Chong, Wan Har

This study investigates the effects of a classroom-based intervention program aimed at enhancing low achieving students' self-perceptions of their own ability, agency, control, and efficacy. The quasi-experimental study with 89 secondary school students was carried out over ten 35-45 minute weekly sessions in two Singapore schools. By adopting a socio-cognitive perspective in which self regulatory processes and personal agency beliefs are incorporated, the program aimed at fostering the students' will through helping them to appraise their role in assuming personal responsibility in change processes, and their skill through using various metacognitive and cognitive strategies to effect personal changes. The exposures to the instructional activities showed a positive impact on the self-efficacy and self-regulation in the academic domain but not on aspects of self-concept, social efficacy and social regulation, suggesting that these two socio-cognitive variables may be more amenable to change than social constructs that are less definable and more general conceptually. Qualitative data provided useful feedback on how the concepts could be refined to help create greater metacognitive knowledge and awareness of school-related skills in the students. Educational implications for the classroom were discussed in the light of these findings.

This study examines the academic and social self-regulatory functioning of thirteen-year old secondary one students from different academic streams, and the role personal agency beliefs plays in facilitating such functioning. The thesis assumes that both academic and social self-regulation. and the self-beliefs of academic and social efficacy, specific aspects of self-concept and affiliation-based motivation are important in enhancing strategic learning and successful school engagement. It questions the validity of Western conceptualized and individualistically-oriented motivational concepts, and argues for a role for affiliation-based motives in supporting students' academic and social initiatives in a largely collectivistic context like Singapore. It also examines whether both academic and social self-regulation share common underlying processes, so that by reinforcing these processes, it may be possible to strengthen both academic and social functioning. An intervention programme was designed to test out the conceptual model involving the postulated relations between self-regulatory processes and motivational variables with low achieving students. Unlike many cognitive interventions that were specifically designed to teach strategies to enhance learning, this training aimed at strengthening the students' self-regulatory functioning an,d underlying motivational beliefs that come to influence educational outcomes.

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.

In this investigation of high school students (N = 2510) in Singapore (Study 1) and elementary school students (N = 119) in Australia (Study 2), we examined the role of instrumental and emotional forms of teacher support in students' academic buoyancy and academic outcomes (engagement and academic skills). In both studies, perceived instrumental support (but not perceived emotional support) was positively associated with academic buoyancy (moderate effect size in Study 1, large effect in Study 2). In Study 1, academic buoyancy was positively associated with students' academic engagement (specifically, effort and persistence [large effect], perceived importance of school [moderate effect], and feelings of school belonging [moderate effect]). In Study 2 academic buoyancy was positively associated with gains in students' academic skills and engagement (specifically, class participation [large effect] and future aspirations [large effect]). In both studies, there was tentative support for a mediating role of academic buoyancy linking students' perceived teacher support to academic outcomes.

This scoping review examines the landscape of educational evaluation research in Asia over the past decade, uncovering the methodologies, themes, and unique regional challenges within this domain. By delving into 62 articles from evaluation-centric journals, the study reveals a predominant focus on learning, teaching, and assessment, highlighting the importance of pedagogical methods and learning outcomes. The review also notes a significant emphasis on institutional-level evaluation, with China leading in contributions. Despite the rich insights offered, this review points to gaps in leadership and evaluation tools, suggesting areas for future exploration. Ultimately, this review aims to enrich global discussions on educational evaluation, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of Asia’s diverse and evolving educational evaluation practices.

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.

Employee-driven innovations (EDI) have gained traction in research and inform workplace practice to address the need in responding to dynamic economic environments, the imperative of enterprise viability and worker employability. A constellation of contextual factors has been posited to shape employee predisposition to EDI engagement. One key factor – the mindset of employees in relation to their initiation, enactment and maintenance of innovative practices in workplaces – has been identified as instrumental in igniting this process. The intent of this study is to elicit the antecedents and personal factors that foster growth mindsets and the pathways through which these factors shape EDI practices at work. Guided by Keating and Heslin’s (2015) framework on growth mindset in workplace engagement, findings from 40 interviews with employers and employees of four small to medium size enterprises, where work activities and foci are quite distinct, were examined to explore its applicability in the Singapore workplace.