PROMOTING AND NURTURING CREATIVITY IN SCHOOL

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for Education (a) what proportion of the time in the curriculum and the student's time in school is devoted to promoting and nurturing creativity and (b) will his Ministry be conducting a study to evaluate the success of this effort and, if so, what kind of performance indicator will be used.

The Senior Minister of State for Education (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the approach adopted to nurturing creativity in students is not through teaching specific modules on creativity or teaching it as a separate subject. Our approach to promoting and nurturing creativity is through infusion across the curriculum and through project work, teaching methodologies and the assessment system itself. Lessons in any subject that arouse a lively curiosity in students foster creative thinking and imagination. Our Science and Mathematics programmes, for example, help students to develop this curiosity by encouraging enquiry and getting them to provide their own solutions to problems. Activities with open-ended investigations such as the Maths trail, which is an activity conducted outside the classroom, require students to use varied strategies to solve problems or seek alternative solutions to problems. Teachers are also conducting activities to make science an experiential learning for students, especially at the primary school level. One activity in primary schools, for example, involves having the students learn more about themselves through taking their finger prints. In addition, an activity like project work, which is now required from primary school upwards, provides opportunities for students to look at events with fresh perspectives, to come up with their own responses to problems and issues and to investigate, explore and try out new ways of doing things. Project work also encourages students to break away from the compartmentalisation of the different subject disciplines and explore the inter-relationships between different areas of knowledge when applied to real life situations.

There is no single indicator that can give a reliable measure of the success of our efforts to promote creativity. However, we are changing the assessment system in the individual subjects so that problem solving, inference skills and creative thinking are given greater emphasis in the assessments. For example, in English Literature, the introduction of unseen material - material that the students have not previously seen - in the assessment system develops students' quality of thinking and their application of principles of critical reading to the unseen passages of prose or poetry. Such critical appreciation enables students to demonstrate their individual insights and original thinking beyond text knowledge. In history, questions based on original sources - source-based questions, as they call it - have been introduced to assess students' thinking and analytical skills in the interpretation and evaluation of issues in their original historical context. And in the sciences, we are introducing a new way of assessing practical skills over a period of time instead of a one-off practical examination, to promote a broader understanding of scientific process skills associated with scientific inquiry and problem-solving.

Project work will be required for entry to university in future, and this is project work that is in most cases interdisciplinary. How our students respond to these new assessment items will give some indication of how successful we have been. Beyond the schools, in our higher and further education institutions, curriculum and teaching methodology has also been changed to encourage more creativity. It will take a number of years for the effects of these changes to be fully felt.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): May I know if Confucianism, as a subject, or as part of the civic lessons, or in any way, still taught in our schools?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, I do not have the particulars of the syllabus. I do not know whether Confucianism in some form is still part of the curriculum. But I would not be surprised if all the Asian traditions are still present in our curriculum in one form or another.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): The Minister of State, in his answer, says that project work will be introduced. My concern is whether the teachers are adequately prepared to guide the students in the project work because it is a fairly new component being introduced. My experience shows that sometimes students are a bit confused as to what are the requirements and the guidelines. So my question is whether teachers are sufficiently prepared beforehand and what are the preparations that teachers have gone through.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, our project work at junior colleges - I think this is what the Member is referring to - is currently at the pilot stage. It is still early days. We have put considerable effort into preparing the teachers. So far, the pilot stage has been proceeding well. Teachers are learning as they go along. When we are confident that the junior colleges are able to implement project work to realise the intent of the scheme, we will be implementing it as a requirement for university admission.

Dr Warren Lee (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have received some feedback about this project work that, especially in primary schools, it ends up that the parents actually end up doing the project work on behalf of their children. While I can see that good things are being said about having project work in later years in school, I wonder whether the Ministry has some measures to put in place to make sure that the project work in primary school really comes from the students, and not from the parents.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, I would not be surprised if what the Member described is not at least partially true. That is a social rather than an educational phenomenon. Project work at primary school, however, does not count in the overall assessment system. At the junior colleges where it is going to count, the safeguards are in place. The project work is done by a team of students in the school under the supervision of a teacher.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I would like to ask the Minister of State, in the case of project work in primary school, if the Ministry has studied whether enough time is allocated within school hours to do the project work because, although it is a social rather than an educational issue, the temptation would be that when the project work is brought home, the parents will come into the picture.

Another question relates to Mathematics problem sums in primary school. My understanding is that, presently, the teachers require the students to tackle the problem in a certain manner. They have to have models, and it seems that if the students can get the answer without the models, marks are deducted. I would like to ask the Minister if this could be studied carefully, because if you want to foster creativity, then it should be a matter of getting the right answers based on the child's manner of thinking and rationalising, instead of a fixed mode of solving the problem.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, on the first question of whether adequate time is provided during school hours for project work to be done, I do not think we would want to have a situation where all project work is done during school hours in the primary schools. It would crowd out something else. We have a heavy enough curriculum. We want project work to enrich the curriculum. If we try and do it all during the same number of hours, then something else has to fall off, and that is typically something else that is valuable. I see nothing wrong in project work at the primary school level being done partially outside school hours, at home. I do not think we should worry too much if the mother or the father is providing some guidance. It is the spirit of project work that is important at the end of the day and teachers will have to assess whether the child is actually capable of the project work he does.

On the second question of Mathematics problems, I take the Member's point that we would like Mathematics to be taught and assessed in primary schools, or at any level, in a way which recognises that there are different methods to the right answer. This is not a matter of the curriculum or the syllabus as much as teaching methodologies in individual schools. I have come across anecdotal examples that are raised where there might have been too rigid treatment of a particular problem and teachers are not sufficiently forgiving of different methods. These are problems on the ground that are to be expected. On the whole, I do not think we have a severe problem. Our teachers, by and large, try to encourage children to understand the principles behind the Mathematics problem. But I would not deny that there are instances that we come across.

Dr Wang Kai Yuen (Bukit Timah): Would the Minister elaborate how would project work be assessed as an admission criterion for going to university in the future? Is it done by the university concerned, the faculty concerned, or would there be a central examination board in assessing this project work?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Details of the assessment methodology are being finalised. Assessment is not done by the universities. It will be done within the existing framework of our 'A' level examinations, the Singapore-Cambridge 'A' level examinations. It is a rigorous procedure, with care taken to ensure that there is no bias in the assessment of students' projects. So I do not think we need to worry about the integrity of the process.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong (Non-Constituency Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, if I may ask the Minister whether the emphasis on project work has helped to reduce the emphasis on grade, if any?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: If the Member's question is on how project work is reducing the emphasis on written examinations, if that is what he meant, I think it will. Project work looks at process skills, and is a very useful supplement to the existing system of written examinations. Like I said, it is early days. We are still improving the process but the Ministry of Education does feel that the project work is going to be an integral component of assessment system in the future.

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to seek the Minister of State's clarification. Since project work is a supplement or additional to the existing curriculum, will it not be an additional stress on the students now that, as he stated correctly, the students already have quite a heavy curriculum? The other issue is: what are the steps that the Ministry will take to make sure that project work will not become another examination where the students will prepare for it and that they have to get a good grade to get into the university?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: On the Member's first question, Sir, it is not the intent that project work should create a new source of stress, nor do we think that that will be the outcome. We are monitoring this carefully at the pilot stage. We want to make sure that project work is not an add-on to the existing assessment system, but is really a complement to the existing assessment system. Taken together, we want to make sure that the overall workload of junior college students does not increase. I think the Member's fear is a natural one. It is not without basis because we know how things work out in practice quite easily. So we have to watch this carefully and make sure that work pressure does not go up and stress levels do not go up unnecessarily. It is not the intention that they should. What is the Member's next question?

Dr Ong Seh Hong: What are the steps that the Ministry will take to make sure that it will not deteriorate into just another form of examination?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I have no doubt that our junior college students will take any form of assessment seriously. I do not think we can help that. But if we did not assess this and we did not attempt to measure performance, then given the same culture of taking seriously only what is assessed, people will simply not pay too much attention to project work and will not pay too much attention to the process skills that we are trying to cultivate. So we have to assess this and that provides the incentive for students to take project work and process skills seriously.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, the Minister of State's answer is that we know how the ground works here on education. How sure is he that the project work will not become an added pressure on the students which is contrary to the objective of the Ministry of Education?

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, the Minister of State's answer is that we know how the ground works here on education. How sure is he that that the project work will not become an added pressure on the students which is contrary to the objective of the Ministry of Education?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, to take a couple of steps back, why have we introduced project work? We introduced it because we are trying to reduce the extent of the emphasis on written examinations. And I am sure everyone agrees that that is a good thing. How we go about putting it into practice is important. We are going to put it to practice in a sensible fashion where we are going to accord it the weight it deserves, not too much weight. We are going to make sure that how teachers guide students, how students actually go about the process, is going to reflect the spirit of this whole exercise which is not just to accumulate marks as easily as possible, but to really use the exercises as an opportunity to gain new skills of enquiry and experimentation. There is no guarantee that any form of assessment is not going to lead to stress or pressure. There can be no guarantee. But it is not our intention that it be the case.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, from what I gather from the answer given to my last question, the schools are still teaching Confucianism. If Confucianism is taught in a significant way, may I ask the Minister whether it will not be in conflict with the attempt of schools trying to nurture creativity?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, as I mentioned earlier, I really do not have the specifics with me on the details of what elements of Confucianism are in our curriculum. But I would not be surprised if Confucianism, like the other Asian traditions, remains in our curriculum and for good reason. There is Confucianism and there is Confucianism. It is a broad subject. You are able to pick elements out of it which you feel are important for children to understand, appreciate and imbibe and which remain as relevant to our future as they have been in our past. I do not have the specifics on exactly which elements remain in our curriculum. But I do not think the Ministry needs to be defensive about having elements of a very important Asian philosophy and tradition remaining in our curriculum.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Mr Speaker, Sir, if I may ask the Minister how much time is given for the project work and project presentation, whether it is done during class time or outside class time, and whether a reduction in class size will actually help to give the students more time for more project work presentation?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Project work, when it is fully implemented, will be part of the curriculum. In other words, it is not an enrichment activity taken entirely outside of regular hours.

As to class size, project work is not conducted in a full-class fashion. It is conducted by teams of students in small groups, as has to be the case, given the nature of project work. It is an applied exercise. So it is conducted in small groups.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State whether he agrees with the hon. Member for Potong Pasir that teaching of Asian cultures and traditions such as Confucianism in schools will stifle creativity.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, this subject is worth several dissertations. I am not capable of even half a dissertation on the subject but, from the very little I know about the way we have sought to incorporate these traditions or Asian cultures in our curriculum, I have no reason to think that it will stifle creativity. There has to be a certain tension between retaining ballast and the desire to explore something new, and the desire to explore something new is given strength by how much ballast we have. If it is all exploring the new, the future or the next big thing, I think we can easily fall flat. We have to retain a certain core of what represents eternal truths, eternal principles, in order to explore what is new. So I do not think we need feel defensive about learning about tradition, understanding it well, understanding what is weak in our past traditions as well as understanding what is strong.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, can I clarify that this new smaller class size, as what the Minister said, will actually help to improve the current emphasis on project work?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: To clarify, Sir, I was not talking about smaller class size as such, but I was talking about the way in which project work is implemented, that project work is not a whole class activity but is an activity pursued by groups of students within any particular class.