Transforming education: the power of ICT policies - Commonwealth ...

Workforce Continuing Education
Beyond the formal K-12 education, there is a concerted effort to continually develop the knowledge and skills of
the workforce, to build a culture of lifelong learning and to encourage a mindset of innovation and enterprise (Teo,
1998). This is to encourage the workforce to remain fl exible, relevant and competitive.
The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA, http://www.wda.gov.sg/), a statutory board under the Ministry
of Manpower, was set up in 2003. WDA aims to enhance the competitiveness and employability of a workforce
that can meet the changing needs of Singapore’s economy. Collaborating with industry, unions, and training
organizations like the Institute for Adult Learning, WDA helps to defi ne industry standards on workforce skills
qualifi cations, and assists industries in several ways, including development of manpower plans, identifi cation of
skills gaps, and development and implementation of continuing education.
Achievement
The country has a high literacy rate of 96% with 89.6% with secondary or higher education (Singapore Economic
Development Board, 2009). Education is compulsory for all Singapore citizens. The dropout rate has been decreasing
from 5.3% in 1997 to 3.6% in 2002 and 1.6% in 2008.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted in 2003 ranked Singapore fi rst in
both mathematics and science in a 49-country study of Grade 4 (Primary 4) and Grade 8 (Secondary 2) students. In a
similar study conducted in 2007, Singapore was ranked fi rst in science and the top three in mathematics (Gonzales
et al. 2008) for both grade levels.
Singapore participated in the international student achievement in reading for Grade 4 students conducted in
2006 by Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS, (http://timss.bc.edu/index.html). Forty countries
took part in this study and Singapore was one of the three top-performing countries. The results also showed that
Singapore and the Russian Federation had the greatest percentages of high-achieving students, with nearly one fi fth of students
(19%) reaching the Advanced International Benchmark (e.g., could provide and support interpretations, integrate information across
texts, and understand literary and organizational features)” (Mullis et al., 2007, page 3.)
Challenges
Singapore, like many other countries, is facing the challenge to prepare students with the right skills and attributes
for the twenty-fi rst century workforce. In July 2009, a group of Education Ministers from seven top-performing school
systems met in an International Education Round table in Singapore. One main topic of discussion focuses on ways
to improve the education systems in order to equip students with the relevant skills, knowledge and attributes that
are required in the twenty-fi rst century. In their discussion, they identifi ed a number of challenges education systems
face. One of the most challenging issues highlighted during the meeting was the need to prepare students to work
in a knowledge-based economy and the need to provide high-quality education to all rather than just the elite.
Basic education is not suffi cient to equip tomorrow’s workforce, as future jobs require workers with post-secondary
education. They also mentioned that students of the future would require a strong knowledge base and, in addition,
many other skill sets such as cross-cultural communication, creativity, good ICT literacy and interpersonal skills.
These attributes will allow them to work globally interacting and solving problems with international colleagues.
The challenge for education systems is to fi nd a balance between content competency and other twenty-fi rst
century skills (MOE, 2009). Similarly, Singapore’s education system is also facing a challenge to strike a balance
between content acquisition and the development of twenty-fi rst century skills. In the past, Singapore’s education
system has emphasized the acquisition of content knowledge and has placed less emphasis on the development
of other attributes, such as communication skills, problem solving skills, creativity, and collaborative skills. In the
past few years, the MOE has taken steps to remedy this and has introduced a number of initiatives to develop these
skills at the school level. For example, project work has been introduced to students in both primary and secondary
schools and is now a compulsory subject at the GCE ‘A’ level. Currently, the MOE is preparing its future curriculum
for implementation by 2015, which has strong emphasis in developing twenty-fi rst century skills among students.
Case Study: Singapore | 45