Critical Perspectives on Singapore Education Reform: Exploratory Case Study of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Policy and School Leadership Responses

Abstract

The reform trajectory that the Singapore education system pursued has been deliberate, carefully calculated and on the whole successful. From the Towards Excellence in Schools Report (1987) and The Improving Primary School Education Report (1991) that helped shape the landmark Thinking School Learning Nation (1997) policy framework succeeded by the Teach Less Learn More (2005) and the more recent Curriculum 2015 - one sees the irrefutable examples of how the Ministry of Education (MOE) continues to take the lead in introducing reforms to achieve "the goal of preparing its students and graduates for a post-industrial knowledge economy" (Reyes & Gopinathan, 2008, p. 13). These reforms in the education system can be cited as a reason for the perpetuation of "Singapore's success story" (Sharpe & Gopinathan, 2002, p. 152. This qualitative research inquiry attempts to explore how school leaders cope with the incessant and seemingly endless transformations that occur in schools. The central phenomenon to be studied focuses on how school leaders 'make sense' of educational reform as it occurs in their local contexts. In order to do this, an exploratory case study of four target schools that took part in policy reform initiatives directed at the ubiquitous use of Information Communication and Technology (lCT) would be the locus of this inquiry. Using findings from Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and interviews, this inquiry investigates and builds emerging explanations to school leaders' sense-making in periods of reform.