Education technology is a major feature in Singapore schools with the Government aiming to transform learning to “prepare students for a technology-transformed world”.
“We recognise the power and the affordance of technology to help our teachers bring out the best in students in the teaching and learning process,” Yusof Ishak Secondary School Principal Chen Ziyang told 1News.
Yusof Ishak Secondary School is one of two schools the Ministry of Education Singapore approved access to after 1News made a request to see the country’s high-performing education system in action.
In the latest 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment study run by OECD, Singapore scored the highest in mathematics, reading and science.
Singapore schools have access to a Ministry-run online learning platform called the Student Learning Space. Curriculum-aligned resources and exercises can be accessed by students at school and home. Teachers can use resources in class, personalise learning for each student, assess student work and give feedback to students on the platform.
Secondary students use the tool on their assigned remote learning days.
One of the latest features being used on the platform is the language feedback assistant.
This uses artificial intelligence to give students instant feedback on their spelling and punctuation.
This gives the teacher more time to help students with complex tasks when learning a language, like getting the tone correct.
The Ministry of Education in New Zealand said in a statement Singapore’s online learning platform is of interest.
“Especially its integration with curriculum delivery and the strong professional development provided to teachers,” Ministry of Education acting deputy secretary Pauline Cleaver said.
“The Ministry is monitoring how such tools impact teaching, learning and assessment.”
Cleaver said the Ministry of Education acknowledged the potential of artificial intelligence for personalised learning and teacher support but emphasised that “teachers must remain central to educational relationships”.
Other artificial intelligence work at the Ministry of Education in New Zealand includes monitoring guidance documents being developed by the OECD and UNESCO and reviewing the potential role of AI in Government priorities in education such as literacy, mathematics, student progress monitoring, data and evidence-informed decision making and learning support interventions.
Additionally, the under-review technology curriculum, which is required for use by all schools in 2027, will include AI-related content.
“AI literacy is emphasised as critical for educators and students to make informed decisions about AI integration,” Cleaver said.
Developing policy on artificial intelligence in education is complex.
Algorithm bias towards dominant cultures in provided information, privacy and Māori data sovereignty are some of the risks acknowledged by the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry has created guidance for schools to consider and is part of the Safer Technologies for Schools (ST4S) initiative, which assesses digital tools to determine whether they meet privacy and security standards for schools to use.
The initiative has shared its first version of criteria for artificial intelligence tools. Schools using AI technology can contact the ST4S team for guidance.
The Ministry said independent research is being conducted on AI use in primary schools, its impact on teaching and learning, and equity outcomes. The research will help the Ministry understand levels of use and develop further guidance and resources for the sector.
“Small ad hoc research projects indicate that teachers are using AI for lesson planning, resource generation, and administrative tasks.
“However, some educators remain cautious due to knowledge gaps about AI technology,” Cleaver added.
‘It is something we can embrace’
AUT business senior lecturer Dr Geri Harris is the education lead for AI Forum New Zealand.
She said more than 500 educators are part of the forum’s community of practice group.
“There’s certainly a view that we should be trying to bring this (AI) into as many aspects of education as possible.
“We could do more if we could increase the awareness of the benefit of this technology and do something to allay people’s fears that it’s not going to make them lose their job, it’s not meaning that students are all cheating, that it is something we can embrace.”
Harris said there are many resources on using AI in education that are free to access and manageable.
“One of the tasks that our working group are investigating currently and will be putting a lot of energy into is where we can avail of existing AI literacy resources.”
“I think the bigger challenge will be fitting the time for this sort of professional development into a typical educators day when we’re so busy teaching and doing and fronting up with the students.”
Harris said she’s comfortable with the pace of action on artificial intelligence in education.
“I think the Ministry of Education have been undergoing some changes in the latter part of last year internally. I know that there’s also been a really positive focus on numeracy and literacy.
“Yes, ideally it would be brilliant if we had everything we wanted in the next 12 months, but I’m pragmatic enough to understand that things take time.”
Harris wanted to see the Ministry of Education deliver curriculum planning and advocate for a learning approach that is flexible enough to adapt to developments in the artificial intelligence space in the next few years.
She said employers across different sectors wants staff that are capable in using AI technology.
“We can’t ignore educating our educators to be confident to use AI in their teaching because we’re expecting our kids to graduate competent in using it.”
Ziyang said when the focus is on artificial intelligence technology and how it operates, teachers can become scared.
“When we focus on… what you can change, what benefits it brings to the learner, the willingness goes up.”
He likened the emergence of artificial intelligence to when Google launched its first search engine.
“There’s a lot of fear that with the internet and the search engine, the whole notion of the teacher giving knowledge might be replaced but I think that’s not true.
“I think the recent applications of AI for teaching and learning has shown us new possibilities.”
Chen said artificial intelligence allows students to get feedback quicker.
“The learning of languages, students can now record a piece of their narration of the text and then the AI can evaluate how precise the narration is, the pronunciation is and give the child direct feedback down to the word that was mispronounced.”
He also shared the example of how evaluating a piece of text created by artificial intelligence as a class gives students more confidence to share their feedback and involves them in the group discussion.
“In the past, we had to get students examples to give feedback to the class, what’s a good piece of writing, what’s a not so good piece of writing and sometimes we hesitate because we wonder whether students are worried that their work is being shown to the class and socially, emotionally they may feel not so good and threatened.
“But with generative AI… the whole class can critique it in a more open and safe environment because it is from AI.”
Chen said this makes the lesson more engaging.
1News travelled to Singapore with the support of the Asia New Zealand Foundation
