Character and Leadership Learning

Overview

Framework

The school nurtures the leadership potential of all our Unitians through contextualizing character and citizenship education as leadership development. Leadership contextualisation for character development is adopted to help students find greater relevance and contextual meaning in learning values and putting them into action. The co-curriculum programme aims to achieve the Unity Student Outcome Goals, focusing on Every Student a Confident Person and Concerned and Caring Citizen, guided by the school values. These outcome goals were unpacked and articulated in terms of learning dispositions so that students can develop their 21CCs through CCA, CCE, VIA and Student Leadership programmes. To achieve the student outcomes through Strategic Thrust 3 - Every Student an Empowered Leader, different levels of leadership opportunities for all students are catered to students’ diverse needs, abilities and interests.

In line with MOE CCE2021 goals, i.e. “Every CCA Experience is a CCE Experience”, the school identified the practices of an “Empowered Leader” in Unity using The Student Leadership Challenge - Five Practices for Exemplary Leaders and to envision “Every School Experience is a CCE Experience”. With the leverage on CCA as a platform, the school’s 3-Tiered Student Leadership Development programme and its outcomes using the 5 practices of Leadership challenge model (5PsLCM@Unity), supported with school values are articulated below.

Tier 1: All Students (Leader of Self)

All Sec 1 and 2 students will know the fundamental concepts of the 5PsLCM@Unity and be able to identity these practices in their Sec 3 and 4 CCA Exco Leaders, and how these leaders have demonstrated the school values. E.g. During CCA & CCE lessons, all Sec 1 students will reflect on their personal values and beliefs in relation to the 5PsLCM@Unity, and are encouraged to translate them into words or actions. At Sec 2, they are guided to observe how their leaders have “inspired a shared vision” by rallying others to embrace a common vision. Selected Sec 1 and 2 students will take on leadership positions in their CCAs and their form class.

Tier 2: All Students (Leader of Teams)

Upon completion of the leadership modules in lower secondary, all Sec 3 students will understand and apply 5PsLCM@Unity in their leadership role within their respective CCA EXCO structure. E.g. All Sec 3 CCA leaders will “challenge the process” through event planning at the school level, as well as organizing CCA-related activities or Values in Action Projects.

In Tier 2, the Unity Council offers a leadership programme where interested students can become Empowered Leaders. They will assess their leadership skills, apply the 5PsLCM@Unity in school or community events, and self-nominate at the end of Secondary 1. Selected students become Unity Council Interns, responsible for planning at the school level after a selection interview.

Tier 3: Selected Sec 3 Students (Leader of Leaders)

At Tier 3, the UCs and P/VPs of all CCAs apply and model the 5PsLCM@Unity when performing a range of leadership roles in school or community. Tier 3 leaders have the opportunity to

● collaborate and make decisions with school management team around what, when, where, who and how they learn.

● involve in the day-to-day school operations and school-wide activities and training/development of the class and CCA leaders.

● solve real problem and contribute to the community,

● build school pride and sense of belonging to the school via student-led formal feedback processes and decision-making forums,

● Involve UCs in student-led platforms to showcase students' achievements.

Character and Citizenship Education

The school’s Character and Citizenship Education programme is taught explicitly through the 4-period CCE lessons in a week, as well as the various experiential learning platforms provided for the character development of the students. The programme focuses on character and leadership learning in the areas of:

1 . Life skills and values;

2 . National Education;

3 . Values-in-action;

4 . Sexuality Education;

5 . Cyber Wellness;

6 . Aesthetic Education;

7 . Mental Health;

8. Contemporary Issues

9 . Education and Career Guidance; and

10. Co-Curricular Activities

As part of CCE, life skills and values are taught explicitly to the students. These lessons are anchored on the school’s core values of Respect, Compassion, Integrity, Commitment and Perseverance. The lesson resources are taken from MOE Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) Branch and are also developed by a team of staff in the school based on the cognitive ability and developmental needs of the students. The lessons also serve to equip the students with the social-emotional competencies of Self Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Management and Responsible Decision making, as well as the emerging 21st century competencies of having Global awareness and Cross-cultural skills, Critical and Inventive thinking, and Information and Communication Skills.