To fully understand the teaching in Singapore, we needed a little background about the educational system there. Beyond the fact that Singapore is ranked #1 (or #2) on international math assessments/studies (such as TIMSS), this is what our research uncovered:
1) Singapore takes the education of its citizens very seriously. Having no natural resources, Singapore considers its citizens to be its most valuable resource, and it shows. Teachers there are paid well, and their country’s education budget is second only to defense.
2) Elementary school is called Primary school. It starts in Primary 1 (P1 for short) and is for students about the age of our 1st graders. Kindergarten is not compulsory (mandatory), but most children attend. It is not government funded or taught in Primary school buildings. It's is completely private.
3) Primary school ends at P6 (our 6th grade). At the end of the year, students sit for (take) the National exam (the PSLE, their first national exam), the scores on which help decide what secondary school they will attend.
4) Students are referred to as ‘pupils’ :)
5) All teachers in Singapore get certified by attending training through the MOE (Ministry of Education). Once they are teachers, they can elect to take many offered trainings through the MOE and as provided by their own school staff.
6) The MOE put out a syllabus that all schools use (similar to grade-level standards in the states). Schools may choose from several texts that cover the material, all distributed by the same publisher.
7) Students do not repeat grades in Singapore. However, if a student does poorly on the P6 National Exam (PSLE), they may retake P6 twice (for a total of three times total in P6). Students in P1-P5 are automatically promoted.
8) School is on a January-December calendar. They go to school for a similar number of days as we do.
9) The average classroom has 40 students.
10) More than one teacher uses each classroom. Each teacher has a work station with his or her materials in a large room set up with cubicles. Teachers work there, and then bring all materials needed to wherever their students are (most often a cohort, grade level group, will stay in the same classroom as different teachers come in to teach).
11) At many schools, due to lack of facility space, students in P1 & P2 go to school from 1:00-6:00PM while P3-6 start at around 7 and end around 12:30 or 1 (depending on the school). They call these "sessions", the session breakdowns were chosen by the MOE. It has been decided that by 2015 all students will attend during the morning session, buildings are being renovated/expanded to allow for this change.
12) Starting at P3, many teachers specialize in 1-2 subjects instead of teaching all subjects.
13) All students take Mother Tongue, a class where they learn Chinese, Tamil, or Malay, depending on their cultural background. All other the subjects are taught in English (whew, we thought so!).
Lucky 13! We’re sure we’ll learn much more, and we’ll update you as we do :)
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