Our education system is sound and has attracted international admiration. We have a professional and forward-looking teaching force, rigorous curriculum, and a well-resourced education system. However, we are at the stage where there is no big system-wide solution that can bring us to the next plane. The diverse and complex mix of learner profiles, and the needs and aspirations of our students, parents, teachers and industry leaders, necessitate greater customisation of educational initiatives which is best achieved at school levels rather than at system levels.
That is why the “Teach Less, Learn More” (TLLM) movement focuses on improving the quality of interaction between teachers and learners, so that our learners can be more engaged in learning and better able to achieve the desired outcomes of education. It calls for all educators to teach better, to engage our students and prepare them for life, rather than teach mainly for tests and examinations. It is about transforming learning — shifting the focus from quantity to quality. It is very much a ground-up initiative, where teachers and school leaders are the agents of ideas and change, with MOEHQ providing the support. That is why TLLM must be classroom-based, teacher-owned and school-driven.
Our learners are at the centre of everything we do in education. We have done well in ensuring that our learners have a strong grounding in core academic skills. Going forward, we need to sharpen our focus on developing the important but less tangible qualities like character and values, and pay more attention to developing diverse learner strengths. Even as more options and pathways become available to learners, we need to work on “softer” factors, like motivating learners, enhancing teacher competency in guiding learning for life, and enhancing leadership capacity to manage change. TLLM encapsulates such efforts, with teachers and school leaders at the centre of the action.
TLLM is a system-wide education reform movement that seeks better teaching and learning, and about learning for life for every student, by every teacher, in every school. It is a bold vision and one which takes time, will and the right strategies to realise. Unlike many other education reform movements that are top driven, this TLLM initiative has broken new ground for MOE and schools in many ways, and is itself an interesting example of change management in two ways: (a) incentivising ground up innovations to improve the quality of teaching and learning and (b) focusing the delivery of public service to stakeholders in a landscape of flexibility, diversity and choice. It is also unique amongst many education initiatives in that it embraces a new philosophy for how MOEHQ should work with schools as it recognises that the enthusiasm and vitality for TLLM cannot be conscripted but needs to be incentivised, encouraged and supported.
Since its introduction in 2004, we have come a good way towards realising TLLM outcomes in many of our schools. This report provides an introduction, rationale and summary of the implementation of TLLM in Singapore schools.
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