Singapore film on Normal (Technical) students back on big screen

SINGAPORE – Singapore documentary film Unteachable, about Normal (Technical) students, premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2019. It was picked up for a screening at indie cinema The Projector last Saturday, and there will also be sessions on Wednesday and the weekend.

Children who scored in the bottom 10 per cent in the Primary School Leaving Examination are placed in the Normal (Technical) stream in secondary schools for four years.

Damian Ng was one of them. The 77-minute film followed him and his classmates from 2013, when they began Secondary 1, to 2016. They were students at Shuqun Secondary School, which merged with Yuhua Secondary in 2019.

Ms Ng Meixi was their relief mathematics teacher and advocated a new way of doing things, in which the Normal (Technical) students would tutor fellow students.

This came from a research trip studying education systems in various countries, and a year-long stint working with the Mexican Ministry of Education.

Under the peer-to-peer learning method seen in the film, teachers play the role of facilitators and also learn from the students.

The film also questions the over-emphasis on grades in Singapore and what joyful learning could look like.

Mr Ng, now 23, tells The Straits Times that he agreed to be in the documentary because it is important that Normal (Technical) students are heard and understood.

“They are mostly being neglected or categorised as ‘can’t study’ students. I feel they can get far with their hard work,” says Mr Ng, who is working in sales.

Since film-maker Shuling Yong, 37, started working on the project in 2012, there have been many changes to Singapore’s education system.

For one thing, there will no longer be Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams from 2024 as 120 secondary schools will implement full subject-based banding.

Students will be placed in the same mixed form class and take six non-academic subjects together. They include art, physical education, and food and consumer education.

For subjects such as English, mathematics and geography, students will attend lessons in different classes based on their ability for each subject.

Even as these changes kick in, Yong says the themes explored in the film remain relevant and remind people that grades should not be tied to one’s self-worth. “I’m excited that the labels and the stereotypes that go with them, will be a thing of the past.”

The Chicago-based film-maker adds: “I especially like that it gives greater recognition that every person has different strengths and weaknesses, and that students will have more opportunities to get to know fellow learners from diverse backgrounds.”

Ms Ng, who is now an assistant professor of Education at the University of Minnesota, is hopeful that subject-based banding will open up possibilities for more social integration. But she urges parents not to compare and characterise children based on how well they do in school.

“Even with no streams, parents might still ask one another: ‘Which subject band is your child in: G1? G2? G3?’,” says the 35-year-old.

Under subject-based banding, G stands for General and the three levels are broadly mapped from today’s Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express standards.

“The labels can continue,” she says. “This change needs your support and our collective recalibration on what learning is. Why do we learn? What kind of people are we becoming?”

Book It/Unteachable

Where: The Projector, 05-00 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
When: Wednesday, 5.15pm, Saturday, 5.40pm, and Sunday, 1.45pm
Admission: From $6.50 (

str.sg/iq85

)
Info: Go to

unteachablefilm.com

. To arrange for private screenings, go to

str.sg/iq8S