Creative Primary School: my first encounter with Invitational Education

In invitational education, the two key factors that lead to the maximisation of student potential are positive self-concept and positive perception of the world. These factors are acquired and not inherent from birth.

Upon entering the school, I could immediately see, hear, smell and breathe the spirit of invitational education. We were greeted by primary school students who were so warm and friendly. There were many banners with slogans like "Make Every Lesson Count". Each room was decorated by a colourful poster that reminded all the importance of cultivating ourselves to be "principled, caring, reflective, thinker, open-minded  e.t.c ". The corridors were a walking gallery of students' work.

The teachers were very professionally dressed, confident and strong advocates of  "Invitational Education".  The principal shared with us little anecdotes of her students. A very strong message that went through was that students were given lots of room for exploration and failure Moreover, the teachers take it personally upon themselves to ensure that they help each student discover his potential.

Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School: my first encounter with Inviting students

This school showcased its mathematical elite programme students. They confidently walk us through the solution of a few mathematical Olympics question. It is evident that they were not memorizing some teacher written script as they communicated very systematically the thought process.  

At the end of the presentation, one of the student leaders even prompted us to share with them how Singapore teachers train their elite students.

At no point in the presentation did the students look at one another or their teacher for reassurance. Impressive!

Singapore International School: my first encounter with an International School

The physical infrastructure looked similar to Singapore school. However, it faced a very different set of challenges compared to a Singapore school. The hardest being the need to brand and market itself. The staff, students and parents also have very high expectations.

LeeLee

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