Ensuring Quality in Education: The Educational Design Principles of Ruhan College
- Not Just Talk
- Not Just Examinable Subjects
- Not Just the Job
- Not Just the Foreseeable Future
- Not Just the West
- Values Before Learning
- Books Do Matter
- Linguistics, Literature and Language Mastery
- Mother-Tongue, Identity and Globalisation
- The Humanities, Morality and World Exploration
- Sciences and the Deep Cognitive Mind
- Mathematics and the Fast Logical Mind
- The Arts as the Spring of Creativity
- Sports as a Lifestyle
- The Student, Your Education, Your Life
- Ruhan College: Educational Design Principles
1. Not Just Talk
The Ruhan College is built on strong educational ideologies and shall always study international research findings to constantly update its curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Student learning is evaluated and reviewed based on how the student performs in every lesson that he or she attends at Ruhan. The College engages and nurtures every developing child in every minute of the lesson through close teacher contact in a small classroom setting. Ruhan College shall provide its students with the cultural and knowledge tools that they can use for life, not just simply the tools to do well in examinations.
2. Not Just Examinable Subjects
Ruhan College is a fully self-funded private educational entity that needs to make a profit to ensure its viability and future expansion in a high-cost business environment. However, no one shall be allowed to exploit this entity through profiteering or unfair business practices. In this regard, profits made from student fees shall be ploughed into educational purposes, such as enriching the curriculums and learning experiences of Ruhan’s students. Ruhan does not only teach to exam requirements; rather, it delivers an education for children and youths that caters to life’s enjoyment and fulfilment.
3. Not Just the Job
Ruhan College shall always offer a holistic education that is scientifically tagged to the developmental needs of children and youths. This invariably means that the subjects, courses and programmes offered by Ruhan are planned and delivered using evidence-based approaches. For instance, the expansion of Ruhan will see the teaching of Astronomy in its classrooms as an enrichment course. Astronomy has long been studied by educational experts and is now known to be effective in keeping alive the innate curiosity of children, who are all born with an inquisitive mind as they grapple with their understanding of the world. Sadly, and ironically, this fiery passion for the Sciences is very often extinguished when children study Science subjects in school. Ruhan will ensure that all its students explore their potential and develop to the best that they deserve. A fully developed young adult is ready to take on the world, not just the job that he or she has been trained narrowly for in late adolescence.
4. Not Just the Foreseeable Future
Technology has indeed drastically changed how we live our everyday lives. However, as far as Education is concerned, it would be unwise to revolutionise it for the sake of keeping up with the acquired technological attributes of the younger generation, for we are still very much, humans. Public health conditions permitting, Ruhan College shall not have any part of its curriculums delivered online. Teacher-student dynamics in the physical classroom has been proven to be essential for learning and will be highly valued. Ruhan shall not ditch any conception or practice in Education deemed “obsolete” in this high-tech era without first studying its relevance to student learning. Only the best of old and tech will be kept, so that only the best goes to the Education of our children and youths.
5. Not Just the West
In the field of Education, countries in the Western world should be credited for their contribution to a vast body of scientific research on Cognitive Psychology, the Neuroscience of Learning, and the Sociology and Politics of Education. However, as with advancements in technology, Asian countries should only emulate the strengths of Western educational ideologies and practices, and blend them with the best of our own. For instance, Ruhan College will be very prudent in developing student discipline in completing homework that helps in reinforcing learnt concepts, and also not consider having fun classroom games that are time-consuming but yield little learning benefit for students. Only the best of West and East will be kept, for all that glitters is not gold.
6. Values Before Learning
Values are the essential elements that ensure the healthy development of children and youths. They form an integral part of learning and schooling and should be built into the intellect and cognition of students all over the world. Ruhan College places great importance on the explicit teaching of secular values, with Morality and Character making up a vital component of its curriculums in every grade level. In particular, the MIFCA-DRILI is a framework that allows students to reflect on how each and every value could be translated into meaningful action in their daily lives. The teaching of values in the Ruhan classroom also takes on a developmental approach, where a specific set of age-appropriate values are strategically inculcated in students according to their stage of growth. In contrast, Respect, Compassion and Helpfulness are some of the crucial values that will be emphasised throughout the developmental span of our students. Acquiring the right values in one’s formative years makes for a quality adult, who in turn becomes a quality member of society and humanity. There is no shortcut to this process of human development.
7. Books Do Matter
Technology has transformed the way some of us engage with the written word. As we revel in the convenience and easy access to virtual “books”, again, we really have to be wary of how technology has changed us fundamentally. Look around us and it is easy to see that many young adults do not like reading despite being “well-educated”. In contrast, older adults tend to like reading since we have always loved the engagement with real paper with real words on them. There is now an increasing body of research in Neuroscience on how reading digitally has a negative impact on the levels of understanding, retention and assimilation in the human brain. As part of effective teaching and learning, Ruhan College shall ensure that most subjects are taught with a physical textbook, a practice that some schools, and even University departments, have done away with by relying solely on lecture notes scantily strewn with dot-points. We have to remember that information is hardly knowledge. Students must learn how to navigate the world of knowledge through hardcopy books containing clear and comprehensive explanations. Good teaching builds a passion for learning, and so do good textbooks. Through its language subjects and courses, Ruhan further instils a love for books, and a passion for reading them.
8. Linguistics, Literature and Language Mastery
Ruhan College ensures that Grammar and Linguistics are explicitly taught in the classroom, so that its students have the means to prevent the quality of their language from deteriorating throughout adulthood – a phenomenon observed in many working professionals. Now, Grammar and Linguistics allow our students to know the right language to use, but not necessarily the best language, and much less the most appealing word choice in specific contexts. Through studying how language gives rise to meaning in classics and other great works, Literature is the student’s key to a new realm of language mastery, where constructing meaning using the best and most appropriate words and structures eventually becomes second nature to the student. Hence, throughout the student’s entire development, Ruhan teaches English and Chinese Literatures, both of which are assessed internally through short assessments, since they are not popular subjects in national examinations. All humans have a soft spot for languages. Ruhan helps students discover and develop this love, so that they visit the libraries and bookshops for more of that love. Resources permitting, the Ruhan Bookworm (儒修) – a major chapter of the Ruhan Alumni – will allow our graduates to continue exploring the world of books in adulthood. Every Ruhan graduate will be amazed by how these lifelong scholastic benefits actually started with the effective teaching of Literature in a classroom for the young.
9. Mother-Tongue, Identity and Globalisation
The Chinese Language is the mother-tongue of ethnic Chinese in this country, so proficiency in this language should not stay at levels that are way too mediocre. Ruhan College shall be a learning space that is inundated with the excitement of studying the Chinese Language – its literature, history, culture and values. The teaching strategy adopted at Ruhan is to make language learning the cardinal tool for developing a deep passion for Chinese culture. A strong affinity for our uniquely plural and hybridised identity makes us ready to embrace the world – all without losing a sense of who we actually are, our fortes, and our professional niches. Ruhan will ensure that its graduates are well-schooled bilingually and biculturally till 18 years of age, so that they become fully functional in the competitive globalised era where their own mother-tongue is increasingly dominant on the world stage.
10. The Humanities, Morality and World Exploration
The future expansion of Ruhan College shall see the Humanities opening up our students’ mind to both place and time, and how they can contribute to the world and humanity at large. Hence, Geography shall be the main Humanities subject taught at Ruhan College until the student reaches 18 years of age. Physical Geography allows the student to understand the planet that he lives in, whereas Human Geography explores the topical issues and challenges of Mother Earth. At Ruhan, English and Chinese Literatures provide students with critical insights into the human psyche, as well as timeless emotions and issues. As future pillars of humanity and the agents of change, Ruhan also incorporates Character and Morality Education into its Humanities curriculum till students reach full adolescence, that is, 18 or 19 years of age. Childhood and adolescence are critical stages of human development where students undergo rapid psycho-social growth. Humanities at Ruhan shall always ensure that students mature into quality adults with independent and sound reasoning skills, a strong and resilient character, and deep morals of kindness, compassion and considerateness.
11. Sciences and the Deep Cognitive Mind
Humans are born with a keen natural instinct to learn about the world around us. The cognitive behaviours of toddlers and young children oftentimes reveal an innately deep curiosity for things massive, moving or growing. Ironically, this inquisitiveness starts to wear off when children begin learning about the Sciences in school. Science Education shall begin from the Nursery at Ruhan College, where students experiment with forces and objects, and observe the growth of their own little plants. Astronomy and Earth Sciences will be introduced to Upper Primary students, and only assessed via internal assignments or projects, so as not to extinguish their fires of scientific passion. Astronomy will be taught again in Upper Secondary (15 and 16 years) as an enrichment course of Physics and Chemistry. Exclusively for our graduates, the Ruhan Space Scientists (儒宇) will also be formed as one of the numerous pioneering alumni chapters of Ruhan. Sciences at Ruhan are delivered scientifically according to the developmental learning needs of the child or youth, plugging the gaps of what he or she needs to know and how to know it. The creative, ingenious and unrelenting process of discovery and invention by great scientists will be studied by our students up until the age of 18 years – a source of deep inspiration and a means of cognitive development. This is what an effective Science Education truly is, and it will be what students experience at Ruhan College.
12. Mathematics and the Fast Logical Mind
Mathematics is not a subject that simply makes a school look good as the majority of its students are able to ace Mathematics exams through constant drilling. Students actually need to appreciate Mathematics as an academic discipline that reveals the natural order of the Universe and how everyone and everything operate within it to achieve a logical, optimal balance. Every child or youth who steps into Ruhan College shall first appreciate the significance of Arithmetic through real-world word problems. From P4 to J2, the Ruhan student shall study the concepts and real-world applications of Mathematics. No student will be made to do homework drills without first being taught how Mathematics operates logically in specific real-world contexts, and its relevance to everyone’s lives. In class, Ruhan students will be encouraged to articulate their mathematical reasoning and to reflect on their problem-solving strategies and approaches. In other words, no student shall graduate from Ruhan thinking that the time and effort spent learning Mathematics had been wasted. Contrarily, all Ruhan graduates shall appreciate how Mathematics had trained them to become fast and logical thinkers, even though their future fields of work may not directly require them to apply mathematical theorems and methods.
13. The Arts as the Spring of Creativity
The awakening of the artistic persona awaits the Ruhan student. An artist who engages in creative expression in turn provides a unique experience for the audience, thereby stimulating creativity in them and pampering them with much intellectual indulgence. Although creativity exists in all disciplines, its soul manifests through the Arts subjects. When Ruhan College is fully set up, its Arts curriculum will present itself in 3 strands, namely, Literary Arts, Visual/Performing Arts and Media Arts. Right from Nursery through to JC, Ruhan provides ample opportunities in its curriculum for students to explore their artistic potential and to express themselves through the Arts. In their senior grade levels, students get to study Literary Arts as enrichment courses and do hands-on praxis in Media Arts. In addition, both Visual and Performing Arts are offered through various painting, calligraphy and singing courses. The Arts feeds the mind with the goodness and optimism of life. The approach to Arts Education at Ruhan is for each and every student to specialise in a couple of art forms, yet being able to appreciate all forms wherever, whenever. But beware, the Arts is contagious – catch it at Ruhan and you’d never want to be cured of it.
14. Sports as a Lifestyle
While discovering budding athletes in school is a wonderful thing, the idea of a successful Sports Education is really in its Psychology. A school must be able to sustain student passion for keeping fit and staying well, since this really should not be something that a student does when young but gives up gradually as energy levels decline with age. When Ruhan College is fully established, its Physical Education courses shall ensure that the physical fitness of a student is not measured against daunting national standards, but within the student himself or herself, that is, how much improvement the student has made in terms of physical fitness over specific time periods. No student shall suffer in school, and for the rest of his or her life, just because he or she, innately, has a specific body shape or a certain disinclination for sport. Regardless of existing fitness levels, Physical Education at Ruhan shall encourage and motivate each and every student. As Ruhan expands and is able to hold the annual Ruhan Sports Day, it shall be an event that has elite categories and also categories for the less sports-inclined, as long as the latter students want to have a go at competing in athletics. Sports is Science at Ruhan. Physical Education courses will be closely tailored to the growth in student physique at the various grade levels. Developmentally, boys and girls will be physically ready for resistance and cardiovascular workouts in the gym when they reach late adolescence. Taught by certified instructors, the Fitness and Wellness course is open to all senior adolescents. Sports Nutrition talks will also be held to complement physical workout regimes. All Ruhan graduates shall deeply understand the role of both sports and nutrition in the development of personal health and wellness. They will have the knowledge and confidence to make a real difference to the quality of their own lives beyond Ruhan.
15. The Student, Your Education, Your Life
“Student-centrism” shall be the maxim of all Educationists and Educators at Ruhan College – that the education and development of our students are the very reasons why we are here in the first place. Educating a student from early childhood to late adolescence is a long and sacrosanct goal that all Educationists and Educators should respect and take it upon themselves to accomplish. This also calls for our immaculate knowledge, ethics and professionalism. We walk the talk – there shall be no shortcuts to developing a student until he or she is ready to step into adulthood. Each and every Ruhan student will be carefully nurtured and given the best “nutrients” for their growth. Biologically, adulthood is a relatively long period of time in the human species, and the best Education gives the student the strongest foundation for his or her life ahead. This foundation is made up of the 10 Ruhan Values that run in order of significance: Morality 德, Intellect 智, Fitness 体, Camaraderie 群, Aesthetics 美, Diligence 勤, Respect 礼, Innovation 创, Leadership 领, Internationalisation 寰. At Ruhan, we are building an all-rounder – a person for his or her future. In the design and delivery of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, we shall always apply the principles of Significance (that the content is important to the learner and humanity), Relevance (that the content is closely related to the learner’s life and everyday living) and Transferability (that the learner is able to recall and apply the acquired knowledge or skills throughout adulthood). Scientifically, it can become slower for an older adult to acquire new knowledge and skills, but the mental capacities shift towards the meta-cognitive aspects of learning, which include distilling and crystallising existing knowledge and skills. Ruhan wants every one of its graduates to benefit optimally from the developmental characteristics of the human life cycle. To ensure no shortcuts to foundational schooling, Ruhan shall endeavour to provide an Education that is the most well-rounded possible, so that the student learns and deepens new knowledge and skills from early childhood to late adolescence. As a lifelong learner and a truly educated person, this process benefits the student cumulatively in the young and middle-aged adult phases, and in old adulthood, all foundational and past knowledges gained will distil and crystallise into wisdom in the Ruhan student. This is the ultimate Ruhan Mission that we seek to accomplish for each of our students.