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SINGAPORE – The ability to understand and act on cross-cultural and global issues saw 15-year-olds from Singapore take first place in an international test.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducted the test in 2018, announced the findings on Thursday (October 22).
In the Global Competence test, conducted as part of the International Student Assessment Program (Pisa), Singaporean students scored an average of 576 points, followed by their Canadian peers who on average scored 554, Hong Kong (542), Scotland (534) and Chinese Taipei (527).
About 46 percent of Singaporean students who took the test achieved the highest global proficiency proficiency levels: four and five.
This is the highest proportion compared to the average 14 percent in the 27 education systems that participated in the evaluation.
In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that to achieve proficiency levels four and five, Singaporean students had to demonstrate a strong ability to identify and analyze different perspectives, evaluate information to differentiate between biased sources and impartial, evaluate situations and make connections between multiple activities within a problem.
Pisa is carried out by the OECD every three years to assess students on their reading, math and science skills, but in recent years, the OECD has added more assessments on other competencies and skills.
In 2015, students were tested on collaborative problem solving skills. Students from 52 economies, including Singapore, participated in the assessment. For 2018, the OECD decided to assess students on their global competence.
He said that learning to participate in interconnected, complex and diverse societies is no longer a luxury, but a pressing necessity. The OECD added that schools are “critical” for teaching these skills.
The results of the math, science and reading tests were released in December last year by the OECD, with Singapore in second place after China.
Skills development
In its statement, the MOE said that in 2010, it had developed the “21st Century Competency Framework (21CC)” where it identified the knowledge, skills and values that are important for all students to thrive in the new economy and interconnected world. .
Since then, schools have provided curricular and co-curricular learning experiences to develop competencies in these areas.
In the global competence study, Singaporean students on average reported being exposed to eight of the 10 learning activities surveyed by Pisa, while the OECD average was five.
The Ministry of Education said Singapore’s language policies and programs also contributed to fostering knowledge, skills and attitudes of global competence.
For example, bilingual policy and programs allow students to learn the language of another community at a conversational level.
This has resulted in more than nine out of 10 Singaporean students having the ability to speak at least two languages, the Education Ministry said.
The OECD noted from the results of the Pisa 2018 test that speaking multiple languages facilitates dialogue with people of other cultures and promotes social cohesion.
In fact, the study found that students who can speak two or more languages generally have higher global competence knowledge and skills and more positive attitudes.
The deputy director general for education (curriculum) at the Ministry of Education, Sng Chern Wei, said schools and the ministry were encouraged by the results of the global proficiency test.
“Recent events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, with its worldwide ramifications, have underscored the continued relevance of global competition,” he said.
Mr. Sng added that the MOE will continue to focus on these areas outside of academics.
The Ministry of Education noted that students in the last quarter of socioeconomic status (SES) also performed well on the assessment, with around 26 percent in the two highest proficiency levels compared to the OECD average of 6 per cent. hundred.
He also noted that while Singaporean students were more knowledgeable about topics such as climate change and global warming, they were less confident in explaining issues related to the global economy. For example, only about half of them were able to make a connection between textile prices and working conditions in producing countries.
The ministry said the schools will continue to provide all Singaporean students with varied curricular and co-curricular learning experiences, to help them further develop their global competence knowledge and skills.
These include discussions on contemporary issues, learning trips to local cultural and heritage sites, research projects on diverse cultures, and immersion programs with schools in the region.
The Pisa assessment is used to build a global leaderboard of student skills around the world.
Math, science, and reading have been the key measures in the past. But in recent years, the OECD had also included assessments to measure the skills that are increasingly crucial to thriving in the new economy.
In 2021, Pisa is considering evaluating creative thinking.
OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher told The Straits Times that Singapore’s performance on the global proficiency test is not surprising.
He said: “Whether it’s the open and outward-oriented curriculum, the active promotion of student exchanges, or the celebration of multi-cultural holidays, few countries do more to help students see the world through different glasses, navigate different ways of thinking, and appreciate different cultures and traditions.
“And the Pisa results show that these activities shape students’ attitudes toward others and the world, which, in turn, are reliable predictors of global competition.”
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