Feature by German Newspaper, Die Zeit

Strengths of Singapore's Education System (14 Dec 2023)

Riverside Secondary School is pleased to be featured by German broadsheet, Die Zeit on the Strengths of Singapore’s Education System. We are pleased to have been able to share our Riverside Experience beyond Singapore’s shores.

Some excerpts from the article, translated by ChatGPT:

"In the mathematics class of Shaojie Lin at Riverside Secondary School… the eighth graders are working on curve discussions, in Germany, this would be upper-level material… Teacher Lin with a tablet in hand at the front, on it he can see how his students are progressing in calculations. Lin himself wears a headset and records the lesson in case someone wants to review it at home. If the students didn't wear their light blue uniforms, one could think of being at a university, so quiet and focused the work is."

"Lin says he builds on what educators in Germany also call scaffolding in teaching: the teaching unit is considered a scaffold, where each child can climb higher if capable. In other words, those who want to learn more always get new, challenging material. "You have to go beyond the limit to even know where it is," says Lin."

"A question to Riverside Secondary School Principal Yoke Chun Tham: What do you pay particular attention to in the applications of new teachers? " The willingness to always want to improve oneself," answers Tham. "Anyone who thinks they don't need to learn anything more as a teacher has chosen the wrong profession." That too is one of those key terms that everyone constantly talks about: to improve, to get better. Oneself, the school, the education system."

You may access the original article in Deutsch here.