Diversifying Schools: Systemic Catalysts for Educational Innovations in Singapore

Series Editors’ Introduction
Preface
Contents
Part I Case Studies of Diversified Adoption of Innovation
1 Creating Sustainable Levers for ICT Integration: A Development Trajectory of an ICT-Enriched School
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Literature Review
1.3 Research Context
1.3.1 Use of ICT in Singapore’s Educational Landscape
1.3.2 The School
1.4 Data Collection
1.4.1 Data Analysis
1.4.2 Findings
1.5 Implications
1.6 Conclusion
Appendix 1
References
2 Nurturing Maker Dispositions Among Children with Open-Source Tools: A Case Study of a Junior High School in Singapore
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Maker Culture
2.2.1 Homo Faber
2.2.2 Homo Ludens
2.3 The Maker Movement in Education
2.3.1 ‘Minds on’ and ‘Hands on’
2.3.2 Planning and Playing
2.4 Background to the Case Study
2.5 Design of the Study
2.5.1 The Six Learnings Curriculum Design Framework
2.5.2 Dan—Working in an Interest-Driven Space
2.5.3 Adam—Being Driven by Interest and Becoming Motivated
2.5.4 Tim—Sharing and Interacting as Part of the Making Process
2.5.5 Designing a Student-Centred Learning Environment
2.6 Conclusion
References
3 Scaling Community, Conditions, Culture and Carryovers Through Apprenticing and Ecological Leadership: The SCAEL Model
3.1 Introduction
3.2 SCAEL: An Ecological Approach
3.2.1 Sustaining Change
3.2.2 Mitigating Tensions and Obstacles
3.2.3 Patterns of Innovation Diffusion
3.3 Study and Methodology
3.4 Findings
3.4.1 Case Study 1—Productive Failure
3.4.2 Case Study 2—Knowledge Building
3.4.3 Case Study 3—Seamless Learning
3.5 Analysing the Case Studies
3.5.1 Operationalising SCAEL
3.5.2 Community Building
3.6 Discussion
3.6.1 The German School System: The German School Academy Project
3.7 Conclusion—Leadership from the Middle for the Middle
References
4 Learning Initiatives for the Future of Education (LIFE): ‘It Takes a Village’ to Enable Research-Practice Nexus
4.1 Introduction
4.1.1 Background of the NIE
4.1.2 Learning Initiatives for the Future of Education (LIFE)
4.1.3 How Learning Occurs
4.1.4 Overcoming Challenges or Disadvantages Through Learning and Instruction
4.2 Grand Hope
4.3 The ‘It Takes a Village’ Project—Findings
4.3.1 Macro, Meso and Micro-layers of a System (in This Case, the System of a School)
4.3.2 LIFE’s Vision for Academically Challenged Students (Low Progress Students)
4.3.3 Data Analytics, AI and Assessment
4.4 Conclusion
References
Part II Diversified Changes from the School View
5 An Exploration of Contextual Factors in Enacting Making-Centred Learning Programmes in Singapore Schools
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Theoretical Underpinnings
5.2 Background of the Study
5.3 Methodology
5.4 Findings
5.4.1 Teacher Training and Development
5.4.2 Leadership
5.4.3 How Making-Centred Learning is Conceptualised and Implemented in Schools
5.5 Conclusion
References
6 School-Based Niche Programmes in Singapore
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Niche and Its Relevance to Educational Setting
6.2.1 Niche Programmes Within the Singapore Education System
6.2.2 Informal Learning in Niche Programmes
6.2.3 Social Learning as Investigative Lens
6.3 Methodological Approach
6.3.1 The Case Study: Design and Innovation Club
6.3.2 Context for Identity Exploration
6.4 Conclusion
References
7 Exploring Out-of-Classroom Structural Affordances for Learning: A Case Study of a Co-Curricular Activity
7.1 Introduction
7.1.1 The Niche Programme Policy in Singapore
7.1.2 CCAs in Schools
7.1.3 The Case of Henderson Secondary School
7.2 Literature Review
7.2.1 Classroom Structures
7.2.2 Out-of-Classroom Structures
7.2.3 Studying the Plausibility of Interaction Between the Classroom Structure and Out-of-Classroom Structure
7.2.4 Situated Learning in CCAs
7.2.5 Structural Affordances in Situated Learning
7.3 Methodology
7.4 Study Context
7.5 Data Analysis
7.6 Findings and Discussions
7.6.1 Examples of Multiplicity of Planes Imbued Within the Collective Structure
7.6.2 Individual Agent Structures
7.7 Implications for Learning
7.7.1 Structural Coupling (Fit)—How It Can Possibly Occur?
7.8 Conclusion
7.8.1 Practical Implications for Schools
References
8 Fostering School-wide Knowledge Building Practice: Leadership by the Middle Managers
8.1 Introduction
8.1.1 Background
8.2 Method
8.3 Literature
8.4 Analysis
8.5 Findings
8.5.1 Professional Development: Redefining Goals and Purpose of Professional Learning Community
8.5.2 Bridging Pedagogy That Cantered on Students: Whats Now, What’s Not and What’s Possible
8.5.3 Assessment: Measuring Success in a Meaningful Way
8.5.4 Redesigning Curriculum
8.6 Discussion
References
Part III Diversified Changes from the Systems View
9 School-to-School Networks for Sustaining Education Innovation Change: Situating Teacher Leaders at Every Middle of the System
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Literature Review
9.3 Methodology
9.4 Findings from the Study
9.5 Discussion
References
10 Addressing the Skills Gap: What Schools Can Do to Cultivate Innovation and Problem Solving
10.1 Introduction
10.1.1 Singapore’s Mathematics Performance in International Assessments: Status and Significance
10.1.2 Going to the Genesis of the Singapore’s Mathematics Education: Explaining Singapore’s Success in International Assessments and Its Trade-Offs
10.1.3 Observations from the Evolution of Singapore Mathematics Education that Explain Her Performance in Assessments Internationally
10.2 Transforming Mathematical Practice to Get Singapore to Stay Ahead of the Curve: Pedagogical Innovations and Their Trajectories
10.3 Discussion and Conclusion
References
11 Leadership Supporting Innovation in Curriculum: Essential Lessons
11.1 Introduction
11.2 School Leadership Matters for Curriculum Innovation
11.2.1 Transformational Leadership
11.2.2 Instructional Leadership
11.2.3 Distributed Leadership
11.2.4 School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD)
11.3 Method
11.4 Findings and Discussion
11.4.1 Strategic Leadership Supporting SBCD
11.4.2 Instructional Leadership Supporting SBCD
11.4.3 Distributed Leadership Supporting SBCD
11.5 Conclusion
References
12 Teacher Learning Communities as Catalytic Levers for Educational Innovations in Singapore Schools
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Literature
12.2.1 Teachers’ Epistemic Learning as Underpinning Change Towards Innovation and Inquiry-Driven Learning
12.2.2 Challenges for Epistemic Learning and Innovation in the Singapore Classroom
12.3 Method
12.3.1 Network Learning Communities as the Contextual Space of Analysis
12.4 Findings and Discussion
12.4.1 Networked Learning Communities (nLCs) for Epistemic Learning
12.4.2 Case Illustration: Digital-Game-Based Learning Community
12.5 DGBLC as a ‘Vehicle’ for Innovation Diffusion
12.5.1 Scale Adaptations
12.5.2 Seed Teacher Champions
12.5.3 Shifts from Periphery to Core
12.5.4 Dialectics of ‘Convergence–Divergence’, ‘Takeways-Givebacks’
12.5.5 Leveraging on the ‘Ecology’ and Socio-technological Affordances
12.5.6 Building Relations Through Commonality and Diversity
12.6 Framing of Innovation Scale Through the Lens of nLCs
12.6.1 School Leadership Support for Teachers to Be in nLCs
12.7 Conclusion
References
13 An Exploratory Approach to Teacher Professional Development in a Secondary School in Singapore
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Research Agenda in Teacher PD in Global Contexts
13.2.1 The Fundamental Dimensions of Teacher PD
13.2.2 Characteristics and Operational Principles of Effective Teacher PD
13.3 Teacher Capacity and PD for the Twenty-First Century in Singapore
13.4 The Exploratory PD Approach in SSS
13.4.1 The School-Based PD Framework and Guiding Principles
13.4.2 The Structure, Cycles and Phases
13.5 Potentials and Challenges
13.6 Conclusion
References
14 Capacity Building as a Driver for Innovation and Change: Different Contexts, Different Pathways
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Literature Review
14.2.1 Innovation and Change is a Tight-Loose Coupling Involving Subsystems
14.2.2 Innovation and Change Needs to Foreground Capacity Building and Context
14.3 Research Context
14.3.1 Macro-context: The Singapore Education Landscape
14.3.2 Meso Context: School Profiles
14.4 Methdology
14.4.1 Participants
14.4.2 Data Sources, Collection, and Analyses
14.5 Findings
14.5.1 Tenet 1: Creating Consensus and Tailoring Innovation for Schools’ Contexts
14.5.2 Tenet 2: Forming Communities and Building Capacity Through Lesson Designs
14.5.3 Tenet 3: Deepening Understandings Through In Situ Enactment and Refinement
14.6 Discussion
14.6.1 Balancing Tight-Loose Coupling and Partnerships Across Subsystems
14.6.2 Capacity Building as a Social Process that Considers School’s Context
14.7 Conclusion
References
15 The Problem of Integration: How Schools Can Fill the Skills Gap
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Discussion
15.3 Findings
References
Part IV The International Perspective
16 Exemplary Career Educational Practices of Joetsu City in Japan
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Methods
16.2.1 Project-Based Career Education Study
16.3 Summary
References
17 The Evolution of Efforts to Improve Education in New York City (2001–2016)
17.1 Introduction
17.2 The Problem: The Conditions for Improvement and Transformation Are Not the Same
17.2.1 The Changing Conditions for Educational Innovation in New York City 1990–2000: The Emergence of Systemic Reform and the Small Schools Movement
17.2.2 2001: Accountability Arrives
17.3 The Evolution of Educational Innovation in New York City in the Twenty-First Century
17.3.1 The Evolution of New Visions for Public Schools
17.3.2 NYC Outward Bound Schools
17.4 Discussion and Implications
References
18 Doing Things Differently in Order to Do Them Better: An Assessment of the Factors that Influence Innovation in Schools and School Systems
18.1 Introduction
18.1.1 Quasi-Markets and Innovation
18.1.2 High-Autonomy–High-Accountability Systems and Innovation
18.1.3 England’s ‘Self-Improving School System’ Reforms Since 2010
18.2 Examples of Innovation: Pedagogy, Curriculum and School Improvement
18.2.1 Pedagogy Example 1: Piloting a 360° Classroom in One School
18.2.2 Pedagogy Example 2: Changes in Pedagogy in Primary Schools
18.2.3 Curriculum Example 1: Innovation in Free Schools and Academies
18.2.4 Curriculum Example 2: Developing the Capacity to Teach Chinese
18.2.5 School Improvement Example: School-to-School Support
18.3 Towards an Innovation Framework: Categorising and Analysing the Examples
18.4 Discussion and Implications: Conceptualising System-Wide Innovation Issues
18.5 Conclusion
References
Part V Conclusion
19 Building a Cohesive Twenty-First Century Learning-Orientated Community in Singapore—Summary and Conclusion
19.1 Introduction
19.2 Initiating Reforms Using the SCAEL Model
19.2.1 Local Perspective
19.2.2 International Perspectives
19.3 Implications
19.3.1 Changing Perspectives with Community Cohesion
19.3.2 Developing a Joy and Interest for Learning
19.3.3 Teachers’ Capacity Building
19.4 Conclusion
References