The reality of living in Singapore is that an increasing number of parents are enrolling their children for enrichment classes and primary one preparation classes before they even turn five.
A clearer guideline
Preschools in Singapore do not have a national curriculum and thus programmes differ from one preschool operator to the next. This lack of standard has caused concern for some parents who believe their children are not learning enough to be prepared for entry into the primary school system.
The guidelines set out in the revamped framework seek to address these concerns and the ministry also expects it to raise the overall standards of preschool education in Singapore, without limiting creativity from individual preschool operators.
Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Education, says “It doesn’t tell you exactly what to do on the ground, so just take an example, confidence. Confidence is not something you can sit down and have a little lesson and say, today, I am confident. But you can put that in the framework, then you can specify to the teachers that whatever they do in the curriculum should engender confidence.
“So that’s why I’m not concerned about being over-prescriptive. A lot depends on the imagination of the teachers and the relationship with the children because you must really understand your child. If the child is very shy, you can’t just straightaway push the child to do something that’s very extrovert. You’ve got to draw the child out. So much depends on the teachers’ ability.”
Setting the standard?
Principal of PCF Cheng-San Seletar, Mdm Forina Ng welcomes the framework saying, “This is a guide, so it actually gives all operators an insight of what MOE is actually requiring us to do, and by the end of kindergarten, all children should achieve all the learning goals stated in the framework.”
Greater emphasis on other skills?
So what exactly goes into the framework? Firstly there is a greater emphasis on helping children develop social and emotional skills as well as stating clearer learning outcomes. This is mostly for how children learn numeracy and literacy.
Quantifiable performance index include: Children should be able to count up to 10, ask simple questions and respond appropriately by the time they go to Primary One.
Less kancheong?
Will the new guidelines be able to manage parent’s expectations of both their child and the teachers then?
A parent that Channel News Asia spoke to is Ms Goh Yuke Chin, who have said that she might continue sending her children for extra classes. She says, “I [am] still [going to] send them for enrichment class, especially Chinese hanyu pinyin because it’s not being taught by the preschool under the guideline of the MOE, and other than that I also send them for music class like violin or piano, which is also not being taught by the preschool.”
Parents response
While most parents welcome the guideline as a way for them to track their child’s progress, others say that regular communication with teachers was more important especially since some schools might not even follow too closely to the framework set out by the ministry.
Ms Ann Tan, a mother of three, says, “Actually the guidebook, when parents read it, they won’t know how closely which childcare or which kindergarten follows this guidebook. You need to have a guideline, but how closely the kindergarten follows is another thing. [I think] a better way to actually manage what my kids will learn is if we have opportunity to get to know the teachers, the principal and basically how the lessons are being carried out, it’ll be better than just generic guidelines.”
Click here for more information on a more detailed look on the revamped framework.