Autonomy, Ownership, and Empowerment
Providing students with autonomy, independence, and ownership over their academic journey empowers them to become erudite scholars.
– By Rohan Janaki (Grade 11, Big 6 – Academic Ambassador)
The “floors, not ceilings” approach and an “unashamedly academic” ethos are exemplified in the wider co-curricular system at NLCS (Singapore). We have a mission to support students to become independent and passionate scholars and problem solvers. Our societies are a great example of this. They are student-led groups that meet weekly to discuss an area of interest, publish a periodical or even organise activities and events; the scope is limitless. The key is that it’s students running the entire system from top to bottom. This means that is conceptualised by students, for students, with students driving the agenda, output, and budget. Yes, teachers are always there to offer support and guidance (and attend sessions or lectures that they find personally interesting), but crucially, they are not there to run the society.
From the student who is the Academic Ambassador overseeing the operation of all the societies to the Chairs and Vice-Chairs who organise meetings and recruit members; students are given the opportunity to and are supported in gaining autonomy over their education, breaking away from the inherently limiting structure of a classroom or syllabus and flourishing as an independent learner.
Several societies produce high-quality periodicals. These include PULSE Magazine for science, Lituresque for literature, and Aperture for the editorial arts. Recent articles include:
An explanation of the cutting-edge research being done to investigate the role of the degradation of the epigenome on ageing in PULSE magazine by Rohan, Grade 11.
An exploration of sentimentality through mentality in Van Gogh’s work in Aperture by India, Grade 7.
Hemingway on Youth, Paris, and the Art of Writing, published in Lituresque, provided a stimulating commentary on a memoir of Hemminway’s years in Paris by Jules, Grade 11.
Student Lectures and Seminars are also an integral part of the NLCS (Singapore) culture. So much so, that we have deliberately designed our curriculum to provide an afternoon per week where the entirety of Grades 9 to 12 have timetabled academic enrichment sessions. In the past academic year, students planned myriad three-week seminar series on a topic of their interest. These included an exploration of disaster prevention by Maeji, Grade 11, fashion across the ages by Karina, Jules, and Mikayla, Grade 11, and the shift towards behavioural economists by Tom, Grade 12. Additionally, students delivered thought-provoking one-off lectures to Grades 9 – 11 on Old Bailey and the English Court by Jules, Grade 11, the ethical and technological limitations of GPT 3.5 by Rohan, Grade 11, and lateral thinking by Ananya, Grade 11. These ineffable opportunities not only allow students to take their learning into their own hands but also share it and their passion with other students whilst developing invaluable wider life skills like leadership, public speaking, collaboration, goal setting and delivering on outcomes: a common theme among the co-curricular activities at NLCS (Singapore).
This being said, students are also empowered and supported by phenomenal teachers who go above and beyond both inside and outside of the classroom. The weekly enrichment sessions for Grades 9 to 12 nurture the students by stimulating their intellectual curiosity and cultivating subject passion through a number of activities such as teacher-led seminars, domain expert lectures and exploratory workshops. Additionally, there are biweekly ‘McCabe Lectures’ delivered on Wednesday lunchtimes by teachers on a topic of their interests that attract large crowds. A quintessential part of fostering such a passionate and enthusiastic academic culture is students seeing teachers and other role models express and share their own passions. This empowers students to follow what they love, laying the groundwork for students to develop into well-rounded scholars.
NLCS (Singapore) views scholarship and being a scholar as a lifelong process and a mindset instead of an achievement or a goal. We aim to foster this mindset of critical thinking, problem-solving, and passion through both our lessons and co-curricular activities to create lifelong learners — scholars. The emphasis that we place on following your passions means that the academic culture is built from enjoyment and an independent desire to learn for learning’s sake.
Ultimately, this is what makes the NLCS’ ethos and its application in NLCS (Singapore) so incredibly unique. The autonomy, independence and agency that it affords students to become passionate scholars on their own terms.
