The potential of flipped classroom pedagogical practice on classroom interactions in Singapore primary classrooms

As we move further into the 21st Century, the call for education systems to equip students with skills such as communication and collaboration grow louder. Responding to such calls requires education settings to examine and potentially adapt their current pedagogical practices. Classrooms, such as in many Singapore schools, where there are large class sizes and strong teacher-centred practices, find it challenging to address the development of communication and collaboration skills. The opportunity for interactions between teachers and their students and among students, which are believed to foster these skills, can be limited. This small scale research project explored how the recent adoption of a flipped classroom pedagogical practice in one Singapore primary school can potentially contribute to increasing levels of classroom interactions. Through interviews, classroom observations and document analysis, it was evident that the teachers were able to design lessons within the framework of the flipped classroom pedagogical practice that can enhance classroom interactions and foster communication and collaboration skills. Teachers’ engrained practices of didactic teaching have impeded the benefits of this practice to some extent. With time and professional development support from school, teachers and students can overcome the challenges in adopting the flipped classroom pedagogical practice.