In anticipation of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, this report explores the work of building and (re)building education systems to support holistic student development. It focuses specifically on the journeys of seven education systems--situated in high-, middle-, and low-middle-income countries with democratic…

This text discusses the professional development of academic developers. It is based on the authors' reflections and observations in the context of a semi-formal programme, "Strategic Academic Development," held for academic developers in different regions of the world. Most recently the programme participants were academic developers in…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great disruption in schooling around the world. This has triggered me to reflect on educational change in Singapore and some related issues the pandemic has raised. Using "Timely Change, Timeless Constants" as an organizing framework, this paper examines the educational changes that are happening in…

This article considers the future of STEM education in Singapore, with implications for comparable schooling systems. The Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) interventions since 1997 brought changes to science education ostensibly for economic competitiveness, the results of which can only become visible in international comparisons in this…

Special education in Singapore has evolved considerably during the past two decades with greater enrollments of students with special educational needs in regular mainstream schools. This progressive transformation in Singapore's education towards the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classes has been accompanied by…

This article evaluates the sustainability of transnational higher education (TNE). It examines recent TNE activity in two major global hubs, identifies patterns and provides analysis regarding the next phase of TNE development, as it relates to sustainability. The focus on TNE has shifted from growth to impact and legacy. Using this lens as a…

Purpose: Singapore's education system is known for its robust curriculum and excellent results. It is also a system of keen competitiveness and high pressure. This article addresses how such an education system responds to the issue of student well-being. Design/Approach/Methods: This article analyses the recent initiatives and shift in education…

Contexts, knowledge, and theory matter for faculty development (also known as staff, academic, or educational development) because of the complexity of higher education and therefore of faculty professional development. This paper attempts to unpack this complexity by examining higher education contexts more closely, in particular: academic…

The study reported in this paper is on the professional development (PD) of primary school mathematics teachers. Teachers from two primary schools participated in the PD for two years. High-stakes mathematics examination tasks were used to kick start awareness and thinking about teaching for big ideas. Teachers did the tasks and discussed their…

The practice of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) has been known to be troublesome to teachers. (Webb & Tierney, 2020). The authors argue that a mentoring approach based on threshold concepts in SoTL has the potential to lead to more confident conceptual border crossing by new entrants to the SoTL of English communication. A…

Digital literacy is viewed by many governments as an educational priority area, resulting in policies and curricula aimed at developing students' digital literacy skills. This can present many challenges, including lacking teacher professional development, uneven digital infrastructure across school districts or unequal access to digital media…

To confront the major challenges of the 21st century, doctoral students need to be able to think and work across disciplinary boundaries. I have been inspired by the "Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory" (2017) textbook, by Allen Repko and Rick Szostak, to reform an interdisciplinary doctoral curriculum in Singapore. For…

Recent vocational education and training (VET) reforms in many countries have focused on reducing the number of VET qualifications available and restructuring qualifications so that they better meet the needs of working life. This literature review provides examples of how VET qualifications have been rationalised in various countries and briefly…

Singapore is recognized for its success in supporting students' academic development. This success is mainly attributed to the close tripartite relationship between the Ministry of Education (MOE), the sole National Institute of Education (NIE), and Singapore schools, which enables systemic changes to spread throughout the school system. Less…

This paper compares the evolution of two initiatives--one in Singapore and one in New York City--designed expressly to support the development and spread of new and innovative school models. These two initiatives--Future Schools in Singapore and the iZone in New York City--reflected the hope that new school models and associated innovations could…