Education planning

This paper examines the way the metaphor of diversity provides a moral basis for inequality in Singapore’s meritocratic education system. Based upon a collection of policy texts from 2002 to 2012, our analysis illustrates that the metaphor of diversity in policy texts provides ways for systemic discrimination within the education system and that this inequality is given legitimacy as necessary through various moral discourses. The paper employs a critical discourse analysis that draws upon the relationship between language analysis, the philosophical study of valuation, and political economy as a composite formulation of values to highlight the ways in which an argument for inequality permeates policy from within a frame of meritocracy, and to analyse how changes associated with new modes of value determination serve to legitimize inequality.

1. The article questions and challenges the official meritocratic principle of ‘equal opportunities’ (Wong, 2000) in Singapore's education system. Drawing on Foucault's and Nietzsche's philosophical perspectives, there is an explicit illustration through an in-depth analysis of how inequality is inbuilt in policy report/speech.

2. Discourse builds in/tangible structures in society and greatly determines the possibilities of the now. As such, I am also arguing that it would be more difficult to 'help' any 'community' if the structural discrimination which has been deeply embedded, is not made explicit through national policies, and by this I mean an explicit illustration through an in-depth policy analysis of how inequality is inbuilt in Singapore's education policies. It may be through this that discriminatory structures could be substantially challenged.

An initial analysis of the original 1979 policy on primary school streaming which I conducted illustrates how dichotomous (arbitrary) categorization of pupils, i.e. 'slow' and 'fast' learners legitimates and sustains increasing institutional/structural access (over the years terms like 'talents' have been employed in policy discourse), of who gets privileged knowledge access. Through this, I also ask then to what ends do forms of 'categorization' or conventional designation entail? By this, given that categorization legitimizes structural access, my question is, what is 'Malay/Muslim community' and how is this categorization necessary?

3. Even though the analysis in the article was based on Singapore's education system, it provides possible ways of understanding how inequality is continuously being inbuilt through policies on the basis of the ideology that economic growth is the (only) way forward. A way to critique this ideology is to expose its underlying assumptions. I believe the findings have much resonance with the widening inequality across many developed nations, as Singapore's policies have parallels with that of the U.K., U.S., and international organizations such as the World Bank.

4. Economically considered, the transliteration of meritocratic discourse into the metaphor of diversity pinpoints how the appeal of development for all necessarily also demands the advance of inequity for the sake of the whole, i.e. advancing the 'growth with inequity' principle.

5. The analysis highlights that value judgments are continually at work in the policy discourse and that despite the strong discourse of meritocracy that the Singapore education system promotes, it is argued that it is in the interests of the Singapore people that 'talents' should get privileged access to knowledge as it is through this that more 'opportunities' for the rest of the population are created. The findings demonstrate that although the underlying assumptions of this 'logic' that has been constructed in policies are unsubstantiated, the logic is continuously legitimated through forms of e/valuations.



This article has been featured in websites such as: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150428105815.htm
http://www.eurasiareview.com/28042015-what-is-value-of-inequality-within-singapores-education-system/

This paper presents detailed methods for constructing a flexible philosophical–analytical model through which to apply the analytic principles of CDA for the interpretation of metaphors across policy texts. Drawing on a theoretical framing from Foucault and the augmentation of Nietzsche’s views on valuation, we sketch a framework for examining ways in which evaluative semantic categories can be linked to sociological theories in order to bring out their relevance for the purpose of critical discourse analysis. This multi-level research framework draws upon a relationship between language analysis, the philosophical study of valuation, and political economy as a composite formulation of values through which neo-liberalism is discursively entwined and progressed through a system of principles of e/valuation.

Prabha Ramseook-Munhurrun of the Mauritius University of Technology in his paper titled 'Service quality in the public service' argues that the service industry plays an increasingly important role in the economy of many countries. In today's global competitive environment delivering quality service is considered as an essential strategy for success and survival.

Educational Data Mining (EDM) is an emerging field exploring data in educational context by applying different Data Mining (DM) techniques/tools. It provides intrinsic knowledge of teaching and learning process for effective education planning. In this survey work focuses on components, research trends (1998 to 2012) of EDM highlighting its related Tools, Techniques and educational Outcomes. It also highlights the Challenges EDM.

Our educational system has to encourage, foster and prepare our young people to play a dynamic and constructive part in the development of a society in which all members share fairly in the good or bad fortune of the group, and in which progress is measured in terms of human wellbeing, not prestige in the form of buildings, cars, or other such things, whether privately or publicly owned.

This paper traces the challenges faced by an innovative language program started in Kenyan Universities in the 1980s and points out to challenges that innovative programs can face. In the analysis of  the literature that has been written on project management and language issues in development, it attempts to show how the Communication Skills program could benefit from this knowledge on project management and educational change management in the third millennium. The paper concludes that it is necessary for those in charge of Communication Skills to borrow a leaf from this literature in order to overcome some of the educational challenges of the third millennium.

Teachers are crucial agents of any language education planning as they can make it succeed or fail. In this article, we intend to provide state of the art, concerning teaching Tamazight in Algeria through a case study. We conducted research in Mostaganem city where Tamazight is introduced in 9 primary schools. This investigation aims to study the role of Tamazight teachers' entry-profiles and the challenges they are facing. We collect data by employing questionnaires and interviews. These research methods help to give insightful information about the reality, needs, and challenges of Tamazight's instructors. The findings reveal that educators need training, and involvement of specialists to arrange the contexts where Tamazight is being introduced (attitudes). So, more efforts should be spent to improve the situation for achieving the objectives behind the formulation of the Tamazight policy.

Why does it appear that no matter what we do in education, we seem to face the same problems continually? The education agenda has expanded dramatically over the years as societies entrust more and more responsibilities to vast and complicated curricula. There are many different interest groups in a society that is concerned about education. They promote different educational priorities, and greater consultation does not result in clarity of intents but rather in compromises and complexities. In responding to diverse goals and highly interrelated problems, the development mechanisms of an education system operate largely independently, culminating in a closed-door classroom where a teacher and students determine the relative influences of intents and actions. A shifting schooling context tangles the hierarchy of interests and emphases. There is no final arbiter of what constitutes the essential features or outputs of education, and even if this could be remedied, there is a low correlation between intents and technologies, where well-intentioned actions may lead to unintended consequences. The result is a development domain riddled with strange loops. There's a sense of infinite problems that re-emerge as foci shift. Escape from strange loops requires the establishment of a hierarchy that enables clear judgments and suggests directions or guidelines for action. Education is unlikely to fully untangle its intents and processes. This paper suggests that the criterion of "quality-oflife" may serve as an overall goal for the judgment of program appropriateness and adequacy. The loosely-coupled technologies would be guided by a well-informed, strategic thinking, evolutionary planning management that fosters dialogue, coordinated action, and continual monitoring and evaluation. Unfortunately, we are likely to continue to face strange loops as our efforts fall short in this complex endeavor. We need new development strategies that (1) increase our understanding of the educational process and its reform, (2) recognize the complexities of the domain, and (3) are based on better analyses and utilization of systemic and programmatic information. There is no permanent fix for strange loops. Only a well-managed learning environment will enrich the conceptual and thinking talents of our children. Otherwise, they are on their own, and schooling may or may not contribute to the fulfillment of their talent. We need to manage better the way we manage our schooling. Strange loops are pervasive.

The Education Quarterly Reviews is an Open Access publication. It may be read, copied, and distributed free of charge according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. The Asian Institute of Research Education Quarterly Reviews is a peer-reviewed International Journal. The journal covers scholarly articles in the fields of education, linguistics, literature, educational theory, research, and methodologies, curriculum, elementary and secondary education, higher education, foreign language education, teaching and learning, teacher education, education of special groups, and other fields of study related to education. As the journal is Open Access, it ensures high visibility and the increase of citations for all research articles published. The Education Quarterly Reviews aims to facilitate scholarly work on recent theoretical and practical aspects of education.