S. Gopinathan

Globalisation, the Singapore developmental state and education policy: a thesis revisited

In this article I revisit and extend arguments made in 1996 and 1997 about the relationship between globalisation, the state and education policy. I was particularly concerned then to see how a small but strong state, Singapore, was responding in the education arena to globalisation. I also wished to draw attention to the literature on the high rates of economic growth achieved by the East Asian ‘tigers’ in which education, training and capital–labour accommodation played a large part; in all these countries the state was strong, being in the market as well as managing it. But with globalisation and neo‐liberal economic policies growing in strength, the havoc caused by the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the new geopolitical and security environment following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, there is a need to reconsider some of the arguments and to review the policy responses, especially in education. Is there evidence of the state weakening? Are more pro‐market policies changing governance and funding of education thereby altering the nature and purposes of schooling? I begin with a consideration of the broader phenomena of globalisation and then review the claims that call into question the continued relevance of the East Asian developmental state model and its education and training infrastructures.

After effectiveness: new directions in the Singapore school system?

The educational reforms being enacted in Singapore can be considered exceptional in that they are being undertaken within a highly effective system. We explore these reforms using Brown and Lauders ideal-typical analysis of ‘neo-Fordist’ and ‘post-Fordist’ models of national economic development. Singapores reforms have been extensive, ranging from changes to early childhood education through to tertiary education. We examine the nature of state-market relations in education within the context of Singapores ‘soft authoritarian’ political culture and assess the chances of success of the reforms.

Knowledge management, sustainable innovation, and pre‐service teacher education in Singapore

In 1997, Singapores Ministry of Education (MOE) committed itself to an ambitious program of pedagogical reform in Singaporean schools in anticipation of the kind of institutional challenges – particularly those in increasingly globalized labor markets – that young Singaporeans were likely to face in the coming decades. Since then, the Ministry has designed and implemented a series of initiatives that, the authors suggest, will go a considerable distance to achieve its objectives. These initiatives focus on substantial changes in the system of ‘instructional governance’ in Singapore over the past decade, and efforts to change the pattern of classroom pedagogy. But while these represent a good start, the authors argue that these initiatives do not go quite far enough to close the gap between policy and practice. And while the improvement of classroom pedagogy in the long run will depend on the improvement of initial teacher education, it is also the case that, given what is known about the circumstances that optimize professional learning in both pre‐service and in‐service programs, the improvement of teacher education will depend substantially on the prior improvement of classroom pedagogy. How Singapore might escape this conundrum is the central focus of this paper.

Globalisation, the State and Education Policy in Singapore

This paper explores the concept of globalisation and educational policy making in the context of a recently developed ‘strong state’, Singapore. It suggests both the need to clarify the concept of globalisation from such concepts as dependency and centre-periphery and to avoid overly deterministic accounts of the influence of global trends on education policy making. An analysis is provided of policy initiatives in Singapore between 1979 and 1991 located within state-based imperatives to respond to both global and state-centric challenges.

Preparing for the Next Rung: economic restructuring and educational reform in Singapore

Abstract This paper examines new developments in the global and regional economy as we reach the end of almost two and half decades of high economic growth in Singapore, amidst a situation of economic crisis and lack of confidence in East Asia. It assess the nature of the changes now being introduced into the Singapore education system to anticipate the demand for creative and skilled labour in the next millennium.

Challenging and co-opting globalisation: Singapore's strategies in higher education

Since its independence in 1965, Singapore has adopted a developmental state orientation and has placed a strong emphasis on education to meet its socio-economic development needs. In line with its aspirations to be a regional education hub, the Singapore higher education system hosts a number of prestigious institutions and international partnerships. In recent years, research and development spending has been ramped up, specialist research centres have been established and universities have become more research intensive. In this paper, we seek an explanation for these distinctive features of the Singapore model of higher education and examine how features of globalisation such as ranking, quality assurance and international collaboration are expressed in the Singapore context. Further, we ask what lessons, if any, can be drawn from Singapores experience and what challenges Singapore faces in meeting its evolving vision for higher education.

Enhancing multipoint desktop video conferencing (MDVC) with lesson video clips: recent developments in pre-service teaching practice in Singapore

Abstract Rapid technological development in computer video conferencing and digital video photography over the last decade makes it easier than ever for teacher educators to use the technology in facilitating reflective practice. This paper reports recent developments in the use of multipoint desktop videoconferencing (MDVC) in preservice teaching practice in Singapore. In addition to regular video conferencing, preservice teachers now have opportunities to view their own teaching video clips and receive feedback from their peers and university supervisors. The experience helped enhance professional development of preservice teachers by allowing them to share ideas, experiences and teaching resources in real time with an audience wider than the schools where they taught.

Reforming University Education in Hong Kong and Singapore

University education has been thrust into the limelight by policymakers in Hong Kong and Singapore in recent years. Reforming university education thus has become a norm for both city-states. This article reviews and compares some recent developments in the university reforms in both city-states. It argues university education, as a public policy area, is not immune from the profound influence of such concepts as accountability, performativity, quality assurance and market relevance, which prevail in a wider policy context of public sector reforms and governance changes. Hong Kong and Singapores university reforms are similarly extensive, ranging from the admission mechanisms through to the governance and funding systems. This article has four main sections. The first sketches a paradigm shift in the policymaking process and the changing state-university relationships in the age of globalization. The second reviews and compares some recent developments of the university reforms in both city-states. The third turns to assess the impacts of the reforms on university stakeholders. The final section is the conclusion.

University Restructuring in Singapore: Amazing or a Maze?.

The Singapore government has put forward a comprehensive restructuring program of university education since the 1990s. Public universities in Singapore are going to be developed as world-class universities through a series of university education policies and reforms. This article reviews major developments of university education policies and reforms in Singapore since the mid-1990s and examines critically the impact of the restructuring policies and reforms on the university system in Singapore. It is argued that universities in Singapore can enjoy a higher degree of institutional autonomy within a more stringent framework of public accountability. The university restructuring policy is not only aimed at transforming Singapore as a regional education hub, but also developing public universities in the island-state as world-class higher education institutions. Singapores universities have to cope with many unprecedented changes and challenges amidst the restructuring process.

New Bearings for Citizenship Education in Singapore

Being French, British, or another nationality has until recently been taken as a given, as unproblematic. This, and perhaps the fear that state sponsored values education could become indoctrination, explains the ambivalence in these long-established nation-states towards civic and moral education. However, the emergence of extreme nationalism in France, race riots in Bradford and other cities in the United Kingdom, and the fracturing of Yugoslavia in the Balkans indicate that citizenship in these states is not as unproblematic as was once thought. As the nation-state as a sovereign body comes under pressure both from within and from broader outside pressures associated with globalisation (Sassen, 1996; Turner, 1994), so more and more, governments are beginning to recognise that there must be a role for the state in fashioning the citizen. The United Kingdom, for example, now has a formal curriculum for citizenship education. In contrast, much of the decolonised world has not had the luxury of a given national identity. Nationhood has been a conscious creation, a struggle, successful in some parts and less successful in others.