r-brunei-full-2014

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Bilingual education in Brunei: the evolution of the Brunei approach to bilingual education and the role of CfBT in promoting educational change: <strong>full</strong> report Area Strengths Challenges Pressure in different guises Malay and Bruneian culture offers an environment and system that are less pressurised. Notion of love of children in a non-‘tiger mother’ way, balanced combination of ‘love and desire for success’; parents want stability and happiness for children. Less of a pressurised system and ‘teaching to the exam’ compared with certain other systems in Asia. The MoE notes that the Brunei system is ‘benchmarked’ against Singapore. English is seen as a global tool but Brunei wants to avoid inherent pressures of highly-competitive systems. Avoidance of early streaming mentioned. SPN21 is all about achieving competitive goals while using local strengths and cultural sensitivity. Use of targets to raise expectations across the system is perceived to have been a catalyst for change in quality of teaching. Tendency to focus on time taken to finish task rather than efficiency, i.e. the more time taken, the ‘better’ the outcome. System may be seen as less pressurised than others but ‘pressure is sometimes misdirected’. Notion of there being many inputs but not enough time to evaluate or innovate; students ‘develop passivity’ from too many hours at school, of which most is ‘book work’ (including time for religious school after the end of formal school day). Need to promote well-being e.g. combating obesity and promoting physical activity levels. View that one cannot ‘escape’ from exams and Brunei’s system is exam orientated; some teachers may revert to Malay (in English-medium subjects) to get concepts across faster. Too much focus on exam results perceived; should be more about the ‘process’ than exams; what students learn and retain. School days can be quite long, particularly for students in more rural areas who get the bus; some may arrive in school by 6.30am when registration starts at 7.10am. The MoE notes that the Brunei population values school education and religious education. 42
Bilingual education in Brunei: the evolution of the Brunei approach to bilingual education and the role of CfBT in promoting educational change: <strong>full</strong> report Area Strengths Challenges SPN21, progression and links with special needs identification and provision SPN21 brought in outcome-based learning; AfL seen as a sophisticated lower secondary initiative to get teachers to prepare students for exam years later on; teachers are still on a steep learning curve. School principals noted that SPN21 offers variety of options for young people from Year 9 (science for the more academically-orientated; applied programme with a ‘professional’ orientation and the Special Applied Programme for ‘weaker students’. Some teachers note that the new system of progression is seen to result from SPN21: students keep progressing through school years even if they exhibit learning difficulties or problems with attention or commitment from Pra level. Pra curriculum seen by some to leave less room for flexibility. Criteria that determine students’ SEN status perhaps unclear in terms of learning difficulties compared to physical impairment or more general language difficulties. Principals and teachers would like to see more support and resources for special needs students. Currently, levels of support are perceived to be heavily dependent on teachers in the classroom. The MoE concedes that the SEN area may need more development; the DPS notes the need to be able to diagnose learning needs in schools beyond the 3 per cent identified as SEN. More awareness is also required about the 20 per cent in each cohort ‘likely to struggle’. Lack of retention may lead to disincentive for some students to perform to a certain level. Need strong parental support to encourage student commitment to education. Principals: Brunei Common Assessment Tasks (BCATs) in Years 7 and 8 seen to be ‘too much’ for some teachers as they take place every term; propose 30 per cent school-based assessment and BCAT 1 in two terms. 43
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r-brunei-full-2014

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