Education Policy and System in Singapore: Analysis and Challenges

This essay provides an overview of Singapore's education policy and system, highlighting its objectives, structure, and the challenges it faces. It emphasizes the importance of government policies in uplifting the quality of education and the central role of teachers in integrating these objectives. The essay discusses the trade-offs considered in policy-making, such as balancing rigor with student well-being and the role of examinations. It also addresses the challenges posed by rapid technological change, access to information, and globalization. Furthermore, the essay underscores the role of teachers in providing quality academic and life education, addressing inequalities, and fostering character and citizenship among students, ultimately contributing to the nation's betterment. The essay concludes that Singapore's education system is effectively directed towards helping students achieve their goals, with teachers playing a crucial role in this process.

Running head: EDUCATION POLICY AND SYSTEM IN SINGAPORE
Education Policy and System in Singapore
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

1EDUCATION POLICY AND SYSTEM IN SINGAPORE
The education system of Singapore aims to help students in discovering their potentials,
talents and developing their passion for learning the life skills. Schooling in Singapore is
structured and complex way of education with different types of schools. According to the
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, the education system of Singapore must help the students to
embrace the skills and leanings for life (Ng, 2014). By this, it can be ensured that education in
Singapore remains an uplifting force in the society.
The education system in Singapore is undergoing a revolutionary change. According to
Patrick (2015) the government policies of education ensures that the core strength of their
education system to deliver fundamentals in numeracy, values of life, oft skills and literacy are
retained and maintained while changing. The education mister states that as the system of
education is becoming more complex, steps must be taken to rebalance the tradeoffs that exist in
the education system. For this four such tradeoffs has been stated. The first trade off is that there
should be balance between joy and rigour and decisions must be taken on how much robustness
is required form the system and the hard work that is required from student’s end. According to
the second trade off, decision must be taken on how examination results are needed to be as a
tool for admission and placement versus blunting the distinction of results between the students.
The third trade-offs decides on how education curriculum caters to the students having different
learning paces and needs. The fourth trade-off determines the importance of acquiring
credentials such as Diplomas, Degree or Nitec Certificate versus acquiring the skills that make a
student effective at work.
The education policies of Sigapore are based on the visions of empowering individuals to
take ownership in gaining new skills throughout their career, to enhance the capabilities of
employers to invest in employee training and career development. Certain policies are to bring

2EDUCATION POLICY AND SYSTEM IN SINGAPORE
out the best in students, value driven education and preparing students for the future. These
policies help the education system of the nation to face every challenge in uplifting and
integrating objectives of education. As stated by Ng (2013) the major challenge faced while
implementing the policies include rapid change in technology, access to information and
increasing globalisation. The policies set vary according to the various changes.
Teachers are considered as the central pillars of education in Singapore since they are the
people who provide quality academic as well as life education to students which enhance the
quality to education in Singapore. The objectives of education are to provide the young
generation and with enough opportunity to achieve success in life which would cater towards the
betterment of the nation. The main role of teachers in uplifting and integrating these objectives
are to provide the best education to the students of various schools and universities so that they
can be successful in achieving their life goals. Teachers can face the challenge of educating
students who are from various cultural and social background and students who take time to
learn. The strategy of giving each student the equal opportunity an treating each of them equally
and putting efforts on the slow learner students. Regular assessments must be held to keep a
track of the development of students. A teacher’s role in Character and Citizenship Education
(CCE) is to identify the weakness of each student and develop those weak points. In Singapore,
income inequality is a major issue (Furlong, Smith, & Brennan, 2013). A teacher’s role in
addressing the inequalities is to provide equal education to every individual irrespective of their
background.
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that Singapore’s education
system and policies are effectively directed towards helping the students to achieve their goals in
future. The government policies uplift the education quality of the nation. Teachers in schools

3EDUCATION POLICY AND SYSTEM IN SINGAPORE
and university play a major role in uplifting and integrating the system by taking necessary steps
to face the challenges.

4EDUCATION POLICY AND SYSTEM IN SINGAPORE
References
FitzPatrick, P. (2015). Reinventing Singapore: Education and the Mindset. International Higher
Education, (31).
Furlong, J., Cochran-Smith, M., & Brennan, M. (Eds.). (2013). Policy and politics in teacher
education: International perspectives. Routledge.
Ng, I. Y. (2014). Education and intergenerational mobility in Singapore. Educational
Review, 66(3), 362-376.
Ng, P. T. (2013). The global war for talent: Responses and challenges in the Singapore higher
education system. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 35(3), 280-292.