MANZON MARIA

Action follows from being. One's way of doing and understanding comparative education follows from one's being. It springs from the soul. Using [Kim, T., and R. Brooks' (2013). "Internationalisation, Mobile Academics, and Knowledge Creation in Universities: A Comparative Analysis." SRHE Research Award (2011/12) Final Report] framework on the relationship between academic mobility and knowledge creation, I will reflect here on my personal and intellectual journey and how it has shaped my work on comparative histories of the field of comparative education. As this article is written, I am commencing a new transition in my professional life, this time in Japan. I am reflecting on a possible new research agenda building on my past work and the new panorama opened from my new vantage point in the field.

A number of East Asian education systems (e.g. Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Shanghai, Singapore and Taiwan) have gained international prominence over the years, due to their rapid climbs to top positions in international tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). For example, Hong Kong was placed 17th in PIRLS reading literacy, and Singapore ranked 15th in 2001, but within 5 years, they garnered 2nd and 4th places in 2006, respectively. In the 2015 PISA results, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Japan and Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangzhou (B-S-J-G), China, were top achievers (OECD, Report on PISA 2015: results in focus. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016).<br/><br/>The sterling report cards of these East Asian systems, combined with the declining performance of western systems such as those of the United Kingdom and the United States, have led the West to a “look East” drive for inspiration. Whether it be scholarly publications or media articles, much literature has been generated on the “success” of education in East Asia, which has become “the new ‘poster boy’ in the global discourse of education policy borrowing” (You and Morris, Compare 46(6), 2016, p. 883).<br/><br/>Increasingly, a good education system is considered one that not only produces high achievements but is also equitable in terms of the distribution of its success across the system and its student population. Perhaps a more nuanced understanding of these East Asian education systems could be facilitated if we could examine them considering both equity and quality issues, since the pursuit of each often affects the other. The chapters in this book illustrate that excellence and equity are not independent and separate but can be paradoxically intertwined. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

While Singapore’s education system has achieved excellence especially in terms of international educational assessments, the issue of equity remains underexplored and contentious. This chapter examines the interplay of equity and excellence in Singapore’s secondary schools. It showcases best practices of differentiated schooling in pursuit of equity and the tensions that arise between inclusion and differentiation in the system. Drawing on Fraser’s (Scales of justice: reimagining political space in a globalising world. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2008) framework for understanding social justice, we distinguish three distinct types of injustices – socio-economic, political and cultural/symbolic – with corresponding forms of justice, redistributive, recognitive and representational, to resolve them. We then explore the Singapore education system that comprises a ‘bridges and ladders’ model of highly differentiated schooling. We examine three case studies of schools which exhibit, in microcosm, the tensions between equity and excellence in Singapore more broadly. They comprise a madrasah, a specialised school and an elite school. Through these case studies, we explore the pedagogical, sociocultural and systemic approaches that can affirm, transform or enhance equity and excellence in Singapore secondary schools. We argue that the ‘bridges and ladders’ model, through its increased educational choices and differentiated schooling experiences, paradoxically increases equity and excellence while simultaneously exacerbating injustices and inequity. We situate the implications of educational equity and excellence in the continued political discourses of ‘equity needs economic growth’, meritocracy and educational choice. Finally, we propose a rethinking of the Singapore model to enhance the pursuit of equity for all. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.