Primary school maths: A vicious circle (from TODAY May 8)
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When I first familiarized myself with the PSLE requirements, I must say that one part of me applauded the move away from rote learning. In this I agree with Funz. The PSLE today is heavy on thinking skills. It is an intellectually exciting syllabus and very appealing to the intellect.
The problem is that it cannot be taught with traditional methods. My issue is not with the syllabus... nor is it with the difficulty of the syllabus. My issue is that one should not have moved into this immensely challenging syllabus BEFORE the teachers are ready to properly teach to it.
I don't teach my son with assessment books at all. To get to the kind of depth of competence required in PSLE Science, we had to
(1) do experiments every week for years
(2) watch countless videos and DVDs
(3) trawl through the internet
These new media and actual hands-on play built a deep intuition in DS for scientific inquiry and gave him a vast store of scientific trivia we are grateful for today. However, we did not do all that because we thought it would be tested at the PSLE. We did it for fun.
My issue is that unless schools can ADEQUATELY provide the scientific learning opportunities that Little Boy grew up with, then it has no right to test to that level. It is possible for the education service to teach to that level but it must move aggressively AWAY from traditional methods of teaching... which despite the efforts of MOE HQ, are still very prevalent in schools (even branded ones).
This is a syllabus that is best taught using TLLM techniques. Unfortunately, many teachers don't know how to TLLM properly... and have not the support infrastructure to enact TLLM properly. The syllabus is not too difficult for our students to learn (IMHO). It is too different for the teachers to cope with when teaching. And the way I see it, Teachers don't get enough support in the areas of
(1) learning and collaboration (because of how performance is rewarded)
(2) high quality curricular materials (whether textbooks, notes, videos, audios or apps)
Of course, at present, many tuition centres do a great job of using traditional teaching methods to teach to the new syllabus. However, it is very time-consuming for our kids. The degree of practice required is immense as compared to the ease with which material would be subconsciously mastered if TLLM techniques were properly used.
My humble opinion. -
Lately, can't help must think that the roles have reversed. Enrichment and tuition centers are here to teach our children and the schools' role is to enrich - with the countless NE, CCAs, learning journeys, competitions and other what-have-you type programs.
The irony of it all... :skeptical: :roll: -
Totally agree! Just like textbooks are only guidebooks but the guidebooks/assessment books we buy from popular bookshops or notes from tuition centres or compiled by parents are the actual textbooks . And tutors become teachers and teachers are more to guide the kids only??? Interesting, isn’t it?
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schweppes:
Lately, can't help must think that the roles have reversed. Enrichment and tuition centers are here to teach our children and the schools' role is to enrich - with the countless NE, CCAs, learning journeys, competitions and other what-have-you type programs.
The irony of it all... :skeptical: :roll:cherryc:
Totally agree. I'm feeling the heat now although DS is only P1 tis year.Totally agree! Just like textbooks are only guidebooks but the guidebooks/assessment books we buy from popular bookshops or notes from tuition centres or compiled by parents are the actual textbooks . And tutors become teachers and teachers are more to guide the kids only??? Interesting, isn't it?
The heat is on... :mad: -
I agree that teachers are not equipped to teach or do not have the passion to teach…just join MOE cos of stable rice bowl.
a teacher friend admitted to me she prefer to teach P1 cos easy to teach but she was given a P5 class one year and she admitted that the maths was too diff for her to handle (and being her schoolmate, I know Maths is not her forte just managing a C for O levels). She told me she just refer to model answers and and get her students to copy accordingly shocked
Many other teacher frens do not have the passion or perhaps is too saddled with admin etc that most quit the profession. And dear MOE keep raising the salary of teachers at one pt in order to retain talent. But does this translate to improvement in the education landscape?!? -
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oxyleo:
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120608-0000059/A-parent,-a-teacher-or-both?
Thanks for sharing!! -
TODAY Jun 14, 2012
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120614-0000109/A-parents-battlefield-approach-to-education
A parent's battlefield approach to education
From Donna Ong Yen Nee
Updated 04:05 PM Jun 14, 2012
I refer to the letter \"A parent, a teacher or both?\" (June 8). As a parent of two children in Primary 4 and 6, and a toddler, I have given up on Mathematics.
To survive in today's primary school environment, my husband and I have had to divide and conquer. He is more adept at numbers and takes on the task of learning the maths syllabus and teaching our children the heuristic maths model solving.
To us, it is mind-boggling that in the real world, financial problems are solved expediently by algebra and not heuristics. We are confused by the Education Minister's remarks that the Education Ministry is preparing our children for the future.
What we learnt in the past has put us in good stead for today. How revolutionary will future work challenges be? Are we preparing our children for these or creating more challenging academic benchmarks to filter the scholars from the non-scholars?
Faced with the tide of today's age-inappropriate academic requirements, many of my highly educated friends have given up their careers to be a parent and teacher to their children.
Imagine the loss in economic productivity when parents have to do the job for schools. Other parents have to slog harder at work to fund increasingly exorbitant private tuition fees.
In my household, my husband is the \"head of department\" for Maths and Chinese, and I cover English and Science. It may be only four subjects, but we struggle to keep afloat. If our children do well in one examination, the next one is surely going to be tougher.
I have had to study the entire Science syllabus so that I can teach my children how to align their answers, through memorisation, to the key words found in the teacher's answer sheet, to ensure they do not lose too many half marks.
Our children are not taught to be creative or have an inquiring mind. I dread to think about the school environment that awaits my two-year-old.
I used to think that raising children in the toddler years were tough, but when my elder children started primary school, I realised that the worst was to come. I hear the academic rat race is worse after primary school.
My husband and I feel like we have two full-time jobs: One in the office and one as a home tutor, even though our children already have private tuition for all subjects. Our expanded roles are indeed exhausting and squashes any thoughts of having more children. -
coast:
Thanks for sharing !TODAY Jun 14, 2012
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120614-0000109/A-parents-battlefield-approach-to-education
A parent's battlefield approach to education
From Donna Ong Yen Nee
Updated 04:05 PM Jun 14, 2012
I refer to the letter \"A parent, a teacher or both?\" (June 8). As a parent of two children in Primary 4 and 6, and a toddler, I have given up on Mathematics.
To survive in today's primary school environment, my husband and I have had to divide and conquer. He is more adept at numbers and takes on the task of learning the maths syllabus and teaching our children the heuristic maths model solving.
To us, it is mind-boggling that in the real world, financial problems are solved expediently by algebra and not heuristics. We are confused by the Education Minister's remarks that the Education Ministry is preparing our children for the future.
What we learnt in the past has put us in good stead for today. How revolutionary will future work challenges be? Are we preparing our children for these or creating more challenging academic benchmarks to filter the scholars from the non-scholars?
Faced with the tide of today's age-inappropriate academic requirements, many of my highly educated friends have given up their careers to be a parent and teacher to their children.
Imagine the loss in economic productivity when parents have to do the job for schools. Other parents have to slog harder at work to fund increasingly exorbitant private tuition fees.
In my household, my husband is the \"head of department\" for Maths and Chinese, and I cover English and Science. It may be only four subjects, but we struggle to keep afloat. If our children do well in one examination, the next one is surely going to be tougher.
I have had to study the entire Science syllabus so that I can teach my children how to align their answers, through memorisation, to the key words found in the teacher's answer sheet, to ensure they do not lose too many half marks.
Our children are not taught to be creative or have an inquiring mind. I dread to think about the school environment that awaits my two-year-old.
I used to think that raising children in the toddler years were tough, but when my elder children started primary school, I realised that the worst was to come. I hear the academic rat race is worse after primary school.
My husband and I feel like we have two full-time jobs: One in the office and one as a home tutor, even though our children already have private tuition for all subjects. Our expanded roles are indeed exhausting and squashes any thoughts of having more children.
Wonder how many more feedback MOE needs before they do something about it ! :sad:
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