Children’s Lifeworlds in a Global City: Singapore: Singapore

by Li Mei Johannah Soo, Nanthini Karthikeyan, Kam Ming Lim

This book examines connections between policy contexts, school experiences and everyday activities of children growing up in the global city of Singapore. In particular, it explores how Singapore children’s everyday experiences inside and outside of school shape their orientations towards educational success. Alongside an analysis of school life and educational policies, it also considers children’s out-of-school activities, including leisure, homework, and enrichment activities, and connections between these and their school-based activities. The book draws on empirical data from Primary 4 classes in two Singapore schools in the form of student-completed surveys, classroom ethnographies, student responses to a learning dialogues activity, and a re-enactment of one child's out-of-school life, as well as curriculum and policy analysis. It provides readers with an in-depth understanding of Singapore Primary 4 children’s experiences inside and outside of school, including the structure of timetables and pedagogical approaches encountered in school lessons, children’s enjoyment of activities inside and outside of school, children’s engagement and wellbeing at school, and the impact of Singapore’s educational policies on children’s learning experiences. Moving beyond a simplistic focus on Singapore children’s academic performance in international high-stakes testing, the book offers a comprehensive exploration of their lives inside and outside of school. This holistic approach is unique in the Singapore context and contributes to a greater understanding of children’s everyday lives in the city.

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 2, 2023

Reviews

[Peter]

Found this very interesting and accessible despite being a complete layman to pedagogy. Though the study is largely quantitative, the authors do a good job of giving it a strong sense of place, with many passages devoted to concisely setting Singapore's education policy and performance in the broader context of its history, politics and contemporary challenges. I only wish there was a bit more qualitative data as well. It's a shame the researchers weren't able to find enough willing families for their at-home observation sessions. Nevertheless, there's still a decent amount of drawings, form answers and direct observations which are generally instructive (and often amusing).