Tan, Jason

Over the last two decades, the range of curricular offerings in Singapore has diversified almost beyond the ability of teacher preparation systems to cope. Teacher training has evolved from informal to formal, and from multiple 'providers' to a single institution responsible for pre-service teacher education. Teacher Preparation in Singapore is a non-celebratory and non-institution-based account of teacher preparation written with a critical academic lens. Contributing to the historiography of Singapore, as well as to the general history of teacher education, this book discusses the history of teacher preparation in Singapore from the colonial era, when Singapore was the centre of British Malaya, to the present day. It includes the pre-professional era of an informal approach to teacher education before the establishment of formal teacher training, the role of the colonial state and post-colonial state in the provision of teacher education, and issues such as policy borrowing, diffusion of educational philosophies, and developments paralleling those in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. This is a relevant and important book for researchers of education history, comparative and international education, and teacher education in Singapore.

Purpose This paper aims to trace the evolution of two initiatives – the direct subsidy scheme and independent schools initiative – their genesis, rationale, current form and take‐up rate. It also analyses them as education reforms in terms of policymaking dynamics. The very notion of the term “privatization” will be examined. Design/methodology/approach The article examines the two school privatization schemes in Hong Kong and Singapore, by putting into perspective a discussion of their policy implications, thereby reflecting on their similarities and differences in their agenda, implementation and implications. Findings The findings indicate that the DSS and independent school schemes in both Hong Kong and Singapore are in line with the global trends of privatization. It is suggested that the governments of the two places have adopted different approaches in the implementations of their schemes. Originality/value The paper shows how the direct subsidy scheme and independent schools initiative represent attempts over the past two decades by the governments of Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively to promote school privatization.

As Hong Kong approached its hand-over to Chinese sovereignty, it has been instructive to compare its experience with that in other former British colonies. This article focuses on how education policies in areas such as the medium of instruction nd curriculum changed as Singapore moved towards self-government and independence in the 1950s and 1960s. It also ompares the changes that took place in Singapore with those currently occurring in Hong Kong. Observations will be made about the likelihood of the 'one country, two systems' concept working in Hong Kong after 1997.

Singapore's university system has expanded over the past three decades and has been transformed from an elite system into a mass system, in which over 40% of the age cohort is enrolled in one of the six publicly funded autonomous universities. This chapter illustrates a strong government role in terms of provision, financing, and regulation. In the year 2000, the Ministry of Education began granting greater operating autonomy to publicly funded universities while retaining centralized control over the overall policy direction for the university sector. A decade later, the Ministry introduced new regulations governing the provision of private higher education institutions in response to growing public concerns over the quality of these providers. While Singapore has broadened access to public universities, its government has had to tread a delicate balance between its desire to recruit more international students and faculty and public concern over the perceived competition that this policy poses to locally born students and faculty. Over the past decade, the government has attempted to recast university education as being one step in a process of lifelong learning and to popularize the idea of accessing a university education after individuals have entered the workforce.