Examinations in Singapore

Examinations in Singapore

Author: Yap Kwang Tan

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 981279414X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The first book to explore the development of Singapore''s much-talked-about education and examination system, this volume juxtaposes examinations with its immediate context of education and wider context of politics, economy and society. The study covers three broad historical periods: Examinations in Singapore from 1891 to 1945; The Post-War Years from 1946 to the 1970s; and Charting Our Destiny from the 1980s to 2007. In the British period up to 1941, the local examinations were conducted by the vernacular schools, and external examinations by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. There was a lack of systematic effort to establish a uniform system of education and examinations. During the Japanese Occupation, examinations were conducted by the Japanese authorities and, unexpectedly, the Cambridge examinations continued in the Sime Road Camp. In the post-war period and particularly after Singapore was granted self-government, the establishment of a national education system was followed by the emergence of national examinations: the Primary School Leaving Examinations and the Singapore-Cambridge GCE N/O/A Levels for every school-going child in Singapore. Thereafter, the nature of national examinations evolved with the changing needs of education and the nation. At the turn of the century, with the Ministry of Education''s decision to take greater control of examinations, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board was established, to oversee new developments in examinations. Unlike most literature on education where examinations are often mentioned as an outcome of educational goals and objectives, this book focuses on examinations per se. Examinations have gained a momentum of their own, and it is interesting to note the development of examinations against the backdrop of the broader history of Singapore and of education in Singapore. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Trace the development of examinations in Singapore during the British colonial period up to 1941. (3,043 KB). Examinations in Singapore book Launch (124 KB). Contents: Examinations in Singapore (1891OCo1945): Trace the Development of Examinations in Singapore During the British Colonial Period Up to 1945; Assess the Impact of the Japanese Occupation on Examinations in Singapore; What was the Significance of the School Certificate Examination Held in the Sime Road Camp During the Japanese Occupation?; The Post-War Years (1946OCo1970s): Assess the Development of Education and Examinations From the End of the Japanese Occupation to the Attainment of Self-Government in Singapore; Why and How Effective Were the Measures Undertaken by the Singapore Government to Establish Central Control Over Education and Examinations in Singapore in the 1960sOCo1970s?; The 1961 Examination Boycott Illustrates the Challenges in Forging a National System of Examinations. Do You Agree?; Charting Our Own Destiny (1980sOCo2007): How Effective had the Goh Keng Swee''s Reforms in Education and Examination Been in Improving Singapore''s Education System?; Examine the Key Policy Changes in Singapore''s Education and Examinations in Response to the Challenges of a Rapidly Changing and Globalising world; OCyChange is More Important than Continuity in Education and ExaminationsOCO Discuss. Readership: Academics and professionals in education and assessment; general readership."


Examinations In Singapore: Change And Continuity (1891-2007)

Examinations In Singapore: Change And Continuity (1891-2007)

Author: Hong Kheng Chow

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2008-03-28

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 9814471577

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The first book to explore the development of Singapore's much-talked-about education and examination system, this volume juxtaposes examinations with its immediate context of education and wider context of politics, economy and society. The study covers three broad historical periods: Examinations in Singapore from 1891 to 1945; The Post-War Years from 1946 to the 1970s; and Charting Our Destiny from the 1980s to 2007. In the British period up to 1941, the local examinations were conducted by the vernacular schools, and external examinations by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. There was a lack of systematic effort to establish a uniform system of education and examinations. During the Japanese Occupation, examinations were conducted by the Japanese authorities and, unexpectedly, the Cambridge examinations continued in the Sime Road Camp. In the post-war period and particularly after Singapore was granted self-government, the establishment of a national education system was followed by the emergence of national examinations: the Primary School Leaving Examinations and the Singapore-Cambridge GCE N/O/A Levels for every school-going child in Singapore. Thereafter, the nature of national examinations evolved with the changing needs of education and the nation. At the turn of the century, with the Ministry of Education's decision to take greater control of examinations, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board was established, to oversee new developments in examinations.Unlike most literature on education where examinations are often mentioned as an outcome of educational goals and objectives, this book focuses on examinations per se. Examinations have gained a momentum of their own, and it is interesting to note the development of examinations against the backdrop of the broader history of Singapore and of education in Singapore.


Education in Singapore

Education in Singapore

Author: Yew-Jin Lee

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-04-06

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9811699828

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This edited book is a comprehensive resource for understanding the history as well as the current status of educational practices in Singapore. It is a one-stop reference guide to education and educational issues/concerns here. There are three sections: Part 1 provides a sectorial overview of how education has been organized in this country such as preschool, special needs, primary and secondary, and adult education divisions. In Part 2, contributors critically delve into issues and policies that are pertinent to understanding education here such as underachievement, leadership, language education, assessment, and meritocracy to question what Part 1 might have taken for granted. Part 3 contains the largest number of contributors because it offers a scholarly examination into specific subject histories. This section stands out because of the comparative rarity of its subject matter (history of Physical Education, Art, Music, Geography Education, etc.) in Singapore.


Tests and Exams in Singapore Schools

Tests and Exams in Singapore Schools

Author: Kay Cheng Soh

Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789813227064

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Assessment, mainly in the form of tests and examinations, plays a critical role in the schooling of Singaporean students. The results are often used to make irrevocable decisions on the students' future education careers. This book is written with school leaders, teachers, and parents in mind, with the view of helping them to better understand the processes and products of assessment via tests and exams. It is written in simple terms, using minimal technical terms, and introduces school leaders, teachers, and parents to essential concepts and principles of educational measurements which are relevant in the school context in Singapore. While existing books on educational measurement are academically-oriented and meant for formal training courses, this book makes self-study simple by using practical examples couched in layman's language. In addition, this book uses concrete examples and analogies to make the text reader-friendly.


Learning from Singapore

Learning from Singapore

Author: Pak Tee Ng

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-01-12

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1317404599

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Learning from Singapore tells the inside story of the country’s journey in transforming its education system from a struggling one to one that is hailed internationally as effective and successful. It is a story not of the glory of international test results, but of the hard work and tenacity of a few generations of policy makers, practitioners and teacher trainers. Despite its success, Singapore continues to reform its education system, and is willing to deal with difficult issues and challenges of change. Citing Singapore's transformation, author Pak Tee Ng highlights how context and culture affect education policy formulation and implementation. Showing how difficult education reform can be when a system needs to negotiate between competing philosophies, significant trade-offs, or paradoxical positions, this book explores the successes and struggles of the Singapore system and examines its future direction and areas of tension. The book also explores how national education systems can be strengthened by embracing the creative tensions generated by paradoxes such as the co-existence of timely change and timeless constants, centralisation and decentralisation, meritocracy and compassion, and teaching less and learning more. Learning from Singapore brings to the world the learning from Singapore—what Singapore has learned from half a century of educational change—and encourages every education system to bring hope to and secure a future for the next generation.


Singapore's New Education System

Singapore's New Education System

Author: Teck Wong Soon

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 55

ISBN-13: 9971988887

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book gives a brief account of how social and economic changes have an impact on the Singapore education system, bearing in mind that education and national development are closely related. Besides providing a short history of education in Singapore, the book discusses how the New Education System(NES) was implemented, public response to streaming, and the impact of the NES on educational wastage and attainments.


Secondary School External Examination Systems

Secondary School External Examination Systems

Author: Barend Vlaardingerbroek

Publisher: Cambria Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 1604976004

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Summative assessment has been a contentious issue in educational circles for several decades, particularly high-stakes assessment events which arise at various junctures of the school cycle, especially those at the end of it. The French Baccalaureat and English A-Levels and their numerous clones throughout the francophone and anglophone worlds are household names and represent milestone events in people's lives, as their outcomes are principal determinants of young people's future prospects. These examinations are external--they are devised, conducted and processed by agencies outside the schools, usually ministerial examination units. As such, they act as 'blind' arbiters of student achievement, providing the proverbial 'level playing field' which ensures the comparability of outcomes. In the pyramidal school structures of yesteryear, examinations acted as filters, regulating the progression of pupils to subsequent tiers of formal education. Exit points occurred from primary school level up, from where unsuccessful candidates could enter the labour force and/or embark on occupationally specific further education and training. With the modernisation of the labour market and an ever-higher social demand for access to higher levels of formal education, the filtering function of examinations at lower levels of schooling has been gradually eroded, while burgeoning numbers of students at the upper secondary level have brought about reforms that include curricular diversification and sometimes radical overhauls of terminating assessment systems (including the modification and, in some instances, abandonment of external examinations). This edited volume brings together the experiences of twenty examination systems from around the world to show how these dynamic entities have adapted over time to the changing context of schooling. Following an introduction by Stephen P. Heyneman of World Bank repute, there are sixteen chapters presenting Country Case Studies, which have been written up under common subheadings, thereby highlighting the comparative nature of the work and facilitating cross-referencing. The subsequent four chapters elaborate on the theme of 'external examinations beyond national borders', including a contribution by the International Baccalaureate Organisation. A defining feature of the work is the attention it pays to what it calls the 'nuts and bolts' of external examinations, from question-setting to grading procedures. These are, it is argued, instrumental in nurturing and maintaining public confidence in external examinations. The book will be of immense value to people involved in educational policy studies, especially strategic educational planning, as well as those directly concerned with formal assessment. The work has been written to appeal to a wide audience of informed persons--it is accessible to teachers and interested laypeople, as well as to academics."


The administration of examinations for 15-19 year olds in England

The administration of examinations for 15-19 year olds in England

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Education Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2012-07-03

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 9780215045782

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This report from the Education Committee looks at the administration of examinations for 15-19 year olds in England. The Committee expresses serious concerns about incentives in the exam system and about competition on syllabus content. Incentives in the system should be changed so the downward pressure through the competition of exam boards is mitigated. The Committee considers a number of options to change incentives, including: (i) A single board. This offers a simpler system, with no risk of competition, but the Committee believes the cost, risk and disruption outweigh the benefits; (ii) Franchising of subjects to exam boards. This removes syllabus competition, but again has downsides; (3) Or the current system of multiple boards. The Committee sees no benefit in competition on syllabus content, but the setting and marking of exams and associated administration, if properly regulated, could generate incentives and drive quality up, offering value for money to schools and colleges.The Committee also recommends the development of national syllabuses, accredited by Ofqual. The syllabuses would be developed by exam boards in conjunction with learned bodies and employer organisations and could therefore retain the benefits of competition on quality and the incentive for exam boards to innovate.


Comparative Sociology of Examinations

Comparative Sociology of Examinations

Author: Fumiya Onaka

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-28

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 0429881045

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Contemporary societies are constructed, constricted, and constrained by various series of examinations. Governments of both Western and non-Western countries tend to conduct detailed, multi-layered and continuous systems of tests or examinations. International tests, such as PISA and TIMSS, have also been introduced to compare the relative performances of learners within diverse educational institutions across different countries. Examinations therefore provide a methodological pivot for comparing a range of societies. They enable us to contrast the West and the East; the North and the South; tribal and mass society; ancient and postmodern civilization; and so on. Comparing parallel societies from across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America, this book proposes fundamental transitions in sociological research from system to process and from communication to composition through intensive studies on examinations. It uses ethnographies, interviews, questionnaires, documents, statistics, and big-data analyses to make comparisons on broad scales of time and space. In so doing, it suggests hypotheses encompassing different kinds of societies in human history, including those in the Axial Age and the Modern Ages.


Climate Change Education

Climate Change Education

Author: Chang Chew Hung

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-05-09

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 131768589X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Climate change is a controversial topic; some people assert that climate change is not occurring, and others believe that reports are inaccurate, that whilst climate change is happening, it may not be caused by human activity. There are also climate alarmists who use IPCC reports to support their claims that erratic weather patterns are a result of climate change caused by human activity. Regardless of these different viewpoints, one fact can be agreed upon; climate change is a complex subject and there is a need to educate future generations, enabling them to deal with the plethora of information and views that they will experience in their lives. This book explores what education for climate change entails, discussing the concept of Climate Change Education (CCE) itself, how it can be taught in schools and how public education can be carried out. It instructs what specific subject matter to teach for CCE, and how to evaluate the student learning on the subject. Chapters include: CCE in the Formal Curriculum Teacher readiness for CCE Assessment for and of CCE Lessons from CCE for Public Education Climate Change Education is an extremely useful resource for anyone involved in educating students on climate change and also for those interested in climate change itself.