ABSTRACT
As a global city well-engineered to the human capital needs of the transnational knowledge economy, the Singapore Ministry of Education and its schools have in recent years emphasised the teaching of critical thinking as one of its key 21st century competencies. The chapter explores the politics of teaching critical thinking in Singapore. It outlines the central ideologies that characterise the official national consciousness of the Singapore state, and illuminates the problems these pose for the straightforward appropriation of Western discourses on critical thinking. The chapter develops an account of how in one school critical thinking is 'delocated' from its liberal underpinnings and 'relocated' as a set of instrumental skills narrowly focused on improving students' performance on examination results. Studies in the sociology of the curriculum view educational knowledge as the most important determinant of school experience and students' consciousness.
