Raffles Institution - General Paper

What Our Subject is About

The General Paper syllabus is designed to equip students with critical and inventive thinking skills and the use of the English language for effective communication. The syllabus requires students to actively explore a range of key issues of local, regional and global significance. These issues cut across disciplines and are explored from diverse perspectives. Students develop fair consideration of, and respect for different perspectives, appreciate the interrelationship of ideas, and become more adept at interpreting and evaluating the complexities of the world we live in. At the same time, they develop the disposition of active inquiry, the habit of reflection, and the willingness to convey their views in a balanced and thoughtful manner. Students are also encouraged to contribute constructively towards their communities. Underpinning all these are sound values which will help guide students in making responsible decisions in life and for life.

This year as we moved towards e-learning, we designed weekly online modules that would build up students’ content knowledge and model how to apply this knowledge to P1 questions. The modules helped to organise the most salient issues in a topic for students using a variety of sources including articles, podcasts, videos, quizes, and specialised lectures from GP tutors.

GP1

In addition, the modules were designed to be standalone and self-contained which allowed greater flexibility for students to organise when they would complete these modules.

GP2

One of the highlights of our HBL modules involved inviting the Assurance, Care, and Engagement (ACE) group from the Ministry of Manpower to share their experience with supporting migrant workers during the dormitory crisis last year.

GP3

Students attending the session were able to send in questions before and during the live session.

What We Do To Develop Students' Interest/Abilities

Through our lessons, we hope to help students understand better the world and themselves by fostering a critical awareness of continuity and change in the human experience. Given the many class discussions and essay, we hope to broaden our students' global outlook and deepen their understanding of local issues as well as how issues of regional and global importance relate to Singapore. In preparing for the A Level examination, we hope that students learn to appreciate the interrelationship of ideas across time, space and disciplines, while also developing critical and inventive thinking skills, developing critical reading skills, and developing the skills of communicating clearly, accurately and effectively using the English language.

For more on the syllabus, please refer to the following link:
https://www.seab.gov.sg/docs/default-source/national-examinations/syllabus/alevel/2024syllabus/8881_y24_sy.pdf

Who We Are

The KS Teachers are known to be fun-loving and we take great pride in the subjects that we teach, and that is because these are not just mere subjects to us. We believe that what we teach are important life skills and these subjects reflect important concerns that our society is grappling with. Knowledge of these issues is crucial as students move out into the working world.

Teacher you can speak to:

Mr Adrian Tan ([email protected]) – General Paper and Project Work

What Our Students Say

"GP was a subject that was challenging but enjoyable. It not only honed my language skills, but also taught me to think more critically about issues, to test the assumptions I may hold, and to confront the implicit biases I may harbour. The lively discussions we had in GP class on real-world issues were particularly memorable — our teacher always had to urge us to move on because our discussions would never end!"
- Lin Ji Hong Amy 19A01B

"GP in RI has provided me with an excellent opportunity to research and delve deeper into topics that interest me. Each individual’s new knowledge is often shared among peers during mini class debates and through massive topical flowcharts constructed during lessons."
- Alexandra Mei Tan 19S06C