Curriculum redesign: the future

These are my personal views on future approaches to the design of the curriculum for the 21st century and beyond.

The current building blocks are the most efficient way to educate the masses. We pack 30 to 40 students of about the same age into a class, have a standard timetable, carved in stone, at the beginning of the year, and follow the regime throughout the rest of the year. The periods of teaching and learning are divided into 30 minutes to 60 minutes for each subject.

It is proposed that this current system is not able to cater to the demands of a global knowledge-based economy. The current system is the most practical way but it is frustrating for learners who need customised assistance, and who have different styles of learning.

1. Excitement in the classroom

‘Chalk and talk: the teacher talks most of the time in class and students are getting bored listening to an authoritative figure.’

The Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) philosophy is the Singapore Government’s emphasis on improving the quality of interaction between teachers and students so that our learners can be more engaged in learning.

We need to redesign the curriculum by having a greater variety of learning experiences for the students, taking into account their multiple intelligences, like visual, audio, musical, kinesthetic, verbal and other forms of intelligences. Teachers need to cater for the different learning styles of different learners. Teachers also need to understand how the brain works and how the brain learns most effectively.

To get round ‘telling’ all the time, one way is to have students read up the simple factual aspects on the topics of the subjects. Students can be reading in class, learning on their own, while the teacher walks around to give a little guidance to students who need help. The more mature students can read up in their own time outside the curriculum and come to class for a quiz or a test. Alternatively, there could be little ‘interview sessions’ in class, where a student answers questions from another student on these factual data.

The teacher talks only when students may not be able to understand the complex concepts on their own. We can still have ‘chalk and talk’ in the system, but not all the time.

Teachers also need to have more exciting ways to help students learn better. Why not obtain feedback from students on what they like to learn, how they want to learn and what excites them so that they love to come to school?

The authoritative figure of a teacher in the classroom should also change. When there is tension in the class, students cannot think effectively. Only in a relaxed environment would the brain be able to think better. Emotions are linked to brain activity.

2. Inter-disciplinary project work

The world we live in is complex. However, students are studying academic subjects in isolation from all other subjects. The future educational landscape should have more project work involving several relevant subjects that are related to the issue under study. Students would then find learning more relevant and interesting. They could also see the inter-relatedness of academic subjects in a problem-based scenario. I think, one day, educational institutions would collaborate with industry to encourage learners to think out of the box, looking at real life situations in society. 

3. Peer learning from learners of diverse backgrounds

Currently, schools comprise classes of students of the same age group. It is proposed that a learning circle in the future be made up of an interesting mix of learners of different age groups, and from all walks of life. This provides a diversity of learning experiences, learners learning from the young and the old. It may sound bizarre but the benefits would be obvious when learners know that they could learn from someone in the circle every time they meet. The element of surprise would add to the creativity of the learning experiences. Novel ideas would surface when we put two contrasting entities together that, conventionally, are totally unrelated to each other.

4. e-learning and connectivity in the future 

Information Communications Technology (ICT) is the future. Schools should leverage on the tools of ICT to enhance teaching and learning. There are some things that teachers cannot do. e-learning allows learners to learn at their own pace, anytime and anywhere. Exciting animations, videos, interactive applets and other software motivates learning. I believe that, in the future, educational institutions and industry would form partnerships to bring about a marriage of pedagogy and ICT technical knowledge. The offspring would be independent and thinking learners.  

5. What are some problems that could be obstacles to educational progress? 

The current ‘assessment framework’ slows down the evolution of the educational landscape. No matter how persuasive the reasons for educational reform, it is submitted that there would not be much progress if the examination system were not changed.

In primary schools, students are prepared for a Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) certificate in six years. In a secondary school, the goal of a student’s life of four to five years is that ‘sacred’ piece of GCE ‘O’ level certificate, listing a string of distinctions. The grades are determined by a few hours of examination performance. At junior colleges and tertiary educational institutions, the examination system is similar.

Principals, heads of departments, teachers and parents are very concerned about their children’s examination grades. Consequently, drill and practice appears to be the most commonsensical approach to academic success. The more a student practises past year examination papers, the more he or she is assured of a chance for success.

Where is the motivation to use revolutionary ways of learning?

Another obstacle would be the traditional mindset of many experienced teachers. These teachers have been educated in the conventional examination system, and have been teaching the same way they were taught when they were students themselves. These teachers may not see the significance of new ways of learning.

One solution to this problem would be to inject new blood, and even more new blood, into the system. It is proposed that this would be able to change the old system. However, the system has to be evolving at the same time to inspire the experienced and the new educators to experiment with the new ways of teaching and learning.

In conclusion, the conventional curriculum has to be reviewed and changed in the context of a demanding global village, where thinking individuals are nurtured.            

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr Benjamin Seethor is a teacher at Damai Secondary School in Singapore. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws. Mr Seethor worked in the private sector for a few years in the marine insurance industry, handling cargo and hull claims.  He then became a marine underwriter in the underwriting business of a Swiss company.  After a while, he longed for more meaningful job and thought of nurturing young minds in the education service. He then went through a year of teacher training at Singapore’s National Institute of Education and is now a fully qualified teacher. Mr Seethor has taught for six-and-a-half years and has always enjoyed engaging students in their learning.

 

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