Gradual shifts in policy and practice towards student-centric learning

This chapter offers a descriptive overview of the policy shifts since the advent of the Thinking Schools Learning Nation policy that spurred the start of the ability-based, aspiration-driven era in 1997 and up to the very recent policies of the student-centric, values-driven era that followed since 2012. It then analyses these shifts by studying the policy-to-practice translations of a handful of the new introductions of 21st Century Competencies-related programs and structures in schools. Nevertheless, academics remain the dominant staple of focus for students, teachers, and school leaders. More broadly, the Ministry of Education has embraced a gradual pace of change as they manage the expectations and aspirations of a new generation of Singaporean students and their parents exposed to the technologically rich milieus of the social media era.