Chapter 14: History Education in Singapore

Surveying the landscape of debate about history education in Singapore, one is struck by the relative lack of controversy surrounding what is included in the history curriculum, the nature of historical knowledge, or fundamental questions about how history is taught in schools. Unlike in the United Kingdom or the United States, where the aims of history teaching have been publicly debated (e.g., Nash, Crabtree, & Dunn, 1997), often rather passionately, such issues have not received widespread debate or discussion in Singapore.

This chapter examines how history education has developed in Singapore since the country’s inception as an independent nation-state in 1965, and proposes that history education has been carefully managed by the founding generation of Singapore’s leaders to ensure a “usable past” —one that promotes the political, social and economic needs of the developmental state. Since the “defining characteristic of the developmental state is the dynamic, shaping role played by the state leadership and bureaucracy in relation to civil society” (Green, 1997, p. 32), national education policies play a central role in managing civil society and mediating perceived challenges to the nation state. In light of this, this chapter argues that overriding priorities placed on national survival and nation-building, together with the state’s efforts to maintain communal and societal cohesion, have limited any potentially divisive public debate about Singapore’s past. In doing so, the chapter discusses: (a) the reasons for the absence of substantive public debate concerning history education in Singapore, (b) the ways the state machinery has managed Singapore’s history to ensure a usable past and a predominant state narrative, and (c) the potential consequences of a sustained promotion of “official history,” vis-á-vis the cultivation of history skills and the development of historical understanding among Singapore students.