More Support for Schools and Students to Shape the Future of Learning
- Updated on September 20, 2023
Published Date: 20 September 2023 02:00 PM
At this year’s Schools Work Plan Seminar on 20 September 2023, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing announced the following measures that will equip students with the values and competencies needed to thrive in a fast-changing world:
- Enhance 21st Century Competencies (21CC) to strengthen students’ competencies and dispositions to thrive in school and in the future;
- Harness technology as a capability multiplier to enhance and customise students’ learning experiences; and
- Enrich learning experiences through refreshed school environments and partnerships.
Enhanced Framework for 21CC
2. To keep pace with an era marked by rapid technological advancements and global developments, MOE will enhance the 21CC Framework (see diagram below). It will now place a greater emphasis on adaptive and inventive thinking, communication, and civic literacy. First introduced in 2010, the 21CC Framework articulates a set of values and competencies that guides the design of our national curriculum and school programmes.
3. MOE will be engaging schools to help them build on their current school-based programmes to advance their 21CC development efforts. We will also support our educators by enhancing their teaching and learning approaches to help them be more intentional in enabling students to learn through inquiry, dialogue, experiential learning, as well as making connections within and across subjects, co-curricular activities and programmes outside the classroom.
Enhanced 21CC Framework
Image Credit – MOE Website
Launch of EdTech Masterplan 2030
4. With the launch of MOE’s “Transforming Education through Technology” Masterplan 2030 to harness the transformative potential of technology in teaching and learning, we aim to further address and seize the opportunities of the post-COVID landscape through:
- Enhancing the development of our students’ digital literacy needed to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven world;
- Leveraging new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), to better customise learning for every child; and
- Strengthening and scaling the culture of sharing and adapting technology-enabled lessons, resources, and good practices across all schools.
5. Initiatives under the EdTech Masterplan 2030 will be implemented in schools progressively from 2024.
Enhancing Digital Literacy and Technological skills
6. MOE will strengthen the development of students’ digital literacy, including digital information management skills that will enable students to better discern the accuracy, credibility, and relevance of information.
7. Technological skills, especially AI literacy, will also be an area of focus where students will learn the strengths and limitations of AI, and how to harness it effectively for learning and work.
8. MOE will provide schools with resources, including self-paced lessons hosted on the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS), to support the development of digital literacy and AI literacy in all students.
9. Schools will place greater emphasis on cyber wellness within the Character and Citizenship Education curriculum to help students form good digital habits. MOE and schools will continue to partner parents and support them in guiding their children to navigate the digital space.
Leveraging New Technologies
10. MOE will launch more AI features in the SLS, which will help to better customise students’ learning experiences and augment the guidance given by teachers.
- From December 2023, two Learning Feedback Assistants, namely the Language Feedback Assistant for English (LangFA-EL) and the Short Answer Feedback Assistant (ShortAnsFA), will be available in the SLS.
- The LangFA-EL provides basic feedback on students’ writing in areas such as spelling and grammar. This tool will allow teachers to better focus on guiding students in the more complex aspects of language construction, and to develop higher-level skills like creative expression, persuasiveness, and tone.
- The ShortAnsFA provides suggested grades and auto-generated content-related feedback for close-ended, short answer questions for any subject and level. This tool will allow teachers to provide students with feedback more quickly by automatically generating a first draft of grades and comments that teachers can edit and build on.
- In June 2023, MOE launched the Adaptive Learning System (ALS) for Mathematics for three topics covered at the Primary 5 level. The AI-enabled ALS uses machine learning to make customised learning recommendations for each student, based on how the student responds to the questions and activities. ALS will be expanded progressively to include more topics and levels.
Strengthening Culture of Collaboration
11. MOE will provide each school cluster with close consultancy support to help subject departments adopt e-Pedagogy, strengthen the culture of collaboration and share technology-enabled lesson resources, ideas, and teaching strategies. Professional Development opportunities will also be provided to equip teachers with e-Pedagogy and familiarise them with the use of technology for teaching and learning.
More Funding for Schools to Refresh Learning Environments
12. To support our schools in enriching the teaching and learning environments, MOE will introduce a $64 million ‘School White Area and Canteen Grant’ from 2024 for primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges/Millennia Institute. This grant will enable schools to convert and optimise the use of physical spaces to meet evolving educational needs. Schools can tap on the grant to transform learning spaces, such as by creating a makerspace or an environment hub with indoor farm, as well as incorporating activity zones for reading and tinkering in the canteen for multi-functional uses.
13. From next January, MOE will also provide additional funding for schools to progressively adopt new furniture and equipment, such as mobile furniture and LED display panels, to enhance the functionality of learning spaces to support a wider range of learning approaches and programmes. More information on this additional funding will be shared when ready.
Establishment of MOE Partnerships Engagement Office
14. To create more opportunities for students and educators to learn for life and discover their interests, MOE’s new Partnerships Engagement Office will serve as a central coordinating platform to connect schools with industry and community partners.
15. Sustained partnerships between schools, industry, and community are instrumental in broadening educators’ professional development and students’ exposure to skills and competencies needed in different industries and communities. Partners can contribute by conducting workshops and talks, collaborating on programmes and activities, and co-creating solutions with educators, parents, and students. Those interested are invited to connect with MOE at: https://go.gov.sg/partnerwithschools.