Intuition

In Singapore, secondary education places students into different streams according to how they perform at the nationwide Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). The students who perform in the bottom 10% of this high-stakes standardised test are placed in the Normal (Technical) stream. Due to this label, they are immediately deemed by a grades-obsessed society to be unteachable; parents and teachers use these teenagers as a cautionary tale to push 12-year-olds to study for their lives as they take on their first major examination. Intuition is a documentary that provides never before seen insight into the lives of these unseen and unheard teenagers, their struggle to survive and the teachers who labour tirelessly to help them thrive in a culture where school results are everything.

Convinced that the best way to master a subject is to take ownership of learning and teaching it to others, school teacher Meixi Ng introduces Tutoriá (short for Tutorial Relationships) to Singapore classrooms. A concept originally from Mexico, Tutoriá redefines everything students and teachers think they know about learning in school.

How will this deviation from the norm impact the lives of Normal (Technical) stream students, their teachers, and beyond? Let Intuition guide us back to the heart of learning.

Impact:
Intuition aims to challenge and shift mindsets surrounding the stereotypes of students at the bottom rung of the academic ladder, and show what they can achieve beyond the confines of a society steeped in elitism, high-stakes testing and route memorisation. The film also wants to highlight the possibilities that open up when we can look beyond test results, and give teachers the autonomy to change the way they conduct lessons to re-kindle students’ natural love for learning and inquiry.