Meritocracy, elitism, and egalitarianism: a preliminary and provisional assessment of Singapore's primary education review

Lim, Leonel

doi:10.1080/02188791.2012.711294

Cited by 61 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Singapore is also dramatically different from other high-achieving Asian countries (e.g., Korea, Japan, Hong Kong), with its higher income inequality and lower social mobility (Corak, 2013;I. Ng, 2014), larger gaps in achievement between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds (akin to those of the UK and US) (L. Lim, 2013a), sustained low academic achievement of students from the indigenous Malay ethnic group (Rahim, 1998;Talib & Fitzgerald, 2015), and disproportionately high representation of students from Chinese (ethnic majority) in elite schools (Barr, 2006, Singapore Department of Statistics, 2011. Lionel Lim (2013a) further cites evidence of class-based disparities in Singapore, including disproportionate numbers of high-socioeconomic status (SES) and English-speaking students attending elite schools and being awarded prestigious national scholarships (Kang, 2005;Kwek, 2007;Ministry of Education, 2012a, 2014aSingapore Department of Statistics, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The discursive construction of lower-tracked students: Ideologies of meritocracy and the politics of education

Anderson

2015

EPAA

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This study considers the discursive construction of a particular type of student in Singapore - the lowest-tracked, Normal Technical (NT), secondary school student. Shaped by meritocratic policies, educational practices, and ideologies common to many late-modern societies, students in the NT track are institutionally and individually constructed through the results of high-stakes testing regimes and essentialist views of ability. This article extends an understanding of the NT student as a widely held, deficit construction in Singapore by considering its use as an ideological label in interpersonal and institutional discourse. I consider how school leaders’ and government commentaries about NT students’ abilities, opportunities, and supposed characteristics provide insights about the processes through which students are recruited into institutional categories of deficit and risk¾i.e. differentiated instruction, ascribed ability, and these processes’ translation into educational structures and practice in the name of meritocracy. While the illustration of this phenomenon is uniquely Singaporean, implications include concerns about equity, constructions of ability, and ideologies of merit common to late modern society.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The discursive construction of lower-tracked students: Ideologies of meritocracy and the politics of education

Anderson

2015

EPAA

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“…To further elaborate and explain the context, firstly, Singapore's meritocracy and its assessment system emphasize and promote individual academic performance and achievement in schools (Koh and Luke, 2009;Lim, 2013;Tan, 2011;Tan and Deneen, 2015). Hence, in order to facilitate the purpose of streaming and academic sorting among students in school, the academic performance and results are commonly revealed in the forms of grades and scores.…”

Section: Score Reporting and Feedback In The Singapore Education Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Action research on the effect of descriptive and evaluative feedback order on student learning in a specialized mathematics and science secondary school

Chua¹,

Lee²,

Fulmer

2017

Asia Pac. Sci. Educ.

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We investigated the effect of feedback order-teachers' written, descriptive comments followed by evaluative scores-on students' performance and learning for chemistry and mathematics in a Singapore mathematics and science specialized secondary school. This action research adopted an explanatory mixed-methods design with an intervention, with interviews, student survey, and assessments. The participants were 60 secondary school students: 33 students from secondary-one and 27 students from secondary-four. Repeated measures ANOVA results from the four-week study period indicated that there was no significant difference (p > 0.10) between the performance of the participants who received comments only (C group) and participants who received comments followed by evaluative scores (CS group) for both chemistry and mathematics, indicating there was no negative effect on receiving evaluative scores after the written descriptive comments. Qualitative findings indicated students could recognize the goals of the feedback and the score delay. The study shows that feedback order is important to consider in comparing effects of different forms of feedback, with implications for future research and for practice.

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“…Apunta al mérito individual como norma o principio que gobierna la organización de la economía, la sociedad y la política. Se considera que, en las meritocracias, los individuos están motivados para dar lo mejor de sí mismos (Lim, 2013;K. Tan, 2008K.…”

Section: Desigualdad Educativaunclassified

“…It points to merit as a rule or principle that governs how the economy, society and politics are organized. It is assumed that in meritocracies, individuals are motivated to do the best that they can (Lim, 2013;K. Tan, 2008K.…”

Section: Meritocracy or Parentocracy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Excellence and equity in high-performing education systems: policy lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong / Excelencia y equidad en sistemas educativos de alto rendimiento: lecciones de las políticas educativas en Singapur y Hong Kong

Gopinathan

Lee

2018

Infancia y Aprendizaje

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In recent years, both Singapore and Hong Kong have been ranked top in international education rankings. They are widely admired as highperforming education systems (HPES) and, not surprisingly, among the best education systems in the world. The success stories of Singapore and Hong Kong education have aroused widespread attention internationally among different stakeholders, such as policymakers, researchers and practitioners, to investigate if it is possible for their policies and practices to be learned and borrowed by other countries. In this article, we stress the importance of context in understanding policy phenomena and possibilities for policy transfer. The Singapore and Hong Kong education systems are facing critical issues such as the economization of education, educational disparities and the paradigm shift from meritocracy to parentocracy. How well they deal with these policy issues will determine if their present international standing continues into the future. This article provides a critical review of their education policies to explore how these policies can be refined and adjusted in order to cope with the challenges facing both education systems.Keywords: education excellence; educational disparities; meritocracy; parentocracy; Singapore; Hong Kong Resumen: En los últimos años, tanto Singapur como Hong Kong han obtenido los mejores resultados en las clasificaciones internacionales que evalúan los sistemas educativos. Ambos se consideran sistemas educativos de alto rendimiento (HPES, por su nombre en inglés) y, por consiguiente, despiertan admiración como los mejores sistemas educativos del mundo. El éxito de ambos países ha suscitado gran interés internacional entre los distintos agentes, de legisladores a investigadores y docentes, que han analizado la posibilidad de dar a conocer y aplicar sus políticas educativas en otros países. En este artículo, ponemos de relieve la importancia del contexto para Education and Development, 2018 Vol. 41, No. 2, 203-247, https://doi.org/10.1080/02103702.2018 © 2018 Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje comprender estas políticas educativas y su posible transferencia a otros países. Los sistemas educativos de Singapur y de Hong Kong se enfrentan a problemas como la economización de la educación, la desigualdad educativa y el cambio de paradigma de la meritocracia a la parentocracia. Su capacidad de gestionar dichos problemas determinará si el prestigio internacional del que gozan en la actualidad se mantiene en el futuro. En este artículo, se presenta una visión crítica de las respectivas políticas educativas en ambos sistemas y se exploran posibles ajustes y adaptaciones para hacer frente a los desafíos a los que se enfrentan.Palabras clave: excelencia educativa; disparidades educativas; meritocracia; parentocracia; Singapur; Hong Kong Since the beginning of the new millennium, a series of education policy initiatives have been adopted in Singapore and Hong Kong. Comprehensive education reforms, which address the importance of twenty-first-century sk...

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Meritocracy, elitism, and egalitarianism: a preliminary and provisional assessment of Singapore's primary education review

Cited by 61 publications

References 15 publications

The discursive construction of lower-tracked students: Ideologies of meritocracy and the politics of education

The discursive construction of lower-tracked students: Ideologies of meritocracy and the politics of education

Action research on the effect of descriptive and evaluative feedback order on student learning in a specialized mathematics and science secondary school

Excellence and equity in high-performing education systems: policy lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong / Excelencia y equidad en sistemas educativos de alto rendimiento: lecciones de las políticas educativas en Singapur y Hong Kong

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