By many metrics, Singapore has one of the world’s most high-performing primary education systems. Data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and national PSLE T-scores show that socioeconomic status (SES)-based disparities are present in educational outcomes at the primary school level, both in terms of achievement and learning attitudes/dispositions.
While there have been national and community initiatives to address some disparities, not all children and families benefit equally from current efforts, leading to persistent or even widening gaps over time.
As such, we believe opportunities to address the socioeconomic disadvantaged gap during children’s primary school years are still present.
Read more about improving equity for young learners.
Informed by global research and local landscaping mapping, the Young Learners Fund was set up in 2022 with an objective to support solutions, organisations and innovators working towards narrowing the socioeconomic disadvantage gap in education for primary school-aged children in Singapore.
Building children's socioemotional competencies is a long-term process, and the adult-child relationship is a crucial medium through which children's outcomes are developed. Supporting children's development in the middle childhood years calls for consistent, skilled guidance. While Singapore has a diverse child development support ecosystem, many existing programs are short-term and centre-based, making sustained engagement challenging. High volunteer and staff turnover further disrupts continuity, and the right skillset may not always be available. Although social work in Singapore is strong, it usually centres on adults or the family unit, with children becoming the primary focus mainly when high-risk situations arise, rather than through a developmental lens.
Together with Research for Impact, Octava Foundation partnered SHINE to design and launch the STAR programme in 2023. STAR journeys with children from the age of 6 for 8 years through a professional salaried mentor called a ‘Friend’. Each child is paired with a Friend whose core role is to be a trusted adult for the child to help build their socioemotional competencies and support their academic learning needs through individualised, high-quality weekly engagement. The STAR programme also journeys with the parent through Parent Support Specialists who work with parents on strategies for responsive parenting.
This program was inspired by the evidenced-based ‘Friends of the Children’ program in the US and designed for the local context. It is now in its 3 year pilot phase.
SHINE Children and Youth Services is a Singapore-based social purpose organisation that has been supporting children and youth, and their families since 1976
Current solutions, especially those targeting children’s home and community environments, are not sufficiently addressing common challenges such as caregivers’ limited bandwidth in enabling a positive and responsive learning environment at home, or limitations in resources that prevent outside-of-school-time programs to scale.
We partnered with The Majurity Trust to build a collaborative funding platform, the Wonder Arc Fund, to bring donors and partners interested in solutioning the equity gap to catalyse learning and development for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The aim of Wonder Arc is to invest in evidence-informed solutions and build new evidence around enabling equitable opportunities for children in education. The Fund will support solutions addressing these gaps through catalytic funding as well as access to capacity on child centric designing and monitoring and evaluation, with the intent for greater impact and scale.
The Majurity Trust is a Singapore-based philanthropic organisation that works with donors and social impact partners to build a thriving and sustainable community for all in Singapore.
Recognising the evolving landscape of child development in Singapore, children are now embraced and nurtured by a wider, more interconnected network that extends beyond parents and teachers. This supportive ecosystem includes dedicated caregivers, community educators, after-school carers, all playing a vital role in a child's upbringing. There is also an opportunity to enhance parent engagement by thoughtfully addressing their bandwidth and context for greater impact.
With this in mind, we partnered with Playeum to build and implement a strategy to reach and equip the diverse adults around the child with the skills that will help them form strong bonds and give inspiriting learning experiences essential to positive child development. By intentionally addressing the individual bandwidth and unique contexts of each of these supportive adults, Playeum aims to unlock an even greater potential for positive impact on children's learning and development.
Playeum is a Singapore-based social purpose organisation dedicated to empowering children to thrive as the best versions of themselves. Through its work, Playeum champions the transformative power of play and the arts to foster children’s life skills and socioemotional competencies.