Primary school maths: A vicious circle (from TODAY May 8)
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Intermezzo:
:scratchhead: intermezzo, was it worth your feeling hopeful over?
hi oxyleo,oxyleo:
Yet more training for teachers:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html
Sigh....
kekeke i gather this piece of news was not worth getting \"cautiously excited\" over...
thanks for the link ~ i'm starting to feel that i must be very dense... but surely this kind of training for teachers is a step in the right direction?
In any case, it is apparent MOE is single-minded about its approach. Fixing the teachers with more training and fixing the parents by reminding them to be less kiasu and accepting of our children's limitations and it's wonderful multiple pathways. It's awfully predictable, I already sound like them.
In my earlier posts, I've explained that I do not think the issue lies with the teachers. They are over-stretched. Period. They're doing too much, with too many kids, too little time. Yes, we know MOE knows, but until they hire more teachers, they are just going to make this current pool of teachers even busier. Teachers who go for training sometimes leave their current teaching duties from 3-6 months at a go. Kids end up with a relief teacher.
Well, it is what it is. Life goes on. The day of awakening will come....eventually....I can only hope the price to pay will not be too costly.
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Pris.tang:
What is name of this Maths magazine(s) ?
Some schs have even advise parents to subscribe to maths magazine and ask parents to go through it with their children at home to help them cope with the syllabus. The irony is i myself am learning through all this magazines to be able to guide them exam method correctly. -
phtthp:
Issit +venture in Maths - http://www.add-venture.com.sg/?
What is name of this Maths magazine(s) ?Pris.tang:
Some schs have even advise parents to subscribe to maths magazine and ask parents to go through it with their children at home to help them cope with the syllabus. The irony is i myself am learning through all this magazines to be able to guide them exam method correctly. -
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oxyleo:
:scratchhead: intermezzo, was it worth your feeling hopeful over?
hi oxyleo,Intermezzo:
[quote=\"oxyleo\"]Yet more training for teachers:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html
Sigh....
kekeke i gather this piece of news was not worth getting \"cautiously excited\" over...
thanks for the link ~ i'm starting to feel that i must be very dense... but surely this kind of training for teachers is a step in the right direction?
In any case, it is apparent MOE is single-minded about its approach. Fixing the teachers with more training and fixing the parents by reminding them to be less kiasu and accepting of our children's limitations and it's wonderful multiple pathways. It's awfully predictable, I already sound like them.
In my earlier posts, I've explained that I do not think the issue lies with the teachers. They are over-stretched. Period. They're doing too much, with too many kids, too little time. Yes, we know MOE knows, but until they hire more teachers, they are just going to make this current pool of teachers even busier. Teachers who go for training sometimes leave their current teaching duties from 3-6 months at a go. Kids end up with a relief teacher.
Well, it is what it is. Life goes on. The day of awakening will come....eventually....I can only hope the price to pay will not be too costly.[/quote][color=#4000FF]/Totally agreed with you. Teachers are always sent for training and kids end up with a relief teacher for most of their school hours without proper lesson. No choice parents end up sending their kids for tuition centre for basic foundation lesson to catch up whatever would be tested in the exam. In most of the case, kids would be having a crash/remedial lesson (giving lots of past practice papers to do) right before the examination in order to get them pass the exam. May be MOE could consider to recruit this sector be part of the teaching force in the core teaching.
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From Today newspaper -
Parents need to adapt to new forward-thinking teaching methods: Education Minister.
In an interview with TODAY,
Mr Heng said he has received feedback from parents and he āappreciated their frustrationā.
Said Mr Heng: āThe question for us really is: Do we want to stick to
syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we
were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master
the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?ā -
looking4Tutor:
All you eloquent mommies/daddies please do not give up and keep writing to Today/ST/Zaobao. I wish I could write as well as some of you here! The govt takes forum letter more seriously than those we sent to MOE it seems, since those letters are public and the the govt have to respond somehow, if things are getting too negative...From Today newspaper -
Parents need to adapt to new forward-thinking teaching methods: Education Minister.
In an interview with TODAY,
Mr Heng said he has received feedback from parents and he āappreciated their frustrationā.
Said Mr Heng: āThe question for us really is: Do we want to stick to
syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we
were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master
the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?ā -
Today, 5 June 2012
A call to relearn how we teach our children
SINGAPORE:
At Changkat Primary School, parents have been attending workshops in order to help their children in their homework.
The school's teachers share their teaching approaches at these workshops, which cover all subjects being taught in Primary 3 to Primary 6.
Noting how teachers are using problem-solving methods not seen in the past, Changkat Primary principal May Tang told TODAY the sessions have been an \"eye opener\" for some of the parents.
Similarly, Edgefield Primary School has been organising symposiums for parents for the past three years. The most recent one was held in March and it drew 200 parents.
At each symposium, workshops - covering subjects such as Mathematics - offer parents the chance to hear from the teachers on their teaching methods and problem-solving strategies, said Edgefield Primary principal Willy Tan.
As parents feel increasingly helpless at their growing inability to help their children in homework and coach them for exams - amid the rapidly changing education landscape - the solution is for schools to communicate more on the objectives behind curriculum changes and share teaching practices with parents, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Citing himself as an example, Mr Heng said that using the algebra method which he is familiar with might no longer be as relevant in solving some math problems today.
In an interview with TODAY, Mr Heng said he has received feedback from parents and he \"appreciated their frustration\".
\"My only plea is that it is very important for us as parents not to measure what our child is learning vis-a-vis what we have gone through,\" he said.
Mr Heng reiterated that the children of today will be growing up into a \"different world\".
On their part, teachers are trying their best to prepare students for the unknowns, he said.
Said Mr Heng: \"The question for us really is: Do we want to stick to syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?\"
Mr Heng, who has helmed the education ministry for the past year, reiterated that parents' engagement is key as the education system progresses.
He outlined ongoing efforts, including sessions for parents to provide feedback and share experiences.
Still, he urged parents to strike a balance between academic coaching and building the emotional bond with their child.
Recalling how a parent had sent him an email on the loss of bonding opportunities with her child due to an over-emphasis on academics, Mr Heng urged parents to stimulate children's learning \"in a way that does not create an overkill\".
For example, by being a role model in showcasing the love of reading, parents can influence their children to pick up positive traits, he said.
In terms of parents' involvement in schools, Mr Heng said he hopes that the public will begin to see it as something beyond volunteering for the sake of priority in Primary 1 placement. He noted that many parents stay on to volunteer in a school even after their children have graduated.
Mr Heng reiterated that it is essential to get as many parents involved through formats ranging from a few hours in ad-hoc activities to being in the core committee in schools.
Said Mr Heng: \"We have to give a bit more thought to about how we want to structure this relationship ... at the moment it's not entirely a bad thing when there is some form of recognition for the work of volunteers. But as in all things, we must not make it transactional.\"
He stressed that schools have to make clear to parents, right from the start, that volunteering does not guarantee a place for their children.
Summing up his tenure so far, Mr Heng said: \"Fundamentally whatever we do, we must rest on one clear focus - what is best for our students. We have to just keep doing that and getting it right.\"
today
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1205632/1/.html -
I suppose hearing Mr Heng say he āappreciatesā the frustration is better than silence itself. Having said that, I do not think parents are frustrated because their kids are learning a different syllabus from them some 20-30 yrs ago. We mostly understand the need to have our kids ready to take on the world/ universe.
Before I go further, it is important to note that parents who are frustrated are the āhands-onā ones, the āroll-up their sleeves and try to understand what their kids are going thruāā ones, not the āfetch kid from Enrichment Centre A to Centre B and shop and lim-kopi in between kidsā lessonsā kind of parent.
Parents are frustrated because they are trying to ātrouble-shootā purported weaknesses in their childās school performances, which today, is fuzzed up with a slew of possibilities:
(i) a kidās weakness does not stem from poor academic inclination but rather, is relative, because other kids have really just studied ahead the yearās syllabus and trained ahead;
(ii) kidās weakness is due to lack of information about what is expected in terms of test standards eg. kidās ability meets P2 standards, but test standards are pitched at P4;
(iii) kidās poor grasp of basic knowledge is because teacher has not been able to cover what was required before the test (for whatever reason, such as on sick leave, training leave, kid streamed to weak class etc);
(iv) kid is underperforming because he is demoralized and overly anxious;
(v) kid is really not cut out for studying, whether or not the above possibilities exist
and so onā¦
It is definitely easier for SAHMs to perform this trouble-shooting task because there is more interaction time spent communicating with and observing the child. But I know many, many parents work full-time and spend the last 3 hours of their day, prior to bed-time stressed out over this trouble-shooting exercise, pulling all the stops, from cajoling to threatening, bribing to screaming, to get their kids to complete their homework, prepare for tests/ exams etc. -
I forgot to add that it is typically after the trouble-shooting that the course of medicine is decided:
i.e.
(i) Quantity and Quality of Tuition;
(ii) Parent gets heavily involved, researches material and teaches kid himself;
(ii) Apply both (i) and (ii).
In situations where parents are unable to come to a clear conclusion after trouble-shooting, they try everything they possibly can. More tuition, or change tuition centre, more assessment book/ exam paper practice, parents teach themselves so they can teach their kid, parents join forums like KSP to share problems and get help etcā¦ -
I apologize for writing intermittently. Am in between of doing other things.
Ok, so naturally, we will all ask, so why is there this problem parents are facing wrt trouble-shooting our kidsā performance?
I think it is because there is currently a lack of basic uniformity between schools. Schools today are given free rein to decide many things, including how they test, how they stream (as in whether they want to do so earlier), how they conduct their PV schemes etc. They are given broad guidelines to follow. The rest is pretty much free for all.
Soā¦ We end up with some schools streaming ahead of other schools, testing ahead of other schools, teaching beyond other schools, on a per cohort level. So a parent with twins for eg, could end up very confused, if he puts 2 kids in different schools - Dissimilar experiences. Is it because the kids are different? Sure, maybe. But is it possibly also because the schools are run differently? Test differently? Teach at varying speeds? Absolutely!
Soā¦parents throw resources in to pre-empt problems or attempt to fix discovered problems. And they will be frustrated because they are not sure what exactly they are fixing. There are currently too many variables.
A step in the right direction would be to put some basic uniformity back into the schools. Through textbooks with sufficient content, standardized school teaching materials, shared resources between schools etc.
Imagine if the police force were to conduct itself like how schools are today? police post 1 does not share/ discuss/ solve crime investigation problems together with other branches just because it isnāt required of in their KPI? if u need help and walk into a police post far from where you stay and they tell u, sorry, please seek help from your own police post serving ur vicinity.
Hmmā¦