Excellence in education for Singapore: The role of career guidance

Abstract

This paper begins with a brief history of career guidance in Singapore and a description of provisions made in the past for the educational and vocational needs of weaker students. The importance of the Ministry of Education Report (1978) is emphasized since the revamping of the educational system was a direct outcome of the Report. The new educational system gave weaker students the choice of continuing their education in vocational institutes. This, in effect, was the Govemment's effort at providing career preparation for weaker students. As people are her only resource, skills training and the meeting of manpower needs are closely linked together in Singapore. The paper goes on to highlight some of the pertinent findings contained in the Report of the NPC Task Force on Career Guidance in Schools, and Towards Excellence in Schools: A Report to the Minister of Education. The latter report marks the watershed in the history of education in Singapore in so far as guidance services for students is concerned. The paper then presents the model of pastoral care and career guidance proposed for Singapore and ends with a discussion of the tasks and issues that must be addressed in the future.

Career Guidance of Teenagers and their Sociocultural Development and Adaptation in Modern World of New Technologies

“…Thus, the career guidance of students with mental retardation (intellectual disabilities) should be continuous in view of continuity with labour training in a special (correctional) school and vocational training school, be open and oriented at the same time to the needs of the labour market and the individual needs of the student. It is only the initial stage in the system of measures for the social and labour adaptation of persons with mental retardation, which depends on the success of their integration in society [21].…”

La profesión docente y la formación de docentes en Singapur (1950 al presente): de sobrevivir a prosperar

“…The main features of the Five-Year Plan articulated that there had to be four streams of education (Malay, Chinese, Tamil, and English), Malay was the national language, and the public education curriculum focused on the study of mathematics, science and technical subjects (Goh & Gopinathan, 2008). It was during this period that saw the introduction of a common syllabus for all subjects in all four language streams, a Government Scheme for Loan of Free Textbooks was made available, and common examinations at various levels (primary, secondary, high school) (Yip & Sim, 1994). Through such policies, the Singapore government demonstrated that the education system should function based on the principle of meritocracy where each child, regardless of race, language or religion, is given full opportunity to succeed (Goodwin et al, 2017).…”

International Education Studies, Vol.1, No.4, December 2008

“…She also points out that the aim of current education system is to "nurture talent and develop individual potential to the fullest" as well as to "include flexibility to allow children of different abilities the opportunity to develop themselves fully" (Pakir 2004, 286). Yip and Sim (1990) claim that there are three foci which have remained constant in the Singapore education system: (1) to provide the best form of education to her people; (2) to ensure that education served the purpose of national cohesion; (3) to ensure that schooling population is given the opportunity to become bilingual in English and a mother tongue. Therefore "language in education beliefs and practices are often taken for granted in a schooling system that emphasizes a national bilingual policy" (Pikar 2004).…”