Students today need to have critical and inventive thinking skills to thrive in a complex world, where jobs now require "non-routine analytical and interactive tasks", said Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah on Monday.

To develop students in this manner, "we need to rethink our beliefs, classroom practices and learning environments", she told participants at the opening ceremony of a global educational research conference, the Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference.

Organised by the National Institute of Education (NIE), the conference, which takes place every two years, drew more than 1,700 participants. More than 100 overseas researchers from 17 countries including Australia, Denmark and Japan will also be presenting their findings. The three days of the conference will bring together educators, researchers and policy makers to learn more about new research and discuss policies and practices. More than 375 papers on topics such as early childhood education and curriculum development will be presented.