This article is written by Andrew Wear, Director of Economic Development in the City of Melbourne and author of "Solved. How other countries cracked the world’s biggest problems (and we can too)", where this excerpt is from.

Every three years, the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) measures the ability of fifteen-year-olds to apply their knowledge in real-life situations. It’s a complex test that requires creative and critical thinking.

Singapore has consistently topped the rankings. In maths, Singapore scores 569, while Anglo countries such as Australia (491), the United Kingdom (502) and the United States (478) are far down the list.

The average Singaporean teenager is roughly three years ahead of their American peers in maths. In reading, Singapore scores 549, well ahead of Estonia (523), the highest-performing country in the OECD. The average Singaporean student is about two years ahead of their peers in the OECD when it comes to literacy.

The average Singaporean student is about two years ahead of their peers in the OECD when it comes to literacy

And if you think that education in Singapore might be all about rote learning, note that Singaporean students also perform higher than students in any other country in “collaborative problem solving,” which is measured by students’ ability to work with two or more people to try to solve a problem.

Not a nation of farmers

Honorary professor David Hogan brings a uniquely informed outsider’s perspective to Singapore’s education system.

An Australian based at the University of Queensland’s School of Education, Hogan, was invited to Singapore back in 2004 to review a research proposal. After that, “they kept on asking me to go back and do more work”. He ultimately spent six years in Singapore at the National Institute of Education, including time as dean of the Office of Education Research. He says Singapore’s performance in education is a central pillar of its national development agenda.

“One of the reasons Singapore does so well economically is that it’s able to signal to investors that it’s got a really high-quality labour force,” Hogan says. “Singapore doesn’t have natural resources, it can’t farm, it can’t dig gold out of the ground, so it invests heavily in human capital. The government emphasises it, the community supports it, and they want a system that will give everyone a shot at doing well.”

To date, Ng has trained more than half of Singapore’s school principals. By the time he retires, it’s possible Ng will have trained every principal in Singapore

Singapore’s system of exams can be brutal, stratifying students into winners and losers at an early age. Yet at its heart is a genuine attempt at meritocracy, and it is arguably fairer than education systems in countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom or the United States, which effectively stratify students into different types of schools, colleges or universities based on their family’s ability to pay. The Singaporean notion is that whether you are rich or poor, or whether you are ethnic Chinese, Malay or Indian, the state will support you, and you have a chance to “make it”.

Singapore’s educational success has been achieved by investing in a quality teaching force, and by raising the prestige and status of teaching to attract the best graduates.

For the love of teaching

Associate Professor Ng Pak Tee is the author of the book Learning from Singapore. Speaking to me via Skype from his office at Nanyang Technological University, Ng explains that Singapore is recruiting from the top one-third of its secondary-school graduates: “We are hiring very, very good people into our system, and it seems to be working.”

Ng initially started his career as a teacher. As a young man he obtained a scholarship to the University of Cambridge to study mathematics, and “returned as a maths teacher”. He went on to become an official in the Ministry of Education, and for the last nineteen or so years he’s been at the National Institute of Education.

“One of my main jobs is the training and development of school leaders,” Ng says. To date, he has trained more than half of Singapore’s school principals. By the time he retires, it’s possible he will have trained every principal in Singapore.

Once in the workforce, teachers are also supported with ample professional development. Almost all participate in team-based learning, classroom observation and feedback exercises, as well as receiving mentoring from more-experienced “master teachers”

On average, only one out of every eight students who apply is accepted into the teaching program, after passing through a gruelling assessment process. “When we choose people, we are not choosing based on qualifications,” Ng says. “There’s a certain baseline, but once we have a small pool of people that we’re looking at, we no longer look at qualifications. We are looking for people who genuinely have a love for teaching, have a love for young people and an aptitude for the profession.”

In most countries, students apply for a teaching position after graduating, and only then enter employment. However, in Singapore, teachers are employed as civil servants from the moment they commence their training. During their study, they receive a salary and all the benefits accorded to civil servants, including paid annual leave, and medical and insurance cover. Following their training, they are guaranteed a job. These advantages lead to a higher standard of applicants and a higher rate of retention.

Paving the way for mastery

Once in the workforce, teachers are also supported with ample professional development. Almost all participate in team-based learning, classroom observation and feedback exercises, as well as receiving mentoring from more-experienced “master teachers”.

Each individual teacher is entitled to up to 100 hours of professional development per year. This can involve undertaking courses at the National Institute of Education, school-based development or even going overseas to examine aspects of education systems and pedagogy in other countries. “They’ve really improved the nature and the quality of professional development,” David Hogan says. “The system really wants to reward merit and not promote people out of pathways where they are exceptionally good. So, it’s really smart about keeping good teachers in the system.”

Performance is appraised each year, with outstanding teachers receiving bonuses. After three years, teachers are assessed to determine whether they have potential to pursue a career as a master teacher, school leader or specialist, each of which comes with an increase in salary. Master teachers mentor new teachers for several years and focus on classroom skills. Teachers with leadership potential are moved to middle management and assessed for their potential to become an assistant principal or, later, a principal. The specialist track supports teachers to develop deep knowledge and skills in a specific discipline. These teachers may develop curriculum, set course lists or potentially write examinations for the Ministry of Education.

One unique feature of Singapore’s education system, which this focus on career pathways shows, is an extremely close alignment between the key leaders of the education ministry, the National Institute of Education and individual schools, who share responsibility and accountability for teacher training and student performance. This is made possible by the fact that almost all students go to schools in the one government system. Hogan says that no education policy is announced “without a plan for building the capacity to meet it”. — Andrew Wear

This is an edited extract of Andrew Wear’s book_,_ Solved. How other countries cracked the world’s biggest problems (and we can too), in bookstores now.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)