Comments on: Education in Singapore and Finland: a comparison Part 6 (Final)

By: Amran

Amran — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:50:59 +0000

Well, I am sorry. Your exact words were "My main point is you can’t compare education system." That is what you wrote. And you say it is just an analogy. But what is an analogy for? Isn't an analogy also for comparison purposes? My point in commenting about your analogy is that they can and ought to be used for comparisons. That is all. MOE sends study teams all over the world to compare and learn from other systems. When I was in the ETD too, we looked at, for example, ICT implementation in other countries. Making comparisons is a valid way of learning. That is part of the thinking skills that students are expected to pick up in school. It is also normal in almost all fields of human endeavor. So this is why I find your analogy baffling. So it is not a "trivial" thing as you now put it. I am commenting about the current state in general in Singapore and not about pockets of more far-sighted people like you perhaps. But it is interesting that you too seem to agree that such a thing as moving away from pen-and-paper exams is not the norm. This is seen from your statement, "Lastly, yes I am suggesting that social and cultural factors are resisting it from taking place." Even our leaders took a long while to even acknowledge that. Until today, the head of the SEAB is of the opinion that she hopes that the iPSLE (a pen-and-paper exam which is almost a carbon copy of the PSLE) will be well received by the countries in the region while saying that Singapore should give less emphasis on such exams. This shows you the mentality that still exists. Still hanging on to outmoded approaches to assessment. I think as a discussion, it is understood that we do not talk about exceptions. There will always be exceptions to the rule as in the case of your far-sightedness. But such things should not be taken as a norm just as with the pedagogical approaches that we have discussed about. Lastly, as for your last point about "social and cultural factors are resisting it from taking place", while in general I agree with it, I am also of the opinion that such things can be changed if clear signals are sent by the MOE. As long as MOE retains that big emphasis on written exams, parents, teachers, school administrators and students will continue to see that message is the key message. All other non-traditional teaching and learning approaches will continue to be seen by them as only things that are unimportant. Again, thank you for your response to my posting.

By: YH

YH — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:48:18 +0000

Orange and apple are just analogy. I don’t expect you to comment on such trival stuffs. So do you think that most of the learnable points from Finland education if brought to Singapore could work ? I took pen-and-paper examination years ago and as a student then, I already see that that wouldn’t last. There are tonnes of past year papers to practice from. It’s only a matter of time before there are too many students scoring high marks making it difficult to stream them. The reason why it wouldn’t last is not important. It may be unthinkable to you but not most of us.
Lastly, yes I am suggesting that social and cultural factors are resisting it from taking place. Look at TLLM. It’s the society that’s giving their child tuitions and pushing schools to give more remedial lessons.It is hard for us to accept less is more. To have changes, the view of the society must change too. But I am not suggesting that there will be no changes at all. Just that it takes time.

By: Amran

Amran — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:01:15 +0000

Thank you for your response again. However, I do find your comment strange. Even apples and oranges have similarities, not just differences. Just because they are different does not mean that you cannot compare them. Of course after such comparisons are made you take into account the unique features of each. But then again this does not mean that each cannot learn form the other as it is implied in your statement. What is taken as sacrosanct now may not be so sacrosanct now. Even as we write now, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board has stated that it would like to rely less on pen-and-paper examinations. This would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Furthermore, are you suggesting that social and cultural factors prevent any change from taking place?

Thank you again for your response to my posting and clarification. I hope you will continue to read my blog and discuss issues about education on this platform.