Cultural Intelligence

With globalization and technology, the world has become a smaller place. Living and working alongside people of varied nationalities, races and cultures have become part and parcel of our daily lives. At the same time, each culture brings with it its own unique customs and lenses. While this has enriched the quality of interactions and promoted a greater diversity of ideas, it has also inevitable led to tensions and conflicts when cultures collide.

Cultural Intelligence (CQ), the capability to function effectively when there are cultural differences, has become a vital skill in the 21st century. An individual with strong CQ will be well positioned to build trust with different cultural groups, foster deeper collaboration and tap on a richer pool of opportunities.

To prepare our SNGS students as culturally intelligent leaders, we are the only secondary school in Singapore to comprehensively equip students with the right attitudes, perspectives and skills to relate to people in diverse cultural contexts. Our CQ Teens programme was collaboratively developed with CQ Academy, a group of experts from Nanyang Business School, NTU.

Recognising that enactment and reflection are crucial to the growth of students’ CQ capabilities, CQ Teens emphasises experience and meta-cognition through meaningful and authentic learning experiences related to their daily lives.

As we prepare our SNGS students for the increasingly volatile, complex and connected world, the development of CQ will serve them well as they go forth to lead with grace, resilience and empathy.