On the topic of subject-based banding, Andrew Chia responds to Lionel Oh’s Op-Ed by laying out potential practical difficulties in overhauling the existing streaming system, showing how these obstacles could undermine the effectiveness of such a change.
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Singapore plans to replace streaming in secondary schools with subject-based banding by 2024. Lionel Oh explores how this banding could be implemented in a flexible yet substantive way that best captures the spirit of the policy intent, so that it does not simply become yet another form of educational stratification.
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‘Migrant workers’ is the typical term used to describe migrants who work in Singapore. But they are far more than just workers defined by their labour. Theophilus Kwek argues that we should move beyond the simple trope of ‘migrant workers’ in our discourse on migrant issues, as a first step to seeing them as people whose lives are just as full and fraught as our own, and treating them accordingly.
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Golden Mile Complex is a Brutalist building facing potential demolition after its owners agreed to a collective sale attempt – much to the dismay of many in Singapore. Most news coverage, however, focuses on its architectural importance to Singapore’s heritage. But it plays an important social role, too, for Thai migrants. In this long-form research paper, Al Lim explores Golden Mile, and investigates the effect of its potential destruction on the Thai migrant community in Singapore.
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Tay Hong Yi examines the psychology behind the “elite” and “neighbourhood” school labels, exploring the link between school names and the prestige associated with “elite” schools. He argues that school names play a role in entrenching educational stratification and have become an indicator of social hierarchy – and that reframing the discussion this way can facilitate more targeted education policy design.
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Extreme weather events made worse by climate change are wreaking havoc on cities worldwide. Al Lim evaluates Singapore’s climate resilience through the lens of the recent MRT flooding incidents, and explores how Singapore can strengthen social resilience as a community.
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BY SINGAPORE POLICY JOURNAL Education policy in Singapore has attracted much attention of late. In the recent parliamentary speeches, Ms
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