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Singapore : Context and principles of education

1.2.1 Aims, objectives, values, principles

1.2.2 Special programmes

Learning Support Programme (LSP)
Encouraging Achievement and Better Learning (ENABLE) programme
Special education review
New framework for vocational education in special education schools

1.2 Purposes of education

1.2.1 Aims, objectives, values, principles

In accordance with the Education Act, special education (SPED) schools are registered as private schools and are operated by voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). These voluntary welfare organisations have their own aims, objectives and philosophies for special education.⁶

General goals of SPED schools include providing customised educational programmes for those with greater need for support. Programmes aim to develop children to their full potential, to help them to grow up with confidence and become independent, self-supporting and contributing members of society.³

Special education is also available at two commercially-run special education centres.³

Gifted Education Programme (GEP)
There is also a Gifted Education Programme (GEP), first implemented in 1984 by the Ministry of Education, in line with its policy to allow each child to learn at his or her own pace. Students are first identified as being gifted and talented following standardised national tests, which all children have the chance to take during the third year of primary education (around age 9). GEP students attend self-contained classes in mainstream schools. The programme lasts for the final three years of primary education and the first four years of secondary education, ¹⁰ and aims to

'equip students with the intellectual tools and attitudes necessary to cope with the challenges of a fast changing society. It also seeks to develop their abilities and values so that they will be in the forefront of change and progress, working for the betterment of society'.³

The main goals of the GEP include to:

• Develop higher level thinking processes commensurate with a child's intellectual ability
• Nurture creative productivity
• Develop skills, processes and attitudes for self-directed lifelong learning
• Enhance a child's self-concept and aspirations for self-fulfilment
• Encourage the development of a social conscience and a sense of commitment to contribute to society
• Develop leadership qualities.³

The Gifted Education Programme website can be found at http://www.moe.gov.sg/gifted/.

1.2.2 Special programmes

Learning Support Programme (LSP)
The Learning Support Programme (LSP) is an early intervention language and literacy programme introduced in primary schools to provide additional support to children in Primary 1 and Primary 2 (ages 6 to 8 years).  It is aimed at children who lack the necessary language and literacy skills to cope with the English curriculum, but who make progress when provided with the necessary help.  The programme involves:

• Development of basic oracy, reading and writing skills
• Teaching in small groups (eight to 10 children), usually for one period each day
• Lessons conducted during usual curriculum time
• A specially trained teacher
• Lessons that are tailored to the needs of individual children
• A wide range of teaching methods
• A wide range of teaching resources
• Ensuring that children experience success in learning
• Discharge from the programme when children make good progress in reading and fare sufficiently well in semestral assessments.

Encouraging Achievement and Better Learning (ENABLE) programme
ENABLE is a specialist educational programme aimed at helping children with average to above-average abilities to maximise their learning potential.  The programme, which caters specifically for children in Primary 2 and Primary 3 (aged 7 to 9 years) involves:

• Children who are capable of better performance in school
• Focussed teaching of English and/or mathematics
• Teaching in small groups (12-14 children) outside normal curriculum time
• A diagnostic remediation approach which enables teachers to identify specific learning needs in individual children
• A range of remedial resources.12 weeks of hourly sessions.

Greater support for special education
The Taskforce on Special Education completed a review of the quality of special education provided in both mainstream and special education (SPED) schools in spring 2007.  It made the following recommendations which were due to implemented from April 2007: 

• improving school leadership and developing targets for student learning outcomes in SPED schools
• offering a broader range of educational opportunities for children with special educational needs in both mainstream and special schools
• improving training and professional support for SPED school teachers
• extending funding for students in SPED schools until the age of 21, rather than 18 as at present.³⁴  

The Ministry of Education has subsequently announced further measures to provide greater support to students with special educational needs.  To be implemented during, they include:

• increased financial support for SPED students taking mainstream secondary curriculum and vocational education programmes
• a structured reading programme for all SPED schools, which entails a high level of interaction between teacher and pupil
• greater opportunities for children from SPED schools to interact with their peers in mainstream schools
• by 2012, training for an additional 10 per cent of mainstream secondary teachers in supporting students with mild special needs.³⁵

New framework for vocational education in special education schools
In November 2010, the Senior Minister of State for Education and National Development announced a new framework for vocational education for all special education (SPED) schools that offer vocational education. The framework will include a series of guides to help SPED schools implement structured programmes to prepare students for successful transition to employment. It will include:

• a vocational assessment toolkit to gather students' skills, knowledge, interests and preferences which will then be matched to suitable vocational areas
• a curriculum to equip students with industry-specific skills and social and emotional competencies
• multiple work experience placements for students in authentic work settings.

In addition, from 2011, four SPED schools will pilot a scheme providing students with structured vocational preparation from the age of 13, so that they have long enough to develop the necessary skills for work.³⁶

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