A curriculum is one of the key deciding factors for parents in selecting a school for their children. A school must embody high standards and rigour to create coherence in what is being taught. This way schools ensure that all children are imparted the essential knowledge in that subject spanning disciplines that go beyond the core, helping children realise their potential
What is the Curriculum?
A curriculum is an assortment of assessments and lessons that are chosen by an educational institution and taught to students by the teacher. These are not purely academic lessons but encompass the totality of experiences a student will be a part of when they attend an institution and are under the guidance of a teacher.
Significance of Curriculum in School Education
A curriculum is a key to choosing the best education in Singapore for your child. The IB curriculum stands testament to the importance of curriculum. This effective model curriculum provides numerous stakeholders such as students, teachers, school leaders and parents with a quantifiable plan and structure to deliver quality education. The curriculum recognizes the education standards, core competencies and learning outcomes that students must establish before moving on to the next level.
The significance of an IB curriculum is indispensable:
- It creates capable lifelong learners and ambitious individuals who are open to learning throughout their lives.
- It unleashes imagination and makes students enterprising and creative contributors empowered to play a whole part in work and life.
- It transforms students into ethical and informed citizens with respect for all.
- It produces confident and healthy individuals who lead fulfilling lives as treasured associates of society.
How to Choose the Right Curriculum for Your Child?
Here is a checklist that will make sure you pick a suitable education in Singapore, imparting the right curriculum for your child:
Your child’s learning style
Every learner has a distinct style that could evolve and change with time. You need to identify your child’s learning style and pick a curriculum which supports that. For instance, experiential learning is preferred for children who are tactile learners. The traditional manner of education is preferred when your child is more of a visual or aural learner. As you shortlist schools in Singapore, choose a curriculum that appeals to your child’s learning style and will help them retain information better.
Subjects being offered
Everybody aims at the holistic development of their child but not at the cost of neglecting the academic focus of the curriculum. Due importance needs to be given to the academic knowledge being imparted and subjects being offered. These subjects under a curriculum must align with your child’s future educational goals. The type and number of subjects offered are essential for secondary students, as they are vital to helping them choose a career. The IBDP at OWIS offers more than 70 different courses for a child to choose from.
Subject Flexibility
Some curriculums have pre-set combinations of subjects for their students, while some have specific pre-fixed knowledge streams but add intensity and volume with additional subjects. IB offers conclusive knowledge by presenting students with six different subject groups to choose from in addition to three compulsory subjects: Extended Essay (EE), Creativity Action Service (CAS), and Theory Of Knowledge (TOK). OWIS offers a choice of 70 different subjects for children to do exactly what they are comfortable doing. Choose a curriculum that offers this flexibility and does not restrict the child with pre-decided subject groupings. For instance, if they want to study biology and accounts – that should be an option.
Overall Personality Development
A curriculum is indispensable to shaping the child’s personality. A child’s mind can be influenced during their formative years. Your child will seek self-affirmation and guidance from teachers in the school. An IB curriculum creates an environment conducive to the overall development of your child’s personality. They create independent thinkers and problem solvers through modern teaching methods, encouraging independent and critical thinking and unleashing creativity and inquiry-based learning.
Assessment style of the curriculum
Every curriculum depends on a different assessment format to determine if the children retain knowledge and develop skills as desired. Traditional curriculums assess students by testing them purely on their retained academic information. In contrast, a contemporary IB curriculum like the one offered at OWIS evaluates students by determining how best they can apply concepts learned in real-world scenarios. Some, like the IB Primary Years Programme, get rid of formal assessments. Teachers are more focused on observing students and assessing them individually.
Social Skills
Education in Singapore is not limited to academic content, socialisation of children is as valuable. The school you choose for your child will induce effective communication skills and respect for all.
IB program offers a holistic approach to students from both disciplinary and interdisciplinary standpoint – IB program students develop requisite skillsets like cultural awareness, empathy and higher-order thinking that help them in the future.
Parental Involvement
Parent involvement is one of the most underestimated factors in choosing the right curriculum for your child. Choose a curriculum that supports your level of involvement. To what level can you be involved in your child’s academic, skill development and extracurricular activities as a parent?
For instance, the IB program emphasises parents being extensively involved in their child’s education journey – this could be by helping them look for internships, research, school volunteer work etc. See how much time you can devote before picking a curriculum.
Willingness to Spend
The amount you will spend on a particular curriculum is unquestionably one of the most common considerations to be factored in. It is not how much you can spend but how much you want to spend.
Conclusion
The IB program being offered at OWIS offers a comprehensive approach to education that helps students develop disciplined and multi-disciplinary needs. Out IB curriculum is academically rigorous as well as provides students with applied skills that help in future dealings, such as compassion, cultural awareness and high-level thinking. Choosing the right curriculum might be intimidating, but this exercise needs to be done judiciously by students and parents to make the best use of available education options in Singapore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which curriculum is followed in Singapore?
The Ministry of Education in Singapore offers PSLE, GCE O, N and A-Levels, while private schools in Singapore offer the IGCSE curriculum. Curriculums are devised to focus on students’ creativity and engagement.
What is the Singapore Math curriculum?
Mastery is fundamental to the Singapore math curriculum, which is achieved via the planned sequencing of concepts. Some of the key features of the math curriculum approach include number bonds, Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract progression, mental maths and bar modelling.
Is the Singapore curriculum hard?
The Singapore curriculum is well-crafted and rigorous, which is why Singaporean students often emerge at the top of world rankings for subjects like Science and math. This is owed to expert teachers, an excellent curriculum and the rigour that catalyses the diligence and efficiency of students.
How do you create a curriculum?
Here are the steps to building a successful curriculum
- Classify the need/ problem and issue
- Create a Curriculum Development Team.
- Carry Needs Analysis and needs Assessment
- List the Intended Outcomes
- Choose the Content
- Design the experiential Methods
- Produce Curriculum Product
- Revise the curriculum and test it
What is curriculum strategy?
Curriculum strategy is essentially the aim of the curriculum. It helps prepare learners for positive destinations and work by developing knowledge, skills and attributes which will improve over time.
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