Huan, Vivien Swee Leng

Character, citizenship, and values are areas of education that have received increasing attention in the international community. This is also the case for Singapore (Lee, 2012) with an education system guided by the student-centric, values-driven philosophy (Ministry of Education [MOE], 2011, 2012). In his speech at the 2011 MOE Work Plan Seminar, Singapore’s Minister for Education at that time, Mr. Heng Swee Keat, highlighted, “We need to develop our children holistically, in all aspects – moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic or what is termed in Chinese as 德智体群美 (de zhi ti qun mei)” (MOE, 2011, para. 16) and that, “… between academic achievement and values, it must not be “either/or”. We should strive to achieve both” (MOE, 2011, para. 53).
An important out-of-classroom experience recognised to play an important role in holistic development, character building, and 21st century skills and competencies is co-curricular activities (CCAs; Chong-Mok, 2010; MOE, 2010, 2011; Schwarz & Stolow, 2006). In Singapore, CCAs are an integral part of school curriculum and proposed to offer an authentic platform for (a) development of moral values, (b) acquisition and practice of soft skills, (c) social integration of children from differing backgrounds and ethnicities, (d) provision of safe learning environment, (e) opportunities for character and leadership development, and (f) lifelong pursuit of interests and greater outward expression (Chong-Mok, 2010; MOE, 2011). While participation in CCAs during primary education is not compulsory, CCAs are emphasized in secondary schools and categorized into Core (or Main) and Merit (or Secondary/Optional) CCAs. Core CCAs are mandatory for all students, whereas Merit CCAs are offered as an option for students with an interest in a particular CCA area. In both primary and secondary levels, the range of CCAs offered is categorized into four major groups: Physical Sports, Uniformed Groups, Visual and Performing Arts, and Clubs and Societies. With the increased investment in CCAs in Singapore schools (MOE, 2011, 2012), there is a priority to examine the potential impacts of CCAs on the holistic development of Singaporean students. This study was a timely response to this call.

This study was undertaken to examine the effects that different parenting techniques have on the social adjustment of adolescents between the ages 14 and 17. The investigation focused on the perceptions of these adolescents on their parents' parenting techniques which basically comprise of the authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful parenting styles. In addition, the study also looked at the home background, the educational levels as well as the occupational types of the parents, and the types of the parents, and the types of offences committed by the adolescents.

The sample consists of two groups of adolescents, namely, the non-delinquent group and the delinquent group. The non-delinquent group comprises of 224 fourteen year-old boys and girls who came from the express steam of two secondary schools. There were 156 girls and 68 boys in this group of subjects. For the delinquent group, there were a total of 135 subjects who were from the age range of 14 to 17 years. There were 54 girls and 81 boys in this group of adolescents. A General Information Questionnaire which is used to obtain the subject's bio-data, and an adapted version of the Buri's Parental Authority Questionnaire were used to gather data for this study. Both questionnaires were administered to the two different groups by the researcher herself.

Findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference found between the type of parenting techniques employed by parents of non-delinquent adolescents and those employed by the parents of the delinquents. The data collected showed that the non-delinquents have obtained significant higher scores than the delinquents in the authoritative parenting sub-scale whereas the latter has obtained significant higher scores in the permissive, authoritarian and neglectful parenting sub-scales. This means that the non-delinquents' parents tended to employ parenting skills which fitted the authoritative style, whereas the parents of the delinquent group employed parenting techniques that were namely, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful in style.

The data collected from the bio-data section showed that the two groups of adolescents also differed in terms of their home background, their parents' educational levels and occupational types as well as the type of offences committed. More than 90% of the subjects from the non-delinquent group came from homes where both parents were present, compared to the delinquent group who had slightly more than 50%. About a third of the delinquent girls and boys came from homes which had less than two parents living with them.

In terms of educational levels, all the parents of the non-delinquent group have at least secondary education compared to more than half from the delinquent group who had only primary education. Data on the occupational types of the two groups yielded distinct differences. More than 75% of fathers of the non-delinquent group held white-collared or skilled jobs whereas about 60% of the delinquent group's fathers are holding semi-skilled or unskilled jobs. However about half of the mothers from the non-delinquent group are full-time housewives compared to more than half of them from the delinquent group who have semi-skilled or unskilled jobs.

Besides, the delinquent group has also scored higher percentages than those from the non-delinquent group in the commitment of offences listed in the bio-data section. The delinquent group exhibited acts of deviance especially in offences such as rioting (21.3%) and drug-taking (20.9%). Within each group, the boys have also scored higher percentages in most of the offences committed, when compared to the girls' percentage scores.

This study examines the influence of both student and teacher perception of the student-teacher relationship on student's attitude towards teachers and school. It also seeks to explore any gender differences in the perception of teacher-student relationship between male and female adolescents. A sample of 1,266 students (541 girls and 725 boys) from six different middle schools in Singapore participated in this study. Findings indicated that gender differences were observed for certain dimensions in the teacher-student relationship predicting their attitude towards teachers and school. Possible explanations for the obtained results were suggested and implications of the findings were also discussed.

Youth violence is a growing concern in Singapore. To address this complex social issue, we surveyed the psychology, social science, and criminology literature to identify a total of 11 intrinsic (familial, individual, school) and 2 extrinsic (peer) factors linked to youth violence, and also their interdependencies. We then developed a complex agent network model where each complex agent is represented by a complex factor network of the 13 factors along with youth violence, coupled to each other through the extrinsic factors to form a complex social network. We simulated the model using as initial conditions the results from a large-scale school-based survey of the factors and random social ties. We find factors in each complex agent evolving with time under the influences from other factors, and the social ties between agents evolving with time as a result of behavioral imitation between agents. We ran a sensitivity analysis on the model, to find that the model is most sensitive to the parameters linking (1) non-intact family, (2) delinquency in general, (3) school disengagement, (4) peer delinquency, and (5) friends in gang to gang involvement. We also ran a series of intervention scenario simulations, and our results show that it is critical to intervene early, and successful interventions work by tipping the balance between competing intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Mental health professionals and school counsellors can then apply this unique insight from the model to design more effective interventions.

This thesis investigates the process of peer mediation from the perspectives of the social identity and self-categorization theories. Past research on peer mediation has focused on the positive outcomes of the peer mediation programme. Success of the programme in schools is based on anecdotal evidence, reduction in the number of discipline cases, and improvement in the students' academic grades. So far, not much research has been conducted to explain the process of peer mediation using a theoretical framework. Therefore this thesis aims to contribute a theoretical understanding in the mediation process by using tenets from the social identity and self-categorization theories to illuminate the role of social and personal identities in conflict resolution. These two theories explain group processes by addressing the role of identity in influencing an individual's perceptions and behaviors as a group member, and are therefore relevant for understanding processes in the group-based peer mediation programme.

Social identity theory states that individuals affiliate and identify with others whom they perceived to be similar to them, and categorize them as part of their in-group through social comparison. In their own social groups, group members would engage in inter-group comparison in an effort to achieve positive in-group distinctiveness and subsequently, a positive social identity. If individuals in conflict are perceived to belong to the same in-group, it is hypothesized that they would be more positive in resolving their conflicts amiably. The parties involved in a peer mediation session include a student mediator whose role is to facilitate and help resolve the conflict between the aggressor or offender and his victim who are both directly involved in the conflict. Whether the offender perceives the mediator and victim as in-group or out-group members during mediation is important for the successful resolution of conflicts.

Study One showed how the offender would identified more with the mediator who is an ex-gang member (or ex-gangster) with a similar social identity, than with a mediator who is a school prefect with social identity that is different from his, during a mediation session. The offender also had more positive perceptions about the outcome of the mediation session when the conflict was mediated by the mediator who used to be a gang member than when it was mediated by the prefect. The salience of the social identity was further demonstrated in the Study Two where the offender had higher levels of identification and more positive perceptions of the mediation outcome, for a victim who is an ex-gangster (similar social identity) than for a prefect victim (different social identity). Significantly higher levels of empathy were expressed by the offender for the ex-gangster victim during mediation. The study also established the salience of the victim's identity during peer mediation. It was observed that regardless of the mediator's social identity, the offender's response to the mediation of conflict was influenced by the victim's social identity. Therefore, results from Studies One and Two of this thesis established the importance of matching the social identities between the offender and those involved in the mediation process, for effective mediation of conflicts in the mediation process.

However, conflicts are more likely to occur between youths of different social identities. Another argument put forward by this thesis is that unless the offender perceives the victim in terms of his personal identity instead of his social identity (which is different from the offender's), successful mediation of conflicts between these two youths might be impeded. The third study demonstrated that with a victim from a different social group, the offender was more likely to perceive him in terms of his social identity prior to mediation and displayed lower levels of empathy for him prior to mediation. During the mediation process, however, the victim was more likely to be perceived in his personal identity by the offender, who also expressed greater empathy for him. This shift in the offender's perception of the victim's identity from social to that of personal is crucial, as it influences the offender's level of cooperation to resolve the conflict, which subsequently contributes to the success of the mediation process.

Findings of the three studies suggest the utility of both social identity and self-categorization theories as frameworks for explaining the peer mediation process. Future research involving a programme evaluation of peer mediation in Singapore is also necessary as one is able to assess the different aspects of the intervention that contribute to different outcomes in a programme evaluation. Some aspects of the intervention may need to be enhanced to achieve their intended outcomes while other aspects found to be unnecessary and would thus be eliminated (Durlak, 1995). Through programme evaluation, effective components of the intervention are thus highlighted so that positive outcomes of the intervention can be enhanced. This research provides impetus for exploring the mediation process in relation to shame and the field of psycholinguistics.

This paper presents findings of a preliminary pilot study that was undertaken to examine what the perceptions of adolescents are, with regards to 3 different methods of disciplinary measures, namely peer mediation, responsible thinking, and corporal punishment, that are being carried out presently, in Singapore schools. This study intends to find out whether these discipline measures are being perceived to be effective approaches in addressing discipline problems by the adolescents. Using 3 short vignettes and a survey with rating scales, the subjects of this study, which comprised 30 secondary three girls and 35 secondary three boys, responded to the statements in the survey. Their perceptions towards each disciplinary measure were analysed. Findings of the study revealed only significant differences between the mean score for the corporal punishment disciplinary measure and that of the other 2 disciplinary measures namely peer mediation and responsible thinking. However, no significant difference was found between the mean scores of the peer mediation disciplinary measure and that of the responsible thinking disciplinary measure.

The purpose of the research is to examine the perceptions of primary school educators toward inclusive education in Singapore. The research study seeks to provide an understanding of inclusion as it is practiced in Singapore primary schools. It examines the features of inclusion and its implementation, the experience of primary school teachers, perceived barriers and facilitators of inclusion, and the benefits and disadvantages of inclusion.

There is little knowledge available concerning psychopathic traits in Asian adolescents; a lack of a suitable measurement instrument for assessing psychopathy in Asian societies may account for this. This study aimed to validate a widely used scale in the West — the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) — in Singaporean school-based and at-risk adolescents. Using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study examined the two-factor (i.e., grandiose- manipulative/impulsive traits and callous-unemotional traits) and three- factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative traits, impulsivity, and callous- unemotional traits) models of the APSD in 1,027 school-based and 113 at- risk adolescents. School samples are adolescents from three secondary schools, while at-risk samples are adolescents who manifest different types of delinquent behaviors and are either placed in more structured settings or need closer supervision although they have not violated the law. Gender invariance was further tested in the school-based sample by conducting a multi-group CFA. The convergent validity of the APSD was also investigated in the school-based sample. For the school-based adolescents, the APSD revealed that the three-factor model provided a superior fit over the two-factor model and the factorial invariance across gender. Significant relationships between the three dimensions of the APSD and aggression and delinquency support the convergent validity of the APSD. As for the at-risk adolescents, both the two- and three-factor models were acceptable, but the two-factor model was preferred as it was parsimonious and it aligned with the conceptualized characteristics of psychopathic traits. Findings suggest that the APSD is a reliable and sound instrument for measuring psychopathic traits in Asian school-based and at- risk adolescents.