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Education Studies 2
Learners' Social Contexts

Image by Joana Abreu

In my earlier post, I addressed two aspects of the Education Studies Course: A. Understanding and B. Effectively Engaging Learners.

 

In this post, I document my exploration of C. Learners' Social Contexts through the following modules:
 

  1. QED52E Singapore Kaleidoscope
     

  2. QED52P Group Endeavours in Service Learning
     

  3. QED52Q Effective Parent Engagement
     

  4. QED52U Character and Citizenship Education in the Singapore Context 
     

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SgK Heritage Trail.png

SgK Heritage Trail Presentation

1. QED52E Singapore Kaleidoscope (SgK)
 

As a 21C Teaching Professional, I developed the following attributes through three key learning experiences (found below):  
 

  1. V3: Service to the Profession and Community
     

    • Social responsibility and engagement

    • Stewardship
       

  2. Knowledge (of)
     

    • Community

    • Educational foundation and policies

    • Global awareness

    • Environment awareness
       

I have attached the relevant learning artefacts to this post. To briefly summarise my learning: 

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A. My first key learning experience was to review and reflect on three videos:
 

  1. Conservation Efforts in Singapore by Professor Lee Sing Kong
     

  2. Representing Singapore Interests on the Global Stage by Professor Tommy Koh 
     

  3. Significance of National Gallery Singapore (NGS) by Ms Kng Mian Tze
     

Looking at the videos as a whole, I saw a tension between the descriptive (working with the world as is) and the normative (working to create the world we want).

 

For instance, both Professors Lee and Koh spoke of the need to negotiate and balance multiple concerns in both our environmental and foreign policy. In contrast, Ms Kng's video on the significance of the NGS spoke to my desire to nurture cosmopolitan and open character dispositions in students, where expert cultural knowledge is made accessible and co-created with gallery visitors.

 

I see this tension as productive and central to the mission of education: to prepare our students for the world and to build a better one.
 

B. My second key learning experience was to prepare a heritage trail.
 

My heritage trail spanned Mount Faber - Telok Blangah Hill Park - Gillman Barracks - Hort Park. I created a short set of captions to accompany a set of photographs taken by a fellow NIE student teacher and friend. 

 

I reflected on the openness of our green spaces and how there is a premium on space in Singapore that creates the potential for class division. The trail also provided food for thought about the relationship between man and space and how people come to define a sense of place.

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C. My final learning experience was to create a found / blackout poem based on then-Education Minister Mr Lawrence Wong's speech at the IPS Singapore Perspectives Conference 2021.

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I chose this speech as it was a wide-ranging, forward-thinking speech that offers a macro view of Singapore’s immediate priorities, particularly in education. Yet, the language used in the speech also offered poetic possibilities, subtly drawing my attention to the affective nature of even the most formal of language. Found and blackout poetry offered me the chance to linger on the creative possibilities in the language we use to talk about Singapore, and discuss our concerns, fears, hopes and dreams about Singapore.

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My poem had four sections: 

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  • "Reset" 

  • "A Fairer and More Equal Society" 

  • "A Greener Singapore"

  • "A Stronger Spirit of Solidarity" 
     

On the whole, SgK strengthened my understanding of Singapore's challenges, concerns and also strengths moving forward into the future. These insights will be useful as thematic guides when I select literature for use in my classrooms to complement other learning opportunities such as CCE. 

GESL 1.png

2. QED52P Group Endeavours in Service Learning (GESL)

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Across both semesters, I co-led my Group Endeavours in Service Learning (GESL) team in undertaking a project titled Stuck at home: Migrant Stories in Covid-19 Times.

 

Guided by Mdm Lee Chai Yen, and with the support of the Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC), we interviewed six migrant workers on their experiences of Covid-19. We then created six articles with accompanying pictures and videos that were hosted on a Wix site, as well as a social media campaign on Instagram. 

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My key takeaways were: 

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  1. Social awareness: Our GESL project gave us the opportunity to highlight an overlooked part of Singapore's social fabric, by providing migrant workers with an opportunity to tell their stories and for us to emphasise their personal contributions to nation-building. 
     

  2. Resilience: Our initial plan to conduct our interviews in person was scuppered by the Covid-19 restrictions. We had to find ways to conduct the interviews remotely while producing a cohesive product. Each team member rose to the challenge and put in their best effort to generate as much content as possible for us to tell the migrant workers' rich stories. 
     

  3. Leadership opportunities: GESL presented me with the invaluable opportunity to lead a team of my colleagues. I was able to
     

  • Manage the team by allocating manpower to different teams

  • Give the group clear parameters, deadlines and objectives to work within

  • Organise meetings with clear agendas and structures for discussion

  • Set up a Discord channel to enable different teams to view each others’ discussions and communicate with one another

  • Execute as many of the tasks as I could together with my team members, including writing and website design
     

I would be happy to share my personal reflections upon request. Our group's final poster can be found here, and our website can be viewed here. 

3. QED52Q Effective Parent Engagement (EPE)

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With the guidance of Dr Mercy K Jesuvadian in semester two, I strengthened my understanding of how to create partnerships with parents and guardians with a range of family structures and parenting styles. The course focused on effective and practical strategies for communicating with parents / guardians. 

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For example, my individual assignment focused on boosting parental self efficacy by facilitating their access to cultural resources, since many parents are anxious about facilitating their child's success in Literature. By providing conductive home learning environments for their children that may include free theatre performances and book recommendations, parents can then promote a love of language that complements the work done in the Literature classroom. 

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Secondly, it is important to provide specific teacher invitations for parental involvement in order to create fruitful partnership with parents. These include invitations for parents to share their assessment of their child's strengths and weaknesses at the start of the academic year, as well as the frequency of their engagement in specific cultural activities such as reading and theatre-going. 

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My overall communication strategy is to adopt a strength-based approach to communication. This involves the intentional use of framing to locate parents' and students' strengths, opportunities, hopes and solutions whenever problems or difficulties arise in a students' educational journey. As teachers, we need to acknowledge parents as a valuable resource in helping students meet their educational goals and aspirations. 

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Please find below my assignment for EPE:

4. QED52U Character and Citizenship Education in the Singapore Context (CCE)

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My tutors were A/P Fang Yanping and Mrs Goh-Ng Hwee Chien from MOE SDCD.

 

Of the 9 learning outcomes for QED52U, a two-semester long course, my key takeaways centred on the following ones: 

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  1. Understand the social context of education in Singapore that shapes CCE 
     

  2. Understand the meaning of core CCE values, character and citizenship dispositions, and social and emotional skills
     

  3. Apply basic facilitation skills that enable them to support students' learning in CCE
     

I am equipped with a basic understanding of the CCE syllabus and intent that will enable me to better understand, enact and design intentional CCE learning experiences, whether through CCE lessons or key Student Development Experiences such as CCAs. 

 

My primary pedagogical approaches include:
 

  1. Values clarification 
     

    • Facilitation strategies include Circle of Viewpoints, Deciding Line, Debate and Role-Play
       

  2. Consideration (perspective taking and cognitive empathy) 
     

    • Facilitation strategies include True for Who, Hot Seating and Role-Play
       

My final essay (attached below) focused on the key strategy of using real-world, authentic conflicts. They are a valuable source of teachable moments when teachers and students address the challenging ambiguity that arises on two levels: first, from putting one's ideal values into action, and the second is in Singapore's own ongoing negotiation of social conflicts and tensions.​

Please find below my final assignment for CCE:

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