Moving Beyond Grades to Purposeful Learning: Lessons from Singaporean Research (Studies in Singapore Education: Research, Innovation & Practice, 5)

This book explores future directions in Singaporean education as it moves beyond its historically formative goals of survival, efficiency and performance, and its emphasis on grades and formal credentialing. It examines the future of education via the 4Life framework, a four-form model for purposeful learning centered around social-emotional regulation and the well-being of the individual learner: Life-long learning, the learning that occurs over a learner's lifespan; Life-deep learning, a deep understanding of learned content and adaptive expertise; Life-wide learning, learning in multiple contexts besides the school environment; and Life-wise learning, learning which focuses on the learner's values, morals, character and historical empathy. This book also illustrates how purposeful learning serves to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, dispositions and competencies they need to thrive as adaptive workers in the economy of the future. Foreword Contents Part I The Need for Change 1 Introduction: Discovering Purpose and Meaning in Learning 1.1 The Concept of Purposeful Learning or a Return to Purpose 1.2 Self, Identity, and Learning 1.3 Life-Wise Learning 1.4 Moving Beyond References 2 Gradual Shifts in Policy and Practice Towards Student-Centric Learning 2.1 A Brief History of Singapore’s Education System 2.2 Thinking Schools and Other Policies 2.3 Policy to Practice 2.4 Discussion and Conclusion References Part II Purpose and Wellbeing 3 Youth Purpose as the Basis for a Purpose-Driven Vision of Schooling in Singapore 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Youth Purpose, School and Life Satisfaction and Social Support: Why These Matter 3.2.1 Youth Purpose 3.2.2 Life Satisfaction 3.2.3 Social Support 3.3 Method 3.4 Findings 3.4.1 Influence of Teachers and Schooling 3.5 A Purpose-Driven Vision of Teaching and Learning in the New Normal 3.5.1 Teaching for Purpose with a Challenge to Care for the Ethical Ideal 3.5.2 Intellectual and Moral Attentiveness to Nurture the Ethical Ideal and Develop Global Awareness 3.5.3 The Importance of Self-Formation 3.6 Conclusion References 4 Future Orientation and Resilience of Academically At-Risk Students in Singapore 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Academic Resilience and Future Orientation 4.2.1 Future Orientation and Value-Expectancy Theory 4.2.2 Future Orientation and Possible Selves 4.3 The Present Study 4.4 Methodology 4.4.1 Participants 4.4.2 Interview Procedure 4.4.3 Data Analysis 4.5 Results 4.5.1 Clarity of Goals 4.5.2 Commitment to and Focus on Goals 4.5.3 Compatibility of Goals with Personal Strengths 4.5.4 Attitude Toward Failure or Challenges 4.6 Discussion 4.7 Implications for Practice 4.8 Conclusion References Part III Purposeful Learning Within the Disciplines 5 Being Conscious of “Interest” in Education 5.1 Why Worry About Defining Interest? 5.2 Associated Outcomes 5.3 What Are the Main Taxonomic Concerns? 5.3.1 The Interested Versus the Interesting 5.3.2 Interest: A Developmental Model 5.4 Decoupling Interest from the External Environment 5.4.1 Teacher or Learner Centred 5.5 Potentially Problematic Ways Interest is Measured 5.6 Perseverance and Regular Engagement 5.7 Interest as Persistent and Predetermined 5.8 Conclusion References 6 What Counts as Purposeful Learning? A Case of Students’ Participation in a School-Based Co-curricular Activity Club 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Purposeful Education, Social Learning, and Literacies 6.3 Purposeful Education Through Ethnographic Case Study 6.4 Research Context: School-Based Co-curricular Activities in Singapore 6.5 Purposeful Education Beyond the Classroom and Academic Curriculum 6.5.1 Jan: Acquiring Life Lessons Through CCA Participation 6.5.2 Dan: Gaining a Sense of Confidence from CCA Participation 6.6 Discussion and Conclusion References 7 Conceptualising, Designing and Enacting a Zone of Proximal Development for an After-School Coding Curriculum 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Aims and Objective 7.3 Literature Review 7.4 Methodology/Materials 7.5 Results 7.6 Discussion 7.7 Conclusion References 8 Purposeful Learning in Humanities Education: Designing Authentic Learning Experiences in History and Geography 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Purposeful Learning and Authentic Intellectual Work in the Humanities 8.2.1 Signature Programmes in Humanities Education: The Historian’s Lab and the Sustainability Learning Lab 8.3 Discussion and Conclusion References Part IV Moving Forward 9 Purposeful Learning and Teaching in Finland 9.1 Introduction 9.1.1 The Finnish Educational Context 9.1.2 Purposeful Teachers and Students in Finland 9.2 Data and Methods 9.2.1 Participants and Procedure 9.2.2 Instruments and Analysis 9.3 Results 9.3.1 Sources of Students’ Life Purposes 9.3.2 The Purpose Profiles of Finnish Students at Secondary School 9.4 Discussion References 10 Setting the GPS: Cultivating Purpose for the Global Context 10.1 Global Purpose Schema (GPS) 10.2 Possibilities for Research on Global Purpose 10.2.1 Purpose Categories Research 10.2.2 Qualitative Purpose Studies 10.2.3 Promising Models and Measures for GPS 10.3 Possibilities for Global Purpose Education 10.3.1 Insights from Purpose Interventions 10.3.2 Cases of Expanding Global Purpose Through Fieldwork 10.3.3 Insights from Promising Models and Measures for GPS 10.3.4 Teaching Purpose and Virtues in Tandem 10.4 Conclusion References 11 Success, Interest, Embodiment, and Society 11.1 Pursuing and Embodying Interests While Redefining Success 11.2 Society, Teachers, and Parents 11.3 Teachers, Parents, and the Ecological Partnerships 11.4 Where Do We Go from Here? 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