Singapore Maths Tuition - University and JC

Individual and small group maths tuition in Singapore - University and Junior College

Technology can never replace teachers, only complement them

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27 June 2019

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has said that no matter how far technology advances, teachers in Singapore will never be replaced.

“I do not think that education, like some other industries, will be replaced by robots and computers. A teacher cannot be replaced, a principal cannot be replaced,” Mr Ong said.

“This is a highly personalised, values-transmission process.”

Mr Ong Ye Kung made these comments at an education symposium held at the Marina Bay Financial Centre, where education industry players examined the possibilities that technology could bring to education.

Mr Ong Ye Kung said that the Education Ministry will support the use of Information and Communications Technology in learning.

As relevant as teachers will remain in the Lion City, he acknowledged that they can turn to technology for assistance after seeing how computer systems have helped teachers identify students’ weaknesses in certain topics.

Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore share top spot in Asia in latest Quacquarelli Symonds annual World University Ranking

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24 June 2019

In the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) annual World University Ranking, Nanyang Technological University shares the top spot in Asia together with the National University of Singapore.

NUS is also placed 11th in the world.

The QS rankings employ six performance indicators to assess a university’s strengths in research, teaching, employability and internationalisation.

NTU received higher scores than NUS in faculty-to-student ratio and citations per faculty.

NUS fared very well in the area of employer reputation, which is based on feedback from more than 44,000 employers about the quality of an institution’s graduates.

NUS, NTU and SMU scored full marks for international faculty ratio, which measures the proportion of non-local faculty at an institution.

NTU and NUS said the QS rankings show their efforts in research and education are being recognised.

Fresh graduates in Singapore are getting more short-term contract jobs and facing more rejection in the job hunt

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23 June 2019

Fresh graduates in Singapore are getting more short-term contract jobs, along with multiple rejections or even non-replies to job applications, as well as having to lower their job and salary expectations.

Their job hunt this year coincides with the United States-China trade war, which has cast a dark shadow on the global economy. Singapore, whose economy is highly dependent on global trade, will not be able to escape unscathed.

The Ministry of Manpower recently issued its labour market report on the first three months of this year. The report noted that there are more vacancies than job seekers, but the demand for labour has eased following seven preceding quarters of increases. It also said that more workers were retrenched in the first quarter of this year, compared to the previous quarter as well as a year ago.

The MOM report said that companies were more cautious with the economy undergoing restructuring, and they preferred hiring workers on a short-term basis.

Despite the possibility that those in contract roles could be easily let go by companies when the going gets tough, most fresh graduates are open to taking up contract jobs. Many fresh graduates are now attracted to contract jobs as these allow them to experience a spectrum of roles, rather than to specialise in one for a long time. They also see such roles as opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of the job responsibilities and working culture before committing to a longer term career.

MOE schools do not use bell curve grading

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22 June 2019

The Ministry of Education has clarified that in Singapore, bell curve grading is not used in any of the national examinations such as the GCE N, O, and A Level examinations.

According to the MOE, school-based assessments and national examinations are standards-referenced, where the grades awarded reflect a candidate’s own level of mastery in the subject based on an absolute set of standards. In particular, a student’s grades are not dependent on how well he performs in comparison with his peers.

Of the six autonomous universities, only the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University moderate results using a bell curve for certain modules. The other public universities do not do so for any of their modules.

The MOE spokesman said that while students’ examination scores are not “force fitted” into a bell curve, there is a tendency, among a large group of students, to have “natural variation in the level of mastery”.

Teachers in Singapore work longer hours than global average

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20 June 2019

A global survey has found that teachers in Singapore are typically younger and better trained than their peers in other countries, but they also work longer hours.

The 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (Talis) showed that Singapore teachers work 46 hours per week in and out of school, compared to the global average of 39 hours per week.

By comparison, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s March statistics, employees in Singapore work an average of 44.6 paid hours per week.

The Ministry of Education’s director-general of education Wong Siew Hoong said that the ministry has put in place a number of initiatives to reduce the teachers’ administrative work.

Seven out of 10 here said that teaching was their first career choice, with more than nine in 10 motivated by the ability to influence the development of children and young people.

National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have increased measures to eradicate inappropriate orientation games

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18 June 2019

The National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have stepped up measures to eradicate inappropriate orientation games.

In 2016, NUS had convened a 14-member committee to review and make recommendations to improve freshmen orientation.

The measures, which took effect in 2017, included having a student safety officer present to whistle-blow on inappropriate activities, as well as conducting workshops for student leaders and staff.

Briefings on student conduct and safety are also held and student leaders take compulsory modules to learn to navigate situations.

This year, new spot checks and safety patrols have also kicked in.

Deputy student life secretary at the NUS Students’ Union Richard Wang oversees a committee consisting of key student leaders across 75 camps this year. “Orientation activities today have been revamped for the better,” said the economics student.

NTU deputy associate provost (student life) Victor Yeo said it has since 2016 introduced changes to orientation programmes, such as an online module to teach what constitutes harassment, how to respond in such cases and where to seek help.

National University of Singapore graduates are among the world’s most employable, according to graduate employment survey

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17 June 2019

A graduate employability ranking survey done annually by Emerging, a French human resource consultancy, has found that National University of Singapore graduates are among the world’s most employable.

NUS is the only Singapore university in the global top 10 listed by the survey, and NUS is also among Asia’s top two universities for employment.

NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye said: “We are delighted that our graduates have been ranked top 10 globally by employers around the world. NUS strives to ensure that our graduates are well-prepared for the digital economy, with deep expertise in and across disciplines, core life skills as well as a growth mindset that will position them well for a world of disruption and change.”

Initiatives that enhance the employability of NUS graduates include global study opportunities, residential living and learning experiences, industry internships, and immersion programmes in entrepreneurial hubs all across the world.

Nanyang Technological University was ranked 73rd in the same survey.

The global annual survey is conducted with over 7,000 recruiters and managing directors of international companies from 22 countries.

Student-teacher ratios in Singapore’s schools to remain at current levels

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16 June 2019

A frequently raised question is whether the Ministry of Education would consider reducing class sizes from 40 to 25 students to allow teachers to give more attention to the students within their charge.

But Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has pointed out that the oft-quoted 1:40 teacher-student ratio within a single classroom is in fact an inaccurate perception, and in fact, the ratio should be 1:12 or 1:13 for secondary schools in terms of the overall numbers of teachers and students in a school, and 1:11 for junior colleges.

These ratios are considered healthy by OECD standards.

Pointing out a lesson Mr Ong himself gleaned from studying Finland’s education system, he said: “The moment the government does the popular thing to say, ‘I legislate class size to 20’, the (extra) resources disappear. The weaker students are deprived of teachers. Hence, this would be something I will be extremely reluctant to do.”

Member of Parliament Louis Ng recently called for the Government to stop streaming in secondary schools because it contributes to the social divide.

Schools can explicitly address the issue of socio-economic status in the national education curriculum so that students understand from young that one’s level of conventional achievement (for example, academic results) may be constricted by one’s access to opportunities that exist alongside one’s socio-economic background.

Teachers can also receive training on how to foster an inclusive environment, to engage students of different backgrounds in open conversations to enhance understanding among them. Additionally, streaming outcomes can be complemented with assessment tools that are proven to be less biased by one’s socioeconomic backgrounds, such as measures of conscientiousness, motivation and resilience.

Email Address

ngejaysuss@gmail.com

Handphone Number

9724-0163 (Mr Ng)

Academic Qualifications

Ph.D. in Mathematics;
B.Sc. First Class Honours in Mathematics