Si Ling Secondary students' grades are up too with pilot outdoor education programme
Jennani Durai Straits Times 27 Oct 10;
GETTING its students outdoors kayaking and abseiling has helped Si Ling Secondary School cut down its dropout rate.
It is one of the first secondary schools here to introduce outdoor education as a required part of its curriculum.
Si Ling launched a pilot programme for a trial group of Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) Secondary 2 students in 2007, before incorporating it into the curriculum for them.
Since then, the dropout rate has gone down and students' grades have gone up, said principal Wong Lok Oon.
The school was commended yesterday by Senior Minister of State for Education S. Iswaran at the 4th Outdoor Education Conference, held at the School of the Arts.
Some 500 educators explored how outdoor education can enhance the holistic development of students and shared best practices in designing and delivering such programmes.
Mr Iswaran said: 'Outdoor experiences immerse the learner in authentic situations within personal and social contexts, with real consequences to themselves, others and the environment.'
At Si Ling, the numbers speak for themselves - its dropout rate hit a record low this year, with only four out of 780 students quitting school, down from 10 last year and 18 in 2003.
The school will receive its first value-added award from the Ministry of Education later this year. Schools are said to have added value when their students do better than expected in the O levels, judging from their PSLE scores.
Mr Wong said that the majority of students in his school learn best by doing.
'These are kids that are pretty weak academically, and many come from financially and emotionally deprived backgrounds. They simply don't have the support that most of us take for granted,' he said.
The staff began looking for ways to get them excited about school and to create a greater sense of belonging and camaraderie.
They decided to try out the idea of personalised and experiential learning through the trial programme, in which three to four periods a week are devoted to outdoor learning.
The programme includes land expeditions such as mountain climbing or trekking, sea expeditions such as kayaking, and rope and obstacle courses.
The school uses places such as Outward Bound Singapore and the Adventure Learning Centre at Republic Polytechnic for its outdoor sessions.
It now plans to extend the programme to all its students, starting next year.
Mr Wong said he has seen the behaviour of students change for the better and grades shoot up. Students are also generally happier.
'Outdoor activities have really given them a sense of worth and achievement,' he said. 'When students overcome physical challenges, we see that they also learn to apply the same principles to other challenges in their lives.'
Murni Yati, a Secondary 2 Normal (Technical) student, said she has benefited from the programme.
'I like to do outdoor activities, but never had the chance to do stuff like abseiling, rock climbing and kayaking before,' said the 14-year-old.
She added that the group activities have been particularly meaningful to her.
'I have learnt a lot about friendship and encouraging one another not to give up.'
