AS A mother of a two-year-old boy, the recent slew of changes to primary school education interested me greatl

Being a graduate does not guarantee good performance.

A dedicated teacher counts for a lot more than one who is not.

Primary school syllabus does not require a graduate to teach.

To improve the performance of teachers, MOE can remove the administrative duties from them by employing more teacher assistants.

APL - Attitude, Passion and Love counts for teaching young children.

What best?

The best has yet to come, isn't it?

No GP and AP values ingrained in the kids from age 6 in schools will mean more spoilt brats, liew mung, street thugs, www thugs, bullies, social misfits, social pai lei, etc, isn't it?

MOE Ng, are you copying?

Please pick up the phone and speak with the PM of NZ to find out what tested programmes she has been using for her NZ schools.

If your child is stupid,nothing can be done. You do not need a graduate to teacher at primary level.

strange ! in the same newspaper, it runs another article saying :

Right skills count, not certs

Panel says Govt should send 'strong message' to workers that hiring trends are changing

Oct 9, 2008
Right skills count, not certs
Panel says Govt should send 'strong message' to workers that hiring trends are changing
By Goh Chin Lian
TWO women had applied for a sales manager position. One had a diploma in hotel management while the other had risen through the ranks.
Orchard Hotel's general manager Melvin Lim picked the woman with no paper qualifications.

'Our business is about dealing with people, and she was less aloof and more friendly. She also showed a willingness to learn, so it would be possible for us to nurture her,' he told The Straits Times.

Increasingly, employers like Orchard Hotel are putting a higher premium on skills and attitudes that fit the job rather than academic qualifications. They can be an attitude of self-improvement, or an ability to handle complex tasks.

The growing emphasis on such capabilities is a trend the Government should highlight to people, said an industry-led panel overseeing efforts to train adults for jobs.

The 13-member Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund Advisory Council made the call at a media conference yesterday, urging the Government to send a 'strong and consistent message'.

Other recommendations it made in its annual review of the Workforce Development Agency's (WDA) work are: get regular feedback from employers on the types of skills they need, plus invest more in building better adult training centres and introduce competition among them.

In line with the recommendations, the WDA launched a public education campaign yesterday, with advertisements lined up for this month to encourage workers to pick up a skill.

The council, formed in 2001, oversees the budgetary matters and funding policies of the WDA's manpower development funds.

It includes representatives from the labour movement, self-help groups and various industries.

The chairman, Mr Bill Chang, hailed the Government's 10-year masterplan, announced in February this year, to boost continuing education and training.

This year, the Government will inject $800 million into the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund, to fund training programmes. The top-up will bring the fund to $3 billion.

But more needs to be done, said Mr Chang, an executive vice-president at SingTel.

Rapid economic changes tend to make knowledge outdated in a few years. With high value-added jobs coming in and low-cost ones moving out of Singapore, workers have to keep improving their skills to stay relevant, he added.

Such developments, however, seem to be lost on workers, said council member Sam Tan, an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC and executive director of self-help group Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC).

In the past 15 years of training workers, the CDAC found many have the attitude that they need to upgrade their skills only when they are retrenched, he said.

WDA's chief executive Ong Ye Kung noted that manufacturers, too, seek workers with such attributes as discipline and the ability to follow procedures, while employers in services look for those who can relate to people.

Retailer Metro's director of operations and human resources, Mr Edward Tan, recalled hiring graduates who failed as operations managers because they could not take the long hours and lacked a customer-first attitude.

'Customers are more demanding these days. Not everyone enjoys or has the passion to serve,' he said.

chinlian@sph.com.sg

I rather the learning environment change into less emphasis on academic excellence only, towards a balanced approach to education.

For this to happen, MOE must walk the talk, stop churning out acromyns after acromyns. Stop start stop start on projects which are disrupting, go back to basics of learning

Principals to believe that ranking is not all important, you need to provide and cascade the belief

Teachers work load to concentrate on teaching, less students per class. Do you hug and praise the children?

Have central admin to handle all admin matters

Parents to be less kiasu, stop sending to countless tuition and enrichment classes. Children need to be free to open up the mind, not in a box. By the way, tuition does not make the kid smarter, just exam smart

Society to change mindset that that piece of degree is EVERYTHING. Do not judge by that paper. People can be good in other ways, e.g. good plumber, electrician, beautician, in their niche

At the end of the day, if every child look forward to going to school and is happy, he will automatically love to learn.

Graduates teacher (esp at Pri level) is only a bonus.

"I rather the learning environment change into less emphasis on academic excellence only, towards a balanced approach to education."

What is education?

Do you want to associate yourself with or be in the company of a super brain uni-trained scholar who has no GP or AP values ingrained in the person since age 6 ?

Who wants to be near to a spoilt brat, bully, www thug, social misfit, society's pai lei, etc.?

Those causing the collapse of WALL Street, speak outstanding English too !

Those persuading our old folks changing mind from fix-deposit to High-50notes, speak very well in English too !

Those opposition party members speak very well in English too !

What does it prove ? Do you trust them to teach your children ?