Speech by 2M Maliki Osman at the G20 Education Ministers’ Meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil

Priority Issue 1: Valuing and building capacity of education professionals: what can we collectively do?"

Priority Issue 2: Connecting managers of digital resource platforms: The sharing of educational content on Education for Sustainable Development"

Chair,

Esteemed colleagues,

Introduction

1.Singapore firmly believes that the quality of an education system is dependent on the quality of its teachers. We, therefore, appreciate and applaud the Brazilian Presidency's careful selection of priority areas to give focus to the capacity building of teachers, particularly in the use of technology to strengthen teaching and learning.

Teachers as key designers and orchestrators of students' learning in a technology-transformed world

2.The education landscape is constantly shifting, driven by external forces such as economic trends and changing demographics. Rapid technological changes, in particular, have brought with it tremendous challenges, which require us to reimagine how education is delivered and recognise the importance of equipping our students with the requisite digital skills and competencies, to thrive in a technology-transformed world.

3.Education is ultimately a human endeavour. The role of the teacher as a designer and orchestrator of the learning experience is key to nurturing students who are digitally literate, technological-adept learners.

4.But this also means that teaching is going to be increasingly challenging. In Singapore, we are thankful that our teachers want to rise up to these challenges. We must support them accordingly, particularly in their professional development.

5.In this context, the teaching fraternity will need to ensure that professional development in e-Pedagogy9 is featured as an integral part of an educator's learning roadmap. We should support our teachers by building their capacity quickly to design meaningful blended learning experiences, as well as effective assessments using educational technology.

6.However, we have also learnt that educational technology cannot be applied uniformly across the education system. This is where the expertise and judgement of an educator is crucial, to determine how to utilise technology appropriately to suit their students' learning contexts.

Leveraging Team Strengths to Evolve and Progress Faster

7.To stay relevant and up to date with the latest trends and education technology tools, we also need to encourage our teachers to leverage the knowledge and expertise of the wider fraternity.

8.One effective means to achieve this is through learning communities and platforms that facilitate sharing. We started the Singapore Learning Designers Circle in Singapore, which is an online community for teachers to share technology-enabled lessons, crowdsource for ideas, and help one another troubleshoot technical issues, across subjects. We hope that our education professionals can scale such efforts to a global level, as we seek to learn from each other's transformation journeys.

9.How we value and develop our teachers must remain a continued priority for our education systems across the world. I am glad that we share a common conviction to do so. As such, I would like to encourage us to continue working on this front, to nurture and develop our education professionals, enabled by technology, so that they can bring out the best in our children.

10.Thank you.

Priority Issue 3: School Community Engagement

Chair,

Esteemed colleagues,

Introduction

1.Let me start by thanking our colleagues from Brazil for their strong leadership as this year's G20 President and for stewarding the education agenda.

2.Singapore would like to affirm the Brazilian Presidency's emphasis on the importance of school-community engagement in nurturing future-ready students.

3.We all recognise the importance of a dynamic education system that nurtures students holistically and prepares them to thrive in a rapidly changing world. While teachers play a crucial role, we know that holistic development is a collaborative effort, requiring active engagement from all stakeholders in a student's life. Parents, peers and the wider community all contribute to a student's growth, shaping their character, values and skills.

Partnering Our Parents

4.In Singapore, we believe it is important for schools to build strong relationships with our parents and stakeholders, and work with them to create a supportive environment that empowers children to succeed in their education and beyond. Thus, we have been building up Parent Support Groups as one such initiative to partner our parents. These Parent Support groups have come a long way in supporting the holistic development of our children.

5.We have also learnt that such a partnership is not a static one. Aspirations of parents and teachers evolve with time. As such, how parents and teachers work together will need to evolve accordingly. Boundaries on communication need to be clear, pillared by respectful communications between teachers and parents. As such, Singapore recently refreshed our Guidelines for School-Home Partnership, which provide concrete actions that are relevant to parents and teachers today, that parents can undertake to raise confident and kind children.

Partnering the Community and Industries

6.Besides parents, it is also crucial for schools to establish strong partnerships with the community and industries. These partnerships would provide the real-world context for our students to discover their individual interests and build valuable skills. Many of us have seen the increasing pace of disruptions since COVID, including with Artificial Intelligence. The pace of change and disruption will continue. It is even more important for the community and industries to support our learning environments.

7.It is not a trivial effort. Our schools and teachers must first recognise this importance. On the other hand, the community and industries need to set aside time to support our schools and teachers. We have found that partnerships between schools and the community work best when they are symbiotic; with our students contributing positively to the community and industry's needs, while enriching their own learning and development.

8.Industry partnerships also serve not just to develop the skills of our young people. There is still untapped potential for industry partnerships to inspire students at even younger ages about the different career opportunities, such as in schools. For example, such industry partnerships can provide students with applied learning opportunities in engineering during their secondary school years, to also expose and inspire them towards the possibilities of an engineering career.

Conclusion

9.These partnerships take time to nurture and sustain. But they will be increasingly important in an increasingly interconnected and complex world. Based on all our experiences so far, I am confident that we can collectively learn and grow these partnerships in our countries, and help our children learn and grow holistically.

10.Thank you.

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