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…

Young people who attend schools today are likely to hold future jobs that don't yet exist. While generative artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually automate hundreds of millions of today's jobs, people who are able to effectively use AI tools to complement skills like leadership, imagination, and creativity will certainly have an advantage in…

This article unpacks the ideology of "cosmopolitan leadership," a leadership theory that has surfaced from a qualitative study that examines the comparative analysis of global citizenship education (GCE) in two primary schools: one international school in Singapore and an independent school in Australia. This article unpacks the idea of…

The term school-based curriculum development (SBCD) implies that teachers are to innovate and customize school curricula according to their local needs. This also means that SBCD requires co-constructive work among schools' key stakeholders in the school curriculum development process. While much work has made known on SBCD in Western contexts,…

The economy of Singapore has been continuously reforming since its independence. In the late 1980s, the economy of Singapore depended heavily on the vibrant manufacturing sector formed by foreign direct investment and multinational companies. This article critically reviews the policies and reform measures adopted by the Singapore government in…

Student mobility to and among higher education systems in Asia has reached unprecedented levels. In particular, inbound and outbound student mobility creates twin challenges--growing diversity in host countries and brain drain and circulation for sending countries--that have significant implications for growing intra-regional mobility,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the dialectical interplay between centralisation and decentralisation forces so as to understand how schools leverage on its autonomous pedagogical space, influence the diffusion of innovations in the educational landscape of Singapore and how a centralised-decentralised system supports (or…

Constructivist instruction has been implemented in the current instructional innovation in Singapore. Large scale survey study was conducted to examine the roles of teacher efficacy in implementing the innovative constructivist instruction. The results showed that the positive correlation between teacher efficacy and constructivist instruction was…

This article analyses the paradox inherent in the "top-performing" yet tightly controlled Singapore education system. As government controls have increased in complexity, existing policymaking conceptual heuristics in accounting for centre-periphery relationships appear inadequate. It argues that more direct government control is being…

This article illustrates how findings from a study of teachers' and students' uses of laptop computers in a secondary school in Singapore informed the development of an Innovation Configuration (IC) Map--a tool for identifying and describing alternative ways of implementing innovations based on teachers' unique feelings, preoccupations, thoughts…

We often hear that the most important role of education is to teach children to think creatively and effectively. Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) has recognised the importance of nurturing children from young and aimed to shift from "academic rote learning" to more experiential learning. Since 2003, mandated nationwide skill…

This paper considers the problematic enactment of instructional innovations. We examine how different interpretations of "success" might be explained within a frame of reference that confronts the complexities of and uncovers the contingencies relating to educational policy implementation in schools. Based on the detailed description and…

This essay is a critique of the scientific and policy rationales for transnational standardization. It analyzes two examples of policy export: early childhood standards in one of North America's oldest Indigenous communities and the ongoing development of international standards for university teaching. It examines calls for American education to…

The internationalization of higher education has become an important policy and research agenda. At the national level, different countries have responded differently with some countries becoming more open than others. At the local level, universities have also reacted differently with some becoming more liberal and innovative than others. Thus,…

This article discusses the relationship between policy, research and practice in the Singapore education landscape in response to Hargreaves and Shirley's arguments of Fourth Way principles of educational change. Examples of recent policy developments in Singapore are used to illustrate the interaction between judicial uses of research data and…