Thinking Schools, Learning Nation encompassed a wide range of initiatives over a number of years that were
designed to tailor education to the abilities and interests of students, to provide more flexibility and choice for
students and to transform the structures of education. Career paths and incentives for teachers were revamped
and teacher education upgraded, as described in more detail later. Curricula and assessment changes put greater
emphasis on project work and creative thinking. A major resource commitment, involving three successive master
plans, was made to information and communication technology (ICT) as an enabler of new kinds of self-directed
and collaborative learning. A broader array of subject matter courses was created for students and a portfolio of
different types of schools has been encouraged, specialising in arts, mathematics and science, and sports, as well as
a number of independent schools. “We need a mountain range of excellence, not just one peak, to inspire all our
young to find their passions and climb as far as they can,” explained Tharman Shanmugaratnam, then minister for
Education (cited in Lee et al., 2008).