Engendering Curriculum Innovation in a Centralized Educational System: How Does It Work?

• In Event: Innovating Learning and Teaching in a Centralized Education System: Potentialities and Problematics

Abstract

The demand for of the twenty-first century competencies such as dispositions for critical and creative thinking, and strategic planning, has propelled Singaporean schools to embark on curriculum innovation. The conceptualization and implementation of curriculum innovation requires both facilitative context, and also committed teachers who are flexible, adaptive and innovative in curricular works. Being a high performing Asian society in the high-stakes examinations, one may assume that conceptualization and implementation of curriculum change is counterintuitive. In 2005, the former Education Minister, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, noted that it is essential to provide such space for schools to innovate as the centralised education system seeks to increase quality, choice and flexibility. The attempt to provide greater school-based flexibility in the curriculum began with judicious content reduction across subjects between 10 to 20% of curriculum time was freed up as ‘white space’ to encourage teacher autonomy to customise lessons to meet the needs of learners. Although restructuring the educational system coupled with valuing teacher autonomy are seen as instrumental in promoting curriculum innovation in schools by the policymakers, there are several valid concerns among Singaporean researchers. One concern is whether in a system where learning in school is plagued by covering the syllabi and meeting the examination requirements, is amiable to such demand. Furthermore, it is also a question whether teachers are professionally prepared to make a shift in their pedagogical practice and rise to the challenge to rethink and redesign the prescribed curricular they are accustomed to.
To understand the context, process and outcome of reframing the curriculum, this paper attempts to (i) explicate the complex contexts and processes that exist in Singapore schools and (ii) consolidate the models of curriculum innovation. This paper aims to synthesise the experiences of three schools in engaging students through curriculum innovation. All three schools spearheaded curriculum innovation intended to promote students’ competencies in communication and critical thinking. The analysis is framed through a social-cultural-contextual lens that examines the implicit approaches that promote curriculum innovation (Kärkkäinen, 2012). Although there has been extensive exploration and discussions in the literature about the nature of curriculum change models and its implications in the change process, with seminal works such as Schon’s (1971) early theories of curriculum change and Havelock’s (1971) new emergent theories of curriculum change, findings from our data suggest that the contexts and processes of curriculum innovation are more organic, complex and rhizomatic in Singapore schools. The emergent themes in our analysis include school leaders playing a central role in promoting curriculum innovation, encouraging teacher learning and professionalism through reflective practice, and their willingness to endorse teachers to engage students through innovative pedagogies that are deemed suitable for students to foster 21st century competencies. In the Singapore centralized national curriculum, we found evidence of decentralized curriculum decision making processes that take place in typical secondary school settings. Such innovations in curriculum spread through horizontal networks of schools and teachers. The implications of such curriculum innovation efforts within the context of a high-stakes examination-focused education system will be discussed.

Author

• Liang See Tan, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University