Education Minister: Going for more fun and passion but also critical thinking and soft skills
… “A transformation towards an economy that is more innovation-driven, that is more productivity-driven.”
Ong’s chief responsibility — the local education system — is a key to Singapore’s labor needs and economic transformation.
“We need to use an inquiry-based approach to teach students how to exercise critical thinking,” he said. “It used to be ‘knowledge is power.’ Now, power is knowing what knowledge to ignore, and what to take in, and decide for yourself.”
Updated on 28/9/18: I still believe that content should be trimmed down in MOE curricula to allow time and space for critical thinking and other higher order skills e.g. dreaming. At the end of the day, how much content do we really need to deal with the future?
‘Higher-Order Outcomes’
He noted that while the system has “strengths that we should not discard,” adjustments need to be made between an “over-focus on exam results” and “higher-order outcomes.”
“We need to re-balance that so education is more fun, more joy, more holistic and children have a passion and an aptitude in deciding what they want to do,” Ong said in the Sept. 19 interview. “It’s not just my marks but also developing my passion, an idea of my future, my journey, and getting soft skills.”…
Here in iMatter, we too believe in developing critical thinking and soft skills. (See previous post.) Even better, education should never be boring but instead should invoke fun and passion in the learner (and teacher). These elements actually enhance learning and further motivates the learner to learn more in a virtuous cycle. To this end, we organise enrichment classes for our students and the public so that they can be away from their studies and acquire new knowledge, skills and habits, whether academic or non-academic.