Parents to get more support at all stages of school
A student working on his mandarin language assignment at a school-based Student Care Centre. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Education began its five-year phase of building a student-centric, values-driven education by putting character development at its core and making “Every School a Good School”. This coming year, the final piece of that goal is being reinforced.
To help make “Every Parent a Supportive Partner”, the MOE will be providing more support and resources to strengthen partnerships between schools and parents in several ways.
This includes an activity book with helpful tips and suggested activities to help prepare parents and their children for the transition from pre-school to primary school.
Parents with children entering Primary 1 next year can expect to receive the book in November.
To help parents of pupils at upper primary and lower secondary levels play a greater role in education and career guidance, an enhanced Education and Career Guidance (ECG) Guidebook will be ready for them next month.
Another set of resources — professional insights gathered from parents, educators and international research, which are usually shared in workshops — will be made available online to reach out to more parents.
The MOE will also continue to support and fund Parent Support Groups, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said today (Sept 22) in a speech that outlined how the ministry’s five-year phase had come full circle since he took over in 2011.
After emphasising values and character development at his first annual MOE Work Plan Seminar then, Mr Heng’s next three seminars focused on how to make Every School a Good School, Every Student an Engaged Learner and Every Teacher a Caring Educator successively.
In speaking about parent engagement today, Mr Heng said: “Each year, piece by piece, we build on the work of previous years. Everything we do is integrated, and mutually reinforcing. Each time, we’re adding resources in areas that’ll make a difference in the learning of our children, that’ll make a difference to how our teachers do their work at the front lines.”
For instance, he announced that a range of resources have been developed to help teachers engage parents more effectively, such as a set of scenario-based role-playing cards that will be sent to schools in November.
Noting that parents’ expectations and actions can shape a child’s life, Mr Heng said: “Yes, a good school and caring educators can do a great deal ... But ultimately parents have the most impact on the child.”
Sharing a story about an email he received from a mother who had pushed her son to become a lawyer, Mr Heng said she was determined to fulfil her duty to see her son succeed by nagging at him throughout his schooling years. “She ended the email with, ‘Well, I succeeded. He’s now a lawyer. But ... he no longer talks to me. I got a lawyer, but I lost a son’,” said Mr Heng. It was a story that had influenced him “deeply” in his work as Education Minister, he added.
