Published: Monday, 15th June, 2009 11:00am

Global teaching swap reaps rewards

by Adam Hewitt

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Pupils get some piano lessons from exchange teacher Benjamin Lim and Maiden Erlegh music teacher Matt Butchers.
Pic by: Paul Johns

TEACHERS got a taste of school life on the other side of the world during a one-off exchange programme.

Three newly-qualified teachers from Singapore are coming to the end of a three-week placement at Maiden Erlegh School, Silverdale Road, as part of an exchange organised by Reading University, while three of its student teachers have recently returned from Singapore.

It was the first UK visit for maths and physics teacher Shiang Xin Foo, who said: 'It"s been great at Maiden Erlegh, there"s lots of similarities between children in Singapore and here - they may speak differently, but you"ve still got the naughty ones and the good ones!'

Music teacher Benjamin Lim, 25, said: 'It"s been a big eye-opener. Some things are similar on the surface, though there are cultural differences, but it"s been fascinating to observe different teaching strategies and how they are applied.'

Pic by: Paul Johns

The school day in Singapore runs from 7.30am-2pm, with extra-curricular activities in the afternoons, often involving the police and military cadet forces.

Winston Brookes, head of Reading University"s graduate teaching programme and a former deputy head of Waingels College, Woodley, said: 'It"s worked extremely well, considering they"re two such different systems. In Singapore education is based around the old colonial English system which is much more formal. Class sizes are often 40-plus, compared to rarely over 30 here.

'The initiative originally came from Singapore, because teachers there had been to the University of Reading and remembered it well - Reading stretches its tentacles!'

He added: 'Newly qualified teachers in Singapore don"t apply for jobs, they are allocated them - they go where they are told, and think our system is strange!'

Reading University teaching graduate Elizabeth Ynez-Tulsen said: 'Singapore was an amazing experience, especially coming towards the end of my training. It was really enriching, a completely different culture. It"s very selective there, based on an exam at age 11, so there"s less of a mix of pupils.'

Maiden Erlegh music teacher Matt Butchers said: 'It"s been great having them around, it"s good to build links with people out there. I"m possibly going to Singapore on holiday so might try to meet up with some of them!'

Teacher training co-ordinator Sheelagh Bowker added: 'There have been great benefits for the pupils, especially in art and music, seeing a completely different culture and approach. It lets the children know that education is a universal, that kids all over the world are doing exactly the same thing as at Maiden Erlegh - it really encourages them.'