Enabling Sustainable Success: Lessons from Singapore

Abstract

Singapore’s meteoric rise as a nation since its 1965 independence has been internationally lauded. This is largely due to the stalwart determination of its leaders and citizens and their desire to move beyond the need for survival to a state of continued and sustainable progress. Ranked highly in international education benchmarking exercises, the education system has garnered accolades from global education policymakers, researchers, and educators. This chapter lists key enabling factors that have allowed Singapore to both attain and sustain the status of a high-performing education system. They include placing great value and a heavy investment in education; recruiting and developing a high-quality fraternity of professional educators through a lifelong career continuum that spans from rigorous initial teacher preparation to continuing teacher professional development; ensuring a tight tripartite partnership between policymakers, teacher educators, and teachers; judicious policymaking that is evidenced-informed and that has high fidelity in the implementation of these policies through extreme systemic coherence; comprehensive national frameworks that guide policymakers, teacher educators, teachers, and students; a continuous reviewing and renewing of its curriculum and education initiatives; and, finally, recognizing the need to learn from the best practices of other education systems while contextualizing international lessons learned to Singapore’s needs. These factors not only have ensured Singapore’s success but also are the pillars that can help sustain its success in the uncertain and complex future where crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or where disruptions such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution pervade.