Reflection 2.0

In my post last week about teacher training here in the U.S. and abroad, I quoted a TIME magazine article about practices in Singapore. One of my readers, John Larkin, made these excellent comments on the post:

“Hi Kate

I once taught part time at Singapore’s National Institute of Education after work at Nanyang Technological University. I also had the good fortune to consult on a number of IT projects with the Singapore Ministry of Education.

Singaporean teachers are easily among the hardest working teachers in the world. The pressure upon Singaporean teachers for their students to succeed is enormous. The pressure comes from the parents and the system. The teachers work incredibly hard, even conducting additional classes during the school holidays.

Singapore is a city-state. It does not possess natural resources and land like countries such as the USA and Australia. Singapore’s resource is its children. The pressure placed upon students is significant as well.

Cheers, John”

I replied

John -

Thank you so much for offering a different perspective on the teaching situation in Singapore. The article covered it in a very utopic view and I appreciate the information you provided. With the benefits come much more pressure, which must be considered. Many teachers in the US might not appreciate this……….

and John replied!

“Hi Kate,

Thank you for the reply. Singaporean teachers do work very hard. The trainees deserve the income and the teachers deserve their pay.

I conducted workshops in neighbourhood schools and the most influential schools. Teachers at both ends of the spectrum worked just as hard as the other.

I also had the good chance to meet teachers from across Asia while I was in Singapore. If you ever have the chance to work in an International School in a city such as Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or elsewhere then take the opportunity. While you are there make an effort to get to know the local teachers.

My wife and I buried ourselves in the Singaporean culture while we were there. I became involved with local environmentalists, bike-riders and teachers. I also conducted free IT workshops for parents and children on weekends from time to time with other Singaporean friends. That enriched the entire experience. Our photographs can be found here:

http://www.larkin.net.au/040_gallery.html

Working with Singaporean teachers was a real eye opener. Class sizes are much larger than here in Australia and students sit for a significant series of exams from the very earliest years through to matriculation year.

Interestingly enough Singaporean students picked up blogging much more quicker than their counterparts in other parts of the world. Singaporeans are tech savvy. Three of my favourite blogs are by Singaporeans:

Siva ~ lecturer, environmentalist, blogging for many, many years
http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/%7Esivasothi/blog/index.php

Kevin ~ social networking researcher and lifestreamer
http://theory.isthereason.com/

Marcus ~ biologist and nature photographer par excellence
http://budak.blogs.com/the_annotated_budak/

Cheers,
John

PS. I am off to Singapore to work with Singaporean teachers next week! ^_^”

John is currently in Singapore and has been blogging about his trip - he just posted some great photographs and information on Singapore’s Chinatown today. You can check out his blog here: TeachTech - Technology Tips for Teachers.

Exchanges like these are what make blogging such a valuable experience!