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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg |
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FLEXIBLE SCHOOL DESIGN CONCEPTS TO
SUPPORT TEACHING AND LEARNING |
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The Ministry of Education (MOE) will
introduce a new framework to provide greater flexibility in the design
of primary and secondary schools. |
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The framework, called Flexible School
Infrastructure (FlexSI), will ensure that the school infrastructure is
sufficiently flexible to support teaching approaches to better engage
students in learning. These include interactive, experiential,
independent and hands-on learning. |
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The new framework for flexible school design
was announced by Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at
the 8th Appointment Ceremony for Principals on 29 December 2005. |
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FlexSI is introduced to support recent
initiatives such as Strategies for Effective Engagement and Development
(SEED) and Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM), which have spurred greater
exploration in pedagogical strategies and student engagement within and
beyond the classroom. |
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FlexSI will give schools more room to
innovate in teaching and learning, and to adjust classroom arrangements
whenever necessary. |
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Under FlexSI, the design of school facilities will
support ground-up initiatives that are school-based and teacher-owned. |
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FlexSI will encourage increased school
involvement in the shaping of school designs to meet their specific
teaching and operational requirements, and to reflect their own school
identity and culture. Examples include schools which decide to design an
ecostreet to provide for new experiences in the learning of the
sciences; or an outdoor amphitheatre designed for dual use as a space
for the performing arts as well as a conducive space for students to
interact. |
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With FlexSI, schools will have the
flexibility to: |
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a. Come up with new school design concepts such as
modular classrooms that can be opened up for larger group lectures, or
partitioned to become smaller areas for small group discussions.
b. Design rooms that are currently constructed for
specialised subjects to enable multiple-usage. For example, |
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i. By using mobile and flexible furniture and
fittings, a music room and audio visual room can be designed so
that it can open up into a bigger space for additional use as a
dance studio;
ii. Canteen tables and chairs can be fitted with
wheels so that they can be easily tucked aside to convert the
canteen space into a multi-function space. |
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c. Arrange and design up to 10% of the common areas such
as corridors and study areas so that they can be integrated with formal
teaching spaces like the classroom to form expanded learning spaces, to
provide for further flexibility in learning. |
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Implementation |
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MOE will be setting aside $40 million to
implement FlexSI for 60 primary and secondary schools over the next 5
years. |
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These are new schools and schools undergoing
PRIME (Programme for Rebuilding and IMproving Existing Schools). |
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For the remaining primary and secondary
schools which are not undergoing PRIME, MOE will also allow for flexible
designs to be implemented through renovations to existing facilities. |
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For a start, an additional $5 million will
be set aside for 10 pilot schools, which will be identified amongst
these non-PRIME schools, to implement FlexSI, so that the framework can
be fine-tuned before it is rolled out to the rest of the existing
schools. |
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Independent Schools currently have full
flexibility in deciding on their facilities, while Junior Colleges are
already provided with a wide range of facilities including lecture
theatres and tutorial rooms. |
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The FlexSI framework will nevertheless serve
as a guide to Independent Schools and Junior Colleges, and provide them
more ideas on how they can make their infrastructure more flexible. |
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More..... (Background) |
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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg Press Release 29 Dec
2005 |
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Notice |
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FrontPage Edition: Fri 30 Dec 2005
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