A View on Mathematics Education of Israel and Singapore

이스라엘과 싱가포르 수학교육에 대한 소고

  • 오영열 (서울교육대학교 수학교육과)
  • Received : 2015.01.15
  • Accepted : 2015.02.23
  • Published : 2015.02.28

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to find out some implications from comparing mathematical education of Israel and Singapore. This study examined what values are represented in schooling of both Israel and Singapore and what factors are influencing mathematics teacher education of both countries. Education in Israel and Singapore plays a significant role for the survival of the nation and economic success, and the education system is focused on elitism, especially in terms that they have selective system of students and restrictive exams from the elementary school level. The educational system in both countries provides students with little opportunities for social mobility, because students from the low SES families are not equally exposed to educational facilities and experiences. The results of this study imply that the critical factor affecting students achievement in Israel and Singapore seems to be the quality of teacher education system and the quality of teachers. In particular, it seems that we need to be very careful of uncritically adopting mathematical ideas from both Israel and Singapore, because they both have very different contexts of educational goals, educational policies, racial and cultural factors from Korea.

본 연구는 이스라엘과 싱가포르 교육에 대한 비교를 통해서 우리나라 수학교육에 대한 시사점을 찾고자 하는데 그 목적이 있다. 이를 위해서 본 연구에서는 이스라엘과 싱가포르의 학교교육에서 추구하는 가치는 무엇이고, 이러한 가치를 교육 체제가 어떻게 반영하고 있는지를 알아보았다. 또한 이스라엘과 싱가포르에서의 수학 교육의 특징에 대해 살펴보았다. 그 결과 이스라엘과 싱가포르는 다문화 국가의 특성에 요구되는 사회적 통합을 위한 교육의 역할과 더불어 경제적 성공에 요구되는 교육을 통한 인재 양성이 중요하였으며, 두 국가의 교육 체제는 이러한 교육적 역할을 반영하고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 또한 이스라엘과 싱가포르에서 수학은 이러한 맥락에서 매우 중요한 교과로 간주되었다. 마지막으로 수학 교사교육에 대한 이스라엘과 싱가포르의 접근 방법은 명확한 차이가 있었다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 우리나라 수학교육에 대한 시사점을 알아보았다.

Keywords

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