MOE has adopted a two-pronged approach in the cultivation of national instincts among pupils:
Students in the Post-Secondary Education Institutes (PSEIs), i.e. ITE, polytechnics and universities, are an important group who should be engaged more actively in NE. As young adults getting ready to transit into the workforce, they tend to be more practical and independent. PSEIs could leverage on existing platforms for NE and capitalise on their students' maturity, capacity for independent thinking and action, and aspirations for the future.
Through appropriate academic programmes in the curriculum, the strategy is to create regular opportunities for students to be actively involved in discussions of current issues and the challenges facing Singapore. Students could even be engaged in pondering the possible futures for Singapore and the trade-offs that would need to be made in each of them.
Beyond the academic curriculum, students should be encouraged to take part in and initiate community service projects. They could also be involved in special projects such as international events of which Singapore is a part. Such involvement could give students a heightened sense of purpose and excite them about how they could contribute to Singapore.
The strategy for PSEIs also includes foreign students, some of whom would eventually stay on to work and live in Singapore. They could be introduced to Singapore society, heritage and way of life and integrated into the local community. The perspectives of foreign students in NE discussions could also help local students make informed comparisons, understand and better appreciate Singapore.
For the NE effort in schools to be a self-sustaining process, the Principal must be the key driver and motivator of the NE programme. An NE Co-ordinator has been appointed in every school to co-ordinate its efforts and help in disseminating information to teachers. The National Education Branch also has a number of programmes to support schools and train teachers.
The 2 1/2-day seminars are organised for core education personnel who will develop and lead the implementation of NE programmes. The seminars seek to sensitise the participants to Singapore's challenges, constraints and vulnerabilities and to bring them into greater confidence on some of the sensitive challenges in internal and external security. Clusters are also encouraged to organise their own seminars for their teachers.
The new enhanced NE website will house information about various events and programmes and will also be a repository of good ideas for teachers to draw on.
The quarterly videos cover a wide range of topics and aim to keep teachers up-to-date not only with educational initiatives but also regional and international happenings.
These sessions are organised to allow teachers to share with and learn from one another.
NIE trainee teachers are not forgotten. In addition to infusing NE elements in certain content subjects, a 20-hour module has been introduced for DipEd and BA/BSc students at NIE. All trainee teachers also undergo a 2-day campus seminar which incorporates certain elements of the Programme for National Awareness (PNA) course.