Factors Influencing High-Performing Education Systems: A Case Study of Singapore

Singapore’s remarkable performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has placed it among the world’s high-performing education systems (HPES). Taking Singapore as an example, this article analyzes the factors that affect the high-performing education system. These factors include education reform, the quality of teacher education, school leadership, and cultural context. Firstly, the influence of the basic education curriculum reform on the high-efficiency education system in Singapore is mainly reflected in three areas, which are training objectives, school system, and curriculum setting. Secondly, quality of teacher education includes the following aspects, namely rigorous selection and training, continuous professional development, teacher performance evaluation, and career development paths. Thirdly, the strategic investment in school leadership programs has built a robust capacity for effective educational change and improvement. Fourthly, the cultural context of Singapore, with its test-oriented and centralized educational framework, reinforces a meritocratic ideology that supports standardized national curriculum and high-stakes exams, which have been instrumental in driving the system’s high performance. Based on the above factors, this paper also puts forward some measures, taking educational diversion, setting up a special principal training program, and creating a high-quality teacher development road, that other countries can learn from to promote the development of their education systems.