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Globalization, the State and Curriculum Reform

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Globalization and the Singapore Curriculum

Part of the book series: Education Innovation Series ((EDIN))

Abstract

Post-war education and curriculum development was largely nation-centric, seeking to rebuild education systems for modern times. Late capitalism and globalisation have altered notions of what a national curriculum may look like and brought about major changes in the institutional, organisational and epistemological framing of curriculum reform in many countries. National history will, however, continue to influence the way in which reform changes are enacted in policy and practice. This chapter details the Singapore state’s efforts at responding to the local–global tensions brought about by nation-building and globalisation. It examines how the Singapore curriculum, which has been an effective instrument of wider political, social and economic purposes, will have to respond in an era of greater socio-economic challenges

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While many believe the year 1997 signifies the government response to globalization (e.g., Chaps. 3 and 4), we mark 1987 as the year globalisation became an important variable in the Singapore education landscape. It was mooted in the Toward Excellence in Education Report that the independent school initiative was mooted, and a shift towards decentralisation and devolution began to take root in response to the needs for education to become more responsive to international economic trends (MOE 1987). Beginning in 1988, several well-established schools were allowed to become largely independent of the Ministry of Education and designated as “independent schools”. The independent school initiative sharpened the system’s ability to prepare an academic elite and gave schools greater flexibility and independence to experiment with new ideas (Tan 2010). Flexibility was highlighted by the Singapore Economic Report of 1986 as a “fundamental” for Singapore to move forward as “trends in the world economy are beyond our control” (para. 67).

  2. 2.

    In current streaming practice secondary school students are placed into either of the following streams – Express, Normal Academic (NA) and Normal Technical (NT) – based on their performance on PSLE. Express is a 4 year programme leading to the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education “O” level exam. NA is also a 4 year programme leading to a Normal Level (“N” level) examination, with the possibility of a fifth year followed by an “O” level exam. NT is a 4 year programme in which students take subjects more technical in nature.

  3. 3.

    Pioneered by independent and elite schools such as Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls School, Hwa Chong Institution (formerly The Chinese High School) and Nanyang Girls’ High School in 2004, the IP allows students to skip the O-level at secondary four and be admitted directly to junior colleges.

  4. 4.

    Specialised Independent Schools include Singapore Sports School which was opened in 2004, NUS High School of Math and Science which started in 2005, and Specialised School for the Arts, begun in 2007.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    S. Gopinathan & Abu Bakar Mardiana

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  1. S. Gopinathan
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  2. Abu Bakar Mardiana
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Correspondence to S. Gopinathan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Zongyi Deng

  2. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    S Gopinathan

  3. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Christine Kim-Eng Lee

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Gopinathan, S., Mardiana, A.B. (2013). Globalization, the State and Curriculum Reform. In: Deng, Z., Gopinathan, S., Lee, CE. (eds) Globalization and the Singapore Curriculum. Education Innovation Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-57-4_2

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