Abstract
This chapter covers the historical development of Singapore’s education system and the introduction of major policies and initiatives. It then discusses a possible future for our education system guided by what we frame as ‘purposeful learning’. Unfortunately, it appears difficult to leave behind some of the institutional features and cultural attitudes that made the successes of earlier phases possible. To overcome obstacles to system change we have adapted Michael Fullan’s Leadership from the Middle model by combining it with Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework. In our model, we hypothesise that the middle or ‘meso’ layers of each level of the system are the highest points of leverage to sustain ultimate change through the whole system. However, to support system change, teachers need to apprentice themselves in school networks in order to develop relevant new pedagogies. We also need system brokers who can mediate different parts of the system in order to help along the upward and downward percolation of ideas. Nevertheless, major system change through time is not a matter of simple multiplication. Our Scaling Change through Apprenticising and Ecological Leadership (SCAEL) model shows it has to be an iterative process that encourages organic changes with respect to local conditions.
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Johannis, A.A., Tan, C.YX., Raveendaran, S., Hung, D.WL. (2020). Singapore: A Centralised – Decentralised Model. In: Ärlestig, H., Johansson, O. (eds) Educational Authorities and the Schools. Educational Governance Research, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38759-4_21
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