In a series of recent stories, The Australian newspaper highlights the success of Singapore’s students on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam and describes the value of its curriculum.
The paper cited a report by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority that compared the Singapore and Australian curriculums. It found Singapore schools spent about twice as much time on basic operations and geometry in the first few years of school and had a greater focus on problem solving (from “A lesson learnt…” see below)
The Australian then reports that Scholastic Australia will be publishing a new set of textbooks based on the Singapore model that, “enable children to gain a deeper and better understanding of mathematical content and ways of working.”
Here is an article and an editorial from The Australian:
Kids get Asian lesson in maths
The Australian, April 12, 2014:
Schools in Australia will be able to teach maths Singapore-style with the release next month of primary textbooks that set out the teaching methods responsible for taking Singaporean students to the top of international tests.
A lesson learnt from Singapore
In an editorial on April 15, 2014, The Australian was encouraged by the forthcoming release of new textbooks based on the Singapore model. To be published by Scholastic Australia, the texts will be linked to the Australian curriculum and endorsed by the Singapore Ministry of Education.
About Cassy Turner
