Abstract
Thirteen different research articles which report on a programmatic research on the enacted secondary school mathematics curriculum in Singapore have been perused in the preparation for this chapter. It considers the instructional practices associated with Singapore secondary mathematics teachers, and identifies possible contextual factors that facilitate these teachers’ enactment of the mathematics curriculum, framed by the Social Cognitive Theory. These factors include teachers’ content knowledge, trust in the leadership, students as disciples, societal valuing of excellence, and twenty-first century competency education. The role of teacher self-efficacy is also examined. An understanding of these contextual factors helps to frame the portraits of mathematics teaching and learning in Singapore secondary schools, and could also allow us to better assess how best to replicate particular instructional practices in other mathematics education systems. In particular, it appears that what works in practice reflects the harmonious interaction between teacher professionalism on the one hand, and policy and other contextual factors on the other hand, underlied by what individuals, institutions, and the society value now and over time.
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Seah, W.T. (2021). Framing the Portraits of Singapore Secondary Mathematics Pedagogy: An Outsider’s Perspective. In: Kaur, B., Leong, Y.H. (eds) Mathematics Instructional Practices in Singapore Secondary Schools. Mathematics Education – An Asian Perspective. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8956-0_16
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