Week 1 - Introduction and Higher Education Issues, Concepts and Roles

Before beginning the first lecture, I asked myself why was I taking this course and what issues in Higher Education I could identify.

One possible issue in education for me is the emergence of IB Schools in Singapore [especially schools offering mainly O Levels with an added IB Section]. Because of these two systems operating under one roof, and because local teachers trained in NIE [National Institute of Education] mainly had their training in the O Level delivery method, many schools resort to employing expatriate teachers to teach IB.

What I notice is there seems to be a separation of  'classes' of teachers. IB teachers hardly mix with teachers who teach the O Level stream and vice versa. Perhaps the curriculum difference is a major factor why these professionals do not really gel together or perhaps there could be a deeper underlying issue here.

Further to this, there could possibly arise another sub-issue with regard to school ethos and climate. While old schools like mine (St Joseph's Institution, founded 1852) have developed a solid school culture, many new teachers have yet to absorb the school ethos. I have also heard of the 'tourist teacher' phenomenon.

Most recently, an article from the Daily Mail circulating on social media indicated that the IB seems to be better than the A Level programme. (refer http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-394399/A-level-blow-Baccalaureate-given-rating-5-A-grades.html). Could this perhaps indicate that the way forward in pre-university education is the IB programme? If so, what ramifications does this hold for Secondary Schools? They would definitely want to prepare students for the IB? Would we looking at a curriculum and methodology shift from the traditional O Level delivery to an IB model?