Explaining the success of the world’s leading education systems: The case of Singapore

International comparative data on student performance has led McKinsey&Company, among others, to suggest that education systems will inexorably converge in their developmental trajectories with principals and schools enjoying more autonomy. This article challenges these assumptions through referencing Singapore where schools and professionals are still tightly controlled in key resources, curricula and assessment, and where other key factors contribute to its success – thereby evidencing multiple pathways to success.postprin

Do increased professionalism and school autonomy explain the success of the world's leading education systems? Multiple pathways: the case of Singapore

Congress Theme: Education Systems for School Effectiveness and Improvement: Exploring the AlternativesPaper 4In recent years, the availability of international comparative data on student performance has led to a proliferation of analyses on the developmental trajectories of education systems around the world. In the barrage of published findings emanating from these studies, there is a discomforting articulation that all education systems, regardless of their socio-cultural and political contexts, will inexorably converge in their developmental trajectories. Two organisations in particular - OECD through its PISA 2012 report, and McKinsey & Co. through its reports on the progression of ...postprin

How a 'top-performing' Asian school system formulates and implements policy: The case of Singapore

This article analyses the paradox inherent in the ‘top-performing’ yet tightly controlled Singapore education system. As government controls have increased in complexity, existing policymaking conceptual heuristics in accounting for centre-periphery relationships appear inadequate. It argues that more direct government control is being replaced by ‘steering through paternalism from close proximity’, reflecting a more subtle centre-periphery relationship in an Asian context.postprin

Educational leadership in Singapore: Tight coupling, sustainability, scalability, and succession

Purpose: While Singapore's outstanding educational achievements are well known worldwide, there is a disproportionate paucity of literature on school leadership practices that contribute to and support pedagogical initiatives that - along with socio-cultural factors - are normally considered responsible for its educational success. The aim of this paper is to explicate system-wide school leadership factors that contribute to Singapore's educational success. Design/methodology/approach: The paper includes critical discussion, review of literature and conceptualization. Findings: It is argued that three unique features of Singapore school leadership, namely - logistics of a small tightly-coupled school system, human resource policies that reinforce alignment, and a distinctive "leader-teacher compact" reflecting the predominant Chinese culture - account for the extraordinary level of tight coupling and alignment of leadership across the school system. In turn, these unique features bring synergies of sustainability, scalability, succession, and high performance across the entire Singapore school system. Research limitations/implications: Unique features of Singapore school leadership must be examined in conjunction with pedagogical initiatives and socio-cultural factors for a more complete and nuanced understanding of educational success in Singapore. Practical implications: Tightly coupled mechanisms of leadership underlie the success of Singapore education. Government needs to consider whether such tightly- coupled leadership will continue to serve it well in future, given the demand for twenty-first century knowledge based skills. Social implications: The influence of socio-cultural factors (e.g. leader-teacher compact) on educational success merits inclusion in any explanation. Originality/value: This paper addresses an important gap in the literature by promulgating crucial features of school leadership that contribute to Singapore's educational success. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.postprin

Insights into neutralization of animal viruses gained from study of influenza virus

It has long been known that the binding of antibodies to viruses can result in a loss of infectivity, or neutralization, but little is understood of the mechanism or mechanisms of this process. This is probably because neutralization is a multifactorial phenomenon depending upon the nature of the virus itself, the particular antigenic site involved, the isotype of immunoglobulin and the ratio of virus to immunoglobulin (see below). Thus not only is it likely that neutralization of one virus will differ from another but that changing the circumstances of neutralization can change the mechanism itself. To give coherence to the topic we are concentrating this review on one virus, influenza type A which is itself well studied and reasonably well understood [1–3]. Reviews of the older literature can be found in references 4 to 7

‘Jugglers’, ‘copers’ and ‘strugglers’: academics’ perceptions of being a head of department in a post-1992 UK university and how it influences their future careers

This study investigates the experiences of academics who became department heads in a post-1992 UK university and explores the influence that being in the position has on their planned future academic career. Drawing on life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female heads of department, the paper constitutes an in-depth study of their careers in the same university. The findings suggest that academics who become department heads not only need the capacity to assume a range of personal and professional identities, but need flexibility to regularly adopt and switch between them. Whether individuals can successfully balance and manage such multiple identities, or whether they experience major conflicts within or between them, greatly affects their experiences of being a head of department and seems to influence their subsequent career decisions. The paper concludes by proposing a conceptual framework and typology to interpret the career trajectories of academics that became department heads in the case university

The case for early use of rapid whole-genome sequencing in management of critically ill infants: late diagnosis of Coffin-Siris syndrome in an infant with left congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital heart disease, and recurrent infections.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) results from incomplete formation of the diaphragm leading to herniation of abdominal organs into the thoracic cavity. CDH is associated with pulmonary hypoplasia, congenital heart disease, and pulmonary hypertension. Genetically, it is associated with aneuploidies, chromosomal copy-number variants, and single gene mutations. CDH is the most expensive noncardiac congenital defect. Management frequently requires implementation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which increases management expenditures 2.4-3.5-fold. The cost of management of CDH has been estimated to exceed $250 million per year. Despite in-hospital survival of 80%-90%, current management is imperfect, as a great proportion of surviving children have long-term functional deficits. We report the case of a premature infant prenatally diagnosed with CDH and congenital heart disease, who had a protracted and complicated course in the intensive care unit with multiple surgical interventions, including postcardiac surgery ECMO, gastrostomy tube placement with Nissen fundoplication, tracheostomy for respiratory failure, recurrent infections, and developmental delay. Rapid whole-genome sequencing (rWGS) identified a de novo, likely pathogenic, c.3096_ 3100delCAAAG (p.Lys1033Argfs*32) variant in ARID1B, providing a diagnosis of Coffin-Siris syndrome. Her parents elected palliative care and she died later that day

"I think they believe in me": The predictive effects of teammate- and classmate-focused relation-inferred self-efficacy in sport and physical activity settings

Despite the prevalence of group-/team-based enactment within sport and physical activity settings, to this point the study of relation-inferred self-efficacy (RISE) has been focused upon estimations regarding a single target individual (e.g., one’s coach). Accordingly, researchers have not yet considered whether individuals may also form RISE estimations regarding the extent to which the others in their group/team as a whole are confident in their ability. We applied structural equation modeling analyses with cross-sectional and prospective data collected from members of interdependent sport teams (Studies 1 and 2) and undergraduate physical activity classes (Studies 3 and 4), with the purpose of exploring these group-focused RISE inferences. Analyses showed that group-focused RISE perceptions (a) predicted individuals’ confidence in their own ability, (b) were empirically distinct from conceptually related constructs, and (c) directly and/or indirectly predicted a range of downstream outcomes over and above the effects of other efficacy perceptions. Taken together, these findingsprovide preliminary evidence that individuals’ group-focused RISE appraisals may be important to consider when investigating the network of efficacy perceptions that develops in group-based physical activity contexts

Influenza virus protecting RNA : an effective prophylactic and therapeutic antiviral

Another influenza pandemic is inevitable, and new measures to combat this and seasonal influenza are urgently needed. Here we describe a new concept in antivirals based on a defined, naturally occurring defective influenza RNA that has the potential to protect against any influenza A virus in any animal host. This protecting RNA (244 RNA) is incorporated into virions which although non-infectious, deliver the RNA to those cells of the respiratory tract that are naturally targeted by infectious influenza virus. A small intranasal dose of this 244 protecting virus (120 ng) completely protected mice against a simultaneous lethal (10 LD50) challenge with influenza A/WSN (H1N1) virus. 244 virus also protected mice against a strong challenge dose of all other subtypes tested (H2N2, H3N2, H3N8). This prophylactic activity was maintained in the animal for at least 1 week prior to challenge. 244 virus was 10 to 100-fold more active than previously characterised influenza A defective viruses, and the protecting activity was confirmed to reside in the 244 RNA molecule by recovering a protecting virus entirely from cloned cDNA. There was clear therapeutic benefit when protecting 244 virus was administered 24-48 h after lethal challenge, an effect which has not been previously observed with any defective virus. Protecting virus reduced, but did not abolish, replication of challenge virus in mouse lungs during both prophylactic and therapeutic treatments. Protecting virus is a novel antiviral which has the potential to combat influenza infections in humans, particularly when the infecting strain is not known, or is resistant to antiviral drugs