International Schools

Communication in Singapore secondary schools can demand a multiple focus. To identify the most advantageous communication needs and processes means understanding the goals. Many times parents meeting with secondary school teachers promote a confused situation where communication simply does not occur in a helpful form due to the cross currents of differing agendas. Using technology to solve and create advantages and promote healthy communication on all levels is currently being studied.

Significance

To discover the advantages of increasing the communication skills of students and teachers cannot be underestimated. The best advantages have been discovered through training students by helping focus and build their communication skills. A significantly better communication skills was observed in international schools in Singapore where students are exposed from the preschool stage all the way through graduation with other students and teachers from different ethnicities, cultures and countries. The diverse environment of these international schools has been proven to be extremely beneficial to students, especially young ones.

Identification

According to a recent symposium on diffusing communication into the secondary school system, the advantages of training students in this manner include extending and developing the school communication programs, developing leadership qualities and skills for students, providing alternative teaching strategies for teachers and allowing students to experience small group discussions in a variety of contexts.

Misconceptions

When a study was conducted on the effectiveness of parent-teacher conferences for secondary students, it was discovered that very little useful communication was occurring in these meetings. Both the teacher and the parent had very differing agendas, and the student is often not expected to be present. In this setting, the rules of engagement and roles of participants are confused, often exacerbated by logistical constraints and the growing autonomy of the student.

Solution

Some effective research was done in the school systems in Singapore. Beginning in 1993 a project was initiated to set up computer-mediated communication networks among different international schools. This project runs under the auspices of the National Ministry Of Education, in the department of Information Technology in Education. Funding for this program is supplied by the World Bank.

Benefits

The benefits of studying at an international school in Singapore have been proven to be significant. The diverse environment, the great facilities for sports and other physical activities as well as encouraging students of all ages to be creative in various Arts programmes all lead to a much more rounded and social students who have easier time later when they immerse themselves in the global marketplace of ideas as well as business. This is only further increased by the help of technology, which now also is being adopted by the rest of the schools. Once installation of equipment went into the schools, they had access to both software and hardware that made it possible to participate in computer-mediated communications networks. This cost-effective and efficient strategy provides both pedagogical and technical support to all the secondary schools involved.