OVERVIEW
Singapore has performed spectacularly well in international rankings of education systems such as PISA and TIMMS. Its students have also triumphed in international competitions in creativity, literature and law. But the philosophy driving these remarkable successes has wrought a great cost to children and parents. Tan Tarn How will argue for a major re-orientation in the way Singapore runs its schools, so as to establish a more rounded and humanity-based measure of educational achievement. MEET THE SPEAKER Mr Tan Tarn How Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies, NUS
Mr Tan Tarn How is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. His research areas are in arts and cultural policy and media and Internet policy.
He has written on the development of the arts in Singapore, in particular, fostering partnerships between the people, private and public sectors; the creative industries in Singapore, China and Korea; cultural policy in Singapore; and arts censorship. His research interests also include arts education and role of education in cultural and human development.
He has also carried out research on the management and regulation of media in Singapore; the impact of the Internet and social media on society; the role of new and old media in the 2008 Malaysian election and the 2006 and 2011 Singapore elections; and the way in which the Internet and social media has influenced the development of civil society and democratic development. He is working on a book on Flourishing Life, which examines issues arising from instrumental economics-oriented thinking in politics, society and education and argues for more comprehensive and humanist indices of development and education achievement. He was a journalist for nearly one and half decades before joining IPS. He has also been a teacher and television scriptwriter, and is a playwright and arts activist.
This free lecture is presented by the HEAD Foundation, a Singapore-based think tank focused on education and leadership for development in Asia.
