Mardiana Abu Bakar

Over the past decade, the Singapore government has introduced various initiatives such as Teach Less, Learn More and engaging minds to develop students’ 21st century competencies. One significant approach adopted in these initiatives is to encourage school-based curriculum innovations (SCI).This current initiative involves the participation of all schools in the system. A marked departure from previous practice, schools in Singapore now have more autonomy and space in SCIs through engaging in school-based curriculum development (SBCD) activities. In this study, we used the terms SCI and SBCD interchangeably. This study is novel in taking a comprehensive approach in developing this baseline research of curricular and pedagogical reforms of nine schools in Singapore.

At its best, critical literacy involves the analysis and critique of social structures, texts that embed power relations, and active engagement in the reconstruction of social structures. This chapter examines the state of critical literacy within and about education in the discursive spaces of Singapore society referencing available research. We will first provide the background to the discursive parameters in the nation state which are determined hegemonically by the ideology and policies of a ruling party which has been in power over five decades. The section on the background of the prioritization of economic development and the harnessing of education to produce productive citizens within this hegemonic ecology is followed by our review of available past and present literature on Singapore’s critical literacy practices, especially within education.

Based on these, we paint a rather grey image of critical literacy within the collective process that may support the development of its members, especially young learners, within Singapore classrooms. However, we note that the reality may be more ambivalent. We also note that Singapore teachers need to understand their crucial role as intellectual labour in effectively interrogating and communicating ideational content.

Firstly, this chapter presents a review on what the current body of work – both international and local – indicates about research on childhood, inclusion and well-being for children from low-income family background. Secondly, it introduces a research initiative on the Child Support Model (CSM) developed by NTUC First Campus for low-income families in early learning context in Singapore. This chapter asserts that inclusion and well-being need to be recognised from a holistic perspective as a part of early childhood practices. Contemporary early childhood pedagogy, according to Pramling and Pramling (Educational encounters: Nordic studies in early childhood didactics. Springer, Dordrecht, 2011), refers to the interaction and communication between a teacher, a child and the learning environment, based on the achievement of intersubjectivity or sustained shared thinking (Siraj-Blatchford, Asia-Pac J Res Early Child Educ 1: 3–23, 2007). Therefore, we propose understanding of inclusion as a part of early childhood practices to serve children with diverse backgrounds beyond developmental delays. Furthermore, the chapter aims to discuss the meaning of well-being and problematises the idea of ‘low-progress’, often associated with children from low-income homes, thus confirming deficit theories where failure is attributed to the individual. The chapter then introduces the possibility of inclusion to meet the needs of individual children in a diversity of families within the low-income categorisations and beyond.

The number of low-income families in Singapore is increasing. Young children from impoverished backgrounds are at risk of development gaps and challenges. Research has shown that the accumulation of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences can lead to weaker outcomes later in life. The NTUC First Campus (NFC) launched the Child Support Model (CSM) to serve children and families from vulnerable, low-income backgrounds with a range of financial, social and learning support. A 3-year evaluation study using mixed-methods design was conducted to understand the effects of the CSM and the active ingredients in CSM. A cohort of 58 children from families making a monthly income of SGD$3,500 or less participated in the quantitative component where children’s language and cognitive outcomes and classroom engagement were measured at three time points in 2019 (Kindergarten 1) and 2020 (Kindergarten 2). Participating children’s parents and teachers were interviewed in the qualitative component and reported their perspectives and experiences in CSM.