Transformative pedagogy, leadership and school organisation for the twenty-first-century knowledge-based economy: the case of Singapore

Abstract

Singapore has a high performing school system; its students top international tests in maths and science. Yet while the Singapore government cherishes its world class ‘brand’, it realises that in a globally competitive world, its schools need to prepare students for the twenty-first-century knowledge-based economy (KBE). Accordingly, over the past 13 years, the government has been laying a policy platform conducive to innovative curricula and pedagogy. Despite the government's command and control ethos, and a history of school responsiveness to economic needs, schools have yet to undertake serious transformation in preparing students for the KBE. This article argues that the present focus on innovation in the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment needs to be accompanied by a simultaneous re-configuration in leadership and school organisation, thus generating school-wide transformation. It comprises three parts: the first maps the connectivity between the economic and education development of Singapore since 1965 to the present; the second outlines the human resource implications of KBEs for a twenty-first-century curriculum; and the third maps the transformation of school leadership and organisation that is needed if curricular and pedagogic innovations are to be successful.

Keywords:

• Singapore
• knowledge-based economy
• transformed schools
• leadership