Tag: education

Teach, Don’t Demand, Success

I was walking to my Primary 1 class when a pupil told me that a boy was crying.

I found out the boy had scored 98 out of 100 marks for his Chinese test, which was a fantastic score that he should have been proud of.

But no, he was afraid to go home as his mother would cane him for not achieving a perfect score. My heart went out to him.

I saw another boy, a Primary 4 pupil, crying quietly and blaming himself for his errors after scoring 83 marks for mathematics. He, too, was afraid to return home.

A year later when I left the school, he made a photo album as my farewell gift.

In it was a note that read: “Dear Mrs Yeo, do you remember the day that you consoled me for getting low marks? I would like to thank you for telling me to be strong, and that everybody makes mistakes.”

He was able to overcome the setback because a figure of authority showed him that it was all right to fall down, that he will continue to do so and that he can benefit from it.

Our children constantly look up to us for approval and guidance.

Let’s remember the huge impact these have on them. When they feel loved and supported after they tumble, they will be able to stand up, learn to avoid the pothole that made them trip and emerge better and stronger.

These incidents in my career as a teacher and principal altered my expectations of my own children’s academic achievements.

I decided that I certainly did not want to create pressure and foster performance anxiety in my children. Just achieve your personal best, I told them.

Parental expectations can have a strong and positive effect on a child’s academic success.

In a study by the Harvard Family Research Project, Professor William H. Jeynes of California State University in the United States found that parental expectations affected children’s academic outcomes more than other types of parental involvement, including attendance of school events and the setting of clear rules.

Clear expectations, paired with loving and supportive attitudes, can help children to learn manners, social skills, study skills, and other tools that they will need to succeed in school and in society.

To establish healthy academic and behavioural expectations, parents should be aware of their children’s unique needs, skills, strengths, and maturity levels.

Avoid comparing them with others, as every child develops at a different rate.

But this does not mean parents should set their sights too low. Low expectations can make it difficult for children to realise and achieve their full potential.

It is better to create small, manageable goals to ensure that children progress in their learning, while not feeling daunted.

I helped a Primary 1 pupil who was scoring zero out of 10 marks in her spelling tests, by encouraging her to learn just one word instead of 10 per test. She tried and managed to spell the word correctly.

I then increased the number of words to two, and then to three. Over time, she finally achieved a perfect score of 10 marks. She was not just learning how to spell words; she learnt that she could do it.

Moreover, she learnt to break things down into bite sizes when the task became too daunting.

This goes far beyond doing well in school. When she faces this type of situation at work or life, this skill will continue to serve her well. Unrealistically high expectations can set a child up for failure, anxiety, discouragement and low self-esteem when he cannot live up to his parents’ goals. This can also lead to insubordinate behaviour.

A boy enrolled in a “branded” school was struggling to cope. I spoke to his parents about his challenges and frustration and suggested that they place him in an environment that nurtured his strengths. They were indignant at my recommendation and insisted that their son was just not trying hard enough.

The poor boy was unable to keep up with the academic requirements in school. He felt that he would never be able to meet his parents’ expectations and became very angry.

He thought that since he would never be good enough, he might as well be really bad.

He hung out with bad company and became very rude to his parents, swearing at them whenever he interacted with them.

Fortunately, his parents realised that there are many paths to success and stopped insisting that he pursue this through academic means.

He eventually found his calling in cooking and is now at the helm of two successful cafes.

His mum and dad are very proud of his achievement and they now get along very well.

Establishing healthy expectations and communicating them to children are important keys to fostering success.

Jenny Yeo was a principal for 18 years in Kheng Cheng School, Radin Mas Primary School and South View Primary School.She is a lead associate focusing on partnerships and engagement in the engagement and research division of the Ministry of Education.

Source: http://news.asiaone.com

August 26, 2015
Non-Graduate Teachers Feels New Remuneration System Is Fairer

In line with the move within the Public Service to recognise skills beyond paper qualifications, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be abolishing the differences in salary structure for graduate and non-graduate educators, including allied educators.

Also, some 30,800 educators in schools here will be getting a pay raise from October, to ensure their wages keep pace with the market.

The merging of salary structures for teachers will kick in from October, while the same is targeted to take place next April for allied educators, who provide students with additional support such as in counselling in classrooms.

With the latest change, non-graduate and graduate teachers may still start off at different salaries “reflecting market practice”, but both groups will progress and be remunerated along the same salary structure. The incentive for long-serving teachers will also no longer be differentiated between graduate and non-graduate teachers.

Details of the merged structure for allied educators will be announced at a later date.

About 30,000 teachers and school leaders will see their monthly salaries go up between 4 per cent and 9 per cent, depending on their seniority level, while some 800 allied educators will have their salaries increased by about 5 per cent.

There are currently about 33,000 teachers and 2,300 allied educators. In response to queries, the MOE said for those who are not eligible for this round of salary adjustments, it is because “their salaries are generally in line with the market”.

Commenting on these changes in a Facebook post today, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said the move to create a single salary structure is “one of the most significant in recent years”.

“We are going beyond qualifications … I am glad to see MOE taking the lead in changing mindsets about skills, and supporting the critical SkillsFuture initiative,” Mr Heng said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of commemorative notes for SG50 today, Mr Heng noted there will be no change in the way educators are being assessed, which includes criteria such as classroom teaching and how they develop students.

“Our focus continues to be on performance of teachers … At the end of it, the assessment in promotion of teachers depends on performance and contribution and what they bring to the classroom and to the education system,” Mr Heng said.

From next month, the Public Service Division will merge career tracks for graduates and non-graduates.

Last August, the MOE announced that non-graduate teachers with outstanding performance would be placed on the graduate salary scale without the need to obtain a degree.

Currently, the gross starting monthly salary of graduate teachers ranges from S$3,010 to S$3,310 while that of non-graduate teachers ranges from S$1,580 to S$1,920. For allied educators, salaries range between S$1,500 to S$4,300.

The last round of salary adjustments for educators was in September 2012. Mr Heng, when queried, debunked talk that the increments were election-related.

Salary revisions, he said, are “periodic”.

“It is part and parcel of how the public service operates,” he said. “In this cycle, we took almost a year to finalise many of the details to create a single (salary) scheme of service to support the efforts of SkillsFuture, in creating (an) emphasis on skills to go beyond qualifications.”

The MOE will also be giving cash payouts of between S$500 to S$700 to teachers every September from next year to educators for learning-related expenses such as computers and magazine subscriptions, instead of staff having to file claims for them.

Non-graduate teachers TODAY spoke to welcomed the single salary structure, calling it a long-time coming. A 36-year-old teacher who is currently studying for his degree, and has been teaching for seven years, said non-graduate teachers “are always behind in terms of remuneration even when facing the same expectations … as graduate teachers”. He did not want to be named.

Another teacher, 28, who does not hold a degree, and has been in service for the past six years, pointed out that all teachers have the same workload regardless of their qualifications. It is “fairer” to be remunerated on the same scheme, she said, adding: “Hopefully, this will make them more motivated and give them more opportunities in their career progression.”

Source: www.todayonline.com

August 19, 2015
Kenneth Jeyaretnam: International Scholarship Program Discriminates Against Singaporeans

In my last article (Has Lee Hsien Loong Forgotten Who Pays His Salary?) I wrote about the way that Lee Hsien Loong and the PAP Government treat expats as more valuable than the Singaporeans who voted them in in the first place.

There can be no better illustration of this than the way our Government subsidises foreign students to come here and take our jobs. Yet the PAP have been evasive on the numbers and cost of the foreign scholarships it awards.

At the last sitting of Parliament on 13 July 2015, the Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, in response to a question from NCMP Yee Jenn Jong, revealed that about 900 foreign students were given scholarships each year and the total cost of each scholarship was about $25,000 p.a. including school fees, accommodation and allowances. If there were 900 foreign scholarship holders in each year that would make the total number of scholarship holders in Singapore around 3,600. The total cost would then be around $90 million p.a.

This is of course not a huge sum of money given the size of Singapore’s economy and reserves. However when Heng was asked another question, this time by Lina Chiam, as to how many foreign students in Singapore benefited from the tuition grant, Heng revealed just how many foreign students there are and how much taxpayers here are subsidising them:

In 2014, around 3,650 international students in the 2014 matriculation cohort in the polytechnics and autonomous universities received the tuition grant.

As this is just the 2014 cohort, the total number of international students is likely to be four times as large. This would make the number of international students receiving tuition grants at any one time about 14,600. Assuming very roughly an average tuition grant of around $18,000 p.a. (the poly and ITE tuition grant is around $16,000 while the university grant is over $22,000) the total cost is then around $262 million p.a.

The $90 million annual cost of the international scholarships should then be added to the tuition grant subsidy since the $25,000 scholarship comes on top of the tuition grant which all foreign students receive. So the total cost of the PAP’s subsidy to foreign students is about $350 million a year. To put this in context that is close to the estimated $400 million annual cost of the entire Pioneer Generation Package for our seniors. It is also at least 50% of the subsidy that the Government claims to provide for pre-school education.

However the real shock was the Minister’s revelation as to how low the bar is set for these so-called “scholars”. To keep their scholarship they only had to maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.5 out of a possible 5. This is consistent with achieving a Lower Second Class Honours degree. Heng revealed in his Parliamentary answer that 68% of international scholarship holders achieve at least an Upper Second Class Honours degree. This compares with almost all Singapore students holding PSC scholarships. Compared to the average Singapore student, 38% of whom get Upper Seconds, the foreign scholars are not much better.

Why then are we giving our money away to these distinctively average students? And worse than that why are we offering them the chance to live and work in Singapore after graduation? In fact the scholarship is conditional on the foreign student working at least six years in Singapore. Even the other foreign students have to work here for three years after graduation. If they are unable to find jobs they are given one year Long Term Visit Passes to allow them to remain in Singapore and look for work.

Requiring these foreign students to work in Singapore after graduation is actually deeply discriminatory against Singaporean males who have to do National Service. They thus have to compete with this influx of foreign graduates, both male and female, who do not have any NS obligations and have a two year head start over our men. During this two year period NS men are paid well below what they could earn in the market.

This forced labour at slave rates is a form of taxation that foreign workers, like these international students, who come here to work do not have to pay. Every time expats rave about Singapore’s low tax regime and how grateful they are to the PAP for allowing them to accumulate wealth, remember that you are directly paying for it through your forced labour!

In effect Singaporean men are directly paying the cost of subsidising foreign graduates to compete with them. Because of their lower costs and the fact that they cannot seek employment elsewhere these foreign graduates then are prepared to accept jobs at lower wages and this reduces the earnings and job prospects of Singaporeans who, if they can find work, are often forced to take jobs for which they are massively overqualified.

This is an absurd state of affairs. We have ended up with a system that looks rational from a corporate viewpoint but does not benefit and is no way to run a country. Because the PAP Government is the major employer it has a vested interest in cheap labour and it sees that this is the easiest way to achieve its goal. This bonded scholarship cynically arbitrages the fact that foreigners have a choice over where to work whereas Singaporean men are legally required to do NS and cannot pursue higher education till they complete it at which point they are less competitive in the labour market and it is more difficult for them to leave and seek better employment opportunities elsewhere. Of course many still do. However the PAP is happy for them to go while it feels it can replace them with cheaper graduate labour from abroad, even if the quality of that labour is mediocre.

How can we end this? We can stop offering generous scholarships to mediocre foreign students and make any successor scheme much more selective. I would also want to see free university or poly education offered to all those who complete NS or serve in the armed forces similar to the GI Bill in the US. And NS should be drastically reduced from the current twenty-one months to under a year at most.

But we are unlikely to get any changes while the PAP Government sees Singaporeans as lacking in options and possessing no bargaining power, like the workforce of one of the global MNCs whose CEOs Lee Hsien Loong so loves to socialise with and benchmark his compensation against.

As I wrote in my last blog, you have only yourself to blame for this state of affairs by not standing up for your rights. The foreign scholarship programme is a perfect example of the way you are discriminated against and treated as second class by the PAP Government. The question is, are you prepared to do anything about it or will behave like turkeys voting for Christmas once again?

Source: http://sonofadud.com

July 22, 2015
School, Career Worries Among Students’ Concerns

Anxiety over their future — be it in school or at the workplace — was among the concerns raised by students during a question-and-answer session with Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong at the annual pre-university seminar today (June 2).

More than 20 questions were raised during the hour-long session, which was attended by around 550 students from 30 pre-university institutions — polytechnics, junior colleges and the Millennia Institute.

One student noted it is difficult to gain admission into local universities, with competition for places seemingly coming from foreign students, and sought clarity on this issue.

In response, Mr Wong clarified that local and foreign students are on different admission tracks.

“All the universities have a separate track to take in international students because they want to add diversity into their student population. They think it’s a good idea to allow their own students international exposure and they want that to add vibrancy into their campuses,” he said.

Foreign students take up 10 to 20 per cent of the cohort at universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, and Singapore has also kept the proportion to about 15 per cent of the overall student population in each campus, he noted.

He also assured students that the number of university places have been increasing with the establishment of additional autonomous universities here, and local students can get a place if they meet these universities’ benchmarks.

Asked about the competition posed by foreign manpower for jobs, Mr Wong, acknowledging the concerns, noted that employers are keen on hiring Singaporean talent, but they also want to be able to hire talent from around the world.

“If we decide to close our doors and say foreigners cannot work here, the bank will have a very simple response and say, ‘Well then, I can’t operate in Singapore and I should operate in Hong Kong instead’ or ‘I should operate in London instead’, and then all of the Singaporean jobs will be lost. This is the tension, the dilemma we will always face,” he said.

The issue of encouraging youths to care more about the community was also raised, with one student asking how young people could be motivated to pursue jobs in sectors such as social services and sacrifice better pay elsewhere.

In response, Mr Wong said: “What we should try to do is to make sure that if you want to take the path in the social service job, then the remuneration is a fair one, a decent one and one that will allow you or whoever it is to have a good living.”

When a student observed that Singaporeans’ proficiency in their mother tongues appeared to be declining despite the bilingualism policy, Mr Wong said it was not only an issue of what is taught in schools, but also which languages are used at home.

Bilingualism remains important, he said, adding that efforts to develop a strong foundation in mother tongue languages will put one in “good stead in the future”. He noted that the decline in the use of dialects is not unique to Singapore; China is facing the same issue among its youths.

The pre-university seminar ends on Friday. This year’s programme will see students reflect on Singapore’s achievements over the past 50 years by interacting with Singaporeans from all walks of life and participating in panel discussions on their findings, among other things.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 3, 2015
Survey Finds That Local Muslim Respondents For The Donning Of The Hijab In Schools, Autonomy Of Madrasahs

Between 6th to 13th March, we ran a survey to identify Singapore Muslim community perceptions on several socio-political issues. The survey was based on the Suara Musyawarah report, responses to the report and several AMP studies of the Malay community.

Summary

The survey indicates strong concerns on the cost of living, perception of discrimination and the community’s legal and education standing.
Study

The online survey was published on Almakhazin.com. Surveygizmo.com provided the engine.

Five broad categories were addressed: socio-legal, Leadership, Foreign workers/ demography, economy and education. Responses are based on the Likert system with respondents indicating on a 5 point scale from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”.

This survey is by no means a comprehensive study of the Muslim community. It serves as an indication on several specific issues. Over the next few months, we plan to expand and deepen the understanding of community preferences through with more community surveys. We hope that it will provide a little insight as to how sections of the community perceive various issues.

We used social media to gather respondents for the survey. Invitations to participate were placed in several Singapore Muslim pages such as Suara Melayu Singapore, Almakhazin SG and Singapore Muslim Students Overseas. None of the groups are based on any political or religious persuasion.

According to ShareThis count, the survey page was shared 603 times. It was shared through Facebook 578 times, by Twitter 18 times, once by email and Liked 235 times. 6 shares were unaccounted by ShareThis.

Caveats

As is inherent in any online survey tool, we rely on respondents’ self identification (religion, gender, age etc) and responses. There is no way to determine if what they declare for themselves are true. However, this is not a unique problem. It exists in online and offline surveys.
There was also initial concerns of multiple responses from the same person. To minimise the possibility of such behaviour, we filtered responses through IP address. Only the last response per IP address is recognised.

Responses

Total number of responses: 334
After filtering repeats through IP address: 314
Muslim respondents: 313
One respondent identified as Christian. Since the survey is on the Muslim community, we had to remove the response.

Demography
Age
The youth age group (defined here for those between 18-35) makes up a slight majority of respondents. However, there was strong representation from 35-54 year olds at 38.7%.

Gender
There was an over-representation of male respondents. 2/3 of respondents identified as male. The survey did not seek specifically male or female groups or participants.

Highest qualifications
About a third of respondents have tertiary qualifications with Bachelors degree making up a quarter of respondents. A further 34.5% have diplomas.

Race
As expected, a large majority of respondents (78.6%) identify as being Malays. 10.2% as Indians.

Categorisation
The survey was set up into 5 categories:
1. Socio-legal
2. Leadership
3. Foreign workers and demography
4. Economy
5. Education

In this analysis however, we will recategorise the survey. There are five categories that make up our analysis:
1. National issues
2. Community concerns- government
3. Social contract
4. Community concerns-Internal
5. Autonomy

National issues

Economy
In terms of the economy, there appears to be uncertainty in the way the government is managing it even as the respondents tend to believe it is not going very well. There are also concerns with the way the CPF is managed. However, there is a strong concern with the cost of living in Singapore.

96.8% of respondents are worried about the cost of living in Singapore with 76.4% stating they strongly agree with the statement “I am worried about the high cost of living.”

However, slightly less than half of the respondents believe the government is not managing the economy well. 30.4% are neutral and about 20% think the government is managing it well.

62% are concerned about the way CPF is managing their funds with 33.9% indicating they “strongly disagree” with the statement “I am confident with CPF’s management of our funds.”

Foreign workers
There appears to be concern on the number of foreign workers and as it relates to the percentage of Malays.

59% disagree with the statement “I believe the government is right in its foreign worker policies.” 77% feel there are too many foreign workers in Singapore.

About 63% are “concerned that the number of foreign workers will result in a reduction in the percentage of Muslims in Singapore.”

Concerns-government
Policies that affect the community negatively appear to get a strong response.

There is strong support among the respondents for hijab to be allowed in school and at the workplace. In reference to the ban of hijab in school, 90% of respondents “believe that Muslim students should be allowed to wear hijab in school” with 68.1% saying they strongly agree. 8.6% were neutral to the question. Only 1.3% disagreed and no one strongly disagreed.

A stronger response was received for question on whether anyone should be denied employment because of hijab. About 98% believe that no one should be denied employment due to hijab with 87.9% believing strongly. 1% were neutral and only 0.6% (even split) believing they can be denied employment due to hijab.

89% “believe that Muslims should be allowed to enlist in any branch of the armed forces.”

Further to the concerns of discrimination, 93% “believe that Singapore should enact an Anti-discrimination law to ensure no one is discriminated.”

Social contract
Article 152 of the constitution states:
“Minorities and special position of Malays
152.
—(1) It shall be the responsibility of the Government constantly to care for the interests of the racial and religious minorities in Singapore.

(2) The Government shall exercise its functions in such manner as to recognise the special position of the Malays, who are the indigenous people of Singapore, and accordingly it shall be the responsibility of the Government to protect, safeguard, support, foster and promote their political, educational, religious, economic, social and cultural interests and the Malay language.”

Signifying the strong sense of the existing social contract 75% of respondents believe in retaining Article 152 of the constitution. Only 3% believed the Article should not be retained.

About 20% believe the government is living up to its responsibilities as specified in the Article. 34% are neutral about the government’s performance and 43% believe the government has not lived up to it.

We received several queries in the comment section indicating the respondents’ unfamiliarity with Section 152.

Community concerns- Internal

The Malay statistic for imprisonment and educational underachievement has been a disconcerting discussion in the community for some time. Another issue that has received some attention is of the erosion of Malay language use in Singapore.

With 79% being concerned about the over-representation of Malays in prison, it indicates not only the concern of the severity but also the recognition that the Malays are over-represented.

Similarly, the perception of Malay educational underachievement is strong with 83% indicating their agreement that it is a concern. Only about 4% are not concerned about the over-representation in NA/NT streams and ITE and the underrepresentation in Universities.

However, it should be noted that with a growing recognition of the value of ITE education, respondents may have indicated their lack of concern due to their acceptance of ITE as a viable and valuable educational pathway.

There is also a strong position taken on Malay language. 80% are concerned about the erosion of the language in Singapore. 14% are neutral.
The concern however may also be due to the greater public statements and campaigns encouraging the use of the language. With enhanced recognition, the belief in its lack and improper use may have become stronger.

Autonomy
There is also a strong sense of the necessity of community autonomy from government control. About 80% of respondents believe madrasah should be independent of government control and for the highest Islamic authority to not be appointed by the government. About 63% also believe that community leaders should not be involved in politics.

Discussion
There appears to be disenchantment within the community in various government policies. There also is a strong sense of communal concern among respondents. This can be due to the possibility that those who participate in such surveys to already be concerned about the questions asked, that the issues are current and significant or there is a socio-political alignment among those who participate in such community based surveys.

It may also be due to respondents who participate in social media based discussions to be more concerned about the issues in the survey.

The demographics indicate a wide variety of respondents. If this can be taken as a cross section of Malay community response, then it indicates a substantial disagreement with current policies especially with regard to community-government relations.

There appears to be a greater sense of disenfranchisement between members of the community and the government. Discrimination, control and high cost of living apart from community underachievement are real concerns that need to be resolved.

This survey provided the broad strokes in community perception. We will follow up with surveys that go in depth on the issues discussed above with special attention on community-government relations.

The survey results can be viewed at:
http://app.surveygizmo.com/reportsview/?key=345590-4188929-4606949383d247e91eebedc49140b4e8

Source: http://almakhazin.com

June 2, 2015