Inspiring purpose in high-achieving contexts

Does your school or organisation contribute to a better world? Modern-day schooling is mainly focused on the “what” and “how” of good education that centres on best practices in teaching and learning, as well as measuring how well students have learnt.

In the book Inspiring Purpose in High-Performance Schooling, Assoc Prof Mary Anne Heng from the National Institute of Education in NTU makes an urgent call for a new vision of education, which emphasises a deeper purpose that goes beyond celebrating achievements to pursue the “why” of education.

She points out that a personally meaningful education fosters a deep awareness of our connection to something greater than ourselves and helps us discover our larger purpose in the world.

Using Singapore as a case study, Assoc Prof Heng analysed multiple sources, including surveys, individual student interviews and insights from practising teachers and education leaders.

Her research uncovered that the discovery of purpose and meaning by students in schools was ad hoc and left to chance. It was also observed that academic stress in high-achieving education settings may lead to mental health issues among students.

But education with a larger purpose provides students with a clear direction and sustained motivation for their academic and life experiences, and helps them develop as human beings with positive goals to lead good lives together.

Assoc Prof Heng advocates that students need alternative narratives of success and suggests ways to transform education towards a larger purpose based on three core principles: being true to oneself, reaching towards aspirational goals and inspiring people to act towards a greater good.

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The book Inspiring Purpose in High-Performance Schooling is published by Routledge (2024).

The article appeared first in NTU's research and innovation magazine Pushing Frontiers (issue #24, October 2024).