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reddotparent
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« on: 15 March 2010, 18:24:05 pm » |
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To parents out there: Are there any quality standards that international schools need to adhere to? The school that my child goes to has continuously increased the number of students in elementary grades for the past couple of years, while no improvement in facilities, or more support for teachers. We have started to see a drop in quality of education. How to go about it?
thanks
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ExpatSingapore Message Board
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« on: 15 March 2010, 18:24:05 pm » |
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Complain
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« Reply #1 on: 15 March 2010, 18:35:18 pm » |
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We had a routine parent teacher meeting recently and I requested the teacher to pass on our complaint about the class size. It is hard to know what else to do. These schools are run on the basis of maximising "bums on seats"  |
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reddotparent
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« Reply #2 on: 15 March 2010, 19:44:56 pm » |
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That's what I'm wondering. Do the schools have some quality metrics or is it just for-profit "maximizing bums on seats"? Would anyone know?
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ex-GESS
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« Reply #3 on: 15 March 2010, 20:04:52 pm » |
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That is one of the reasons our kids used to go to a non-profit school such as GESS - we are not in Singapore anymore.
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Business
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« Reply #4 on: 15 March 2010, 20:06:21 pm » |
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There is no "board" which regulate international schools. If your school uses a particular curriculum then this can be regulated to some degree ie with the IBO but generally they can do what they like!
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OFS_Parent
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« Reply #5 on: 15 March 2010, 20:34:41 pm » |
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We were told that the maximum number of students in elementary grades for our school is 25. At the moment many of classes are running with 26 students. Earlier I had heard that the max (25 students) is set by the ministry.
I hope this helps.
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penniless schools
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« Reply #6 on: 15 March 2010, 20:47:01 pm » |
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We just got a letter from our school telling us that Singapore passed an act back in December banning private schools from collecting deposits so we're all getting ours returned - it was news to me (good news too  ), I didn't even know this had happened, but it makes me wonder if because of that this is why they're increasing their numbers. Returning all those deposits must be quite financially draining, so perhaps they need more students to stop them from going bankrupt - maybe things will even out over the next year or so when they've finished paying back the deposits. |
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fareastjunebug
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« Reply #7 on: 15 March 2010, 20:53:58 pm » |
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OFS is very crowded - even with the expansions, the class size is big. OFS is definitely 'for profit'. Good luck bringing change as long as the enrollment keeps growing.
But as to the OP's question about the quality of education deteriorating, how have the scores on the standardized exams (IB, IGCSE, etc) done relative to other schools around the world using the same exam? I've liked a lot of the teachers there and they might be compensating for infrastructural shortcomings.
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Do or do not, there is no try.
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reddotparent
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« Reply #8 on: 15 March 2010, 22:01:12 pm » |
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Penniless Schools, thank you for sharing the news about the new rule about deposit money.
Would anyone know if this rule also cover what some schools call "registration fee"? I think American School requires about 12,000 SGD just for registration fee.
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class size
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« Reply #9 on: 16 March 2010, 6:57:42 am » |
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UWC's class size has gone up from 20 to 22. That's 10%. It might be 18 before.
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High side
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« Reply #10 on: 16 March 2010, 7:57:14 am » |
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TTS has 24 in a class. This is on the high side for a private school, the same size as a good state primary school in UK. Most go private in the UK for small class sizes (18 to 20 max). That's what they pay for, individual attention.
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to penniless schools
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« Reply #11 on: 16 March 2010, 7:58:28 am » |
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Wonder which schools that rule applies to? My kids are at UWC, haven't heard anything at all about deposits being returned though I must say would be nice to have those many thousands back!!
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interested too
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« Reply #12 on: 16 March 2010, 8:37:21 am » |
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I just called MOE to check and the woman I talked to didn't know about foreign schools. She said no public or private Singaporean schools were allowed to collect deposits. But she also said that wasn't a new rule.
She's given me the number of the body that covers foreign schools. They don't open until 9.30 but I'll post back after I talk to them.
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reddotparent
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« Reply #13 on: 16 March 2010, 8:57:29 am » |
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This has been such a great discussion. Thank you all for your contributions.
To previous poster, thanks for taking the trouble to call MoE. Eagerly awaiting the findings.
thx
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scarbowl
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« Reply #14 on: 16 March 2010, 9:28:30 am » |
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I think they're going after some of the commercial schools that collected "deposits" and then decided, on some more-or-less arbitrary basis, not to return them.
A fee - such as the registration fee at the Am school - is not a deposit. I doubt it is covered by the new law. And don't assume that every school will their "deposit." Some will undoubtedly rename them. I don't think UWC has any plans to refund anything.
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