Stakeholder Engagement

Abstract

This chapter discusses the education policy of collaborating with school stakeholders to support student learning and development. It draws from three case studies to illustrate how Singapore school leaders might interpret, strategize and enact this policy for better stakeholder engagement at the ground level. The context and frame within which the ‘stakeholder engagement’ discourse occurs in Singapore has shaped the understanding of such engagement for two main purposes, namely, to support ‘weak’ or problematic students, and to enhance student competencies by providing them with short-term opportunities to exercise and further develop holistic learning and applied skills. The three cases illustrate the beliefs and perspectives of the respective school leaders, and the extent to which they believe in and actively drive stakeholder engagement to meet these objectives in their schools. When educational ‘gatekeepers’ such as school leaders are intentional in collaborating with stakeholders, their key personnel are enabled to ‘catch’ the same purposeful approach. When there is a ‘whole-school’ approach towards engaging the family and wider community in schooling, this becomes a powerful enabler of students’ holistic attainment of human potential and well-being.