ABSTRACT International education achievement indicators potentially obscure students’ localised experiences of school. This paper examines adolescent purpose to understand what drives students’ learning experiences in high-performance schooling in Singapore. Purpose is a long-term intention to engage with the world in ways meaningful to oneself and to others. Using clinical interviews, the authors analysed students’ perspectives of the purpose of schooling and learning against the tensions of preparing students for performance-focused outcomes in schools. Findings indicated purpose clusters with prevalent self-oriented academic achievement goals. About one-third of the students with forms of support had nascent beyond-the-self life goals. To think about teaching and learning in a more integrated manner, this study shows it is important to look closely into students’ learning experiences, as these provide critical insights into how policies are implemented in schools, and how curricula can be made significant and meaningful in a more humanising vision of what schools might become.

中文翻译：

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在新加坡高性能教育的背景下了解青少年的目的

摘要 国际教育成就指标可能会掩盖学生的本地化学校体验。本文研究了青少年的目的，以了解是什么推动了新加坡学生在高性能学校教育中的学习体验。目的是一种以对自己和他人有意义的方式与世界互动的长期意图。通过临床访谈，作者分析了学生对学校教育和学习目的的看法，以及为学生在学校以表现为重点的成果做好准备的紧张局势。结果表明，具有普遍的以自我为导向的学术成就目标的目的集群。大约三分之一获得支持的学生有超越自我的新生目标。以更综合的方式思考教与学，