Resilience Focused Education
Throughout the twentieth century, scholars have attributed students’ academic achievements, or lack thereof, to their learning aptitude and quality of teaching curricula. As such, schools and parents often value academic performance over socio-emotional learning. Across Asia, this trend manifests itself in parents’ reliance on tuition and tiger parenting - the constant strict monitoring of a student’s academic progress. This places pressure on students to excel, discouraging risk-taking, and limiting socio-emotional development.
However, in recent decades, we have seen an increasing interest in resilience-focused education. Given its emphasis on socio-emotional competence, incorporating a growth mindset, and creating supportive social structures among children, resilience-focused education is gaining traction. This panel aims to dissect the perpetuated stereotypes and beliefs about the education system in Singapore and identify approaches in education that instil resilience in a safe space, without putting students under prolonged duress.
Mr Serey Nguon
“Awareness Raising toward Socio-emotional Learning in the Field of Health Sciences in Cambodia”
Currently a learning and teaching officer at the University of Puthisastra, Mr Serey Nguon champions the idea of social emotional and collaborative learning amongs its students. When he first joined the industry, he realised that most people studied alone and viewed their peers as competitors. He also found that doctors, rather than teachers, were more active in promoting a socio-emotional approach to learning.
Determined to address the issue, Mr Serey Nguon embarked on a project to train his colleagues at the university and to document positive impacts of a socioemotional approach to learning. Supported by his experiences, his research reflects his strong beliefs in learning beyond the classroom. Moreover, he found that a closely-knit community is essential in creating a safe space for knowledge-sharing.
Mr Parul Punjabi Jagdish
“We are not the problem, we are the solution: Using AIME's unique pedagogical framework of IMAGI-NATION to flip the script for marginalised youth.”
Parul currently serves as Head of Education of the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME). He has delivered over 30 key community projects and won multiple awards in Australia, such as the recent 2019 Champion of Children’s Rights Award. His lifetime goal is to attain educational equity for all children in the world.
Since 2005, AIME has been ending educational inequity for some of the most marginalised youth globally through imagination & mentoring. The impacts are made even more significant due to the effectiveness of outreach, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. Its success has been driven by its unique educational paradigm, which reframes the internal narrative of marginalised youth and changes perceptions in teachers, principals, parents and the wider ecosystem to position them as leaders within their community. In his presentation, Parul will share about the effects of using AIME’s values-based pedagogical framework on marginalised youth.
A/P Dr. John Chee Meng Wong
Education goals for the new age in the university: future-ready and future proof
A/P John Chee Meng Wong is the Lin Jo Yan and Yeo Boon Khim Professor in Mental Health and Neuroscience at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, and Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at the National University Hospital.
He is the immediate past Head of Department of Psychological Medicine at the NUS and NUH, Vice Chairman Medical Board(Education) at NUH, founding Executive Director of the Regional Health Planning Office and founding Director of the CARE Hub at the National University Health System (NUHS). He is currently the Director of NUHS/ NUS Mind Science Centre, and President of the College of Psychiatrists, Academy of Medicine Singapore.
His research includes the Singapore YEAR Study, a national youth mental health epidemiology study, clinical trials and non-pharmacological treatment trials in ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder, adolescent resilience and suicide prevention studies. In his presentation, A/P Wong will explain how tertiary education has a dual purpose - that of shaping one’s mind and emotional resilience, and that of meeting the new age market needs and being future-proof.
Choo Wen Ting
Project Kindle+: A pilot foster youth programme
Wen Ting, Dave, Nicholas, and Natania are CAPT alumni who graduated from CAPT in 2019. After participating in a project under ACE (Active Community Engagement), Kindle, the group was inspired to pilot a study on mentorship. They recognised that a similar programme would be beneficial to foster youths in their growing years, while addressing current lack of information in the current programme.
Her CAPSTONE Project, Kindle+, focuses on mentorship with a focus on resilience. The project aims to serve the needs of foster youths as they recognised the increasing number of children and youths admitted into foster care. Currently, there is a paucity of literature documenting positive youth development programs for foster youths. Such a program serves as a preventative function against risk factors associated with adverse childhood and builds assets to support youth’s development.