasedtopresentyouthispioneervolumeoftheSpringerEducation
Innovation(SEI)BookSeries–EducationalPolicyInnovations:Levellingupand
SustainingEducationalAchievement,editedbySingKongLee,WingOnLeeand
EeLingLow.
ThisSeriesaims torecord theeducationalinnovationsthathavetakenplacein
the Singapore education system over the last 40 years. The Series will provide a
widespectrumofanalysesonpedagogyandclassroompractices;educationpolicy
formulation and implementation; school and instructional leadership; and the
context and interface between education research, policy and practice which
make these innovations possible. Complementary notions of teacher education
arealsoanalysedandinterpretedinthecontextoftheeducationalsystem.
Changes in education policy, education and organisational structure, teacher
education, school management, curriculum, instruction and assessment over the
last30yearshavecontributedtothesharpriseinthequalityofeducationsincethe
1980s. While Singapore’s successes are notable, the process, reasons and factors
thathavecontributedtotheprocesstowardssuccesshave,asyet,notbeensystem-
aticallycapturedinacomprehensivemanner.Thebookseriesaimstofillthegapby
analysing various aspects of education innovations in Singapore, drawing on
knowledge and research done both internationally and locally, highlighting how
Singaporehassuccessfullymobilisedresourcesandeffortstoimprovelearningand
teaching across the various subject disciplines and education sectors. The Series
willcompareandsynthesisetheSingaporeexperiencewiththewiderinternational
experience.
Truetothisspirit,thisfirstvolumewillkick-starttheSeriesandisarichresource
for policymakers, educators and teacher educators who wish to gain a greater
insight of high performing education systems (HPES) – defined as those systems
that have gained international attention for their successful implementation of
innovative educational policies that have both raised and sustained educational
achievement. This is also one of the pioneering books that have approached this
topic froman introspective insiders’ approach. This volume beginswith adiscus-
sion of educational policy and planning and teacher education that aims to
v
vi SeriesEditors’Foreword
strengthentheeducationsystem,andgoesontoprovideadiscussionontheequity
andqualityissuesinHPES.Thevolumewillthenincludeaseriesofcountrycase
chapters authored by renowned scholars and educators from HPES. The volume
will be concluded by a comparative analysis of a common feature in these HPES
wheretheteacher,teachingandteachereducationaretakenveryseriouslyinthese
systems.
The volume is designed as a platform for dialogue between policymakers and
scholars,thusincludingauthorswhoarebothfromwithinHPESandoutsidethem.
Andreas Schleicher’s and A. Lin Goodwin’s chapters have offered their valuable
insights,lookingatthevarioussignificantissuessuchaseducationandeconomics
andemployment,theissuesofequityandquality,andthesignificanceofteachers.
Goodwin particularly cautions that we should not look at teachers’ workload just
from the perspective of working hours, particularly implying that working longer
hoursneednotbeacriticalfactorforsuccess.Interestingly,insteadofcelebrating
success, HPES are generally criticalabout their own systems, choosing instead to
useaself-reflectivelenstointerpretthesuccessesbutalsotoidentifythepotential
challenges that lie ahead. The book provides a valuable perspective in that while
manycountriesaresomewhatalarmedbythesuccessofHPES,thosefromwithin
arekeenlyawareoftheirownweaknessesandquicktoidentifypotentialchallenges
thatlieaheadinthecontinuedsustainabilityoftheirsuccess.Perhapsitissuchself-
reflection and constructive criticism that is behind the ability not just to achieve
success in the first place, but to ensure that the success attained, thus far, is
sustainableinthelongerrun.
NationalInstituteofEducation WingOnLee
NanyangTechnologicalUniversity,Singapore DavidWeiLoongHung
LaikWoonTeh
Foreword
Why is it that Finland, Canada and Singapore do so well on international tests on
student achievement in schools while Australia, the United States and the United
Kingdomdonot?WhyisitthatDenmark,NorwayandSweden,whichinvestmore
heavily in schools and have very similar social policies, rank considerably lower
than a country like Finland, which traditionally has been looked upon as more
economically backward and culturally isolated than its Nordic neighbours? Why
has Singapore skyrocketed past its contiguous neighbours on international tests
whileothernationsinitsregionhavehadfargreaternaturalresourcestoboosttheir
economiesandtheirschools?
Someeducators(Hopmann,Brinek,&Retzel,2007;Spring,2011;Zhao,2009)
arescepticalofinternationalcomparisonssuchastheProgrammeforInternational
Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development(OECD).Thesescholarsarguethatculturalandlinguisticdifferences
among peoples are too large to develop objective measures of learning. Others
(Braun, 2013; Solano-Flores, Contreras-Nin˜o, & Backhoff, 2013) value the infor-
mation that the tests can provide, but worry that they are misinterpreted by
policymakers and the public, who tend to focus on the relatively crude postings
intherankingsratherthancorrespondingscoredifferencesandwhoarenotaware
of other distortions in results. Finally, still others (Carnoy & Rothstein, 2013;
Levin, 2013) contend that the tests are subject to sampling errors and they
overemphasisecognitiveskillsattheexpenseofnon-cognitiveorientations.
Alloftheseconcernsareimportant.Buteveniftheyareimperfectinstruments–
allhuman artefacts, alas, are tainted with imperfection– we can learnmuch from
thefindingsofvariousinternationalassessmentsgeneratedbyPISA,theTrendsin
International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS), and the Programme in Interna-
tionalReadingandLiteracySurvey(PIRLS).Likewise,wecanalsolearnfromthe
interpretations of the data provided by international consultancies such as
McKinsey & Company (Barber & Mourshed, 2007; Mourshed, Chijoke, Barber,
& McKinsey & Company, 2010) and think-tanks like the National Center on
Education and the Economy (Tucker, 2011) in the USA. These have taken the
necessary first steps to aggregate nations into sectors and to establish criteria for
vii
viii Foreword
liftingschoolsfromonesectortothenext.Finally,interpretationsbyindependent
scholars (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009, 2012; Wagner,
2008)whoraisequestionsaboutthestrengthsandweaknessofthetestsalsoenrich
ouron-goingjourneyinpolicylearningacrossprovinces,statesandnations.
However, as the editors of this outstanding new anthology indicate, up to the
presentmomentoneperhapsparadoxicalphenomenonofinternationaleducational
change has been that high-achieving jurisdictions have been collectively quiet on
thereasonsfortheirachievement.Itmaybethecasethatacertainsharedcultureof
modesty and reluctance to grandstand contributes to a focus on what needs to be
learntnextratherthanthevicesofboastingandbragging.Ingeneral,thesourcesof
much of the testing data have been located geographically outside of high-
achieving regions – for example, with OECD in Paris, McKinsey & Company in
London,andNCEEinWashington,DC.
This anthology offers an important contrast to the prevailing orthodoxy.
Scholars based predominantly in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and South
Korea have examined their own school systems to investigate the riddle of their
top-level achievement on international assessments. Simultaneously, they have
solicited contributions from other top scholars for commentaries. Andreas
Schleicher of the OECD, Ben Levin of Ontario, Canada, Hannele Niemi from
Finland, and A. Lin Goodwin from the USA provide additional lenses for under-
standing the preconditions and supports needed for optimal student learning. The
net effect is to acquire a kaleidoscope of rich and variegated interpretations that
reinforce the message that a common set of policies and values promote high
achievement. Educators, political leaders and the public should be sure to read
throughthechapterscarefullyandrepeatedlyandconsiderdeeplytheimplications
ontheirownstudentsandschools.
The overall message is bracing and perhaps shocking for many contemporary
school reformers. Systems such as Singapore have paid exquisite attention to the
development and sustainability of an educational profession that is anchored
systemically in the Ministry of Education, in the National Institute of Education
at Nanyang Technological University, and in the schools themselves. Educators
movewithinandacrossthesethreesectorsofthesystemcontinuously,promoting
incessantcommunicationamongallcomponentsoftheprofessionandensuringthat
research enriches practice. Innovation is valued, but not fetishised; there is a
stubborn persistence in focusing on building a strong system first and foremost.
While marketplace values saturate Singaporean society, there is abundant space
withinandacrossschoolsforcontinualcollaboration,sothatwhatcompetitiondoes
exist is supplemented with a collective professional ethic of learning and sharing
acrossschools.
TheauthorsofthisvolumedonotpretendthatSingaporeorotherhigh-achieving
systemshaveachievedalloftheanswersintheinternationalquestforoptimaland
persistent learning. The political discourse on education in Singapore is officially
one that is moving into a ‘student-centric, values-driven’ phase in its educational
development.However,likeotherEastAsianschoolsystems,therestillappearsto
be a strong and perhaps excessive emphasis on test score results, though clear
Foreword ix
initiatives are in place toexplore otherforms of assessment. These should inform
andenhancetheteachingandlearningprocessesinordertopromoteamoreholistic
consideration of student learning outcomes through a discourse of ‘21st century
competencies’ asdescribed inthechapterby SingKongLee andEeLing Lowof
theNationalInstituteofEducation.Whileincreasingworkisundertakeninregard
to teacher inquiry and research, it is not clear that teachers have, or know how to
occupy, a cultural space in which they could have informed and spirited profes-
sionalargumentswithoneanother.Ontheotherhand,thesystemhashadconsid-
erable success in recent years in expanding extracurricular offerings and
encouraging schools to develop themed identities that can work against systemic
uniformityandconsequentanonymity.
All of this fits into a broader analysis of the Singapore ‘miracle’. Like Hong
Kong and Finland, Singapore has shown us that high achievement is entirely
compatiblewithasmallpopulationandfewnaturalresources.Still,understanding
themyriadoffactorsthatsupportthathighachievementrequirescarefulinvestiga-
tionandskilfulcritiquelestoneisolatescontingentratherthanessentialphenomena
and misapplies their lessons in other settings. For this reason alone, the present
volume represents asuperlative new contribution tothe international literature on
highachievement.Readon,forarichlyrewardingexperienceawaitsyou!
LynchSchoolofEducation, DennisShirley
BostonCollege,ChestnutHill,MA,USA
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