Character & Citizenship Education

Rationale

CCE is at the heart of the Singapore education system. Central to the framework for 21st century competencies and student outcomes, it emphasizes on the acquisition of the core values of R3ICH, social emotional competencies and civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills that are important for character and citizenship development of our students.

CCE is an important component of education in YTSS. The purpose of CCE is to inculcate values and build competencies in our students to develop them into confident individuals and useful YTzens who will contribute constructively and actively to their families, school, community and nation. This is encapsulated in the school vision of “A community of Leaders”. To develop the YTzen into A Confident Leader, An Active Citizen and A Global Thinker, the following are the specific outcomes:

• A leader who upholds strong moral values.

• A socially and emotionally skilled person who communicates effectively.

• An active citizen who cares for family, community and nation.

• A respectful and thoughtful individual who actively seeks opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.

• A Global Thinker who appreciates and respects other cultures and is able to interact confidently in diverse cultural settings.

To achieve these various outcomes, the department believes in adopting the following guiding principles and approaches:

• Every Teacher a CCE teacher 
  Teachers are best placed to lead and uphold the school values. Teachers will role model school values based on our YTSS Basics and leverage or create learning opportunities to shape and instil the school values.

• Values are both taught and caught 
  Values are taught when they are explicitly expressed through the knowledge and skills encapsulated in the CCE learning outcomes. Values are caught when students see values lived out in different learning experiences, first in role modelling by significant adults to them, then in their own lives. The quality of teacher-student relationships and a caring environment will be essential to the character development of the students.

• A Student-Centred Values Driven education 
  This approach comprises Teaching for Understanding (TfU) and as well as the Skilful Teacher Framework to guide the teaching and learning process of the CCE. This is achieved by drawing on the various child development theories and considering age-appropriateness. Through these approaches, the students are encouraged to be actively involved in their learning whereby they are encouraged to ask questions, clarify and construct their understanding from their daily experiences with others.

• Students’ life experiences as possible contexts 
  The teaching and learning of CCE will focus on using students’ life experiences to form the context for the delivery of CCE, so that students can better retain the knowledge, skills and values taught to them. Students learn more effectively when they process new information or knowledge in a context that is familiar to them. It is therefore important for students to recognise what values and social emotional competencies look like in practice.

• Expanding domain from self to world 
  The development of children and adolescents takes place in the context of an ecosystem of relationships. Students learn to embrace their social roles through interaction with the world around them and act with due consideration of the consequences of their actions on themselves and others.

Values @ Heart

Values @ Heart is an important aspect of CCE in developing vital 21st century skills and social-emotional competencies alongside inculcating crucial National and Citizenship Education values in YTzens so as to nurture them to be citizens of good character.

Anchored on the acquisition and understanding of core values which are fundamental for useful citizens of good character, the CCE committee aims to build competencies in our students. This is achieved through the articulation of key values, skills and competencies to be acquired by our students. The values also help to guide our students to discern between right and wrong, help them make responsible decisions and become more aware of their roles in society. The students acquire skills that are used to recognise and manage emotions, develop care and concern for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships and handle challenging situations effectively.

CCE in YTSS

Character and Citizenship Education will equip every YTzen with the necessary knowledge, skills and values during their 4 to 5 years spent at YTSS as they develop into  “A Confident Leader, An Active Citizen and A Global Thinker” . Based on the  “4-3-6” approach , CCE in YTSS focuses on the  4 school values, 3 main ideas  of Identity, Relationships and Choices, and  6 domains  of “self, family, school, community, nation and global”. Known as the  "M-E-A-L"  approach, CCE is integrated into instructional programmes, various co-curricular programmes, discipline policies and other learning experiences for our YTzens.

M  – Modules
CCE Guidance Modules — Education and Career Guidance (ECG), Sexuality Education and Cyber Wellness (CW) — will address students’ social-emotional and developmental needs and help students understand themselves and others better so that they can make informed choices.

E  – Experiences
Activities and experiences such as Beyond Classroom Week, Values in Action Programmes, and weekly CCA involvement are the varied experiences which will nurture students’ character.

A  – Add Ons
Students will also be engaged in other add-on programmes such as the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens  TM  , 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership  TM  , Process Drama for the lower secondary and Project School and YSEP Projects for the upper secondary.

L  – Lessons
Students will learn values starting with Self and extending to the Family, School, Community, Nation and the World through our school’s uniquely tailored CCE Curriculum known as  Values at Heart (V@H) . Designed with students’ daily experiences as the context, the new V@H syllabus will make learning of values more meaningful and relevant.